Tom Bradley Award - 2011

Congratulations to Alan Green (Suffolk) who has been awarded the 2011 Tom Bradley Award.

The Tom Bradley Award was created after the death of the former Treasurer of the EBU, who was a champion of attracting new persons into the game of bridge. Tom was particularly supportive of endeavours which were aimed at the younger player.

Alan has worked extremely hard over the last couple of years in introducing Minibridge and bridge to various schools, which is especially exceptional considering the wide geographical areas that he's reached throughout East Anglia.

Alan has now set up a team who assist him with the various schools already involved. He currently has plans to introduce Minibridge and bridge to new schools in the area, please let us know if you can help (at Minibridge@ebu.co.uk).

John Pain, EBU Education Manager, said: "Alan has a great skill in teaching all levels and ages of children, and in providing a well-rounded education of the game. He is an ideal recipient of the Tom Bradley Award, because of all the amazing work in the wide geographic expanse of East Anglia."

The Tom Bradley Award is assigned each year to a non-school teacher for services to the teaching of bridge in England.

Matt Betts

Tom Bradley Award 2009

Congratulations to Ken Pattison, NEBA County Youth Officer who has won the 2009 Tom Bradley Award. The award has been given in recognition of his tireless 10 years of working in a number of schools in the Darlington and Teesside area.

The Tom Bradley Award is assigned each year to a non-school teacher for services to the teaching of bridge in England.

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Tom Bradley Award 2008

The Tom Bradley Award is assigned each year to a non-school teacher for services to the teaching of bridge in England.

DR BOMI KAVARANA, age 75, from Tadworth, Surrey has been awarded the Tom Bradley Award for services to the teaching of bridge in his county for 2008. The award was presented to Bomi by Christine Duckworth on behalf of the EBU.

Bomi has been interested in card play since his early days in Mumbai, playing rummy with his Zoroastrian aunts and uncles. He studied at Sheffield University where he first started to play whist and then bridge without much knowledge of the ACOL system after he watched it being played during the lunch hour.

After graduating with a BSc and a PhD, Bomi joined Watson House (British Gas R & D) in London, and took the game more seriously. He played in the Hammersmith & District and London Business Houses Leagues with a fair amount of success and occasionally in open EBU events. Bomi was later secretary/treasurer of the Hammersmith District League for over 20 years until he retired in 1993. Presently, he is chairman of the H & D League.

In 1980, Bomi undertook the EBU's Teachers Diploma Course at the London School of Bridge under the supervision of Alan Hiron and passed the written and oral examinations with GCH Fox as examiner.

In 1997, Bomi applied to become Surrey County Youth Officer, because as he says: “I wanted to be able to give something back to a game that I have enjoyed for so long and so much. This seemed the best way.” During the 12 years that he has been the CYO, Surrey has had 10 annual bridge events for schools, and in 2008 he introduced the first one-day bridge teach-in for young people (photos can be seen here). Presently, Bomi teaches three times a week at schools across Surrey.

In his free time, Bomi enjoys rowing which he takes very seriously, wines, travelling and painting.

Facts:
Who was Tom Bradley?
About the award

Tom Bradley Award 2007

The Tom Bradley Award was created after the death of the former Treasurer of the EBU, who was a champion of attracting new persons into the game of Bridge and was particularly supportive of endeavours which were aimed at the younger player. Tom left a legacy in his will.

For several years the Alec Salisbury Award was presented to a school teacher who had made a significant contribution to promoting Bridge in schools, but there was not any form of award for non-school teachers. Tom Bradley's legacy has enabled this omission to be remedied and this is the second year of its presentation, the first recipient being Cedric Cockcroft from Harrogate and the Yorkshire Contract Bridge Association.

I am pleased to announce and to present on behalf of the EBU the Tom Bradley Award for this year to Dave Bessant from the Isle of Wight.

Dave started running MiniBridge at some of the Islands middle schools and achieved some extremely good results. He is nothing if not persistent and contacted the Island's education authorities, who were so impressed with what he had done, particularly in its benefits to mental arithmetic that with their encouragement Dave managed to get MiniBridge into all the Island's middle schools in curriculum time. Along side this he created a flourishing Saturday morning Bridge School for youngsters which he held at the Ryde Bridge Club.

Since then he has been working with the writers of Bridge Baron to produce material in software form suitable for schools to use as well as providing an alternative game for youngsters to learn and play on their computers.

I hardly need to tell you of the importance and significance of Daveâ's achievement. Capturing the hearts and minds of the young in their early days is essential. They may not become Club players immediately, but there is a strong possibility that they will return later in their lives to the game that they enjoyed in their youth.

Thank you Dave and very well done. It gives me very great pleasure to present you with the Tom Bradley trophy and the citation certificate.

More information on the Tom Bradley Award here.

Tom Bradley Award - 2006

Congratulations to Cedric Cockcroft who has received the first Tom Bradley Award! Cedric has been a great supporter of youth bridge and is a well respected bridge teacher - there is even a waiting list for his teaching!

The Tom Bradley Award was created after the recent death of our former Treasurer of the EBU, who was a champion of attracting new persons into the game of Bridge and was particularly supportive of endeavours which were aimed at the younger player. Tom left a legacy in his will.