English Chess Forum

I wonder at what point in time the Derbyshire scheme will have distributed (i.e. actually got them into schools rather than dumping them in an unlucky MPs office) more free sets than the HP version covering all of England.

I'm informed that officially 349 schools have "received" their free sets from HP. Perhaps David Bentley could update us on the Derbyshire scheme which is endorsed by the ECF President (and, of course, it should be) I assume that the "boards" are not usable until someone has glued the "board" to something stiffer.

I'm speculating that one of the schemes wants to get their sets distributed as quickly as possible whereas the other might see the PR benefits of taking as long as possible.

Perhaps I'm simply being too cynical for a change?

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349

Where is that number coming from John (it's 7,651 to go...) since surely we must be above that now

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

Carl,

349 is the number of schools who have "received" their free HP sets and will be the first tranche to be offered the CoM support package via a marketing campaign devised by the DoM. I believe that a sponsor for CoM has been identified but I do not know who or what it is.

We were hoping to announce the Go Live date for CoM to be January 2010 but there are issues to do with the requirements of the application (that I have defined) and ECF administration. I want to make it very clear that both Kirstie Lapworth and Andrew Walker (ECF Office) have both seen a demo of CoM and were very enthusiastic.

The issues that I refer to are out of my hands and out of theirs. Kirstie and I are very keen to get going with CoM.

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I have obtained proof that Chess Sets for Schools is real and not a seasonal fake.

While we all sleep they are being delivered :

See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CppT2SgJ6ug

and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogetBqMgau0

Merry Christmas everybody!

_________________
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The time for joking has finished about this indescribable episode. Various people have jobs to do which we must all get done,as soon as possible.

Latest news is here:

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=608:chess-for-schools-takes-to-island-life&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

Having seen the picture I was wondering if the next campaign should be for tables and chairs

Good to see more sets in use though

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www.scottishchesschamp.co.uk/

So now it all goes quiet again for a few months with a very short time period to reach 8,000 schools before July or am I missing something?

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

There were originally 59* uncollected boxes of chess sets (107 supplied) in the Oxfordshire batch when Christmas came around. The number is now down to 46 uncollected as of this evening - I believe that schools are being given another chance to come and collect as the boxes have begun disappearing again recently.

A number of the sets already collected by schools connected to the organisers were used at the Oxfordshire U9 and U11 trials last weekend. The pieces are unweighted and unfelted, but are good to play with and wouldn't fall over in a blitz game. The only problems some children had were in trying to press clock buttons with captured pieces. Hollow base = button not pressed and confusion.

Edit: The CfS boards were not used in the County trial.

* I happen to work for a publisher in the same building and can see the boxes as I pass.

One for Google this one as there are free chess sets to be collected in Oxfordshire if you want them!!

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

So it's taken from November to get some publicity on this one?

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

A point of detail that ought to be reported : Caroline Morris is no longer involved in the CfS project. I believe that the bulk of her CfS duties have been taken over by Kirstie Lapworth from the ECF Office. Good luck Kirstie!

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So why is Caroline no longer the project manager for Holloid on this one?

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

"The only problems some children had were in trying to press clock buttons with captured pieces. Hollow base = button not pressed and confusion."

Actually that is a good thing, as it is illegal to hit the clock with a captured piece (although nearly everybody does it!)

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Kevin J Thurlow

"One of the nicest people in English chess." - S Giddins 2011
"Not a gracious gentleman" - D Howes 2011

It is not appropriate for me to reveal the reasons on this forum although I do believe that she has monitored this forum from time to time and may choose to post.

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Chess Images: http://johnupham.smugmug.com/Chess
IT Manager for the British Chess Magazine: http://www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk
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