English Chess Forum

Why is there a storage problem at Holloid about a single set but apparently not about 100,000 boards?

There is so much conflicting information about regarding this project (even from official sources...) getting to the truth seems somewhat harder than it should be

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

The explanation is simple : the boards are not being made by HP but are being produced in China (just like all other goods these days) and being shipped over to the depot in Banbury (allegedly).

I'm confident that there will be good news to report just before October 17th...

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There comes a time in projects like this when you just have to acknowledge that it's all over.

I have never understood the commercial rationale of Holloid's original offer and am not surprised that it has not come to pass. Surely, the only sensible course of action is to shake hands, distribute any sets that actually exist, thank Holloid for their support to date, and walk away. Then we can get on with the real work of supporting efforts by the likes of Richard James and Andrew Martin in using good quality coaching materials and help develop more local initiatives to take chess to young people.

How many times has it been said on this forum that chess sets are not the issue? What we need are people on the ground prepared to help teach and support budding chess players, and well organised, accredited academies that can attract support and sponsorship.

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Shropshire Chess Congress
4-5 January 2014
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Again, there is a subtle difference in the comments

John Upham writes "The explanation is simple : the boards are not being made by HP but are being produced in China (just like all other goods these days) and being shipped over to the depot in Banbury (allegedly).

Chris Majer writes "Holloid Plastics has bought 100,000 boards and has them in stock"

Well, Are they 'being produced' or are they already in stock?

A quote from Fergus in December 2008 was:

"The board tool never left China as the mark one version could never be made flat..."

So I "suspect" the 100,000 boards were purchased months ago directly in relation to this fact

All guessing of course

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

A couple of weeks ago I offered myself (and one other person) to witness real-time production in Basingstoke on any day of the week or weekend.

I also offered to attend the night shift in case that was more convenient (not for me of course).

This was offered to HP by Caroline and she was told that my offer was not practicable and could not be arranged.

This is a shame since I would loved to have told you all I had witnessed production in real-time!

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Chess Images: http://johnupham.smugmug.com/Chess
IT Manager for the British Chess Magazine: http://www.britishchessmagazine.co.uk
Twitter: @jeupham
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.upham

Well the next landmark is supposed to be this:

"A pilot exercise with a single LEA (about 100-150 schools) will be carried out shortly with Holloid Plastics delivering the sets to the LEA distribution centre"

You need a minimum of a 1,000 sets for that - if you get 150 instead (what remains...) then you know something is up!

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

Appropriately enough, my computer announced that it was "scanning for a virus" before attempting to examine "pileBottom.doc"!

Since we have now crossed into October and with the AGM not being that far away does anyone have any further information or updates on the project they can share?

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard