Folks, I have been volunteered by the committee(I see Tony Hindley's hand in this) to run the annual Bell Tournament between Xmas and N Year, however given the sporting traditions of the period it should be played on Boxing day ie Monday the 26^th. For those unaware of the tournament, we take the players who turn up and pair the first with the last as a team, then each person plays everyone else for a period, usually 5 mins but depending on numbers can be more or less, American scoring is used to amass the points and these build towards a team total. Although 5 mins seems pretty easy for some of the physically enhanced specimens amongst you, the nature of the draw means you will get a decent run out. End of the day is at the Eldon to present whatever prize we can find amongst the unwanted xmas presents received the previous day. All in all it helps to run off some of the excess of the season.

Please reply with your interest for the 26^th, and alternative dates that week given the extended holiday ie the Tuesday and Wednesday, however if there is a preference for an alternative date then I will pass the organisation to someone else probably Tony, as I am going away to recover between xmas and new year to ensure I can bring in Hogmany with the intensity it deserves.

By the way it's called the Bell Tournament because we ring a bell to start and finish play, although my idea of a swift Bells's whisky before each game would result in a far more interesting result.