I wrote about the future of the Pasadena Pomona Downey VBC in this month's edition of the Southern California Bridge News -- which has been completed but there hasn't been an email about it yet. I wanted you all to get to read the column. It will appear as the Pasadena San Gabriel Unit column. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Some changes are in store! I need a vacation. This month marks the one-year anniversary of the Pasadena Pomona Downey VBC (virtual bridge club). It's been a great support to our closed clubs, and has certainly kept me busy. Between teaching and directing games, it's been a full time job for me. I haven't really had anyone to whom I could turn over the management, and I know that the players want to keep playing. *I have an agreement in principal to pool our three-unit online club with the Unit 556+ virtual club* in the neighboring Santa Clarita Valley area. Their pool includes the Glendale Verdugo unit, and our player group includes a considerable overlap already. This appeals to me because it's very different from the huge cross-country "alliance" pools, where you're not likely to run into any old friends. It will still be small with a pretty familiar player group. You might think of it as the "North Los Angeles County VBC" (plus a small unit in Baja). Basically it comes down to merging our management. Paula Olivares can give me a vacation, and I can give her one as well. I'll return to directing games for the club after a little time off. Over the month of May we'll be ironing out a game schedule to keep our local online games running (most likely) through the end of 2021. We'll be looking at how to merge the six weekly games of Unit 556+ with the nine weekly games of PPDVBC. Both groups have similar table counts and player counts, so it seems like a good match. If you have any feedback to offer, I'd love to hear from you soon! Email mojo(a)bridgemojo.com or use the contact form at https://bridgemojo.com. My last bridge classes for this season are winding down. I'll pick up again with all the series in the fall. We have some great rank changes from our novice/intermediate group! New Junior Masters: Jon Fuhrman, Susan Kane, and Sara Shapiro. New Club Master: Uma Shrivastava. Congratulations all! /Post-publication addendum: At this time, Paula believes she can find directors to keep all of the current PPDVBC games on the schedule, assuming the attendance stays in place. We hope to have at least a draft schedule available soon./ Best regards, Mojo -- Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com> Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org> Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>