Please Read - New Club Structure and GB League

Starting from next month, we will be reintroducing our monthly Club competition in the guise of the GB League. We will also be reverting to our pre-pandemic schedule / structure which is outlined below.

At our recent AGM we also discussed our Club finances and advised that our membership subscription fees would be reviewed by the newly-elected committee. The committee is indeed in the process of reviewing this and we will communicate with you again in the coming couple of months. In the meantime, please read on for some important announcements and take note.

Club Structure

As mentioned above, starting from October we will be reverting to our monthly structure as it was before Covid, in tandem with reintroducing a regular club competition night using the recently-established 'GB League' system (more of that below).

Some basic logic:

• 'Week 1' always starts on a Monday. For example, if the 1st day of the month happens to be a Wednesday, then Week 1 of that month would start on the following Monday (the 6th of the month);
• Where there's a 5th week in the month, if it's a Monday Virgile will run the junior lesson as normal, and if it's a Wednesday then there will be regular fencing with Virgile available for 1:1 lessons.
• There might be some 'fluidity' in the plan - for example if the main sports hall is unavailable on a Wednesday for Club competition night, and we are in Way Hall instead, we might swap things around.

There will be no changes to our days or hours of operation:

• Mondays: the club will continue to run with a junior session from 1830-1930hrs (note the slightly earlier end-time), with free fencing open to all members from 1930hrs onwards;
• Wednesdays: again we will continue to open from 1930hrs for all ages; we will usually run our GB League event on the Wednesday of 'Week 1', with Virgile delivering a group session in 'Week 2' and 'Week 4', with free fencing available after the session's finished and a regular club night on all other nights.
• 1:1 lessons: Virgile will continue to offer these when he's not delivering the group lessons. We strongly encourage members to have 1:1s regularly - even if it's just once a month - to not only ensure you're getting the basics right, but to help make really targeted improvements. You'll continue to be able to book individual lessons on the VF Fencing website; this link is embedded in our club calendar entries, and if there's space available you can book them on the night as well.

The Club's calendar has been updated, with the homepage as ever showing what's on for the current and next week, so we encourage you to check there regularly.

Club Competition - GB League

The GB League is for everyone and has been designed to mirror many of the aspects already seen in inter-club competitive fencing, with a focus on creating a fun and inclusive environment.

Our very first GB League fixture will be on Wednesday 4 October. These events will generally take place on the first Wednesday of 'Week 1', as described above, so check the calendar in advance.

Format of Fights: as with the previous club competition, bouts will be fenced to the first to 5 hits in 3 minutes - i.e. simulating a poule fight in a regular, external competition. Again, to simulate competition and help fencers' experience, each match will be refereed so fencers will queue to fence as they would do normally, then leave the queue to referee a match, fence two opponents themselves, then rejoin. As you know it is a friendly Club so if you've not refereed before, don't worry, more experienced fencers will help you out in terms of what to do. After each fight you have, agree with your opponent who will update the poule sheet with your result... and on that note, please write your (first and sur)name legibly and in block capitals.

Points Mean Prizes: fencers get 1 point for every match fenced, and 2 additional points for every match won (hits scored/received are not recorded in the system). Everyone can fence everyone - there are no age or gender restrictions - but please read below around official recording of results when it comes to the GB League. There will be monthly prizes available to members in the form of PBT vouchers - with a different voucher awarded every month - and then prizes awarded to the members with the overall biggest haul of points at the end of the season.

Requirements to Accumulate Points: participants will need BF Recreational Membership as a minimum ('Starter' is fine if in their first year of membership as an 18+ or first two years of membership as an Under-18). You will also need a PlayWaze profile: this is free, and can be set up when you register for the fixture. You will need to register for the events by searching on PlayWaze and signing up; a link will also be posted on the calendar entry - for example, this one for our first event). This is to get your points officially registered; you don't have to have either of those things to take part in the night and just fence as you would do normally.

Christmas Do(s)

Please mark the date in your calendars: Wednesday 13 December. We will as usual be closed on that date (so you may as well come anyway!).

Philippe has very kindly booked Bill's in Reading; usually we meet somewhere else before and/or after for a few drinks, so we will confirm timings and menu choices nearer the time. If you're feeling particularly organised you can pay your £20 deposit in advance: sort code 30-91-11, account number 02493258, and please put 'your name/Xmas' as the payment reference.

On a separate note, if anyone would like to help organise - or co-organise - an event for our Under-18s, please do let us know.

Code of Conduct

Our Club enjoys a very friendly atmosphere which we are proud to be a part of and keep going; as such we will be sending out an annual reminder of our Code of Conduct. If you've not read it before (or ever!), please do familiarise yourself with it.