The Manx Scrabble Championship is right around the corner, so sign up by 28th April and take a trip over to the Isle of Man for a weekend or stay for longer to explore the island.

Tournament organiser, Gilly Street, has been working hard to prepare everything and is looking forward to welcoming everybody to the Isle of Man.

The tournament runs over the weekend of Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th May, and will be directed by James Burley. There will be 3 divisions, divided according to ratings. The cash prize pool is already over £2500. There will be a little "surprise" for the first 40 entrants signed up and paid up, so there are still a few available right now! To qualify for the "sur-prize", fill in the online registration form (or post a printed form) AND send the entry payment.

There's not just Scrabble on the menu either. The Manx Legion Club has generously offered to help celebrate the end of the event by laying on some complementary finger-food for anyone who would like to play Bingo on Sunday (8th May) evening. A bar, with very reasonably-priced drinks, opens at 7pm and games start at 8pm. A book of 5 Bingo games is £7 and various other games are another £1 each. Friends and family are welcome to join in. Not content with just running the Scrabble tournament, Gilly will be the guest Bingo caller for the evening as the regular caller is away.

If you fancy spending longer on the island and you need more Scrabble, then the Douglas Scrabble Club is meeting on Monday 2nd May (details on the website linked below) For people who like to get out and about and go on walks, Catriona at Manx Walks as well as walking.im walking tours are worth investigating.

The tournament is being supported by Visit Isle of Man which is the department that is underwriting the tournament. Their website is full of ideas of things to see and do on the island.

All the details can be found on the official tournament blog site

A quick reminder that ABSP-rated tournaments starting from today, Tuesday 19th April 2022, must be played using the updated Collins lexicon, CSW21.

Details of the initiation kit and Collins official word list book are in an earlier article.

If you use an app for self-adjudication in a tournament, please ensure you have the latest versions of Scrabble Checker (Android), ULU (iOS) or Collins Zyzzyva that contain the updated word list. Please ensure that you choose the required lexicon and confirm with your opponent that you have done so.

This year sees the publication of a new word list – CSW21 – which contains no additions, but 419 deletions from CSW19.

WESPA have produced an initiation kit which Mattel have endorsed, containing the removed words of 3-8 letters. This is available from the ABSP Database under the OnBoard section, but you must have renewed membership for 2022 to access that area. Players will also receive a printed copy if they currently receive a printed copy of OnBoard.

Note:This kit must not be uploaded to a public website and can only be shared with members.

WESPA have announced that from 4 April 2022, all their events must be played with CSW21.

At the ABSP AGM, we made it clear we would give sufficient notice before implementation of a new dictionary, as we wanted to have resources in place for the smooth running of events. Given we now have an initiation kit and many word checkers including Zyzzyva are already updated, we are happy to announce a changeover date. It is expected that other software such as Ulu will also be changed in the coming weeks.

The date for implementation of CSW21 for ABSP events will be Tuesday 19 April 2022, i.e. after Easter Monday. Before that date, all games must be played to CSW19 and from then on, all games must be played to CSW21. As we said at the AGM, there will be no parallel running of two dictionaries as that would be confusing. We are also trying to avoid conflict with WESPA as much as possible and, given there is a joint WESPA/ABSP event in May 2022, we want to give clear details for entrants and organisers alike.

There has been a delay in the publication of the Collins official word list book until 17th February, but we do not see this as a major barrier to implementation given that use of the physical copy is limited.

A short newsletter has been published with information regarding deadlines for submission of motions for the 2021 AGM, minutes of the last AGM and committee meeting, plus the ABSP 2020 accounts and obituary notices for Laura Finley and Sue Bowman.

Motions for the AGM need to be received before midnight on 7th October 2021.

The newsletter is available from the OnBoard section of the ABSP Ratings website. You must login to the site to be able to see the newsletter and earlier editions of OnBoard. If this is your first visit to the site, you will need to set up your account by clicking on the "Set up account or request new password link" on the home page. You will need to fill in your email address and click "Please send me a password". A temporary password will be emailed to you.

The next edition of OnBoard is expected in late October, so please send any articles for inclusion to Kay Möller as soon as possible. We know that face to face Scrabble has not been possible for many over the last year, so if you have been doing something interesting in this time and can tell us all about it, get in touch!

Since official COVID-19 restrictions ended in July, we have been allowing small indoor rated events of up to 6 players, or potentially more on a case by case basis. As life is slowly returning to normal, this restriction will no longer apply, with the first larger indoor invitational events likely to take place in the coming weeks.

We are now also sanctioning any other events, though we recommend that organisers check venue policy regarding cancellation and any venue specific COVID-19 rules before booking. It may also be beneficial to gauge interest from prospective participants. Please contact Ratings Officer, Mike Whiteoak with any future plans for tournaments as usual.

Whilst the ABSP are not requiring any specific COVID-19 safety measures at clubs or tournaments, any restrictions that are put in place, either by the venue or the organisers, must be clearly stated on the entry form and/or made clear to members or invitees. Responsibility for determining eligibility criteria and enforcing restrictions will lie solely with the organiser, although we will be happy to offer any advice where possible and may also ask a few more basic questions during the approval process, largely just for our information.

We have been able to secure a much lower price for insurance cover, and so for those clubs that have opted in, this will resume on September 1st at a cost of just £10 per club. This represents a huge saving which is probably welcome given the uncertainties that remain.

We have taken a difficult but necessary decision to move the NSC as this event requires a minimum number in order to be sustainable and demand is currently unclear for this type of event in the current climate. We hope that as more smaller scale tournaments resume over the coming months, Spring 2022 will be a good time for the postponed NSC which will be open entry. We will confirm more details in the coming weeks.

We will be holding the AGM via Zoom again this year, in late Autumn. A basic newsletter will be going to all members and we also hope to be able to resume OnBoard in time for a special Christmas edition if things continue to progress positively.

As always, OnBoard needs players input so if you have any ideas for articles - maybe something interesting you have done in lockdown or some seeds of starting back up again - then let either Wayne Kelly or Kay Möller know.

It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that Laura Finley, our long-standing and well-loved secretary has passed away today.

Laura was universally loved - cheeky, funny and forthright and a damned hard worker for the Scrabble community. Salt of the earth does not even come close. Condolences to all friends and family. We have lost one of the best.

RIP Laura.

Wayne Kelly, ABSP chairman, 17th July 2021

Updates on Laura's funeral

The funeral for Laura Finley will take place on Monday 26th July from 10:00 at the Sunderland Crematorium, with a wake at Chester’s from 11:00.

The service will also be livestreamed and then available for streaming for the next 28 days. Full details have been kindly posted by Pauline Johnson on the ABSP Discussion Facebook page .

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Great North Air Ambulance, which many of you will know was a cause very dear to Laura’s heart. We suggest any individuals wanting to do so make the donations themselves, as they are likely to qualify for Gift Aid, assuming they are from a UK taxpayer.

Laura had many, many years of tireless service and therefore the ABSP will be donating £100 in recognition of such long and loyal work for the organisation. She will be sorely missed by the committee and members alike.