President's Notes

British Go Journal No. 41. May 1978. Page 3b.

Brian Castledine

I first stood for the BGA Committee in 1976, shortly after I graduated from Cambridge University and moved to London - and was rather surprised to be elected. It is a measure of the recent high turnover of committee members that I now find myself, two years later, the longest serving member of the committee. This means that it may take a little while for the new members, and the three new officers, to learn the ropes, but I believe that we are already in a position to make real progress on several matters which the BGA has been weighing up for some time. I shall attempt to outline in these and future notes some of these long-term policies.

One of the most important areas of BGA activity will be our efforts to introduce the teaching of Go into schools. In the past, a high proportion of Go players have been introduced to the game while at University or College. Indeed, the importance of student members to the Association is indicated by the fact that of the current 53 BGA clubs, 18 are attached to higher educational establishments. However, it is vital for the long-term expansion of Go that we get more schoolchildren playing. There are at present a sprinkling of school Go clubs throughout the country all started by keen schoolmasters - but a more systematic and thoughtful approach is needed.

Our plans were roughly outlined in BGJ 36 in an article on our Youth Committee. Although progress has been slow in the past year, we are planning a pilot scheme for the Autumn. Progress will be reported in this journal.