Tim Wall is also proposing to start a new FIDE rated North East chess league.
6 teams of 5 players each would play an all-play-all league on 5 separate Sundays during the season at 5 separate venues. The 6 teams would be made up of 2 teams from Northumberland, 2 teams from Durham and 2 teams from Cleveland. Teams would probably be club based although obviously players from 2 or more clubs could join together to form one team. Teams would either be required to field one U18 player and one female player or a bonus point could be awarded per match to teams which do field both a junior and a female player.
Playing time would be all moves in 90 minutes with a 30 second increment from move 1. Games would aim to start at 14:30 and finish about 18:30. Games would be FIDE rated and players would either be required to have ECF Gold membership, in the case of ENG players, or ECF Silver membership for players with FIDE affiliation to other federations.