Latest News
The World Bridge Federation says the world's number one bridge player has been suspended after failing a drug test.
Geir Helgemo, who is Norwegian but represents Monaco in bridge events, tested positive for banned substances at a World Bridge Series event in Orlando, Florida, last September.
After accepting he had breached anti-doping rules, Helgemo was suspended by the WBF until November 20. He also had all titles, medals and points from the 2018 World Bridge Series revoked.
We are a volunteer-run not-for-profit club. Some volunteer needs we currently have are:
- Event Support - helping our event conveners prepare fliers and other communications - some comfort with email, computers and word processors would be useful - talk to David Farmer in the first instance
- Fill-in Players - being happy to be called to see if you are available to come in for a free game with an unpartnered player - helps us avoid sending home players whose partner is unexpectedly unavailable - ask any director to add you to the noticeboard list
Thirty or more Peninsula members travelled to the Gold Coast in February for the premier bridge event in the country. Great bridge and a great location for a social bridge getaway.
For those who have not been to one of these major congresses, you need to understand that there is a wide range of events from the tough open competitions to those restricted to much lower masterpoint ranges - something for everyone and a number of our novice players will have great stories to share.
I have tried to list our club members' successes over the various events - if I have missed one please let me know so I can add it in for the record.
Dear all,
What a start to the year - so good to see a fabulous attendance by Peninsula members at both the Canberra and Gold Coast congresses with lots of success at the table plus wonderful social and fun times. Congratulations to all our novices who braved the competitive space for the first time and for doing so well.
I would like to thank Alan Davies for being a wonderful Chief Director for the last two and a half years. Alan took on this role in 2017 and kindly continued until January 2019. He has done a wonderful job, keeping all the directors informed of any changes to rules, advising and guiding our directors and helping to mentor our newer directors.
Update - on Friday 12 Apr 2019 we had a new record 34.5 tables in play - see the photo. It would have been 35 tables but we had to send one of our five unpartnered players home when no fill-in player could be found.
Without any fanfare or expectation, the club broke its record number of tables in play for a standard session on Friday 1 February 2019 with 34 tables. This broke the previous record of 33.5 on a Wednesday in March 2018 and 33 on a Friday in February 2018.
This long story is relevant to the concept of enjoying the foibles of oldies playing bridge, rather than being irritated by the unusual nature of the overlap between club bridge and aged care.
Fifteen years ago I directed at a bridge club where Norma played. Norma found 28 husbands and relatives who wanted to learn bridge. Norma asked the legendary Sydneysider John Roberts to teach them. For this unusual group where about 20 had played social bridge and only 8 were relatively new to the game, John's method of teaching was that all the 7 tables simply played bridge (duplicate style, to some extent) with John attending to the 2 tables of newbies, with the other 20 players instructed to put their hand up and ask questions whenever they liked, learning bridge from John's answers.
Readers will remember from an article last month that some members, especially some of our newer members, have expressed some concerns about difficulties progressing between sections.
A brainstorming meeting was held on 7 January which helped identify the pluses and minuses with the four general options that have been identified.
You are invited to read the post-meeting summary paper of these options and, of course, provide any feedback on any option's strengths or weaknesses - these can be provided to me at
We have come a fair way in helping our disabled or mobility challenged players play at the club, including providing more nearby parking (thanks to Meals on Wheels) at our large day-time sessions and ensuring stationary seating wherever possible during our sessions.
But we are not yet perfect. There are times when non-disabled drivers are using the disabled parking spaces directly outside the club-house. You might think this unimportant for a small session, such as a night or supervised session. But it is still against the law and if you were to cause a disabled person difficulties you would feel bad... So please respect the provisions made for the disabled among us!
