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The Members and Novices' Teams was another great teams day. The goal was to help novice pairs enjoy competitive teams play and nine of the ten teams included a novice pair. The only downside was that the novice pairs played east-west and the other direction had more than its share of the strong hands - so the novice pairs had to focus on defence!
The winning team overall was the Farmer team - David Farmer, Cath Whiddon, Sarah Young & Susan Jensen and the prize for the best remaining team with novices was the runners-up Van Weeren team - Hans Van Weeren, Lynn Baker, Noelene McNair and Joan Perkins. Apparently this was Joan's first experience of teams play!
Five Peninsula pairs competed in a field of 66 pairs in the NSW State Mixed Pairs Championships, played on 27-28 May at the NSW Bridge Association.
Congratulations go to Margaret and Michael Draper, who came second in the East-West qualifying field of 33 pairs, and thus managed to make it to the finals field of 14 playing on the Sunday where they came 12th overall.
In the Sunday consolation event, the Autumn Swiss Pairs with 48 entries, our remaining pairs came 9th Catherine Whiddon/David Farmer, 24th Lyn Baker/Hans van Weeren, 30th Vivien Eldridge/Alan Davies, and 45th Anne Small/Ron Smith. Despite mixed success it was a great weekend of bridge - and an excellent competitive field.
The Club reaching the size requiring GST registration has prompted a consideration of the Club's financial situation.
The Club Committee has considered the implications and our appropriate response - and has provided a useful report explaining the situation and the response to members.
Interested members are also invited to an information session to be held at 11am on Saturday 3 June at the Club.
Over the last few months, the Committee has been evaluating the implication of the Club becoming a GST entity from September 2017. It is now able to report back to all members and present the key information. The Committee has identified the actions we believe are required in order to maintain sound financial and operational management. I encourage you to attend the Information Session that will be held at 11am Saturday 3rd June. The Committee wishes members to be fully informed of the reasons for the proposed changes. All the details are available on the website and on the noticeboard at the Club.
There was a great turnout for the Australia Wide Novice Pairs event on Friday 26 May, with 48 members (24 pairs) from Peninsula Bridge Club taking part.
Congratulations to the winners in our part of the event: N/S Sue Evershed and John Simmonds, and E/W Keith Trevallion and Grahame Elith. Check the full results on the Peninsula website and the Australia wide results will be available in due course.
Thanks to director John Rogers.
PS - Also thanks to Ray Hurst for acting as convener – because naturally he didn’t thank himself! And to Heidi Colenbrander and Susan Jensen for the photos - several of which will appear on the club TV slideshow in the near future.
Ten teams battled for the State Open Teams qualifier event run over three Thursdays in May. Directed by Brian Soutter, each team played 10 boards against each other team in a nine match round robin.
Winning were Alan Davies, Vivien Eldridge, David Farmer and Catherine Whiddon, ahead of Jocelyn Bertram, Faye Carnovale, Moya Chappell and Chris Duggin, who just pipped Carmel Bourke, Vona Hadfield, Patricia Lacey and Hans van Weeren. You can see the full results and hand records on the Peninsula website.
The top teams earn free entry into the State Open Teams Sydney Metropolitan Final on Sunday 17 September at the NSWBA. Other teams can compete in this final at their own expense.
The first Swiss Pairs held as part of new Tuesday "Challenge" night was fortunate to have Derrick Browne as our guest expert. Derrick gave a great pre-session talk on "Carding combat: Fake news and alternative facts" exploring signalling tactics. You can check the hands and notes Derrick provided.
The battle for the Swiss chocolates was intense. The top five pairs finished within a 5 VP range. But someone had to win, and with a great last round, Catherine Whiddon and David Farmer pipped Suzanne Cole and Susan Jensen by 1 VP, with Derrick Browne and Michael Draper and Sandie Rooke and Alan Davies tying for third, just ahead of Anne Crothers and Anita Kite. Check the full results and hand records - also on Pianola.
Our directors are critical to our success in providing our members and visitors a great place to play bridge - from the newest player in a Practice Play session to a top-flight competitor in one of our congresses.
We are fortunate to have a large group of members who have volunteered to undertake the training to handle most of our sessions. We supplement these directors with external directors from time to time to handle some of our major competitions. You can see our directors and read their response to the question of why they became a director below:
OUR VOLUNTEER MEMBER DIRECTORS:
Vickie Busteed
"I agreed to become a director because of my interest in teaching. The challenge also attracted me."
Sachiko Cathcart
Alan Davies
"I agreed to be a director when I was asked, and have always enjoyed it."
Vivien Eldridge
"I was asked to be Masterpoints Secretary, and then found out that this meant I had to become a director as well."
David Farmer
"I started directing to learn more about the game. I am continually impressed with directors making decisions and choosing movements that find the right balance between the social and competitive aspects of the game - always an interesting challenge. Our club is very fortunate to have a body of member directors prepared to help out the club in this way."
Simon Hunter
"John Rogers made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I enjoy directing, it's interesting and a way to contribute to the club. I have certainly learnt a lot."
Susan Jensen
"I became a director because I was a member of the Bridge Education team."
Leofric Kingsford-Smith
"I believe directing is about running a smooth and enjoyable session rather than just enforcing rules."
Bruce Kleem
"The main reason I was prepared to undertake the Directors course and the challengers of the directing role was to support our great club and members.
Hopefully this will also lead to a better understanding of this great game and improve my level of play."
Annegrete Kolding
Max Paterson
Sue Riley
"I volunteered when asked. I enjoyed playing in the club and thought I might help out."
John Rogers
Jim Rothwell
Terry Rothwell
Chief Director. "Our Bridge Club is run by volunteers and because, at one stage some years ago, there was a shortage of Club Directors, I volunteered. Being a Director can be quite demanding, but it is also a real pleasure to help members enjoy themselves playing a really interesting and challenging game."
Anne Small
"I started playing bridge in August 2004 and became so involved with game I decided to learn the rules becoming a director and teacher in 2005. Laws have seen many changes in that time but always with the view of fairness and understanding of systems to make the game a more level playing field. I have learnt that your only friend at the table is your partner so be kind and respectful to them.”
Cath Whiddon
"I undertook director training in 2011 when we decided to introduce supervised duplicate sessions at our club and so I could offer to direct restricted sessions at our special events."
- Australia Wide Novice Pairs
- Communication options
- Bridge for Brains wrap
- Peninsula pair wins NSW State Restricted Championship
- NSWBA profiles our Teams Congress
- President’s Letter April 2017
- Thanks for Verl - Sat 29 Apr
- Peninsula at Trumps' Easter Teams
- Peninsula at Trumps' Good Friday Pairs
- Verl, our Chief Director, retires
