Dear all,
In December, we had a very successful and fun Xmas party. A big thanks as always to the team of helpers who made it all possible.
As the year draws to a close, I wish you and your families a happy Xmas and a peaceful New Year.
Happy bridging!
Sarah
The Committee at its December meeting considered and agreed to a request to ensure that those who had mobility issues were, whenever possible, given seats where they did not need to move during the movement. This was partly seen as an occupational health and safety concern.
The process to support this will be discussed by the directors and implemented in the near future. It will probably involve:
- A list of people who need this status being developed and maintained with any hard demarcation decisions being determined by the Committee, and
- All players accepting that they might be asked to move to make way for a player with such needs.
A regular problem for Directors during play is the appearance of hands with 12 or 14 cards in them, while a less common problem is the switching of cards from the correct hand to another hand resulting in a fouled board (as happened recently).
Both problems often stem from the ritual some players have of spreading out their cards at the end of play for a session of ‘why didn’t you?’ or some similar post-mortem on the hand.
Might discouragement of the ritual of going through a hand after play be a suitable topic of a newsletter article (Ed. Yes - right here!) or an announcement prior to play? I know this will not eliminate the problem, but it might make those witnessing it at the table a bit more assertive about asking those engaging in it to desist.
The Padman, contested at eleven evening sessions on the first Tuesday of each month between February and December, has again proved to be a popular event. A total of thirty pairs took part of which five competed at all eleven events. A further five achieved at least nine results and four more, at least seven.
The lead changed several times during the year but, in the end, David Farmer and Catherine Whiddon finished strongly and (helped by a couple of good results when Lyn Smith substituted for Cath) came through to take the Trophy from Jan Mclennan and Linda Addenbroek with Alan Davies and Vivien Eldridge not far away in third.
The Rookies Individual Comp, first contested last year, held on the first Wednesday of each month between March and November, proved again to be a popular event. Over 80 players took part, 5 playing in all nine events and 20 achieving the qualifying level of seven of the nine and another 9 players completing six events.
Consistently strong performances by Susan Eason and Sandy Carter, playing together, including five results above 60% led to their achieving joint first place with Savitri Newman not too far behind. A little way back Detlef Volkmer led the pack with Terry Herfort, a late starter, in hot pursuit.
The many of our members who also spend hours each week on the golf course will be interested to hear of member Allison Kingscote's recent success.
On 29 October on the 5th hole (135m) at Warringah Golf Course, Allison sunk a hole-in-one. Not really being a golfer I understand this is somewhat rarer than bidding and making 7NT. A trophy is being presented shortly.
“To supplement the Pianola Partner-Finder service which is ideal for finding a partner for an upcoming session, the club also offers a partner broking service for those looking to find an ongoing partner.
You can now contact any of the following volunteer team of three (who between them cover the club's different colour-coded sections) and they will try to help you find a partner, whether for just one game or for more. So, if you are in need of a partner and:
Members may wish to read the ABF December Newsletter just released in electronic form.
Printed copies are most likely on their way to the club.
Enjoy the content whichever way suits you best.
The contents are shown as:
