There was a great turnout of members for the Bridge for Brain Research charity event on Monday 1 May.
There were more than 21 tables playing, as well as a raffle and a lovely afternoon tea of member's cakes and other creations.
See the photo gallery (thanks to photographer Heidi Colenbrander) and the results (thanks to director Sue Falkingham).
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.
Hans Van Weeren and Peter Clarke won the 2017 NSW Restricted State Championship. Marieta Borthwick and Annegrete Bach Kolding came fourth in the NSW State Novice Championship with Heidi Colenbrander and Ray Hurst just behind them coming in sixth place. Both events were played at the Southern Highlands Bridge Club on the weekend of 29-30 April.
The matchpoint pairs events were played over four sessions - check out the NSWBA coverage and the full results for the Restricted State Championships and for the Novice State Championships.
Peter and Hans had an exciting fourth session with the pair coming second having a great last session but just not doing quite well enough.
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.
Sue Evershed and John Simmonds did very well in the 2017 Australia-Wide Novice Pairs, coming 11th Australia-wide with a score of 67.0. Interestingly when scored over just the Peninsula entrants they were pipped by Grahame Elith and Keith Trevallion, but scoring nationally turned the tables strongly in Sue and John's favour. Nationally Maggie Gibbs and Susan Jensen came 32nd, ahead of Judith Croxall and Robert Gaven who came 55th.
Read the full letter below from the event's national organiser. Brad Coles, and prize winners should note what they need to do to claim their prizes.
"Thank you again for taking part in our Australia-Wide Novice Pairs! The final results are now on the Australian Bridge web site.
Some may be interested in this "riotous new play about two fiercely competitive bridge-playing grandmothers stars Virginia Gay, Nancye Hayes and Sue Jones in a charming odd-ball story that will leave you grinning."
According to the Melbourne Theatre Company website "The Autumn Road Retirement Village in Caulfield has a fiercely competitive bridge club, but with old age doing its inevitable work, no bridge partnership lasts for long. When Minnie loses her playing partner in an unfortunate swimming accident, Liraz is desperate for them to team up. You see, Minnie has a granddaughter and Liraz has a grandson. Both are hopelessly single. Laying all her cards on the table, Minnie is bidding hearts."
This new play Minnie & Liraz by Lally Katz runs from 13-24 June 2017 at the Arts Centre Melbourne, Fairfax Studio. Fancy a trip down south?
I suspect that most of us turn up to play bridge without giving thought to the fact that the boards which are delivered to you by the lovely director have been lovingly crafted by a group of volunteers.
It takes several hours every week to "deal" these boards and put them in their containers. Usually a team of two will take 3 to 4 hours to deal the boards for the coming week and when there are special events on that require extra boards it takes a bit longer. There is also a considerable amount of paper work which has to be done in conjunction with each board - photocopying hand records and documenting what has been done to ensure the smooth running of a bridge session.
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.
