Peninsula players comprised 11 out of the 134 players competing in the NSW State Open Pairs Championships in November - after qualifying events at clubs around the state.
The first day saw the field cut back to 14 and we managed to hold 3 of these 14 finalist places with Robin Ho (our Administration Officer, playing with her frequent partner Alexander Cook) and our regular pairing of Vivien Eldridge and Alan Davies. The second day of finals saw Robin finish 8th in the state with Alex and Vivien and Alan finishing 12th.
In the consolation Swiss Pairs held in part for those pairs that did not make the finals, Greg Hay and Mervyn Baxter did well to place 13th equal. You can check all the results.
The final Swiss Pairs evening on Tuesday 21 November saw Alan and Vivien triumphant, including winning the last round against the fancied guest expert pair of Warren Lazer and Pauline Gumby.
Warren and Pauline had a bidding problem in the last round when they missed a slam after an intervening bid prevented their being certain they had slam range points. Warren opened 1C which in their system can be a 17-20HCP hand as well as a 12-14 ish 1C opening. When Alan or Vivien intervened with a 3C overcall, Pauline bid 3NT. Warren with 20HCP passed not sure if Pauline had stretched with a club stopper. A slam went begging.
Earlier just before the session, Warren had spoken on "What to count, How to count" starting with the basics and with efficient ways to store information about hand shapes that emerges during the play of a board, and ending up with using counting to determine how to play the last few tricks with confidence. That will be our last Swiss Pairs for 2017 with the 2018 season planned to start on Tuesday 23 January.
On Thursday, Sarah Young presented cheques for $4,500 each to Eileen from Mona Vale Hospital Auxiliary and Ken from the Rural Fire Service. They were very pleased indeed.
Ken let us all know about the great work the RFS does, in particular that if you live in a bushfire prone area and are no longer able to prepare your property for the bushfire season, the RFS can come and help at no cost.
Eileen told us all about the changes that will be happening at Mona Vale Hospital when the new hospital opens.
Congratulations to Sue Riley who is the driving force behind the fund-raising and thanks to all our members for their generous contributions throughout the year.
On Tuesday 24 October Anne Brown and Bill Fitzsimons won the 4th session of The Lawrence competition, just ahead of Trish Giles and Verl Lawrence.
There is just one more session of The Lawrence in 2017, to be held on Tuesday night on 28 November, with another $200 cash prize to be won.
Maybe Verl will win this one?
We have sold all our seats faster than Santa can deliver presents. For those of you who have missed out and are disappointed, we have put up a waiting list on the notice board.
Those who have previously put their names on the list on the notice board but have not yet paid, your seat for the event has been set aside but please pay as soon as possible to guarantee it. If you are currently away from the club then you might like to email
Queries please contact
Gayle King would like to hear from anyone who would like to help make this year's Christmas party a fantastic & memorable event. It is being held on Sunday 10th December.
Assistance is required with...
- Food and sundries purchase (quantities have already been estimated from last year )... And you can still play bridge!
- Publicity ... And you can still play bridge!!
- Setting up on the day ... And you can still play bridge!!!
- Photographer for the day ... And you can still play bridge!!!!
- Kitchen co-ordinator for the day ... And you can still play bridge!!!!!
If you would like to help, please contact Gayle -
The Race that stopped a Bridge Game!
What a day! We had a great turn out by members.
Sue Riley continued her tradition of being a magnificent Chief Steward and MC.
Congratulations to the section winners, the Lucky Door prize winner and the fashionistas who won the various Best Hat prizes.
Wonderful efforts from our volunteers and also the marvellous salads/morning tea contributions by the players on the day.
Our volunteers and member contributions make days like this possible. Let us know if you can help out on the next event - it's great for the club and you'll enjoy it too. Just email Gayle -
Take a look at the photos from the event - and even share your own.
Forty-eight Peninsula players sailed forth (most literally on the ferry across Broken Bay) to visit Brisbane Waters Bridge Club in the first head to head interclub event. This event - the brainchild of their Christine Hadaway and on our side Vivien Eldridge, Anne Small, Catherine Whiddon and Sue Falkingham - was designed in particular to provide a fun teams day for each club's large numbers of novice players. We had four teams with members all under 10MP.
The heavy morning rain did not upset our spirits (fortunately Brisbane Waters Bridge Club picked us up from Ettalong wharf) and we quickly settled into the format. Experienced players helped teams newbies to cope with the different scoring, the number of boards played was reduced for the restricted and novice fields, and finger food was served in the longer breaks between rounds to encourage social interaction.
