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.
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!
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.
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.
