Newsletter 29 November 2024

In our newsletter this week..

Message from the President
Message from the Committee
2025 Calendar
Kieser Balance and Bone Loading Class
New Members
John Brockwell's Column
Upcoming Events
Ian Morison
Lighter Moments

Message from the President

I would like to thank all the little elves who stayed back (or came in) after the Wednesday morning session to help put up our Christmas tree & make the club ready for the festive season.
Thank you to Barbara Bialowas, Meurine Thomas, Jayne Francis, Kerry Holmes, Rob Hurst, Margaret Kyburz, Helen Little, Geoff Hutchins, Vanessa Brown, Will Jenner-O’Shea & Nikki Riszko. (And thanks also to David Kenny & Ian Robinson for crawling under the building to retrieve the boxes of items required).

Barnardos Christmas Giving Tree

It’s the season of giving and this year we are again supporting the Barnardos Christmas Giving Tree Appeal which collects gifts for children of all ages who would otherwise miss out on Christmas gifts.
If you would like to support this appeal please bring unwrapped gifts for boys and girls and leave them under our Christmas tree. While gifts for any age are appreciated, Barnardos always finds it most difficult to provide suitable gifts for teenagers (don’t we all!) So, gift vouchers for movies, bowling, JB HI-Fi, or sports stores, hygiene or pamper packs, and clothes would be the most suitable for that age group. Barnardos have provided a list of gift ideas for all ages, and this list is up on the club’s noticeboard. And thanks so much for your generosity. 😊

Barnardos will be collecting the gifts from the club on Tuesday 17 December 2024. Money donations will be accepted by the office.

Christmas Celebrations at the Club

This year CBC is planning to celebrate Christmas at all club room sessions from Monday morning 16 December to Friday 20 December. At each session, there will be a short break in play. Members will be offered a glass of champagne/orange juice/mineral water and a sweet treat courtesy of the Club. Note that the session may finish a few minutes later than usual. We hope you can join one of these sessions, decked out in your festive gear.

- Mary

Message from the Committee

Recently myABF has announced the introduction of a membership payment system functionality that will greatly speed up the bulk payment part of our membership renewal process.

The management team has been working out how to best implement the new functionality that has just been released. We apologise for the delay to members who have already asked us to charge their myABF accounts and we ask that you bear with us a little longer.

The process of charging your myABF accounts is currently scheduled to happen on Tuesday 10th of December. If you have sufficient funds or auto-topup enabled, this process will go through and you are not required to do anything else.

For the members who haven't yet given us their permission, it would be really helpful if you could advise by email that you intend to continue your membership.

We've noticed that some people have transferred their membership fee into the club's bank account. We would appreciate if you do this that you email the office to advise that the funds are for payment of membership.

2025 Calendar

The 2025 Calendar has been released and is available on our website and through the link below:

2025 Calendar

Key features to note:

1. You will have more opportunities to earn Red and Gold Masterpoints next year. There will be a series of two or three week events across daytime and evening sessions earning you either Red or Gold Masterpoints. This will help you gain Masterpoint promotions more readily. And the Gold Masterpoint events will pre-qualify you for the BFACT Gala Pairs in September, which will select two of the ACT teams for the GNOT.

2. Saturday face-to-face bridge will recommence on 15 February (after the Gold Coast Congress) and will continue at least to the middle of the year. If table numbers hold up, then it will be continued on an ongoing basis.

3. The selection event for the ACT Open Team for the ANC will no longer be a three stage event. Given the number of likely contending pairs, the event will be held in one stage over an extended weekend in May.

4. Novice, restricted and improving players will have a range of specific events including:-

Summer Festival events
Novice and Restricted Pairs Championship, Sunday 30 March
Three night selection event for the Canberra Bridge Club teams for the online 2024 ABF Club Teams Knockout on Monday evenings in May
BFACT Youth Team Fundraiser, Sunday 22 June
Teams of Three, Sunday 10 August
Canberra in Bloom, October long weekend
CBC Novice and Restricted Teams Championship, Saturday 15 November

5. Will’s Workshops will continue as set out in the Calendar. The Club will also offer weekday lessons for improving players, with the dates to be finalised. If you have friends wanting to learn bridge, there will be more beginners’ lessons over the year, starting in January.

Travel Associates

As you know, Travel Associates have sponsored the Club for many years.

To enable the reconciliation of travel commission due, please advise Elizabeth if you have booked travel with any of the Travel Associates’ offices since July 1 2024.

Kieser

Kieser, our newest sponsor, is generously offering to conduct a free introductory class for our members in the OL room on December 17th 2024.

See below for details and email the office if you are interested in attending. Places are limited.

Balance and Bone Loading Class

Kieser is a Physiotherapy and Exercise Physiology evidence-based strength training clinic.
They specialise in developing safe and effective strength programs for those with chronic conditions, back pain or wanting to build a stronger self.

Kieser's Exercise Physiologist will be running a 1-hour balance and bone loading exercise class at the Canberra Bridge club for all wanting to join.
The class will include different exercise stations with multiple levels of difficulty and high supervision from exercise professionals.
This class will aim to improve quality of bones to make them stronger with light impact exercise and increase stability for falls prevention with balance exercises.

Time: 17th of December at 10:00am
Location: OL room at the Canberra Bridge Club
What to bring: Please wear comfortable clothes and flat shoes. Just bring a drink bottle and yourself!

New Members

Canberra Bridge Club welcomes the following new and returning members to our club:

Steve Lee

John Brockwell's Column

Christmas competition ─ Matching bridge scores with postcodes

Here are the details of our Christmas competition:

Take a bridge score, match it with an Australian postcode, and set out your answer as in the example format below.

The person with the most correct matches wins a bottle of bubbly. (You are permitted to use matches from the example format.) Ties will be broken in order of receipt of entries. All CBC members except Grand Masters are eligible.

Score Contract Tricks made Result Postcode:

2000 6NTx, vul. 5 minus 7 Sydney, NSW
2240 7Sxx, not vul. 13 contract Albury, NSW
2760 1NTxx, vul. 12 plus 5 St Marys, NSW

Collect as many matches as you can, then email your entry to Rosemary Matley This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. on or before Saturday 14 December.

The result will appear in the CBC Newsletter of 20 December.

- John Brockwell

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