Newsletter 08 May 2025

In our newsletter this week...

• President's Message
• Youth Fundraiser
• Workshop with Will Jenner-O'Shea 
• Refresher Course - Tuesdays 13th May to 3rd June
• CBC Working Bee - Can you help?
• Mentoring in May 
• Upcoming Events
• RESULTS
• Lighter Moments

President's Message  

I would like to welcome all of our new Beginners who have started their lessons this week. I believe we have around 38 in total over the Wednesday evening and Friday morning sessions which is amazing! We hope they all enjoy their journey, and thanks again to Barbara and her supporters for making these lessons fun for everyone!

Don’t forget the working bee next Saturday morning, 17 May. We need volunteers to help with outside gardening and general cleanup, and there are quite a few indoor jobs to be done as well. So, if you can spare an hour or more to help it would be very much appreciated. Also, the start of our next Red Point event - the DoubleShot Pairs, will be on in the Saturday afternoon session at 1pm, so why not stay and play some bridge 😊

The Autumn National Open Teams (ANOT) was held in Adelaide from Thursday to Sunday last week and there were many of our members attending.
Congratulations to Andrew Spooner who (with others) was part of the winning Open Swiss Teams.

The Barrier Reef Congress was held in Yeppoon last week as well with more of our members playing there. Congratulations to:

• Lyn & Malcolm Carter who won the Walk in Pairs on the Friday morning.
• Ian Thomson who (with others) was part of the Team who came second in the Open Teams.
• Luthile Arlett who came first in the under 50 MP pairs for the Barrier Reef Zone. Luthile is an away member who plays with her mother Annie Kloren on RealBridge and is also Bricet's sister.

Well done to everyone, hope you enjoyed your time away.

- Mary

New Rank Promotions

Congratulations to the following member who have achieved a new rank in the month of April:

Graduate

• Fricker, John
• Kendal, Lynne

Club

• Foulon, Jean-Luc

Local

• Doszpot, Maureen
• Grunhard, Ephraim
• Scealy, Judy

Bronze Local

• Herden, Barbara

Silver Local

• Bergin, Jenny
• Gough, Joyanne

State

• Fleming, Anne

Bronze National

• Widdup, Lyn 

Youth Fundraiser

Two of our Youth players, Jade Wilkinson and Alexis Wilsmore have been invited to represent Australia in the Under 21 Youth Teams Event at the 19th World Youth Team Championships in Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy which is running from 12-17 July 2025.  The Australian Bridge Federation will pay the Team’s entry fees and provide uniforms, but all other expenses are to be met by the young players.  Last year we held a “Youth Fundraising Event” in the Clubrooms, and there will be a similar event to raise funds for youth players in June.     

In the interim there will be a Youth Fundraising Box placed in the Clubrooms for those who would like to make a contribution. Proceeds will go to help the whole team meet their travel costs.

• You can also donate to the Team via their GoFundMe page: https://gofund.me/4b4c57ea

Finally, there will be a fundraising day to help both the Under 21s and our State Representative team on Sunday June 22nd - more details closer to the date!

Workshop with Will Jenner-O'Shea 

The ever popular workshop with Will is back at our clubrooms. The topic for this workshop is on Revising and Improving Your Competitive Bidding.

© Revise and Improve Your Competitive Bidding

© Improve your knowledge of Overcalls and Doubles

© How to Respond to Overcalls and Doubles

© Improved Your Competitive Bidding Judgement

© Discussion and understanding of how matchpoints scoring works

• Sunday 18-05-2025 at 10am.  Morning tea and lunch are included.
• Register here through myABF

Refresher Course

Barb Toohey is running another Refresher Course on Tuesday Mornings beginning in May. These are intended both for up and coming players who may be hearing the material for the first time and also for intermediate players  who might benefit from brushing up on some fundamental concepts they first learned about years ago.

These workshops consist of a brief lecture and around six to eight hands specifically set to illustrate the themes covered in the lecture. This series will focus on high level decisions and discuss hand evaluation, deciding how high to bid and how which seat you are in and the vulnerability should influence your choices.

The details are as follows:

• Tuesday Mornings 10-45am until 12-00pm (allowing plenty of time for lunch if you wish to stay on to play in the afternoon session)
• Tuesday 13th May, 20th May, 27th May and 3rd June
• Cost is $10  and will be charged through MyABF or by cash on the day if you prefer
• Players can attend either in partnerships or as individuals

CBC Working Bee 

Volunteers are needed for general outside gardening and cleanup, rail painting plus various jobs inside of the club. Bring gloves and garden tools. Please come and help us out for just half an hour or the entire 3 hours!

• Saturday 17 May 9am to 12pm

Any questions contact the managers at the club or Nick Vonthethoff on 0429 208 222. 

Mentoring in May

Mentoring in May has started! Mentees, please fill out a pink slip and hand it to the director along with the normal table slip. Your mentor's session will be charged to your account at the same rate as your usual table fees.

Upcoming Events

Doubleshot Pairs

The next day time red masterpoint event will be the Doubleshot Pairs, to be run for three consecutive weeks on Saturday afternoon sessions.

• When:  1pm Saturday 17, 24 & 31 May

Winner will be the pair with the highest percentage who have played in all 3 sessions with the same partner.

Even if you don't play all three sessions red points will be awarded and then additional points will also be given for the top third of the overall field.

No need to book, usual table fees apply

Australian Bridge Novice Pairs

The Australia-Wide Novice Pairs has a rich history that goes back more than 30 years, bringing together thousands of players from all around the country.
Each player will receive a souvenir booklet on the day, describing our recommendations for how the bidding and play should have gone. After the results are in, there will also be a second personalised booklet available later on the web page, looking at every board to see how your bidding and play compares against our recommended results.

• Tuesday 27th May - 1pm
• This competition is open for players with 100MP or fewer as at 31 March and will only be run in the B grade section during the normal Tuesday 1pm DUP session
• No need to book as this will be a walk in event
• Entry will be subsidised by the CBC so normal table money will apply.

Red Masterpoints will be awarded to all pairs scoring over 52% along with various prizes if you qualify for specific achievements, please refer to the posters on our noticeboard for further details.

GNOT Qualifying Gold point Events

The next Gold point Event will be on: 

• May 21, 28 Wednesday evening - 7:15pm

No need to book as this will be a walk in event during the normal Wednesday evening duplicate Session, normal table fees apply.

RESULTS

The winners of the Autumn Butler Pairs Tuesday night competition are:

• IAN ROBINSON / GEORGE KOZAKOS

Lighter Moments

I've been hearing  some wild rumours that last week one of our directors was so disgusted with the bridge hand she was dealt whilst playing at the Great Barrier Reef congress that she threw all her cards up in the air, shoved the table and in her haste to get away, fell and broke her arm! Nearly didn't want to check the journalistic accuracy of this very feasible story, but here is what really happened according to Bricet Kloren:

" Yes, we were coming first in the teams on Saturday. I fell on my way to the venue on Sunday morning. Was a bit distracted (pain) most of the morning (so lost two sessions) and then at lunch time a doctor told me the arm was broken and I should get an X-ray and have it set. BUT he said you can do that after the bridge this afternoon. I took two Panadol and then went to the hospital (won one and lost one). Came back on Monday with my cast (won two) and finished sixth. So do think we would have done better but for my silly arm!"

Hope your arm mends quickly Bricet! Have a great week everyone. 

Elizabeth