Newsletter 01 May 2025

In our newsletter this week...

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

President's Message  

Welcome back Elizabeth!  We are very happy to see you back looking refreshed and recharged after your holiday!  Thanks (again) to Steve for holding down the fort  in your absence 😊

- Mary

Calendar Update

Please note that the club has updated the scheduled dates for all the Gold Master pointe events GNOT qualifier events since we last published our calendar.

The following dates are printed below, the list is also available at our website and posted on the club noticeboard.

The existing calendar will still apply for all the non gold point events as previously scheduled.

Schedule:

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

New Members

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

• David Hudson
• Danielle Hyndes
• Carlin Bruce

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

2025 ACT Open Team Selection Event

On weekend of 10/11 May an event to select the ACT Open team for 2025 will be held. Details and entry in MyABF (in Calendar view select State=ACT).

All pairs who are members of a BFACT affiliated club are encouraged to enter.

• Click here to Enter

Kieser Pairs

The next day time red masterpoint event will be the Kieser Pairs, to be run for three consecutive weeks on Friday morning sessions.

• When:  9:30am Friday 2. 9 &16 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

A series of Grand National Open Teams pre qualifying events played for 2 weeks in each regular Duplicate and RealBridge session between May and August. These feature Masterpoint awards at Gold Point level. The first event will be on:

• Monday morning 5th and 12th May (F2F at the club).

No need to book as this will be a walk in event during the normal Monday 10am Duplicate Session, normal table fees apply.

Lighter Moments

This week many people at the club asked me how I found Vietnam, my response being: I enjoyed it tremendously! The food is lovely, the people are beautiful and I had lots of adventures most of which manifested in the form of crossing the roads.
My favourite location was the old town in Hoi An, where like every tourist I did the boat ride and released my lit lantern in the water wishing for health, luck and prosperity.
Our travel guide was a lovely chatty girl by the name of Tu who was refreshingly open about many aspects of the Vietnamese culture. She told our group all about herself and how unusual it was for a Vietnamese at her age to be unmarried.
"So, you all know what this means right? " - She said: " If I don't like you, I just dump you." - not what you want to hear from your guide in a foreign country but seemed to have the desired effect, our group were all in their best behavior.
Upon finding out that I was Korean, Tu said that she had been to Korea many times and was fully aware that all the Koreans really loved Starbucks coffee. Well, I wasn't one such person, as Canberra makes the best coffee in the world my coffee taste is at least Doubleshot or D’lish standard; but nevertheless, every location we went she kept pointing out to our family where the nearest Starbucks coffee shop could be found. Didn't have any Starbucks coffee in Vietnam but must say that the Egg coffee in Hanoi was really good, it has an interesting texture which at the right temperature is quite creamy.
Anyway, at end of the tour I told Tu that she'd done an excellent job and that I thought her English was impressive. She graciously accepted the compliment and then added:
"Your English is OK too, (you) just need to practice a bit more pronunciation!"
So, I am back to practice my pronunciation with you all.

Have a great week everyone.

Elizabeth