April has been a busy month at the club, with a very successful Swiss Teams Congress as well as the Autumn Individual competition, which provides a lovely opportunity to play with a few different people other than your regular partner.
Saturday 5 March is our annual Bridge For Brains Day. Along with clubs all over Australia, we donate the session proceeds and raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research - please join us and help this important cause.
Another national event happening in May is the Australia Wide Novice Pairs. Come along on Friday 25 May and see how you fare against novice players across the country - a fun event and you receive a booklet of all the hands played that day, with an analysis of bidding and play.
Hans van Weeren won the 2018 Autumn Individual with a late charge - a mammoth score of 68.41% yesterday, the final Monday. This is all the more impressive as he only played three of the possible four weeks due to his expected partner having to pull out for one of the weeks - so he was not able to drop a poor score.
This is a repeat performance for Hans who also won the 2017 Autumn Individual - and continues his strong results across a range of events.
Hans won ahead of Vivien Eldridge and Anne Small. You can download the full results.
Peninsula travelled to the 2018 Central Coast Super Congress on 23-25 March. And we had some success, notably Marieta Borthwick and Annegrete Kolding were runners-up in the Restricted Swiss Pairs.
Other results to mention include Marieta and Annegrete teaming up with Heidi Colenbrander and Ray Hurst to come 8th equal in the Restricted Teams, and Carolyn Dowling, Chris Duggin, Lori Neville and Yvonne Perkins coming 15th in the Open Teams. Congratulations to those members.
Hopefully a photo is to come.
The Tuesday session on 3 April stopped to wish Heather Roseby a happy 90th birthday!
The cake was lovely and accompanied by some spectacular fragrant flowers.
And the 14 table bridge game was as competitive as always!
An unofficial photographer (Cath Whiddon) captured Betty Bevins being congratulated for a significant birthday on Tuesday 18 April.
The photo shows Betty with her partner Amanda Hickey and session director Vickie Busteed.
Betty, who joined a beginners class at the club in 2011, commented that "bridge has become the joy of my life".
Come and take advantage of the great learning opportunities when Liam Milne and Susan Humphries visit the club on Tuesday 22 May.
Liam is a professional bridge player and teacher who placed 9th in the 2014 World Open Pairs. Since then he has represented Australia internationally in the Bermuda Bowl, and his recent national successes include the 2017 Gold Coast Teams and GNOT. Susan Humphries is a many-time New Zealand international representative who was part of her country's historic qualification to the round of 16 at the last World Bridge Games. She recently won the trials to determine the NSW Women's Team for 2018.
Liam and Susan will be:
Most players will have noticed the kitchen bench re-organisation. Here is the story:
For our large sessions, particularly Wednesday and Friday afternoons, members have been reporting two problems: congestion and running out of hot water during the afternoon tea break.
The problem of running out of hot water is that the two bench-top hot water dispensers can in fact run out of boiling water in large session afternoon tea breaks and then take half an hour or so to reheat. The problem with congestion was exacerbated with players needing to be at the bench to collect a cup, choose their tea or coffee, then fill their hot water and finally add milk if they choose.
On Monday 30 April Logan the plumber visited the club. Not for the first time. The problem was a blockage in the left hand hot water sink drain. Again not for the first time...
Logan identified the problem as a build up of coffee dregs and tea leaves in the drain. Not for the first time here either.
Can we all please avoid rinsing dirty cups in the two hot water dispensing sinks - they are not designed as or intended to be kitchen sinks! If a cup should need rinsing before going in the dishwasher please use the main kitchen sink. And if you spot someone else rinsing a cup in a hot water dispensing sink, please politely ask them not to - and ask them how they could possibly have missed this important article!
