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| Her Majesty Thanks the Queen of Clubs! |
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The Queen's longstanding Lady in Waiting Mary Morrison has written to us care of Mrs A Middleton expressing Her Majesty's gracious thanks for the Diamond Jubilee congratulations card which Andrea sent to her on behalf of ABC.
"The Queen is deeply grateful for the messages of support and encouragement she has received throughout her long reign," writes Mrs Morrison. She thanks us all for our kind thoughts for Her Majesty in this historic year.
What's the betting that ABC was the only bridge club in Britain to send HM personalised congratulations and receive a letter of thanks for it? Does that make us the Queen's bridge club By Royal Appointment? If Her Majesty gets bored on her next visit to Sandringham perhaps she might care to join us for an entertaining afternoon at the bridge table.
Now who amongst us has got the nerve to issue that invitation?
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| Welcome to Afternoon Bridge Club |
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| Hog Roast All Day |
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It was rave reviews all round when ABC ran its first Hog Roast All Day - as requested by our members in the recent survey.
"Totally delicious," said Sue Hutchings. The attractive presentation got the thumbs up from husband Paul. "You went the whole hog," he said. "Lovely to have so many salads," said Hazel. Mal wanted to know if we could do it all over again next week? "But not today", said Graham. "I'm full."
"The tea urn was a brilliant idea," said Masuma - referring to the fact that people could help themselves whenever they liked during the afternoon. And Aase Simpson, who caters herself for an annual charity bridge day, gave it ten out of ten. "It's brilliant to come out and enjoy it and not be responsible for the food!" she said.
Oh, do you want to know who won? Of course you do. Congratulations to John Harrison and Nawal Fenwick who came top NS with 61.11% and Peter Smith and Jill Innes who scooped the top EW spot with 63.26%.
Hao Clayton mounted a display of her Washi eggs and home-made carrier storage bags which she sold to raise funds for Cancer Research UK in memory of ABC member Anne Short. The appeal raised £77.50, which has been forwarded to the charity.
It was exceptionally hard work for the catering team as Anglian Water kindly switched the taps off without warning immediately after lunch, so they were forced to wash up by hand using bottled water, rather than use the Costessey Centre's industrial dishwasher. It took until half past five to clear up the kitchen!
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| An EBU Visitor to Norfolk |
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EBU Club Liaison Officer Andrew Urbanski visited ABC as part of his whistle-stop tour of Norfolk, during which he dropped in and played at several venues.
“The idea is to get feedback from the grassroots organisation,” he said. “Sometimes people think of the EBU as purely international, but there are 600 clubs round the country and we need to know if there’s more we can do for them.”
Andrew said that the EBU’s international players are doing well but it is equally essential to bring on new talent and encourage younger people into the game. He was impressed that ABC is focused on teaching– and encouraging students to join the club.
“Clubs with good teaching programmes do well and those which don’t are struggling,” he said. And he added that the EBU is totally committed to training new bridge teachers – with over 200 having successfully passed through their training course in the past three years.
He suggested that ABC might consider organising seminars to enable Norfolk’s best players to share their expertise with club members.
In discussion, Andrew agreed that, with hindsight, the EBU should have involved the clubs more when setting up Pay to Play. But, as Roger Amey pointed out, the EBU had lost 10% of its membership over 10 years and something had had to be done.
Andrew said he thought P2P was good value for money for EBU members. “You get stuff,” he said. “If you think about it, any specialist magazine now costs at least £4 which makes English bridge six times a year worth £24.”
After which he sat down to enjoy an afternoon’s bridge, partnering County President and ABC member Mary Smith. They didn’t come top. Roger Amey and Gabriel Ip did. Mary has asked me to point out that she and Andrew didn’t come bottom either!
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| ABC Spring Handcap results |
 It's official - you can't keep the top pairs down no matter how hard ABC Competitions Secretary John Bradley tried to rig the odds with his brand new Spring Handicap!
Despite John's best efforts Nigel Block and Lena Taylor came top with 54.6, even with their -3.4 handicap, and Sue Hutchings and Hazel Tindall were runners-up with 53.9 and a -3.7 handicap.
But it was a splendid third place for Stella Acton and Jo Vincent on 52.9 with a +3.0 handicap and an equally worthy fourth ranking for Hilary Austin and Sue Smith who achieved 52.8 with a +10.00 handicap.
This was a new event for the club and John will be running another one soon, aimed at giving the chance to shine to those who don't usually enjoy glory.
The way it worked was that established pairs, who played together 10 or more times in 2011, had their average score shown on the club partnership percentage table between 2nd March 2011 and 5th January 2012 adjusted to 50%.
Those above 50% got a negative handicap and those below were positive. Pairs who had not played 10 times received a handicap based on their individual averages for the same period.
The competition ran from 1st February to 31st May 2012 and included all ABC events held at the Costessey Centre. Anyone who played a minimum of six sessions during the time period qualified to take part.
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| We have survived the Open Swiss Teams! |
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Well done to each and every one of the 72 keen bridge players who braved the Met Office weather warning to take part in the Swiss Teams. We've got the photograph out in the snow to prove it.
Congratulations to John Harrison, Nawal Fenwick and Tom and Charles Melvin for winning the event with a stonking 108VPs - and scooping 205 MPs!
And commiserations to Robbie Roberson's team which couldn't get to us after a car breakdown in the snow - which was a great shame. They were much missed.
And a special mention in despatches for the wonderful James Tullett, who push-started six cars to get them away in the snow at the end of the afternoon.
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| Barbara Dick-Cleland and Buxton Trophy |
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ABC's very own Paul Hutchings and his partner Graham Ware scooped top spot with 63.89% in the Barbara Dick-Cleland Trophy for less experienced bridge players. It was Paul's very first county match.
"It's always pleasant to be out playing bridge in such good company - and winning is the icing on the cake," said Paul, who, it must be said, was seriously chuffed.
"But it is a particular honour to succeed in this competition because my wife Sue is a previous holder of the trophy in the distant days when she was under-qualified enough to enter. I now hope to emulate her meteoric rise to the higher echelons of Norfolk bridge!"
Slightly more experienced players competed simultaneously for the Buxton Trophy, which was won by Jane Bolton and Fiona Bradford with 59.89%
Paul's partner Graham Ware, who has just returned home from three years in Virginia, USA, was making what he hopes will be the first of many appearances at the Costessey Centre, home of ABC.
Graham originally learned to play bridge at school in London aged 11 but did not play properly until he joined the RAF in 1981.
"I have played on and off since then (mainly off) due to work commitments, but having recently retired after 31 years, I am looking forward to playing catch-up on the bridge front."
That might involve a crash refresher course in ACOL after several years of SAYC - or Standard American Yellow Card - and something called 2 over 1. From Sunday's results it sounds as if he's already cracked it.
The free of charge event on 3rd March was organised by Christine Buchanan, who roped in several senior county players to help, including Norfolk President Mary Smith who presented the trophies.
"The idea is to encourage more people to come to county events and join clubs," said Christine.
A total of 18 pairs competed in the Buxton Trophy, with 14 in the Barbara Dick-Cleland, some of whom had never played at club level before.
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| The Perfect November Outing |
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| Cake and Cava for the Queen |
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