CAVE HILL BRIDGE CLUB
PRESIDENT’S REPORT: 2013
Welcome to the 43rd annual general meeting of the Cave Hill Bridge Club.
Once again, the year under review was a quiet one. However, it was marked by the passing of a number of our members: our oldest member, George Bailey; Fred Forde; and our long-standing Vice President and assistant director, Brenda Gonsalves. In addition we said a final farewell to Sir Carlisle Burton, Patron of the Barbados Bridge League. We again extend sympathies to the families of the departed.
The number of financial members has stabilized over the past few years; 40 members paid their subscriptions in 2012, compared to 41 in 2011 and 40 in 2010. The average weekly attendance also remained fairly constant, with an average turnout of 5.5 tables compared to 5.8 in 2011 and 5.35 in 2010. This year there were only 3 occasions when we did not have a game, two of which were the Worldwide Pairs tournament and the Sun, Sea and Slams. (We even accommodated members by holding games on December 22 and 29.) Forty-four games counted toward the Plantation Ltd Trophy; seven pairs qualified for the trophy by playing in a minimum of 20 games.
Although low membership and low attendance continue to be a cause for concern, some encouragement can be taken from the modest increase in attendance over the last 3 years compared to the preceding ten years or so when average attendance hovered between 4 and 4.5 tables.
We have continued to place our weekly results on the Bridge League’s web page.
Winners of the club’s special events in 2013 were:
Banks Pairs: Dave Blackman - Tony Watkins
Coca-Cola Pairs: Pat Cummins - Brooks Moseley
President’s Teams: Cammie Blenman - Terry Meek; Clive and Marcia Hammans
Bannister Memorial Pairs: Norma Springer - Jackie Thompson
Plantations Ltd Pairs: D Blackman - T Watkins (59.98 %)
Dave Blackman amassed 20.22 master points at Cave Hill to lead the field in that department.
Further details of the Plantations Trophy competition and the master points awarded for the year can be found on the club’s notice board.
I thank all members of the Committee of Management for their invaluable support and assistance during the year, especially Colin Depradine, who was always willing to fill in as director when requested; Secretary-Treasurer Yvonne Seale; Dave Blackman, who kindly consented to fill the Vice-Presidential post after it became vacant; and also Michael Gill, who continued to solve knotty problems imposed by the Bridgemate and Duplimate systems.
Terry Meek
President, CHB
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