Commencing November 10th a total of 10 teams entered The CBF Cup teams competition.  After a process of elimination over the following weeks we are delighted to announce that the Ria Team from our club ZENON emerged as the winners with players from The Monarch Team, Paphos, as runners up.  The Ria Team are : Ria, Valantis, Errikos and Carol.  The Monarch Team : Alan, Marie Leishia and Ian.  Thank you to all the participating teams in making this a successful event

Please note that as from Monday 23rd October 2023 we are relocating to the Gorgona Restaurant, Tasou Mitsipoulou 145, Makenzy Beach, Larnaca

Move "mouse" over thumbnail to change

Zenon hosted a CBF Gold Points event on the 24th September at the Ballroom in Larnaca.  Participants came from Paphos / Nicosia / Limassol and of course Larnaca.  Many congratulations to the winners Brian Twigger and Neil Esslemont from Paphos, 2nd place Errikos Leonidou and Efthymios Strouthos from Larnaca and Kyriakos Panayiotis and Themis Rouvis from Lefkara in  3rd place.  Thank you to the organisers, all the participants and of course the Ballroom staff for making this a pleasant and smooth running event.

The Chair would like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Auditors Drs Jean & Paul Smith and Louis Christofi for their contribution over the years in ensuring  the smooth running of the club finances.  We would also like to express our gratitude towards Deborah Hooper and Sotiris Aristidou for stepping up and agreeing to take over the reins of the role of the Auditors.  Duly proposed, seconded and agreed at the AGM and will be correctly minuted according to the ZBC Memorandum of Articles.

• 

  Chrysopolitissa Church
• 

  Friendship Circle
• 

  Phyloptochos Chrysopolitissa
• 

  Syssitio Larnaka

With the advent of the corona virus  the Larnaca Zenon Bridge Club, like other sporting clubs, found itself restricted from holding its regular in-person games.  Those of you who are fans of bridge will understand that this situation is untenable for a true bridge affectionato.  Thus, taking an attitude of can-do, Errikos Leonidou, Treasurer of the Cyprus Bridge Federation and Zenon club member, proposed to Kathryn Andreas, Zenon Chairperson, that members bring out their laptops and organise virtual bridge games via the Bridge Base Online platform.  The feenormally paid to play live bridge would be recorded for each person playing, and eventually the amount collected would go to charity.  This idea was put into practice and the on-line bridge games have proved to be a huge success, indeed a real “life-saver” for many members.  

The Zenon Club chose to support the charities mentioned below.  Our criterion in choosing the charities was that any money donated would go directly to those in need and not get funnelled into administrative expenses. Each charity was to receive 1000 Euros. All charities have provided invaluable support to people in need, and this was particularly evident during the Covid-19 crisis.  On our visit to each of these charities, we were humbled and impressed by the dedication of the volunteers and their determination to reach out to the greatest number of people in need.

Phyloptochos Chrysopolitissa  Euro 1000 -was set up by Archbishop Makarios in 1948 during a period of extreme hardship for Cypriots.  The charity aids those with life-threatening illnesses by providing funds to purchase non-free medicine or for treatment.  It assists poor students and orphans and will give exceptional funds in order to meet urgent needs (i.e. unable to pay utility bill or rent).  It is also a tradition of the charity to extend financial aid to those in greatest need at Easter and Christmas.

Friendship Circle  Euro 1000 - was established in 2008 to support children and adults with special needs, as well as to their families.  Volunteers will make hospital care visits, go to children’s wards dressed as Peppa Pig or Spider-man and distribute toys and other gifts.  During this Covid-19 crisis, they are now extending support to those who are vulnerable or alone.  Currently the charity provides over 1000 hot meals a day.  Home kitchens and restaurants are volunteering to create meals six days a week.  In addition, the charity hands out boxes of food, clothing and essential supplies.  Their thrift shop, Kindness in Cyprus, located in Larnaca, currently supports over 70 families.

Ayios Spyridon  - Euro1000   A Special Needs School for students up to the age of 21. The Parent's Association is currently aiming to raise Euro18 to purchase a school bus.  This selfless, hardworking group of volunteers works tirelessly to increase awareness and raise money to support initiatives aimed at enriching the lives of the students. 

St Helena's Church – Euro1000  Two Initiatives

a) Human trafficking  Heather Lewis (President of Oasis) and Anne Futcher (Minister of St Helena's Church) jointly propose running a programme for women locally at risk of trafficking, in order to keep them safer.  This would include asylum-seekers, refugees and possibly migrant workers. They would hope to include some other churches locally who would be interested in working with them and also provide childcare while the programme sessions are taking place.  There may also be the potential to link up with work begun with a very small group of abused women elsewhere in Larnaca 

b) Socially Isolated / Lonely The risks associated with social isolation are comparable with that of cigarette smoking and other medical and psychosocial factors - knowledge and understanding of the impact  of being lonely / socially isolated is limited.   However, St Helen's ran a programme pre Covid which proved successful, a welcome break for all who attended.    The aim is to use a small proportion of the funding to a) re: ‘kick start’ the afternoon teas that pre-Covid were held at St. Helena’s to support those locally who are isolated/in need.  A number of people would come with their carers and it provided a valuable respite for them; and /or b) providing awareness-raising sessions on key issues of pastoral care such as dementia, loneliness; mental health; spotting human trafficking  - again something that proved valuable in the past.   

Syssitio Larnaka  (soup kitchen)   - Euro1000.  For 13 years Stalo Voniati and her group of volunteers have organised hot meals, bread, fruit, and cakes to 350 families 1200 meals 5 days a week.  An amazing group of people again working tirelessly for the community in need

PASYKAF – Euro 800  From Thursday's Larnaca Bridge Club The Cyprus Cancer Registry, records 3,600 new cancer cases and 1,320 cancer deaths each year. Most of our lives have been touched by Cancer, including members of our Bridge clubs  PASYKAF’ s goal is to reduce the number of cancer cases and this is the reason why emphasis is placed on prevention and early diagnosis which are considered the essential pillars for the management of the disease

Once again our special thanks to Errikos for running the BBO games several times a week.

Those from the Zenon Bridge Club who visited the above charities and spoke with those involved were touched by their repeated expression of gratitude for our small donation.  In all honesty, it is rather we who should be grateful to them for the gifts they are giving to those in need.  The gifts of kindness, of empathy, of tireless energy to those in need are given from the heart.  Combined with the financial and material offerings distributed by the charities, all of these are worth much more than we were able to give to these charities.

Committee Meeting  Tuesday 21/07/20

Zenon Bridge Committee met via Zoom for the first time since December due to Covid 19.

We all owe much to Philippos Frangos, President of the CBF and Errikos Leonidou for managing regular games on BBO.  I would also like to add thanks to Ian Hines, Brian Twigger and Frosso Tillyris for the team work involved in setting up the interclub BBO games.  Zenon entered two teams in the event and performed quite credibly.  Congratulations to the winners Beauties and the Beast.  Hopefully we can engage in Pan-cyprian events in the future.

We have a new committee member,  Mike Hooper replacing Suzanne Melas who has taken up a position with Ayios Andreas club.  Nicos Nicolaou will become our CyBF representative.  Positions to be ratified at the next AGM.

Congratulations to Carol Anderson. Winner.

zenonbridgeclub

Under the Tuition of Errikos Leonidou and Carol Anderson (not pictured) 1st year students Chryso, Nico, Sotiri and Mania received their certificates, congratulations to you all.

Dear Members,

I’m sure we’re all delighted by the performance of Suzanne and Costas. Their percentage of  which put the Zenon Bridge Club in 12^th position out of 814 pairs playing for 59 Clubs in 12 countries.  Other notable performances were by Diana and her partner (modesty forbids me to mention his name)  in 118^th position and Mike and Myrna who topped our EW positions in 123 position.

Other members I spotted flying under the false flag or the Kyle of Lochalsh bridge club were Sara and Robert Spode who managed a creditable 51.36%

Many thanks to Kathryn for taking the initiative to try this and I hope there is interest in participating again.

Iain Dowell, Secretary

• 

  1. Ready for the off
• 

  10.
• 

  11.
• 

  12.
• 

  13.
• 

  14.
• 

  15.
• 

  16.
• 

  17
• 

  19.
• 

  2. Sotiri our 1st member to finish
• 

  20
• 

  21
• 

  3. Tina - our 1st lady past the post
• 

  4.
• 

  5.
• 

  7.
• 

  8.
• 

  9.

In order to promote Zenon within the Larnaca community, gain publicity for our club and Bridge - we fielded a team of 37 people in the Radisson blu Larnaca Marathon 2019.  There were over 9000 entrants.  The atmosphere was electric, and the camaraderie amongst our multi national members was heartwarming.  Thank you to everyone that participated.  A great day to remember.