Membership

One of our members, Helen Dunham, celebrated her 100th birthday at the end of July.  We sent her flowers on behalf of the club. 

Malcolm Dawson, A team captain for last season, has now moved house. In his short time in the club Malcolm has made a massive contribution to the club and we are indebted to him for the many changes that he has instigated.  We wish him well in the future.  He has promised that he will visit us from time to time and we look forward to seeing him again soon.

Competitions

The Summer Bridge Drive was won by Ros Barratt and Sylvia Roberts was second.

The dates for club competitions in the next twelve months are:

Criddle Cup (Pairs)                                             Monday 10 October

Children in Need SimultaneousPairs                 Thursday17 November  

Christmas Bridge Drive                                       Monday 19 December

(Gordon Grimley Trophy, Pairs)

Jubilee Bowl (Pairs)                                          Monday 23 January
           RBL Cup(Individual)                                         Thursday 9 February

Captain's Cup (Handicapped,Pairs)                 Thursday 8 March         
          Charlie HallTrophy (Individual)                           Monday14 May

Kidney Research Simultaneous Pairs                July

The Knockout Plate will run from November to April.  The form for entries will be on the noticeboard in the Cottage shortly and the closing date for entries will be 20 October.

The leading scores in this season's Stanley Trophy to date are:

Geoff Haywood                      6 points

Don James                             6

Andy Brown                            5

Pat Dunham                            5

Shelagh Rumbelow                5

David Parsons                        4

Teams

There has been a reduction in the number of teams taking part in the county leagues.  As a result, the A team will again play in Division 2 and the B team will play in Division 4.  If you are interested in playing for either team please speak to Robert Missenden (A team captain) or Colin Dobson (B team captain).

There will be a friendly match between the A teamand the B team on 13 September.

County Matters

We had three teams of four in the Samani Salver handicapped knockout tournament, which is aimed at players who have played in the Leicestershire leagues during last season. The team representing the A team won its first round match but lost in its second round match.  The other two teams, representing the B team, lost in the first round and also lost in the first round of the Samani Plate.

As part of an EBU initiative the Leicestershire County Bridge Association has set up a committee to "improve the communications and co-operation between clubs, counties and the EBU".  Dean Benton is our representative on this committee.  Dean is also Leicestershire's representative on the Regional Club committee for the Midlands.

If you have any comments on this issue that would like raised at the first of the Regional committee meetings, which takes place on 14 September, please pass them to Dean.

Tuition

We are thinking of running some form of training around September time, possibly Tuesday afternoon, or Monday afternoon. The idea is to vary it a bit from what we have done before, and maybe have, say, half a dozen sessions on different topics. These would last about an hour with a tea break, followed by a question session. There would be a small charge to cover Cottage rent.

As in previous years, Pat Dunham will be running these training sessions. Can you let him know if you would be interested (either by email to pgzdunham@tiscali.co.uk or at the Cottage). Also, could you let him know what topics you would find useful. The more suggestions we get, the more likely we can put a programme together. Just to get the ball rolling, for example we could do a session on Losing Trick Count.

Constitution

The revised constitution now appears on the website.  If you do not have access to the internet and would like a printed copy of the constitution please speak to any member of the committee.  

Annual Dinner

The annual dinner and presentation evening will take place on Friday 23 September at Willesley Park Golf Club at 7.30 pm.  The cost of the dinner will be £13 payable to Claire Lewis or Shirley White by 1 September.  Members may bring partners or spouses with them.  Those who have attended the club dinners at the golf club will know that we are looked after very well there and it is always a good night.

As a change, for this year the main course is a carvery (there is also a vegetarian option).  The full menu is shown on the website and on the noticeboard in theCottage.  

Reflections From The Table

Three issues of Reflections From The Table have been emailed to members since the last newsletter.  The subjects have been - Rules and Etiquette (the importance of knowing the rules), Defence (letting declarer lead to your winners) and Dialogue (extracting the most information from the bidding). 

Host System

The host system for Monday nightshas been working well.  Attendances on Monday evenings are now typically about 24 rather than 10 or 12 that was becoming the norm prior to the introduction of the host system.  However, we need more volunteers to be hosts on Monday evenings (just put your name down on the sheet on the club noticeboard in the Cottage). 

If youhaven't put your name down recently we urge you to do so now rather than this being left to a small number of more altruistic players.  All those who play on Monday nights benefit from this system as even those who always turn up with a partner are guaranteed playing against more players and in addition there are more MasterPoints available.

Master Point Promotions

Since the last newsletter the following MasterPoint Promotions have been announced by the EBU:

Andrew Billson            1 Star Premier Master

Phil Holdsworth           Advanced Master

Andy Brown                District Master

Colin Dobson              District Master

James Crotty              Area Master

Mary Danaher             Area Master

David Parsons            Area Master

Ann Potterton              Area Master

Shirley White               Area Master

Shelagh Rumbelow    Club Master

Bob Stokes                 Club Master   

Ian Grudgings             Local Master

Neil Roberts                Local Master

Fred Wardle                Local Master

Our congratulations go to all of the above.

Miscellaneous

The majority of members have paid their subscriptions for 2011/12.  However, there are still many outstanding and we remind you that these are now due.

There has been a major tidy-up of the cupboards in the Cottage.  Included within the tidy-up John Brown has used his carpentry skills to increase the size of the cupboards and make them useable and we thank him for that. 

George Strang