Bendigo Bridge Club
Release 2.19q
Key Messages

Tea Breaks Return

The committee has decided to reinstate 10-minute Tea Breaks into our regular Club sessions - on a 3-month trial basis - commencing Monday 25th September.  Please note that in order to ensure that sessions finish in a reasonable time, our directors will be more strictly enforcing the Round Timer clock. 

Martin Willcox Workshops at Ballarat BC

Ballarat BC are hosting a second series of Martin Willcox workshops, with the aim of fostering player advancement and social contact between clubs. The workshops are free. BYO lunch.

Where: Ballarat Bridge Club, 1001 Eyre Street, BALLARAT 3350

When & What:

Tuesday, October 3, 10:00 AM: Playing the hand
Tuesday, November 14, 10:00 AM: Playing Defence
Tuesday, December 5, 10:00 AM: TBA

2023 Australia-wide Open Pairs (Corrected)

(Apologies to Wendy & Glenda - their results were better than originally reported.)

The final results of the 2023 AWOP event are in. Congratulations to our best performed pair, Wendy Bodey & Glenda Burt (107/1477 pairs). Wendy & Glenda also managed a very creditable 41st place in the Under-300 MSP section. 

To view the results in full, click on this link: 2023 AWOP Results

Players: click your name to view your personalised results booklet

2023 Club Championship Teams

Get your teams together and register your entries for this year's Monday and Friday Club Team Championships which will take place on* (Mondays) 9th and 16th October and (Fridays) 6th and 13th October. These are red point events. Team Captains, please read the Conditions of Play document (click on the links in the Calendar) before submitting your entry. Entries will be restricted to 12 teams per event.

*Please note that these dates differ from the dates published in the 2023 Member's Handbook.

Ballarat Congress 2023

The Ballarat Congress is coming up on 9 & 10 September. Entries via Bridge Unlimited. Click on this link for details: Ballarat Congress 2023 Flyer

Lego Room Heating (Back on)

The heating in the Lego Room seems to be fixed. However, if you are sensitive to temperature variations, please wear layers so that you can adjust your clothing to keep yourself warm and comfortable.

Bridge Workshops 2023

The Education Sub-committee has organised a series of 8 workshops, aimed at Improving and Intermediate players. The workshops will be hosted by Kerry Delcourt at LGCC on Tuesday afternoons from 8 August to 26 September. Click on Education (above) for full details. 

Bridge Victoria

A link to the August BV bulletin can be found in the Bridge Musings panel below (scroll down). Includes a pic of Seb and his victorious Victorian Youth Team-mates.

Monthly Nosh & Natter

Our MN&N social dinners will resume in September.  These Thursday evening get-togethers are informal social events - a chance for members (and their spouses / partners) to have a friendly natter about... anything really, over some good pub food and drink. 

Need more details? Contact Eamon Dempsey on 0428 380 180.

2023 Ashes - Ballarat Win

The Ashes were contested for the 25th time on Saturday 22 April at Ballarat BC. Unfortunately (for us) the hosts were runaway winners and retained the trophy but congratulations to our best-performed Bendigo pair (with 3rd place overall) Ron Wescott & Barb Evans. Thank you to all our pairs that took part and a big thank you to our gracious and generous hosts. Full results are available on the Bridge Unlimited website in the Results > Victorian Congress Events section.

2022 Club Awards & Trophies

The winners of our various awards, trophies and prizes were announced at the Xmas Social. To view a full list of the winners, in the Menu sidebar (above) click on 'Membership & Bookings' then click on 'Club Competitions', then scroll down to '2022 Honour Board'. Congratulations to all our winners! 

 

Covid-19

As at Oct 2023, Covid-19 is still prevalent in the community. To keep your fellow members safe from infection, please…

  • Do not come to play if you have any symptoms, go and get tested.
  • Wear a mask when playing. A supply of disposable masks will be available.
  • Sanitise between rounds
  • Wear layers for comfort and warmth – where weather conditions allow we will be opening windows and doors to facilitate natural ventilation.
  • Stay vaccinated – 2023 booster shots are available for most of our members.
  • If you are at high risk of getting very sick with COVID-19, apply for access to anti-viral medicines that can help you stay well, or treat the symptoms if you contract COVID-19.

For further information, please visit the DHSS Coronavirus Victoria website.

ABF Promotions

Congratulations to the following Club Members on gaining promotions in their ABF Rankings

Promotions for month of August 2023

  • Polly Shaw - promoted to Club Master with 6.18 Masterpoints
  • Jan Williams - promoted to Silver Local Master with 37.6 Masterpoints
Well done both!
Seb's World Youth Championship Teams Report

Back home from Veldhoven in the Netherlands, after competing in the 18th World Youth Championships for the Australian U26 team. So, how did we do?

Well, after a long, challenging round-robin competition, we finished with 8/23 wins which landed us in 19th place.

The teams we managed to win against (the matches I played in are marked with an asterisk) were:

  • England* - they finished 18th 
  • Greece* - they finished 6th but got knocked out in the Quarterfinals 
  • Canada* - they finished 17th  
  • Germany* - they finished 14th 
  • Barbados - Finished 24th 
  • Estonia - Finished 22nd 
  • Croatia* - they finished 11th  
  • Chinese Taipei* - they finished 15th 

But we also lost narrowly to the two top teams: by -9 Imps to USA1 and by -8 Imps to the Netherlands, which was a great effort.

So, overall, we think we played well and did better than expected.

My favourite board from the event? Well, there were rather too many to choose from but I think I've got two, both listed below. If you open the link and then hover over the contract you will be able to see the auction.

We played our match against the Netherlands (the home team and eventual winners of the final) on Vugraph. It was recorded and streamed by v8mama (Vanessa Brown) with commentary from the renowned Australian teacher, Will Jenner O'shea and the great Ron Klinger. Here is a link to the stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv138h6OaII

BBC Congress 2023

Our 2023 Congress took place at the All Seasons Resort's Conservatory over the weekend of 27-28 May. We had 50 entries for the Pairs event and 16 entries for the Teams - slightly up on last year.

Leo Saoud & Bob Geyer from Moonee Valley BC won the Pairs event. Leo and Bob (along with teammates Ben Kingham & Sylvia Gluck) backed that up with a win in the Teams event.

Best Bendigo Pair, in a very creditable 10th place, were Graeme (El Presidente) Hegarty and (a credit to his mother) Scott Jackman. The Best Bendigo Pair under 50 MP prize was taken out by Glenda Burt & Wendy Bodey, and the Encouragement Award for Best Placed pair with less than 10 MP went to Veronica Parker and Tania Angove.

The Best Bendigo Team award was won by Kaye Parker, Yvonne Forrest, Rosemary Monotti & Janet Rogers.

Congratulations to all!

Full results can be found on the Bridge Unlimited website (click on the link in our 'Useful Links' menu, then Results > Victorian Congress Events).

At the invitation of our President, the Mayor of Greater Bendigo, Cr Andrea Metcalf popped in to see for herself how our congress benefits not just the players but also businesses in the Greater Bendigo area.

The congress doesn't just magically happen - many people contribute their talents and energies to bring it all together. Big thanks are due to...

Barb Evans - for venue wrangling, volunteer recruitment and coordination, and for organising the Saturday dinner at the Reservoir Hotel - which proved to be very (almost, too) popular.

Laureen Jinks and Glenis Roberts:- financial affairs, player registration and fee collection (and for filling in for a no-show pair).

David Smith - haulage; and our 'roadies' - David Conley, Eamon Dempsey, et al.

Rosemary Monotti and Janet Rogers - Logistical support

Merlyn Pritchard - Prize wrangling

Seb Wright - Congress Recorder.

Martin Willcox, who directed in his usual inimitable and entertaining style.

The management and staff of All Seasons Resort, for the excellent food and their quietly efficient service.

And to all our members who came along to play. We hope you enjoyed yourselves, regardless of results!

 

ABF launches MyABF
ABF launches MyABF

The ABF has launched a new service to members.

MyABF is the new technology platform for the ABF.  It will become your primary access to all your bridge information across Australia.

Go to the website and sign up today click MYABF

Create your own member password

To access the [Member Only] area, you need to create your own password.

If you are unable to do this, please use the [Contact Us] page under the [About Us] menu to request the web administrator to create a password for you.

Members can book a F2F session or request a partner in [Calendar] without a password. (toggle the Partner icon  to access the booking and partner icons.

Name Badges

Members are encouraged to wear their name badges at every session. This is a simple courtesy and especially important as we often have new members joining the club.

If you would like to buy a name badge please contact our Treasurer, Geoff Phelps (0411 599 431).

Cost is approximately $18, depending on number being ordered.

2023 Victorian Congresses & Special Events

Click on this link to see 2023 Victorian Congress Dates

Local club congress dates will be included in our club calendar.

Other special events are listed here: 2023 Special Events

At time of writing (Dec 2022) Covid is still active in Victoria. Check out the host club's web site for the latest information on dates, venues and playing conditions.

Results
Club Pairs
Long Gully Community Centre 7pm
Director: Seb Wright
Nationwide Pairs
Long Gully 1:30 PM
Director: Peter Goddard
Club Pairs
Long Gully 1:30PM
Director: Peter Goddard
Calendar
4th October 2023
Relaxed Pairs
Long Gully 12.30 pm
Host: Janet Rogers
6th October 2023
Friday Club Championship Teams 1/2
Long Gully 1:30PM
Please click on More Info to read the Conditions of Play document before entering.
Director: Ron Wescott
  (Bookings)
 More Info
9th October 2023
Monday Club Championship Teams 1/2
Long Gully 1:30 PM
Please click on More Info to read the Conditions of Play document before entering.
Director: Paul O'Hare
  (Bookings)
 More Info