| Country Teams Zonal Final Report September 2025 |
The Country Teams Zonal Final (Hunter and Central Coast) was held at Tomaree Bridge Club on Sunday 7th September, co-ordinated and Directed by John McIlrath. While around 10 teams were originally expected, the number dwindled to 6, with withdrawals from the 2 Newcastle teams due to unavailablility and illness. Clubs represented included, Central Coast, Charlestown, Cessnock, Maitland, Muswellbrook and Tomaree. The format was 5 nine board matches with 3 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.
Charlestown was represented by Colleen Wilson, Jody Swaine, Deanna and John Stuart who drew the very strong Central Coast team first up. We were soundly beaten by 45 imps, having no answer to the very accurate bidding and play of Di Coats, Sharon Mayo, Sally and Jan Clarke. Our next opponents were the Irwin Team from Maitland against whom we had a comfortable win by 39 imps. Our 3rd match was against the Muswellbrook Team which we also managed to win despite the opposition making a small slam which we failed to make and a nonvulnerable sacrifice in 5 hearts going down 500 doubled when the vulnerable game was not bid at the other table.
At lunch we had 2 wins under our belt and had improved our position from 5th after the first match to 4th!! After lunch we played Cessnock and were able to record another win with 2 swings away from us countered by 3 in our favour. The 21 imps brought us into 3rd position and our last match was against the strong Tomaree Team who beat us easily in the recent GNOTs. We had a small win by 6 imps mainly based on a North South game that was taken off by our East West pair.
So we finished up in 2nd position, a satisfying end to a good day's bridge. Unfortunately we had to decline the offer of proceeding to the finals as the committment of playing on-line for 2 and a half days (Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday) in November on Real Bridge was too daunting for most of us. If the format stays the same next year, we will need to consider a team of six for the final if we make it!
John Stuart. 11th September 2025
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| GNOT Regional Final Sunday 3rd August |
The Hunter Region GNOT Final was held at Newcastle Bridge Club on Sunday 3rd August 2025. 24 teams competed from most clubs in the region including Newcastle 7 teams (including a House Team to make an even number), Maitland 6, Hawks Nest 3, Tomaree 2, Belmont 2 with Charlestown, Lake Macquarie, Tilligery, and Toronto one each. The Director for the day was Peter Peterson and the format was 6 x 9board matches. Charlestown was represented by Cheryl Pletz, Deanna Stuart, Jody Swaine and John Stuart and were seeded 7. Their first game was against Maitland 5 which was won. Next they faced Newcastle 1 which they also won bringing them into 3rd position. Their next opponents were the Newcastle House Team who played very well to win easily by 16 IMPS and push Charlestown down to 6th position. Match 4 was against another strong Newcastle Team which was won by 6 IMPS raising us to 5th. Match 5 was against yet another Newcastle team (including Jill Achurch and Alan Hemmingway). Another win was recorded by 6 IMPS and Charlestown were coming 4th with one match remaining. The first 3 placed teams would qualify for the next round so there was everything to play for. We had to play the team coming 3rd, Tomaree 1 but unfortunately we couldn't keep up the momentum and were soundly beaten by 32 IMPS, dropping us down to 11th!
The Team managed a creditable 4 wins and had a chance of qualifying going into the last round. The Tomaree team went on to qualify (with the 2 top Newcastle teams) and one of their pairs topped the pair Datums. Each of our members gained 1.44 Gold Points and we all enjoyed the day. Other Charlestown members playing included Colleen Wilson (Toronto) 7th, Linda Thomas and Margaret Vale (Belmont) 8th, Jill Achurch and Alan Hemmingway (Newcastle) 9th, Caroline Carey (Lake Macquarie), Diann Miller and Kerrie Stein (Belmont), Jenny Bissett (Newcastle).
All players enjoyed the Newcastle Club's hospitality and the day went without hitch thanks to Peter Peterson's able directing. The results can be found on the Newcastle Club's website. It seems a shame that Charlestown only sends one team when other similar clubs send more than one team. A topic for discussuion at the next committee meeting perhaps?????
John Stuart
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| Country Teams Regional Final at Tomaree Sunday 30th June 2025 |
Charlestown was represented in the Country Teams Regional Final by Colleen Wilson, Jody Swaine, Alan Hemmingway and John Stuart. There were 14 teams in the playoff with 7 moving on to the next level against the Central Coast in September. 5 clubs had qualified including Tomaree (7 teams), Maitland (3), Newcastle (2) and Tilligery and Charlestown 1 each.
Charlestown started with a loss against one of the seven Tomaree teams but then played well to record 4 consecutive wins and be in 3rd position coming into the last round when they played the Newcastle 2 team which had 3 Charlestown players, Cheryl Pletz, Diana Ellis and Christo Moscovsky (with Pam Robinson the fourth member). Charlestown were well and truly beaten on this round but still finished a creditable 4th, with Newcastle 2 scoring a standout win overall. One of the highlights for Newcastle 2 was Christo bidding and making a Grandslam when only 2 others in the room bid the small slam!!!
The format of the day was 6 eight board matches, ably directed and scored by John McIlraith. The Tomaree club provided excellent snacks and nibbles as we have come to expect. Charlestown will progress to the next level in September when we are hoping not to have to play our fellow members again. Detailed results can be found on the Tomaree bridge Club Website.
John Stuart, July 2025.
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| GNOT s at Newcastle on Sunday 4th August |
The Grand National Open Teams Regional Final was held at Newcastle Bridge Club on Sunday 4th August 2024. 24 Teams attended representing most of the clubs in the region, from Hawks Nest in the North to Belmont in the South and Maitland in the West, 9 clubs in all. Charlestown was represented by Jill Achurch, Colleen Wilson, Enza Di Stefano and Alan Hemmingway. The arrangement was 6 x 9 board matches over the day with teams playing the nearest team on the ladder after the first round.
Charlestown was seeded 12 and played Hawks Nest (Seeded 24) in the first round. They had a comfortable win, with the highlight being Jill playing 3 diamonds doubled as west on board 7 making with an overtrick to score 870, while Enza made 3 Hearts as South at the other table, total score 1010 and plus 14 imps. This brought them up to 4th position and the next match was much tougher against Tomaree 2 (Seeded 5). Charlestown lost by 11 imps and dropped to 11th to face Maitland 4 who were 7th seed. Another loss saw them drop to 14th with 2 bad boards being the difference. Now they faced the 18th seeded Maitland 2 team against whom they had a good win of 29 imps with only one negative board. So back up to 8th position and next opponents the 4th seeded team from Tomaree, with another good win by 19 imps, with no negative boards. So now for the last match with Charlestown in 4th position, pitted against the top seeded team of Newcastle 1 (Sharon and Greg Mayo, Paul McGrath and Michael Simes, all grand masters) and the expected loss by 19 imps. A valiant attempt, finishing in 7th position overall and earning more than 1 gold masterpoint for their 3 wins. In addition Jill And Alan were 8th out of 48 in the pair datums! Well done Charlestown!
Other Charlestown players at the day included Linda Thomas and Margaret Vale playing for Belmont with 2 wins (15th), Cheryl Pletz and Lesley and Charles Bowen-Thomas playing with Diana Ellis in the "House" team with 3 wins (20th), Jody Swaine partnered by Paul Rooms, with Deanna and John Stuart (Newcastle 2) finished 5th, Kerrie Stien and Caroline Carey played for Lake Macquarie and our old friend Ronnie Antill was playing for Toronto .
Ken Wilks controlled the day superbly and the Newcastle Club provided a great range of snacks to keep 96 hungry bridge players very happy. A very competitive day enjoyed by all, with the top 3 teams going on to a three day knockout on Real Bridge in September.
John Stuart 5th August 2024
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| Charlestown team Performs well in Country Teams Regional Final |
Report on Country Teams Regional Final held at Tomaree Bridge Club Sunday 30th June 2024
The Charlestown representative team of Colleen Wilson, Jody Swaine, Jill Achurch and Alan Hemmingway finished 4th out of 20 teams on Sunday at Tomaree. Teams from all over the Hunter Region competed for the right to proceed to the next round, the Zonal final to be held in September. Teams from Muswellbrook, Southlakes, Maitland, Toronto, Hawkes Nest, Tomaree, Tilligerry, Newcastle and Charlestown were represented. 10 out of the 20 teams could qualify for the next round. The competition involved 7 x 8 Board matches in Swiss Teams (teams are ranked in order of victory points after each round and play the closest team in the next round).
Charlestown started against Tomaree 4 and lost by 20 imps putting them in 17th position. Next they played Tomaree 6 and had a good win by 25 imps bringing them up to 9th. A highlight of this round was Board 9 on which Colleen and Jody held the opposition to 9 tricks in 3 hearts while Jill and Alan made 3NT vulnerable for a 10 imp swing. Next they were pitted against Tomaree 3 and won by 13 imps, followed by their biggest win of the day against Maitland 2 by 41 imps giving them almost maximum VPs (19.85, max is 20!). This placed them in 2nd position and meant their next opponents were the very strong unbeaten Newcastle 1 team (Sharon and Greg Mayo, Paul McGrath and Chris Dibley). They succumbed by 35 imps to drop to 6th, but responded well in the 6th round by defeating Tomaree 5 by 35 imps! Now in 3rd position they played Newcastle 3 in the last round suffering a 15 imp loss to finish in a very creditable 4th place and will proceed to the next round. Interesting that they played nearly all the Tomaree teams, only missing out on Tomaree 1! Charlestown finished just ahead of Tomaree 4 by a fraction of a Victory Point. The 3 Newcastle teams filled the first 3 spots.
The day was directed by John McIlraith and ran very smoothly and the Tomaree Club put on an amazing spread of snacks throughout the day. Results can be found on the NSWBA website under Country Teams Regional Finals - Hunter.
John Stuart 30th June 2024.
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| Country teams regional Final 30th June 2025 |
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