COMPETITION WINNERS

Congratulations go to Lesley Knaggs & Toni Sales on retaining the Laurie Swaine Trophy for being the scratch winners of the 2014 Monday pairs competition. The winners of the Jack Mullin Cup for the handicap section of this competition were Kathleen Spamer & Richard Spurr. Additional congratulations go to the team of Alison Tomkys & Leah Morley and Lesley Marsden & Alan Stone. These two pairs were drawn together as a team and went on to win the Herman Bush trophy.

YORKSHIRE LEAGUE

It has been a very good start to the Yorkshire League season with all three Hull teams winning their opening matches. In Division 2,  Hull "A" managed to beat  Bradford "B" 15-5, despite Bradford fielding an international player, (Sarah Teshome). In Division 5, Hull "B" had a good 16-4 victory against Harrogate "B", whilst in Division 7 Hull "C" were 16-4 victors against Ilkley "D".

Club member Mamie Seal recently celebrated her 100th birthday. In honour of the occasion the Bridge Club held a special Sunday Social for her at which she was presented with flowers, cake and a card.

Chairman’s Report

After much waiting, it appears that the repaired wall is now ready for redecoration, so we should be able complete an upgrade of the downstairs playing area in the near future.

I am pleased to report success for our teams over the last year in the Yorkshire Inter-Cities competition. Teams A & C both earned promotion and Team B narrowly missed out on a promotion spot. David Wilson, David Rose, Ian Cook and Mark Ballantine were all selected to play for the Yorkshire County B Team in October 2013. There was regional success for club members in the Scarborough Congress Swiss Teams which was won by Ian Cook, David Wilson, Waldemar Maciejewski & Mark Ballantine.

Penny’s classes and our practice sessions for learners have proceeded well.

We will be working to encourage more learners to participate in the Club’s regular duplicate sessions. Tim Prior’s advanced lessons last summer were very well attended and much appreciated; so much so that I am pleased to announce that Tim will be leading a new course commencing on 27 May.

I would like to thank the Committee for their work over the year, with special thanks to Lucie Wilson for standing in as Secretary, to Toni Sales for his considerable contribution to the running of the Club and to Hazel Andersen and Lesley Knaggs for organising the Christmas party, not forgetting those who helped them. We had two resignations over the year – Howard Mulich who resigned due to ill health after many years on the Committee and James Rowe. We were very pleased that Alan Stone agreed to join the Committee as a co-opted member and is standing for election this year.

After some years as Chairman, I feel that it is time to stand down and for others to take forward the refurbishment and other important issues for the Club. I have enjoyed my time on the Committee and look forward to continuing participation in the Club.

Lester Battersby