ENID TOWNSEND

Enid was born in Edmonton in London in 1936 and died on 2 May 2025. She leaves a husband Owen and a daughter by her first marriage and 2 grandchildren and became a great great grandmother just prior to her death. During the 2nd world war her family moved to Kent but returned to Edmonton where she was schooled by nuns. 

She first started her career as an actress and appeared in many London stage productions. Tiring of this following her marriage to her first husband she then trained as an accountant in London. Having then tired of the rat race the couple moved with their children from London and bought a cottage in the Shetlands. Unfortunately, her first husband died, and it was there that she met Owen who was running a diving school locally. Tiring of the fierce-some winters they both moved to Alderney in the Channel Islands.  The couple then travelled the world together and bought a 2nd home in Florida which they alternated with Alderney for some 20 years. They first visited the TRNC in the 90’s before settling there in the early 2000’s in Karsiyaka.

Enid first started bridge with her father-in-law when in her late 20’s. Enid used to play at both the Monday Club in various locations in Girne and the Friday club in Karsiyaka which was close to her home. She was one of the few players in the TRNC who had qualified as a director (in Florida where she played in many tournaments) and this was especially useful as the local bridge clubs became more professional over the years. It was to her credit that even in her 80’s when COVID struck that she made the effort to join our online bridge club when it started in 2020. She managed to continue playing in the online tournaments for the first two years of its existence.

Many of the bridge players remember her fondly and these quotes are a selection of those left on the Islandsbc WhatsApp after learning of her death. Derek Matter recalled “I played with Enid for about two years and learnt a lot": Mark Miller "I thought the world of Enid and played with her many times”: Lalitha Scott "Enid was my guru”: Winston Yeats “Yet another loss from the old guard”: Conni Richardson “Enid was a great character”: Hüseyin Cenktaş “Lovely person and very good bridge player. Partnered her many times at Karsiyaka”: Ian Wilson “Partnered her for some time online. Ultra polite and tolerant. Only person who signed e-mails Yours sincerely"

For myself I found her forthright but with a kind heart and impish sense of humour.

A very nice funeral ceremony was conducted by Wendy - who met Enid through bridge lessons that she gave locally - at the Lapta Cemetery on Thursday 8 May and several of her former bridge players attended and were able to exchange fond memories of their interactions with Enid.

Being a somewhat recent convert to amateur journalism I did consider asking everyone at the funeral whether they would mind me taking a photo of all those present. In the end I didn’t go ahead as I heard a little voice in my ear which sounded just like Enid saying to me ‘We’re not the Royals’.

Colin Pearson

BRIDGE ON THE WEB AND FEELING SAFE IN THE TRNC

There has been a great deal of bridge activity in the last few months writes Colin Pearson. At the beginning of February, we launched our new website https://www.bridgewebs.com/islands/ which is hosted by Bridge Webs. Not only does it provide details on all our activities but allows us to analyse the results from our 3 competitions a week in much more detail. This is a boon for not just the experienced players who may thrive on this sort of detail but especially for those players who are trying to improve their play. Talking of which February also saw the launch of our Beginners training classes run by Susan Cahit on Tuesdays at the Grease Monkey in Çatalköy starting at 13:00. We currently have 5 brave souls attending most weeks. On Wednesday Tony Armstrong has reconvened the Chicago sessions which are currently attracting 2 tables. Added to this Dick Sandeman kindly donated a HandyDup electronic card dealer which allows the Monday group to play pre dealt hands.

Last December we sadly said goodbye to one of our Norwegian players Anders Nydahl. He fought a brave battle against cancer and up to the last three month was a regular player on our Bridge Base Online (BBO) Tournaments. Our condolences go out to his family. He will be much missed.

On May 15^th we are due to run our 3^rd Swiss Teams Tournament at our usual venue the Korineum Golf and Beach Resort starting at 14:00.

Our profile is on Sue Starling who coincidently has been captain of the Team that has won the first two Swiss Teams Tournaments.

Sue was first invited to come to the TRNC in 2002 by Pat Morris who lived with her husband in Belapais. Sue had previously worked with her in administration in Carreras Rothmans Laboratory and was invited again in 2003. She was given the chance to stay on permanently and this led to her eventually buying her current house in 2004 in the Turkish part of the harbour in Girne. She was very much a swallow until 2008 when she decided to base herself permanently in the TRNC. What most attracted her about the TRNC at that time was that as a single woman she felt quite safe in the country. Sue was divorced 23 years ago but describes herself as someone who is quite happy being on their own but happy to socialise when the circumstances present themselves. Up until a few years ago her main companion was her Chihuahua called Lennon who sadly died in 2020. Sue has a son who works as a Consultant Paediatrician Cardiologist specialising in Electro Physiology at Great Ormond Street London. Her other son, Joseph, is an English teacher living in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Sue first took up bridge following a conversation with her massage therapist in Snape, Suffolk around 2004 – she was put her in touch with a bridge teacher who with a small group played a simplified form of Acol bridge. Once she arrived in the TRNC, she was encouraged to join the Sele and Polar Chicago bridge tournaments.  What Sue found especially welcoming was the extensive social network that existed amongst the bridge players. Players who are no longer with us such as Maaika, Michael Raine and more recently Anders all made a big effort to involve her and improve her bridge playing for which she remains especially grateful. Sue participates in the social bridge groups that exist in Girne often led by Piers Oakley and has been one of our regulars at the Korineum Monday Bridge Club (KMBC). So far, she has resisted the delights and temptations of playing online!

Sue Starling winning the 2023 Swiss Teams

Anders playing with Sue Starling at KMBC        

Anders with his grandchild

USING THE WEB SITE TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT YOUR SCORE

I have used as an example last Saturday’s BBO online results to demonstrate the use you can make of what is on our new website. The article covers analysing a particular hand and looking up your personal matrix score.

Firstly, go to the Islands Bridge web site (Even Google Girne Bridge works for the link)

Second click on the Result page

Third – select 15 March Saturday

Islands Bridge Club

• • Where & When
  • How to Find Us
  • Committee

• • Monthly League Results
  • Annual BBO League Table
  • Hall of Fame - BBO Monthly winners

The next screen will show the Scores for the Saturday competition

Now click on your partnership to reveal the full scorecard

Now look to the righthand side of the screen and you will see the hands and with the scores at the bottom with your own partnership marked in yellow

Press Play to reveal the BBO record below

This screen tells you about the optimum contract – by selecting Play and then clicking on a contract (in this case 2NT) it reveals the impact of North’s lead (Yellow and number indicates number of tricks defenders will make e.g. Ace hearts will be the only trick the defence will make). Green and number indicates the number of tricks defender will make leading that card e.g. King of Clubs will produce 5 tricks for the defenders and hold the contract to 2NT’s.

If in doubt press Help button.

When you have finished with looking at particular boards close this window and go back to Play to reveal the hand again but this time instead of pressing Play as above select Results Analysis to reveal the Table below:

This table analyses what was good (Green) and not so good (Red) about your play for each board

Finally, if this isn’t all too much press Accuracy to reveal a new page and the table below

Green indicates optimal play, Orange indicates one deviation, Red indicates two or more deviations White means you didn’t play the hand or were dummy

Player Accuracy Matrix - islands 20250315_1