Happy New Year

Reminders of games at the club over the holidays

Wednesday December 31 evening game is cancelled.
January 1 and 2 games are normal.
Saturday January 3 morning games are cancelled due to the Toronto Tournament.
 

Games this week (December 29 to January 3):

Martin is providing a list of games for the week on the bulletin board for you review.  This section in the email blast will not be changing. 

F2F

• All games are regular games this week.

Virtual

• All games are regular games this week 

(Note:  the games where we charge extra are games where the ACBL charges an increased fee.) 
 

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Christmas Party (December 12) Overview

Everyone seemed to have a great time at the party!  Lots of food, sweets and fun.  Slight glitch with running out of wine but thanks to Nancy and John that was corrected quickly.

 

-We had 22 tables for the party.

-Money from the raffle - $400 went to the club.

-50/50 draw totaled $490.  $245 going to the Mississauga food bank and the other going to Bev Ross.

-We have two large cartons of food for the food bank.  I will not be taking the donations in until later in the week, so donations are still welcome.

-We had lots of food even though we only ordered for 80 people rather than the 92 expected.  Most people were able to take some leftovers home.  We also gave 2 trays of salad and 1 tray of rice to a local homeless shelter. 
-The sweet table was overwhelming but we managed to make a dent in it!  We have enough cookies and squares left over for games until Christmas

-Thanks to all the volunteers and raffle donors for their help.  In particular, I want to mention Louise Hamel who was instrumental preparing for the party. 

The Christmas party is one of the two events the club subsidizes for members in the year.  Your game entrance fee was paid for.  The club still covered all their cash costs and made a little bit of money (this will be used to ensure no wine shortage at the next event!). 
 

I made a small speech before the game as it is a great time to share good news and look back at the year.  I have included a short (actually not so short) summary of the speech below for those who could not attend. 

The annual table count at the end of November was just under 3400 tables (virtual and F2F).  This does not include the 90 tables from the Local Sectional.  That is 29% over the same period in 2024 and 19% over an aggressive budget.
The break down of the table count between novice, intermediate and open are as follows
                Novice (F2F)                                   10%
                Intermediate (F2F)                           22%
                Open (F2F)                                      45%
                Novice (Virtual)                                23%
 
The real story is F2F tables.  At the end of November, F2F table counts were 48% over prior year and 35% over budget.  A very positive statistic.

Virtual games remained the same.

Also, of note, in the week of December 1-6 we had 90 tables in total.  This is the highest we have had since we returned from Covid.  (there were no special games that week)
 
More positive news to report.  Our membership has risen to 245 from a norm of 220.  We are actively trying to convert the newcomers taking lessons to becoming members of our club. 
To maintain our levels of novice and intermediate players, we are:

• Ensuring we have a variety of games that these groups can attend. We also have 15 minute lessons before the game
• Participating in Rookie Master games.
• We have started Winter and Fall lessons/seminars for these groups. Teachers are Danielle, Sally and Martin.
• We have restarted the Mentor/Mentee program.  We have between 35-40 mentees in the system at the moment.  This is outstanding. 

 
Looking back at the year:

• We had a well attended memorial for John Rayner.   This will now be an annual event.
• We raised $2k in the club on the Longest Day event for Alzheimer's.  This was matched by a Club member.  In total, we raised $4k for the local chapter of the Alzheimer's association.
• We celebrated the 10 year anniversary of being a member owned club with a dinner and game.
• We won the Golden Horseshoe Tournament.  We also hosted this year with lots of positive comments.
• We celebrated the oh-so-close Blue Jays loss in the World Series.
• We held our first local sectional in November.  We had 90 tables over the two days and made a significant amount of money.  We have applied for a 3 day sectional in November 2026.  We should know the particulars in January.

I am not sure where the year will end financially as we have spent a bit of money on the club facilities this year. 
 
Wow, what a great year.  Thanks to all the volunteers and members for coming out to games, lending a hand and being a member of our club.  Congratulations to everyone!
 
Catherine
 

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Winter Lessons

Competitive Bidding (Intro 2)

This 4 week lesson series will look at pre-empts, overcalls, doubles, and their responses.
Course Starts Monday January 5, 2026 at 12:30 - 3 pm.$200 (includes Audrey Grant book)

Please contact Danielle at dsgosselin58@gmail.com to register.

Watch for an email early in the new year outlining winter seminars for novice and intermediate.

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Saturday morning volunteers

Our Saturday morning 0-50 supervised game is growing.  (Supervised games allow the players to ask question about the bidding etc.) Due to this increase,  the director is very busy with 2 games and the 0-50 asking questions.   We are going to add a volunteer to answer basic questions from the group.  This will help the players learn and keep the game going.  You do not have to be a director to do this.  You need to be an intermediate or higher.   Directors calls will still be done by the game director.  A calendar will be put up on the volunteer board for you to sign up.  Please help out on this cause.  It not only helps the novices but also the club.  

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2026 Memberships are on sale- beat the January rush
 

Cost is $70 and they are good until December 31, 2026
 

What do you get for this membership fee?

-if you play one game a week, your savings is well over $70.  If you buy a ten play card, the savings is even better.
-first access to special games and tournament information.
-first access to lessons and seminars taking place.
-2 or more free or subsidized meals with a game.  
-a club that is social, friendly and clean!

Purchases of memberships can be done through the director at your next game.

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