St Anthony's Bridge Club
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If you are not on BBO and

would like to get started, 

contact 

Stanthonysbridgeclub@gmail.com

and

we will be delighted to give you a helping hand.

 

General Information


FIND-A-PARTNER

On occasions you may find yourself without a partner and as an aid to help you find one, a 'WhatsApp' messaging group has been set up for SABC members only

If you have access to a Smartphone/iPhone and use the WhatsApp application, it is great news for you

 

Róna has agreed to act as the administrator for this group and will welcome a standard Text or a WhatsApp message from you
If you are interested in availing of this useful service send your message to: 0868423491, stating your intention to join and don't forget to include your full name, Róna will take it from there.

smiley

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For details of club opening times, location, etc, check menu panel, under 'Information'

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Results
Open St Anthony's Hall
Scorer: Vanessa Timon
Open St Anthony's Hall
Scorer: Vanessa Timon
Open St Anthony's Hall
Scorer: Vanessa Timon
Open St Anthony's Hall
Scorer: Vanessa Timon
Open St Anthony's Hall
Scorer: Vanessa Timon
Open St Anthony's Hall
Scorer: Vanessa Timon
Welcome to St Anthony's Bridge Club
St Anthony's Face-to-Face Bridge

 

Face-to-face bridge takes place in St Anthony's Hall every Wednesday night.

Kirwan League

We are asking members to please come and be seated at 7.00 to enable the setting up of the game and in order to get it started as close to 7.10 as possible. 

If you are running late please let your partner or someone else know so that we can include you in the numbers when we are setting up the games. 

 

We will continue to abide by Government and CBAI regulations. We acknowledge that masks are no longer mandatory but we know our members will act cautiously and responsibly particularly if medically vulnerable.  

Covid is still around so it is important to continue to observe hygiene measures such as hand sanitising.

We trust our members sense of responsibility and expect them to stay away if they have Covid/Flu-like symptoms.

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CAVBC/ Foxbay will host online bridge on BBO on Thursday nights.

Please review CAVBC website for all BBO matters: https://www.bridgewebs.com/cavbc/

Christmas Party/ President's Dinner 30th November 2022
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After a three year hiatus of parties and celebrations, St Anthony's decided to have a double celebration this year - the President's Dinner and the Christmas Party.

We were intent on showing Marian, our president since 2019, how much we appreciated all she did for us through a very difficult time of the Pandemic and Lockdown. Her cheerful nature and positivity helped us enormously.

So it was guna nuas for the ladies and smart suits for the men and of we went to St Anne's Golf Club. A free coach was provided for those not wishing to drive.   

We ate good food accompanied by some very nice wine and sang, danced or joined in with the singing. There was even a spot prize for everyone attending.

Carol and her team in St Anne's looked after us really well and Tommy Fox provided the music.

A great night was had by all and we look forward to many more.

A special thank you to our photographers Oliver Hynes and Therese Duff and a big welcome to our new President Mary Hynes

CBAI Updated Guidance For Live Bridge - published Jan 24th 2022

As you will doubtless know, the government over the weekend eliminated many of the COVID-19 public health restrictions, so we need to update our guidance for bridge clubs in relation to holding live bridge events.

All restrictions on room capacity, closing times, and social distancing have been removed for indoor activities with immediate effect. That means that bridge games, and bridge classes, can now take place live once more in any venue. The restriction on face-masks remains in place in specified indoor settings for at least another month; the government has indicated that it will be reviewed by end-February. So our guidance remains that either protective perspex screens should be used on tables (with masks worn when moving around, but not necessary when at the table) or that face-masks should be worn throughout. We have a small number of perspex screens still in stock at the original price of €35 per table if any club wishes to buy some. Please contact us urgently, as supplies are limited. In addition, your playing room should be as well ventilated as possible, and players should be encouraged to make frequent use of hand sanitiser. And if you are planning to re-open, be sure to check that you have any necessary insurance cover in place.

The requirement for vaccination certificates to enter indoor venues has also been eliminated, and the legal position now is not entirely clear. Certainly there is no requirement any longer for a club to seek evidence of immunity (either full vaccination or recent recovery from COVID). If a club wishes to continue to seek evidence of immunity, then it is entitled to do so, but it may not be entitled to exclude an otherwise fully compliant and fully paid-up member who does not wish to provide evidence of vaccination, as this may be regarded as discriminatory. If a committee wishes to continue to limit attendance to vaccinated members, then the best course of action is probably that it should formally decide on that stance, and ask unvaccinated members to exercise their personal responsibility in the interests of the club and not attend for the moment. As ever, it goes without saying that anyone infected with COVID-19, or concerned that they might be, should NOT attend live bridge under any circumstances.

It is important to stress that the virus has not been eliminated, and that there is still some risk in meeting other people indoors, at bridge or anywhere else. The difference is that this risk is in future to be managed by a combination of vaccination and personal responsibility, rather than by government regulation. So we all still need to exercise caution, and some people will remain anxious about returning to live bridge. Indeed, there may not be a clear consensus within your club on whether or not it should re-open just yet. If that’s the case, we would ask you to respect the differing opinions: additionally, wherever it is practicable, it makes sense for a club to provide members with a choice of both live and online options, at least for the moment.

CBAI events have been arranged online until the end of February and it is not feasible to reinstate live venues for any of those events at this stage. So everything up until then will be held online as advertised. Thereafter, our fundamental preference would be to revert to live competitions assuming our intended venues can accommodate us. However, that all depends on members in sufficient numbers wishing to play live at that time (and in some cases travel to do so) to make the competitions viable. So we will be trying to gauge the appetite for a return to live CBAI competitions before making definite decisions, and would welcome hearing your views. Again, it is likely that there will not be a clear consensus on which approach to take, so apologies in advance if the one we ultimately choose is not your own preferred option.

Letter from new President of CBAI, Dermot O'Brien, 11th Nov 2021
Letter from new President of CBAI, Dermot O'Brien, 11th Nov 2021

Dear Club Secretary,

First of all, I am honoured to have taken over from Paul Porteous within the CBAI. Thanks to all the members who have sent me good wishes, and of course to Paul for all he has done for Irish bridge.

Clubs Returning to Live Bridge

Who would have thought back in March 2020 that some twenty-one months later we would still be dealing with the fallout of the COVID pandemic, and all the uncertainty that it has created? The good news is that we now have a number of clubs back to live bridge. Attendances have been small in some cases, but we have reports of some bigger gatherings. Anecdotally, the leader so far is the Crannog club in Cavan, with twenty tables one night. (If you can do better, please let me know.) The honour of being the first congress to return to live bridge goes to Drogheda, with an extremely well-run four-day event in the ABCD Centre in early-October. And we recently held our first live CBAI event since February 2020, the Duais an Uachtarain in Cork.

More clubs are planning to reopen in the weeks ahead, while others tell us they are likely to wait until after Christmas. The increase in COVID cases has understandably made many people more cautious.

The recent government announcement did not make any changes to the regulations for indoor events. Our guidance to clubs thinking about reopening therefore remains unchanged - all participants should be fully vaccinated, the playing room should be well-ventilated, players should avoid congregating and use hand sanitiser regularly, equipment sharing should be kept to a minimum, and some protective measure should be in place. Our recommendation on the latter is protective perspex screens, but if those cannot be used for any reason, then players should wear facemasks throughout. If the screens are in use, then masks are required on entry/exit and when moving around, but not at the table. Obviously, the guidelines are subject to change; we monitor the public health guidance continuously, and will keep clubs informed of any developments.

We completely understand that some members, and some clubs, are cautious about returning to live bridge, and no-one should feel under any pressure to return if they don’t wish to do so. Online bridge has been a godsend, and it has many appealing aspects, especially on a rainy winter’s night. On the other hand, the longer we go without the live game, the greater the danger that it might wither away, so there is a balance to be struck. And of course, some members are not playing online, and their preferences need to be considered. Finally, some clubs may find themselves unable to use their previous premises. If yours is one of them, we suggest that you contact your regional committee in the first instance to see if they can help.

Affiliations

We took the decision last season not to lapse any clubs or individuals, given the prevailing conditions, even where affiliations were not paid. We are hoping that this season will represent a return to something closer to normality, given that it should be possible for most clubs to open at some stage during the season. So we would like clubs to affiliate ALL their members this season, not just those active online. We have offered the early bird discount again this year, so the fee for affiliations received up to 30 November is once again reduced to €10. Thereafter it will revert to the standard €12.50. If you have already submitted your affiliations, thank you very much; if not, please send in your forms, and fees, as soon as you can.

We also indicated that if it transpired that a club had made an overpayment last year, based on estimated numbers, we would give credit for it against this season’s affiliations. We would ask clubs to be reasonable with such requests; our affiliation fees, which are our main source of revenue, fell substantially last season, and the Association only broke even for the accounting year to end-April because we availed of temporary government wage supports when our offices were closed for business. Clubs with online activities, on the other hand, had revenues but little or no costs, and many made substantial surpluses. If yours is one such, perhaps you’d consider NOT requesting the set-off on the basis that our need is greater than yours at the moment.

Teachers & Tournament Directors

We are conscious that we have not had any new teacher or Tournament Director courses since early 2020, and we plan to remedy that as soon as possible. If any of your members are interested in either role, let us know and we will add them to our contact list.

President’s Award

The annual President’s Award recognises the unsung heroes of local and regional bridge. Congratulations to last year’s worthy winner, Danny Liddy, whose huge contribution to bridge in and around Ennis was highlighted in his nomination.

We are currently seeking nominations for this season’s award. If you would like to nominate someone who has made a difference for bridge players in your area, please contact us for a nomination form. The closing date is for nominations is 20 December.

Keep in Touch

One thing that became clear during the pandemic is that the more ways you have of keeping in touch with people, the better. With some clubs completely inactive, it was difficult to be sure that any messages or updates were getting through to members. As a result, we would encourage everyone to keep in touch with us via our website (www.cbai.ie) which is now much more pro-active than was previously the case, and also via our Facebook and Twitter accounts. Full disclosure – like many bridge players, I suspect, I am not personally a big user of social media. But there is no doubt that these channels have their place, and they certainly came in very handy during lockdown.

I am looking forward to working with all of you, and your clubs, to try to weather the current storms and ensure that Irish bridge continues to run smoothly. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on things we should be doing, or could be doing better, I’d be delighted to hear them.

Yours sincerely,

Dermot O’Brien

Chief Executive

Contract Bridge Association of Ireland

 

 

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR)

GDPR and how does it affect me at SABC

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a new EU regulation which came into effect on 25 May 2018.

GDPR updates existing data protection laws and places greater accountability and transparency obligations on organisations, when using a member's personal information. 

It gives the individual greater control over their personal information.

Important Notice

The CBAI have circulated a renewal Membership Form for each Bridge Player in Ireland to complete and these will be distributed to all Members.
This form will give both the CBAI & SABC permission to use your data (i.e. the personal details you put into the form) to contact you, should the need arise and to manage your Master Points and Grade.

Without the completion of this form, your membership cannot be recognised

For further information, please contact the Club Secretary, at:

stanthonysbridgeclub@gmail.com

 

Remembering our deceased members

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Fondly thought of and remembering our longtime and loyal members who passed away in recent times

May we extend our condolences to their families, friends and fellow club members


Carol Scanlon - 10th January 2023

Noreen Murphy - 4th January 2023

Helena O'Rourke - 16th December 2022

Kathy Conneely - 18th October 2022

Andrew Smith - 12th May 2022

Maureen Matthews - 7th January 2022

Mary Callan - 22nd August 2021

May Hamilton - 19th August 2021

Mary O'Donoghue - 21st October 2019

Tim (John) Healy - 20th April 2019

Nora Downey - 9th September 2018

Pauline Gannon - 9th September 2017

Austin Moran - 20th August 2017

May they rest in peace

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St Anthony's Hall

 

Kirwan League
Kirwan League

Well done to all the teams who took part in the  Kirwan League 2021/22

Inter A's

Marian Flood, Marcella O'Donohue, Gladys Greene, Maria Callinan.  Subs Andrew Smith and Lorraine Maxwell

Inter Bs

Mary Hynes, Peadar Buckley, Deirdre Diamond, Francis Ryan. Subs Orla Murnane and Ray Wall.

Vanessa Timon, Mary Byrne, Kathleen Briody, Una O'Byrne. Subs Derry Peacock and Jim Stokes


Congratulations to last year's Novice Team who won the Kirwan League Novice Section on Saturday 29th May 2021 🏆

The team members were:  Gerry Creighton, John Hynes, Orla Murnane and Ray Wall

Happy 90th Birthday Kitty

             

CBAI - Cheating at Online Bridge

CBAI have published a document regarding cheating at Online Bridge.  You will have received from Gladys by email.  They ask that every member confirms they have received and read this document so please respond to Gladys' email.  Thank you!

CBAI - Cheating at Online Bridge.pdf

 

Calendar
14th June 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00
21st June 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00
28th June 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00
5th July 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00
12th July 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00
19th July 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00
26th July 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00
2nd August 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00
9th August 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00
16th August 2023
Open St Anthony's Hall
19:00