Newsletter June 2019 - Internodebbclub/newsletters/2019/2019-06.pdf · books and magazines. (For more information on these, the event and FAQs please go to the above link.) MORE FROM

Ballina Bridge Club Newsletter Page| 1

Message from the President

Newsletter June 2019

- Chris McDowellHello all at BBC.

It was sad news to hear of the passing of Tom Macdonald. Tom was one of the original members of the Ballina Bridge Club in 1982. It was Tom who taught and encouraged Eric Hurley, Anne Jackson and Gary Lynn to play bridge, which Gary tells me was Tom’s claim to fame. Gary always spoke very fondly of Tom as a great teacher, mentor and friend.

Well, after so much of nothing but planning and hope, I am pleased, and relieved, to say the improvements to the driveways have begun. You may all now drive in via the new entrance to the far carpark, in fact you are very strongly advised to do so, by going via the roundabout thus avoiding crossing traffic. Soon there will be a sign saying this is the entry, and the old entry is for exit. Please all try as North Creek road is very busy and, if our traffic doesn’t hold up others by trying to turn right across oncoming cars, then we are doing

the right thing. Council is requiring us to sign our driveways entry and exit. If coming from Ballina, it might be smart to turn right one block earlier then go via the Southern Cross Drive roundabout and come back to BBC and turn left into new entrance. It will take us all some time to form new habits, but I strongly urge all members to try to comply with this new approach.

By the time you read this many of you will have been pleased to see the return of photocopied hand records at the end of play. The old photocopier, so we were told, was indeed beyond repair. A new one is now installed thanks to Paul Blanch for organising and Howard assisting with installation. Five years of warranty gives us deal of confidence and peace of mind. I hope it’s easy to drive!

At the committee meeting of May 22nd twelve new members, or was it thirteen? were ratified. Very pleasing! Rebecca attended and told us about a meeting she and

Marjorie went to with a few other clubs and the ABF’s marketing director. She was proud to report that we do pretty much all that is recommended to encourage new members and retain older ones. One extra thing that ABF suggests that we might look at is to have a club Facebook page to showcase our club to those who like to find things on this media. So, that is being considered for development as a way of publicising bridge and our club.

For all of June I will be out of Australia. I am sure you will all be pleased to be let off hearing my voice for five weeks. When I get near an internet connection, I will be checking on scores, and we will hopefully knock together a table or two of bridge while in Interlaken as there will a few members there, and we might even find the odd ‘pommy’ who plays the game.

See you in July, Chris.

Mini-bridge classes will be offered over four sessions beginning 9am Wednesday 3rd JULY and continuing until 24th JULY

Mini- bridge is a simplified form of bridge designed to expose newcomers to declarer and defensive playing techniques without the burden of learning a detailed bridge bidding system.

Mini-bridge will enable a beginner to play a simple game after four lessons and is perfect for those people who are time poor and cannot commit to a full set of lessons, or those who would like to explore the game to see if indeed they would like to learn and play the full game.

If you have any friends who you think could be interested please ask them to call Rebecca on 0438 480 942.

Announcement - Mini-bridge Classes


Play Committee Chair Report – May 2019


Marjorie AskewEvents Gone:

1. Restricted Teams Championship

Thursdays May 9 & 16: 7 teams competed. Congratulations to the winners who won all 6 of their matches over the 2 weeks: Ken Jones, Jeanette Walker, Ina Buhse and Sue Perry with 104.23 VPs. Runners Up with 77.66 VPs (and 5 wins) were: Allan Gibson, Marie Ferguson, Bill Thorne, Colin Macdonald and Robin Greenhalgh.

Many thanks to Bob Hart for directing the event; Bob had a very busy couple of weeks overseeing the Teams event as well as the Thursday Pairs event running in parallel.

Thanks too to Harcourts for sponsoring our Teams Championships this year.

2. McDermott Cup

Sunday May 19 @ Lismore: Our team were unfortunately not able to defend the title won in 2018 and finished 3rd. Twin Towns took out the Cup and apparently had a win for the first time in the 26 year history of the event – Well Done Twin Towns. Thanks to the following for representing Ballina:

Open: Liz Jeffery & Howard Jeffery, Judy Forsyth & John Paynter

Restricted (<150mpts) Margaret Faulks & Wendy Doyle, Damien

Kennedy & Aida Kennedy

3. State Mixed Pairs

May 25-26 @NSWBA Sydney: Some ‘mixed results’ in this mixed event! Two of our Pairs qualified for the Country Final; Bill Powell and Marjorie Askew finished 6th, just ahead of Paul Smith and Carol Hocking 7th.

4. Australia Wide Novice Pairs

Thursday May 30: 14 Pairs competed in the event. (Sorry there was a mis-type in my email sent out a couple of days before the event with a ‘4’ instead of ‘14’.)

Results Australia-wide are still being finalised. You can check these at: http://www.australianbridge.com/AWP.htm. When I last looked it was interesting to see that %s and positions achieved locally can go up (good) or down (disappointing!) when scored Australia-wide.

Let’s keep an eye on the results and hope some of our pairs win prizes and masterpoints.

Thanks To Liz Jeffery for the additional responsibilities of submitting/uploading the scores to Australian Bridge, assisted with directing on the day by Eda Bridgeman.

Some players on the day asked why they paid an extra $5 to take part in the event. This event is run and organised by the Australian Bridge magazine and this $5 goes to them towards their costs of running the event which include: organising of event, hands and results, computer support for results analysis, printing and distribution of booklets and prizes (for top performers and spot prizes) and of course masterpoints. There are also discount vouchers offered to participants for bridge books and magazines. (For more information on these, the event and FAQs please go to the above link.)

MORE FROM ME HERE: Ballina supports 3 similar Australia-wide events during the year. In addition to the Novice event in May, the Open event is scheduled for Saturday 31 August and the Restricted event for Thursday 31 October.

In a similar vein, we also support the NSWBA State-wide Pairs on W e d n e s d a y

continued on P3

Rank PromotionsCongratulations to the following who have achieved rank promotions at end May:

Graduate: Chris Fitzgerald

Local: Wendy Gleeson

*Local: Roger Iffland

**Local: Di Kruse

http://www.australianbridge.com/AWP.htm

http://www.australianbridge.com/AWP.htm




July 31 and the Under Hundred Masterpoint (UHMP) Pairs; for the latter, the Club Event is scheduled for Thursday September 26 and we then aim to host a Regional Final on Thursday November 28.

In a nutshell, our goal is 2-fold:

1. Offering our members the opportunity to take part in a national/state event without leaving the comfort of our own Club. In addition, there are then opportunities to win prizes and masterpoints, as well as other benefits.

2. Ensuring our Bridge Club is participating in, and supporting, the national/state bridge community.

All these events charge between $4 and $5 per player to cover running costs (as outlined above).

5. Congress News:

The only ‘good’ result that has been passed on to me is from the Leeton Soldiers Bridge Club Swiss Pairs Congress on Saturday May 25. Helen and Peter Tootell finished 2nd – Well Done.

Events Ongoing:

1. Fall into Winter Graded Pairs

Wednesdays May 15, June 19 & July 17: Round 1 has happened but there are still 2 rounds to go and it’s the best 2 scores (ex 3) that determine overall winners (with

extra masterpoints for the overall top half of the field). In B Grade Vicki Ivosevac and Terry Lowe have set the pace with a 63.89%; can this new partnership prevail??

2. Pairs Championships:

June is the 5th round so we are just about mid-way. We were pleased to welcome Kallum Fidoe from Jetts last Saturday to undertake the lucky score draws for the February to May rounds of the Open and B Grade event.

The lucky winners are:

February: Margaret Wilcox and Colin Macdonald

March: Carolyn Hart and Bob Hart

April: Penny Prior and Dennis Prior

May: Eileen Pierce and Jack Pierce

You’ll find some ‘Winners are Grinners’ on page 7.

The Restricted Championships lucky score draws will be held this coming Thursday before play commences, so hopefully we’ll have some more ‘Grinners’ for next month’s newsletter.

The lucky score vouchers offer 2-week introductory membership to the gym. You can use these yourself or pass them onto a friend or family member.

Events Coming Up:

1. Queen’s Birthday Teams

Monday June 10: If you haven’t organised a partner or teammates for this popular Monday Teams Day please do so urgently. Liz Jeffery is our Event Organiser – contact Liz for help with a last-minute entry. A reminder that the field will be divided by masterpoints for prize allocation; this is a Club Day for all.

And for all those playing: Please help with some food/nibbles for snacking throughout the day. Remember the theme is Queen’s Birthday!

2. Country Teams

Northern Zone Final June 29/30 at Coffs Harbour: We have 3 teams competing with other teams from the Northern Zone of NSW. The top 2 teams from the Zonal Final will go forward to the State Teams Final to be held at the NSWBA in November (15-17). Let’s hope we can have 2 teams from Ballina going through. Good Luck to:

Bill Powell, Marjorie Askew, Gary Lynn and Eric Hurley

Judy Forsyth, John Paynter, Graham Carson and Chris Hughes

Liz Jeffery, Howard Jeffery, Paul Smith and Winston Guymer

3. GNOT Teams Club Qualifier

The GNOT (Grand National Open Teams) is a national event. Clubs

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continued on P4

Marjorie Askew




qualify teams to a Regional Final and then winners of the Regional Final go forward to the National Final which is held in Tweed Heads at end November. It is the only opportunity for players to earn gold masterpoints whilst playing at their own Club. So why not organise a team and join in? Each head to head teams win affords gold masterpoints.

Judy Forsyth is the Northern Rivers Regional Coordinator for the GNOT and has offered to coordinate our Club event. Contact Judy if you need help finding teammates.

See the event poster on page10.

4. Gala Teams Night

Thursday July 18: Always a great night out – Tea and Cards and all for $10. There is a nominations sheet on the noticeboard AND we need volunteers to help with catering - please let Eric know asap if you can

contribute.

Review of our Weekly Programme

We are mid-way through another year which means planning has already started for next year. Play Committee is canvassing opinions re the weekly programme. So: What is working/what isn’t working? What needs tweaking? What can/should we do differently?

Like most Bridge Clubs around 70% of our members have < 100 masterpoints. But how can we best cater for all our members?

Please pass on your thoughts and ideas to a member of the Play Committee – listed below. The Play Committee is represented at all our Club sessions or you can of course email me: [email protected]

Suggestions so far include: morning

sessions, a twilight session, sessions with more boards, sessions with less boards, stay for a snack after eg light lunch after a morning session, more/less graded sessions?, an ‘ask the panel’ discussion at the end of session.

As an aside Rebecca Rogers and I recently attended an ABF marketing workshop which focussed on attracting and keeping members. And YES I’m pleased to report our Club does lots of the ‘right’ things - lessons, supervised play, mentoring and other ‘hand-holding’.

A reminder of the Play Committee members – so you can ‘get in their ears’: Marjorie Askew, Michel Boyle, Janet Brown, Lorraine Bryant, Jill Cox, Howard Jeffery, Liz Jeffery, Chery McCallum, Bill Powell, Ngaire Wills. We look forward to hearing from you. The next Play Committee Meeting is on Saturday July 6 at 9.30am.

continued from P3

Thanks to our generous sponsors -

Dancer’s Car Care

Harcourts Northern Rivers

Harvey Norman

Jetts Ballina

Somerville Laundry Lomax

Windrose Travel

Marjorie Askew

Anne Jackson gave a very informative session on Negative Doubles today (5/6/2019).

Don’t miss the next one on 2C opening bid. Put it in your diaries - Wednesday 12 June at 9am.

All welcome $5/lesson, Class of 2019 free

Lessons from Anne Jackson

mailto:marjorie.askew%40gmail.com%20%20?subject=

mailto:marjorie.askew%40gmail.com%20%20?subject=


Allan, like a number of other players at Ballina, first started playing Bridge at Brunswick Valley Bridge Club. He was taught to play by Diana Gall.

Among his current Bridge partners, Allan always seems to enjoy playing most when with his life partner, Marie Ferguson.

Member Profile - Allan Cameron Gibson (State Master)

by Robert Eldridge

Where were you born?

I was born in Lismore NSW on 11/5/40 and was not expected to live more than a week - I cheated death.

What family do you have?

I am the eldest of four children and have 2 brothers and 1 sister.

What is the best memory you have from your childhood?

Raised on a farm, I remember my mother catching me red handed heading for the creek with a pole and string over my shoulder to go fishing at the age of four.

At the age of 7 as a result of a fall from a horse I became epileptic lasting for 32 years.

I attended Clunes School and then on to Lismore High School.

What was your occupation(s)?

Because of health restrictions, I was unable to follow any profession or do what young men do. My dad set me up growing pineapples which I sold to a cannery in Ballina until it closed down. After the

cannery closed down, I became a farm hand.

I was always interested in bee keeping and had 7 hives. One very dry season I purchased 4 queens from Hawkesbury Agricultural College, those queens produced that much brood (bee larvae) that instead of.one honey super (normal) the hives had 2 supers resulting in 90 gallons in 3 months from 4 hives. This allowed me me to sell 4 gallons per week to Norco for some weeks. After moving to Brunswick, with a trailer on the back of my push bike I mowed lawns for the next 20 years.

What has been a major turning point in your life? Explain

Although never allowing my disability to overwhelm me, the turning point in my life was being free from epilepsy and the medication, obtaining a driver’s licence, allowing me join the SES and supporting that organisation for 17+years, playing clarinet with “The Seahorse Singers” , winning the B Grade Men’s Bowls Pairs, becoming a bowls coach and playing bridge.

How did you get started with bridge?

I was introduced to bridge by Diana Gall in Brunswick Heads.

What are the best aspects of the Ballina Bridge Club?

The best aspects of Ballina Bridge Club is it’s friendly members.

What has been a memorable experience for you in your life?

One unique experience was to see the 1st sunrise of 2000 at Brunswick while it was raining at Byron Bay and Tweed Heads

What other interests do you have?

My other interests include being an avid reader of mystery stories and travel.

Was it love at first sight across the bridge table when you first met Marie?

I first saw the love of my life Marie sitting at the piano playing solo and accompanying other instrumentalists at a musical afternoon on 4/7/2004 the rest is history.


Tom Macdonald was born at St Andrews, Scotland in 1927. His grandfather was a coalminer, and his father a solicitor. Tom went to Madras College and much later onto Dundee University to become a teacher.

Tom was a very good athlete, being recognised at Madras College by getting three “caps” in the one year for Rugby Union, Cricket and Golf.

He left St Andrews and went to work in Assam at the foot of the Himalayas on a tea plantation for 3 years. In 1954, Tom left India to come to Australia for a holiday and caught a ship back to Scotland (“The Happy Castle”). The first person he spoke to on the ship was Joan who later became his wife in 1955. Their son, Bruce, was born in 1957. They then went to Africa (British Cameroons) for 8 years where Tom managed a rubber plantation.

Back to Australia in 1972 to teach – where I met Tom at Richmond River High in the late 70s and he started to teach bridge at lunchtime to a group of teachers. He taught and mentored many people in this area and became a Life Member of the Lismore Bridge Club.

Tom was 92 when he died and many people knew him as a “grumpy old bugger” but to me he was a very good friend.

Vale - Tom Macdonald

- by Gary Lynn

The Ballina Mahjong Club has welcomed a number of

new members this year- Joan Murphy, Catherine Bechaz, Pauline Bolte, Rosemary Russell, Alison Kelly, Lesley Ritchie and Janice Jemison. It has been a pleasure to have them join our Friday sessions.

Winners for the month of May were Bev Lasater, Catherine Bechaz, Yvonne Weddup and Joy Lowien.

Well done ladies!

Photo (top): One of the new members, Lesley Ritchie signing in with Pam Farrell, and Caroline Chatt watching on!

Photo (bottom): New members left to right: Janice, Catherine, Joan and Pauline

Ballina Mah Jong Club News


Director’s Course


- Howard Jeffery

At Ballina we have traditionally brought new Directors into the team of Directors by giving them a Law Book and an Exam paper to complete. The learners are actively supported by the more experienced Directors when they are completing their examination answers and the result has been a proficient group of Directors to run the bridge club sessions. Most courses in the world of bridge are run under this model or one where the Laws, Movements and Scoring are presented to the learners over a period of several days and an exam follows immediately.

I have been concerned for some time that our approach could be improved. I like the learner having to work through the examination

questions themselves and getting support where they feel they need it but I believe most courses fail in letting the Director know details about the role, how to resolve issues and the general running of bridge sessions.

For example, did you know that one of the Laws of Bridge states that the Director is the official representative of the Tournament Organiser?

This imparts considerable power to the Director as his or her requests effectively become requests empowered by the Club. So, I’m planning to run two sessions where the role, responsibilities and authority of the Director are presented along with the support

beyond that available from the more experienced Club Directors. A second session will introduce elements of Movements and Scoring.

I’ve approached a number of players who it was thought may be interested in directing. Several are not fully available till July, so I will hold over the course until then.

However, if you are interested in being a Director could you please see either me or one of the other Directors and letting them know of your interest. The club provides a Law Book and a primer on common rulings to each Director as well as paying for their membership of the Australian Bridge Directors Association.

Kallum Fidoe took time out to come for the presentations of the lucky prize winners. In the coming days Jetts are moving to their new expanded premises (next door, what was Dick Smith’s). Why not call in and see them and/or try their seniors class coming up. (Bob Hart was offering his lucky score voucher to the first-in.)

‘Winners are Grinners’


A finesse against the ten by Paul Smith


You are declarer, what is your plan? You have a total of 26 high card points and an eight card Major fit. You would guess that most people will play this board in 4♥. Some may be in 3NT.

Count your losers. There are none in Spades as long as you ruff your third Spade. If Hearts break 3-2 then there are no trump losers. There are two Diamond losers and one loser in Clubs. Three losers is a good sign when you are in 4♥. Not vulnerable you should score 420 quite easily.

What about the small number of people in 3NT? They would count two Spade winners, five Heart winners and probably four Club tricks. Looks like 11 tricks but they will have to lose one Club before they can make four tricks. At that point the opposition can swoop on their two Diamond tricks and so they will only take 10 tricks playing in No Trump. Not vulnerable they will score 430.

It seems like our 4♥ contract will be outscored by the people playing in 3NT. Can you find an extra trick? There is clearly nothing extra possible in Spades or Hearts. What about Clubs? Playing three rounds of Clubs would result in the one loser you expect but, as a bonus, the last two Clubs in dummy would be good. Unfortunately, once you lose a Club it will be quite clear to the defenders that they should

play Diamonds and there are two easy tricks for them. You will still only come to 10 tricks.

That leaves Diamonds as the only possibility for an extra trick. Can you see how? Play a small Diamond from North and the Jack from your hand. That is likely to lose to either the Ace or King. Next time you are on lead you can play the ♦4 from hand and the ♦9 from North. If West has the 10 then East will win with the King or Ace and the Queen in dummy will now be high. If you can get to dummy then the ♦Q will let you discard your Club loser.

So, the plan is to ruff a Spade, play a small card towards the ♦J which will lose. Regain the lead, draw trumps and then take the Diamond finesse. All the time being careful not to play the ♣A from dummy so that it is an entry to the hoped for Diamond winner.

Only now that you have a plan do you play a card from dummy. ♠A

which wins the first trick. Now a Spade to the King and ruff your last Spade. Lead a small Diamond from dummy and play the Jack which will lose to West. West now returns a Club which you carefully allow to come around to your King. Now it is time to draw trumps making sure you win the third round in your hand.

Finally the key play, lead a Diamond and insert the nine. If this loses to the ten you are

no worse off because you will still make ten tricks. However, if it loses to the other top Diamond honour then you can cross to dummy with the carefully preserved Ace of Clubs. The ♦Q is available to discard your losing Club. Eleven tricks scores 450 which will beat all the people in 3NT and those who are in 4♥ but did not finesse against the ♦10.

It is not just high honours that are vulnerable to finesses.

List and sell your property with Harcourts, and Ballina Bridge Club will receive $500 in sponsorship, and you will receive $500.

Call Scott Vincent.

Ph 0450 022 023


Thanks for your efforts


Most of us turn up to play Bridge without really thinking about the effort volunteers have put in to ensuring that the day runs smoothly. From the Director, to the person who has bought the pencils and bidding slips, to those who organise the afternoon teas and so on.

It takes an army of volunteers to make sure that Ballina Bridge Club runs smoothly and efficiently.Most of us are not looking for recognition, and volunteer out of a desire to contribute.

This year the Committee of Management and the Steering Committees have embarked on an extremely ambitious agenda (see noticeboard). This has included painting of the clubrooms, new carpets, and the current sealing of the driveway and car park. All these projects have been undertaken by Chris McDowell, Paul Blanch, and significant input from others.

Anyone who drove past the Bridge Club at 6.30am a couple of Tuesday’s ago, would have seen both Chris and Paul there with the contractor, laying The GeoHex. They worked pretty much all that day, including traffic control for those going to Bridge, and returned the next day to repeat the exercise. Paul was back the following Tuesday to complete the exercise.

We are appreciative of all the work that all volunteers undertake, but Chris and Paul deserve a big Thankyou for going above and beyond.

Janet Brown’s quick tip - the Queen

Did one of your opponents make a pre emptive bid ?

If so, play the partner of the pre-emptor for the missing Queen.

The Queen appears in Dummy as a doubleton.

West leads the 4. Play the Queen – right now ! It is her only chance to win. Hope that West has led away from Kxx4. This is a Now or Never play. So when the Queen doubleton appears on the table at trick one – make sure you remember to play the Queen.

The final product - new driveway for BBC

GeoHex in preparation for final surfacing.

Q 3

4 ? ?

A 8 6 2

- Robert Eldridge


FallintoWinterGradedPairs

Wednesdays:May15,June19,July17

SectionA:OpenSectionB:Playerswith<300masterpointsasat31March

+Playerswithlessthan300masterpointsmaychoosewhichsectiontheywishtoplayin.Theeventwillberunasaneclecticeventwithbest2scorescountingforoverallplacings.Youdonothavetoplayallrounds,youcanplay1,2or3.Nopre-nomination,justturnupandplay.PlayCommittee

§ ¨ © ª


THURSDAY JULY 18 2019

EVENT ORGANISERS: ERIC HURLEY & LORRAINE BRYANT Please nominate in pairs on the sheet below by

Wednesday 10 July If you are not coming for tea, please contact Eric

HELP! If you can assist with Tea please contact Eric asap

6.30pm for CARDS

Only $10 for tea and cards

6pm for TEA


GOLD POINT EVENT

DATE: Sundays 7 & 14 July 2019

TIME: 9am for 9.30am start

COST: $120 per team $30 pp for 2 full days of bridge

LUNCH: Please bring your own lunch

Event Coordinator: Judy Forsyth

This is your only chance to earn GOLD POINTS at your club. The event is open to all Northern Rivers Regional members*.

Please fill out an entry form and make payment by 5pm on

Wednesday 3rd July 2019

* For full regulations go to: http://nswba.com.au/tourn/2019/gnot/regions.asp

GNOT TEAMS

Documents

Newsletter June 2019 - Internodebbclub/newsletters/2019/2019-06.pdf · books and magazines. (For more information on these, the event and FAQs please go to the above link.) MORE FROM