The Sloman Cup completed in December with congratulations going to Jocelyn Bertram and Chris Duggin ahead of Ray Hurst and Hans van Weeren who were just ahead of Ray Bragge and Tom Wykoff.
The best eight scores from the ten sessions were aggregated, with up to three different substitutes allowed. Eleven pairs managed to meet these tight conditions.
This is a placeholder waiting for the official report, but unofficially 144 of us enjoyed a great day of bridge, food and fun. If you weren't there, you might wonder just what Sue Evershed is doing...
Check the Christmas Party photos, mostly be Len Evershed - thanks Len!
Around October 2018 Sandy Carter and I decided to move from the green to the red section to improve our bridge.
Initially this was quite daunting as many players have been in the red section for quite some time. We arrived early but still seemed to have to start a new table in the next row as everyone had “their” spot.
However, it turned out it really didn’t matter what time we got there as we always were able to find a table and play in the red section - so it was an unfounded fear.
The Committee has received indications of concern from some of our green section members who see difficulties progressing to more advanced playing at the club - in particular to other sections as they see the red section being generally "full".
We are aware that there are a range of issues involved affecting different members and intend to brainstorm possible improvements with the help of representatives from our sub committees and others who would represent these different aspects.
If you have any thoughts you would like to share, please send them to the President, Sarah Young, on
Dear all,
In December, we had a very successful and fun Xmas party. A big thanks as always to the team of helpers who made it all possible.
As the year draws to a close, I wish you and your families a happy Xmas and a peaceful New Year.
Happy bridging!
Sarah
The Committee at its December meeting considered and agreed to a request to ensure that those who had mobility issues were, whenever possible, given seats where they did not need to move during the movement. This was partly seen as an occupational health and safety concern.
The process to support this will be discussed by the directors and implemented in the near future. It will probably involve:
- A list of people who need this status being developed and maintained with any hard demarcation decisions being determined by the Committee, and
- All players accepting that they might be asked to move to make way for a player with such needs.
A regular problem for Directors during play is the appearance of hands with 12 or 14 cards in them, while a less common problem is the switching of cards from the correct hand to another hand resulting in a fouled board (as happened recently).
Both problems often stem from the ritual some players have of spreading out their cards at the end of play for a session of ‘why didn’t you?’ or some similar post-mortem on the hand.
Might discouragement of the ritual of going through a hand after play be a suitable topic of a newsletter article (Ed. Yes - right here!) or an announcement prior to play? I know this will not eliminate the problem, but it might make those witnessing it at the table a bit more assertive about asking those engaging in it to desist.
The Padman, contested at eleven evening sessions on the first Tuesday of each month between February and December, has again proved to be a popular event. A total of thirty pairs took part of which five competed at all eleven events. A further five achieved at least nine results and four more, at least seven.
The lead changed several times during the year but, in the end, David Farmer and Catherine Whiddon finished strongly and (helped by a couple of good results when Lyn Smith substituted for Cath) came through to take the Trophy from Jan Mclennan and Linda Addenbroek with Alan Davies and Vivien Eldridge not far away in third.
