December 2015 Newsletter
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This is it.
The last full newsletter for 2015.
This Friday, 4th December at 12:15pm we celebrate a momentous occasion for our member Sunday Millar who will turn 100 on Saturday. Following play on Friday morning, we will have a birthday cake to help her celebrate this tremendous achievement. Study findings in 2000 have shown that Bridge is not only good for maintaining mental health, it also boosts your immune system. Sunday has been playing Bridge for a number of years now, and I am confident that this has played a significant factor in her reaching the Centenary. Congratulations Sunday!
'tis The Season, and thanks to Celia Power for the loan of a Christmas Tree, and Tracey Lewis for decorating, the club has a festive feel about it in the last weeks of the Bridge playing year.
By now you should have received your invoice for your 2016 Club membership fee. Once you have paid this, you will be able to collect your parking sticker for 2016 from the office. The coming years Programme booklet will be available from Saturday at the the Club Restricted Christmas Fun Tournament. The luscious Hot Pink colour should help you to find it when needed through the coming year.
In this months newsletter we bring you
Upcoming Tournaments at Auckland Bridge Club
Member Achievements at Club, Regional, and National level
December 5th 2015 Club Restricted
Christmas Tournament
$20 entry
Lunch provided
Members only.
No two Open players can enter as a partnership
January 4th,5th & 6th 2016
Babich 3 Night 5A tournament
Walk In.
You can play 1,2 or all 3 nights
Pairs intending to play all three nights must enter on the 1st evening to be eligible for the tournament prize
Seated by 7:15pm
Club Closure and Re-Opening
January 11th 2016
Club re-opens for 2016
resumption of office services and normal play sessions
Madam President
Name: Anne Barrowclough
Current role at the Club: President
Previous role(s) at the club: player!
Club Member since: too long ago….
First heard about Bridge: as a child – many bridge parties at our house in Wellington
I learnt to play bridge nearly 20 years ago having spent most of my university life hooked on 500. Raising three sons did mean bridge was put on the back burner – but I re-emerged as a regular player at the club about 6 -7 years ago- playing in the evening after work.
I have recently left the security of paid employment as EO at Garden to Table to strike out on my own – providing advice and practical support to small NGO’s.
The hands you usually remember are the ones your partner doesn’t! You have made a mistake in lead, play or bidding and they prey on your mind – meanwhile you partner has moved on and has no recollection of the hand, let alone the detail. Recently put my partner in 7H, and she nailed it. (I did have a back-up plan with a couple of chocolate santas in my handbag - if it did all turn to custard. A recommended tactic!)
My three sons are not the least interested in bridge – but are fine 500 players so there is hope yet.
My membership of the Auckland Bridge Club has provided me with the opportunity to meet and mix with a wonderful group of people, and make some strong friendships, and great social experiences.
Interesting Hand
If you read the Congress Bulletin, you may have noticed that the 6th edition mentioned a hand played by our own Sylvester Riddell, prompting his partner, Mark Robertson to nominate Sylvester for Play of the Day.
The Bulletin editor was unable to get the details before going to press, Sylvester was kind enough to share the details for this newlsetter...
Sylvester writes:
After you open the bottom hand 1NT and LHO overcalls 2H, partner shows a good hand with spades and clubs. You ask for keycards and find that you are missing only the queen of trumps, so you bid 6S. LHO leads the JD.Examining dummy you see three potential club losers and a trump loser.
This is a bit disappointing. This is the second day of the NZ Teams qualifying rounds. The previous night you had bid two slams, both going off, and were seeking to make amends. Looking a bit deeper you see that LHO has probably led from a J10 combination, so you may be able to make four diamond tricks, and the ruffing finesse against the heart king is sure to work, so if you find either the QS or the KC on-side you can take 12 tricks - 4 or 5 spades, 1 or 2 clubs, 4 diamonds and 2 hearts. These plans crumble at trick two when LHO discards on your 2S lead! So RHO has Q9754 of trumps. Now you have a certain trump loser and cannot afford to ruff anything because you need all your trumps to draw RHO's spades - you are going to need 3 club tricks. You play the JS and RHO wins and plays a heart back which you win with the ace. Now you hold your breath and lead a club to the 10. It holds! Then a spade back to your 8. Then the 10S, a club to the queen, and draw the outstanding spades. You are pleased to see LHO discard a diamond on the spades. You take the remaining tricks with the ace of clubs and three diamonds, and you have a happy ending to take back to your team mates.
Club Level Achievements
Monday morning Presidents pairs: Ruth Filler/Shirley Pedersen
Tuesday Evening Akarana Cup Section 1: Douglas Russell/Mark Robertson
Tuesday evening Akarana Cup section 2: Ruth Filler/Bruce Fenton
Tuesday Evening Caddy Cup (section 1): Mike Dunn/Mark Robertson
Tuesday evening Filler Cup (section 2): Ruth Filler/Brenda Shenken
Wednesday Morning Morgan Championship Cup section 1: Pennie McRobie/Margaret Harkness
Wednesday morning Morgan Championship Cup section 2: Cheryl Yagmich/Suzanne Stevenson
Wednesday evening Joan McCowan Cup: Brett Hart/Don Murray
Thursday Evening Spring Teams: Douglas Russell/Stan Abrahams & Christine Wilson/Tracey Lewis
Friday Morning Matchpoint Pairs Section1: Peter Bach/Setsusko Lichtneker
Friday morning Pairs section 2: Jan Brown/Maureen Hooker
Friday Afternoon Janet Barnard Rose-bowl Championship Teams: George and Carol Wilkinson, Pauline Andrews and ...Janet Barnard... (that will be an interesting trophy presentation, Janet awarding the Rose-bowl she donated to the club to encourage team events to herself and three team mates)
Regional Level Achievements
Remuera Rise Thursday Tournament November 12th:
Congratulations to Anne Barrowclough/Deborah Tangney for winning overall, Judy Perry/Margaret Harkness as highest non-placing Director's Cut Pair and 5th overall, Robin Hardley/Bev Cossar the top Intermediate pair, and Julia Zhu and Tony Jiang top Junior pair
East Coast Bays Restricted Tournament November 14th
42 pairs from around the region competed, congratulations to our club members on the following results in this event:
Alice Young and partner for top Intermediate/Open and top overall; Anne Barrowclough and Deborah Tangney for 2nd Intermediate/Open pair and second overall; Babs-Merel de Visser and Mac McKenzie for 2nd best Junior/Open pair (11th overall); and Nicolette Bartoli and Wendy McEntegart for second best in the Junior/Junior Junior/Intermediate field (24th overall)
National Achievement
Several of our members traveled to Christchurch for this years Inter Provincial Championship to help defend the title won by the Northland Auckland region last year.
Three of the four sections were won by the Northland Auckland Teams, Senior, Intermediate, and Open, while the Women finished 6th out of 7, the overall scores were enough to see the Northland Auckland region retain the title as the best Province for 2015.
Congratulations Christine Wilson, Glennis Palmer, Alan Morris, Janet Barnard, Anne Barrowclough, Deborah Tangney, Julia Zhu, and Tony Jiang for your parts in the success of our provinces dominance.
From the Editor
This December Newsletter has been a real challenge for me to get out in a timely fashion, with the numerous seasonal demands that also exist around this time.
In an effort to minimise this next year, while honouring the commitment of 10 newsletters throughout the year, I have developed this rough outline of publication dates, main topic focus and accompanying deadlines.
Deadline for copy Publication date Focus Topic
08/01/2016 13/01/2016 New Committee Members
12/02/2016 17/02/2016 Interclub
18/03/2016 23/03/2016 ?
22/04/2016 27/04/2016 ?
03/06/2016 08/06/2016 ?
08/07/2016 13/07/2016 ?
12/08/2016 17/08/2016 Build Up to National Congress
09/09/2016 14/09/2016 Congress
14/10/2016 19/10/2016 Congress Reports, AGM buildup
18/11/2016 23/11/2016 End of Year, important dates etc
I have appreciated the feedback I have received thus far on the newsletters since I took on the Editor role. I would like to note that while many people have enjoyed the content, contributions have been slow to come in. Once again, I must ask you for a short paragraph or two to add to the newsletter for our members reading interest...
Did you play a particularly challenging (or otherwise interesting) hand you'd like to share?
Did you experience an example of good sportsmanship?
Want to make a semi-regular contribution to the newsletter?
It has been suggested that a regular feature on one of our longstanding and/or active members, would be an excellent means of introducing these people to those new to our club - would you be interested in writing one to introduce yourself, your bridge partner or mentor?