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Message from the President

Newsletter October 2019

Chery McCallum - President

As the new President, the first thing I want to do is thank Chris for the leadership he gave the Management Committee as President over the last 2 years. I would also like to thank Robert and Linda for their time and effort spent as Secretary and Assistant Secretary for the club.

It is now my pleasure to welcome onto the Committee Judith Crafti as our Secretary, Lorraine Bryant as Assistant Secretary and Ken Jones as a new member of the Management Committee. I would also like to thank those members of the Management Committee who stood again this year.

Because of the large amount of work done, both inside and outside of the clubhouse over the past 18 months, we should be able to move into 2020 very smoothly.

On September 22, the Ballina Bridge Club played host to the Gold Coast Bridge Club in the second year of the challenge for the Neil Raward Trophy, which Ballina won last year at the Gold Coast Club. This year, 9 teams from each club played for the glory of their club and Ballina was victorious once again. It was a great day which was enjoyed by all. I want to particularly thank our members who worked tirelessly in the kitchen on the

day. Not only did they keep the nibblies up but they provided a lovely chicken salad for lunch – and followed by cleaning up after us as well. I extend a heartfelt thank you on behalf of the Visitors and Players on the day.

I look forward to the next year and bring to the position my 11 years experience as a member on the Management Committee.

Paul Blanch- Vice-president

Judith Crafti- Secretary

Lorraine Bryant- Assistant secretary

Sharon Carver- Treasurer

Wendy Doyle- Assistant Treasurer

Marjorie Askew- Chair of Play

Cecily Barrack- Committee member

Ken Jones- Committee member

Ange Bettess- Committee member

The new team - Management Committee 2019 - 2020

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Newsletter October 2019

Play Committee Chair Report – Sept 2019

Marjorie Askew

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

Graduate: Rhonda Khong

Club: Jan Rhodes

Local: Peter Lamont

*Regional: Robin Greenhalgh

*State: Wendy Doyle, Jenny Maley, Chery McCallum

Events Gone:

1. ‘THE CUP’ ie the Inter-Club with the Gold Coast Bridge Club Sunday September 22

The Cup gets my ‘headline’ billing because we again defeated the Gold Coast Bridge Club and so retained the Cup. All our teams contributed valuable Victory Points and thus to a convincing win. The final scores were: Ballina: 587VPs, Gold Coast: 492VPs

Here’s their Captain Neil Raward reluctantly handing over ‘his’ trophy (he still has one hand on it!); the trophy is donated by the Gold Coast BC and is named after Neil.

There are prizes for the best team in each division and this was 2 out of 3 for Ballina.

Well Done to:

200-600 masterpoints: Carolyn and Bob Hart, Sophie Davis and Hilary Lewis

< 200 masterpoints: Jenny and Chris McDowell, Sue Fielder and Beth Martin

You can view the full results via the Results section on our club website.

It was a wonderful team effort alongside the bridge tables too. Many thanks to lots of members who helped to make the day a success. To: Janet Brown for directing; Lorraine Bryant for coordinating a House and Catering team of Jenny Wardley, Carmel Pollard, Jenny Hurley, Dawn Horder, Barbara Proctor, Barbara Stephens, Sue Mason and Jenny McDowell (after a scrumptious lunch I announced to the Gold Coast folk we had ‘set-the-bar-high’ for next year when they will host); Bev Peart Kuter and husband Michael for the lovely flower arrangements; Howard who oversaw the scoring as well as playing, which became a bigger than expected task when gremlins attacked Compscore later in the day – but he was up to the task; and to all who contributed with cakes and goodies. (+ Some may have noticed Carolyn Hart kindly organised blue (our team colour) earrings for her team (but not for Bob!) and a couple of other lucky players – including me! Thanks Carolyn.)

Next year the Gold Coast BC will host the event. It’s nice to see the mix of ‘camaraderie’ as well as

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Play Committee Chair Report – Sept 2019

‘competitiveness’ between the two clubs; which are of very similar size.

2. Australia-wide Open Pairs

Saturday August 31: 14 pairs took part and with a fairly balanced field no pair pulled away with a ‘big’ score. Interestingly scores and placings changed quite significantly when scored Australia-wide. Our top 3 nationally:

John Paynter and Judy Forsyth 202nd with 58.8% (54.9% at Ballina).

Richard Poole and Maureen Baker 227th with 58.2% (56.1% at Ballina).

Anne Riley and Michel Boyle 386th with 55.5% (well up from 48.7% at Ballina).

I asked Brad Coles, the Event Organiser, for a ‘heads-up’ explanation for these score differences. If you’re interested go to: http://www.australianbridge.com/2015AWNP_scoring.pdf

For all scores, personal results booklets and more explanations go to:

h t t p : / / w w w . a u s t r a l i a n b r i d g e .com/2019AWOP.php

And finally, all who took part in the event are eligible for Australia Bridge discounts – go to: http://www.australianbridge.com/AWP/2019AWOP_discounts.htm

3. Life Members Day

September 21 + SLL Shield Saturdays September 14 & 21

The SLL (Somerville Laundry Lomax) event is held annually and is typically scheduled close to the Clubhouse’s official opening day of September 18th (in 1998) and for this year Play Committee decided to coincide the 2nd round of the shield with our Life Members Day. We were delighted to see Life Members: Barbara Meaney, John Fraser, Lyn Graham, Eric Hurley and Judy Forsyth all playing and enjoying ‘their’ day. It was great to see Anne Bigg back at the Club and looking well; unfortunately Jack Pierce was unable to attend. We all enjoyed some cake at afternoon tea as well as a celebratory drink at the close of play.

Back to the bridge and the SLL shield. We had a great 19 tables for Week 1 of the event and a rather disappointing 14 tables for Week 2. Overall winners were: Marjorie Askew and Judith Crafti with Runners-Up: Liz and Howard Jeffery. Play Committee decided to also award a prize to the best placed <300 masterpoints pair and this goes to Gail and Ian Pick.

Prizes and the SLL shield will be presented at the Christmas Party.

4. NSW Under 100 Masterpoint Pairs (UHMP)

Thursday September 26

This was held within our regular Thursday session. Results have gone to NSWBA.

We plan to hold a state local final on Thursday November 28. This will be a separate section on the day and only for players with <100 masterpoints as at 31 August 2019.

For more information go to: http://nswba.com.au/tourn/state/

se.asp?Y=2019&E=uhmp

5. Going to the Gym...........

Winners of the Jetts lucky score vouchers for the June-August Thursday Championship rounds were:

June: David Cowles and Ken Cutcliffe

July: Barbara Stephens and Val Toomey

August: Elspeth Lacey and Angelo Jones

A couple of these vouchers are pinned to the noticeboard awaiting collection. Remember you can pass the voucher on to a friend or family member if you’re not up to ‘gyming’.

The lucky score draws for the September – December

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Play Committee Chair Report – Sept 2019

championship rounds will take place at the Christmas Party when we hope to have Kallum Fidoe from Jetts joining us for presentations.

Events Coming Up:

1. Charity Day

Monday October 7

This is about to happen. Entries were slow coming in but we now have 21 teams so we are looking forward to a good fun day AND importantly we will raise funds for the folk of Tenterfield who continue to struggle through the drought, and now with bushfires. If you can’t play on the day you can make a donation (and asap please), either at the Club or by direct bank transfer; if the latter just put your surname and Tenterfield in the reference.

Our fundraising $ target for the day is $2000 – so please be generous. Management Committee have now decided to donate our funds to Rotary Tenterfield as whatever is donated by us is doubled by Rotary Sydney.

2. Harvey Norman Mens & Womens Pairs

Wednesdays October 9, 16 and 23

Harvey Norman Restricted Pairs

Thursdays October 10, 17 and 24

Looks like we will have 8 mens pairs and 14 womens pairs for the

Wednesday event and 11 pairs – which will hopefully become 12 - for the Thursday restricted pairs. Note on both these Wednesdays and Thursdays there will be a separate section for those not playing in the Harvey Norman event.

These are 3-week events with the average of your 3 scores determining the winners. One substitution is allowed over the 3 weeks in line with our Substitution policy (N.B. these should be aproved in advance).

Prizes donated by Harvey Norman will be presented at the Christmas Party. Marjorie Askew is the Event Organiser.

3. GNOT Regional Finals

Sundays October 20 and 29

Ballina are hosting this event and we have 7 teams competing. Judy Forsyth is the NSW Regional Coordinator and tells me there will probably be 10-12 teams competing from all the clubs in our regions. The top 2 will go forward to the National Finals where 60 teams from all over Australia will compete. This will be held at Tweed Heads from November 29 – December 2.

4. Australia-wide Restricted Pairs

Thursday October 31

Yes it’s a national event but played in the comfort your Club – so why

not have a go? (+ Remember those bragging rights!)

This is the 3rd and final Aus-wide event of the year and this time it is for players with < 300 masterpoints as at 31 August, with a separate leaderboard for novice players (<100 masterpoints). This will be a separate section on the day playing set hands that are then scored Australia-wide.

Please nominate on the noticeboard as we need numbers for planning. Entry fee is $5 per player (ie on top of your table money) pay on the day. This covers the hands commentary booklet that all participants will receive after the event, prizes, discount offers, masterpoints, and of course event running costs.

5. Melbourne Cup Pairs

Tuesday November 5

Yes heading towards year end it’s that other ‘Cup’. A casual afternoon of Pairs with a stop for the race, so please come and join us. It’s usually great food - please sign up on the list on the noticeboard if you can bring something tasty (sweet or savoury) to share - and we usually indulge with a free glass of champagne or wine during the race. Oh, and sweeps for those that like a flutter.

Note – it will be an early 11.30 for 12 noon start, normal $5 table

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Play Committee Chair Report – Sept 2019

money.

6. Reminder: Christmas Party

The date is Saturday December 14th – not the 7th as per the programme book.

Congress News:

I only know about the Lismore Congress which was a very enjoyable day with lots (and lots!) of goodies to munch on.

Open Winners: Eric Hurley, Janet Brown, Bill Powell, Marjorie Askew

B Grade Winners: Chris Pezzutti, Helen Pearce, June Orford, Carmel Pollard

We have a fairly large contingent (12 players) going to the Toowomba Congress over the October long weekend. We wish them well – but will miss them for our Charity day. Then the following weekend will

Life Members Day21 September 2019

be the Tenterfield Congress which is always well supported by our players.

As you can see lots of bridge at our Club and around ............

The next Play Committee Meeting is on Saturday October 19. If you have any items to raise please pass these on to a member of the Play Committee.

Marjorie Askew

Special thanks to our generous sponsors -

Dancer’s Car Care

Harcourts Northern Rivers

Harvey Norman

Jetts Ballina

Somerville Laundry Lomax

Welcome to our new members Home member -

Claire Goodwill

Social members -

Cheryl Rostron

Carol Meyer

Carpark UpdateWe are pleased that the signage for the carpark has now been completed.

The ENTRY and EXIT signs are now in place. Thanks to you all for observing and following the signs. It will make entering and exiting the car park safer and will help the flow of traffic.

Thanks very much to Paul Blanch who has spent time organising the signs.

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Bill, an octanagerian, has only relatively recently taken up

Bridge. He has lived an amazingly full and varied life. His profile

provides a springboard for many further questions you may wish

to ask Bill.

Member Profile - Bill Thorne (Local Master)

by Robert Eldridge

Where did you grow up?

India, Channel Islands (Guernsey) until German occupation in WW2, South Africa.

What are your fondest memories of growing up there?

India - the smells and colours. Guernsey - swimming, golf, family. South Africa - the veld and beautiful countryside.

What led you to move to Australia, and at what age?

Impossible situation throughout sub Saharan Africa with little or no future for our children. Moved relatively late in life at the age of 48.

What has been your occupation(s) and your greatest success in the workplace?

After a short stint in farming, I worked for large American Corporations in Johannesburg for 15 years (IBM and Burroughs Corporation). Thereafter I was self employed for many years in various occupations. My greatest success was running a small chain of outback trading stores in Africa.

What family do you have and what do they do?

Wife and two daughters aged 48 and 50. Younger daughter lives in Sydney and has two children. Elder daughter recently moved from Alstonville to the Gold Coast and has three children.

How and where did you first meet your wife?

In Lagos, Nigeria in 1962. We were both working in expatriate positions, Angela (from England) was with Shell-BP Exploration and I was with IBM.

What have been your major interests in life?

Sailing, golf, snorkeling, chess, music and travel. All of which have led to some lifelong friendships.

What led you to take up Bridge?

Played with family when young, then occasionally with friends socially but a very different bridge then. I started here when into my eighties and found it a new challenge and good brain stimulation. And also an opportunity to make new friends late in life.

BRIDGEMATES - Have you noticed the Bridgemates are now (a) cleaner and (b) work better? A couple of Directors worked through our entire set, dis-assembling them, using a special alcohol to clean the contacts and then re-assembling. All buttons now seem to work on the first push and the outsides look a lot flasher. Maybe when you are thanking the Director at end of the session (you do this, don’t you?), you might remark that you appreciate the effort.

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Newsletter October 2019

Replaying a Bridge Hand- Mark Miller

Have you wanted to easily replay a bridge hand from one of the club’s sessions? Maybe the hand record says you can make 11 tricks but you went down in a 4♠ contract. Even looking at the hand record you still cannot see how it can be done. With the new result display on the internet you now have a powerful new tool called ‘Bridge Solver’ to help your card play and answer questions like these.

NOTE: This tool does not provide any assistance with bidding, it is only for optimal card play. Also the program behind it can see every card and so makes some suggestions that might be against the odds of a good result in normal play.

To get to it you need to open the results on the internet for any club session and then look at any board. Underneath the display of the hand you will see the option shown. Click on this link to load the viewed hand into a ‘Bridge Solver’ which opens in a new window. Example below.

The four hands are displayed. In the middle you can see the board number, dealer (white dot on the side of the square and vulnerability (red shading

on the sides). Here we have board 4 with all vulnerable and West as the dealer. The High Card Points for each hand are shown in the bottom left.

In the bottom right is a grid of the makeable contracts. Clicking in any of the cells will set the contract and declarer and prepare the screen for the first lead. Any cell can be clicked, even the ones showing a ‘-’. Suppose we click on the 2♦ contract from North.

The East hand will now be on lead and that hand will be coloured to show the number of tricks that EW can make for each possible lead. The optimum lead(s) will have a green background, the rest in yellow. Here the program is ignoring the sequence lead of clubs and suggesting a spade lead. The subscript of 5 on the 8♠ card says defence can make 5 tricks if this card is led. The other possible leads result in less tricks for EW.

Clicking on the 8♠ sets this as the opening lead and then prepares the screen for Dummy. Only the spade holding will be coloured as declarer must follow suit from dummy. Here the program says 8 tricks are possible no matter which spade is played.

Clicking on the 3♠ plays this card and the screen is prepared for West’s play. Here the Ace is the best option. Assume this and North playing 4♠ so that West has won the trick and will now be on lead.

continued on page 8

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Replaying a Bridge Hand

Every remaining West card is available. Played cards are greyed out. Here it looks like any spade will do but in practice the 2♠ would be lead as this indicates a suit preference of clubs. i.e. East, after ruffing, can get back to the West hand by leading clubs and then West will be able to lead another spade to give East a second ruff. Assume 2♠ and then East ruffs and leads the 4♣ to West’s Ace for the next ruff.

Now East is on lead and the suggestions are a low heart or any club. A high heart will lose the possibility of making a trick in hearts and so give declarer an overtrick. A club lead would be sensible.

At the bottom of the screen are some options. At any stage you can click on the back arrow to go back one played card.

Repeat clicking as required. Clicking on ‘Stop’ will return to the very initial screen. This could be used to play the hand again, possibly with a different contract. ‘Options’ allows you to turn off things like the colours or subscripts. Using this you can practice without hints.

Other buttons are available at the initial screen. You can edit the hands or clear them and enter your own hands. Any changes here will only be temporary and not affect the actual board from the session.

What a powerful tool.

Note: The ‘making contracts’ section shows that EW can make 5♣. Would you and your partner be able to bid to this contract? Many contracts are possible but whether your system and courage allow you to bid them is another matter. 3♦might be a common contract which could make unless the optimal defence shown above is used to defeat it.

- Mark Millercontinued from page 7

Thankyou to Kallum Fidoe and Jetts for their contribution to our awards.

Paul Smith and Carol Hocking receiving their awards for 2019 NSW State Wide Pairs Championship

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

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Loser on Loser makes you a winner by Paul Smith

You have a five loser hand and partner’s 2NT bid shows seven losers, so you look for slam. As always, make a plan before you play the first card from dummy.

For once there is no problem with the trump suit, six tricks. Another three Aces takes your total to nine tricks. Another three tricks are needed.

The Diamond suit is the obvious place to make more tricks. There is the small matter of not having the King. Where is the ♦K? Either with West or with East! Consider both possibilities.

If West has the ♦K then you can lead the ♦8 from your hand and play the Queen from dummy. That gets you one extra trick. Now play the Ace and throw your remaining Club away. Then play the Jack and discard a Spade loser. It doesn’t matter if West wins this trick as they cannot cash the Club that was set up because you discarded your loser. If they return a Spade then you win with the Ace, cross to dummy with a trump and take the last two Diamond tricks. You will make six trump tricks, two black Aces, Diamond Queen and Ace and

two more Diamonds for a total of 12. Contract made.

If you think East has the ♦K then you will plan to take a ‘ruffing finesse’. Lead the eight from your hand and play the Ace from dummy. Then lead the Queen. If East does not play the ♦K then discard your remaining Club. The Queen will win if your assumption is correct. Repeat the process with the Jack and the ten and the nine. At some point East will have to play the King and you can ruff it. You will again make six trumps, two black Aces and four Diamond tricks for a total of 12.

So, which one to choose? ♦K with West or with East? If you assume it is with West and play to the Queen but it is actually with East then you go down as the opponents will take their Club trick before you have a chance to discard.

If you assume it is with East and play to the Ace and then play the Queen on the next round but it loses to West because your assumption was wrong what happens? You still make your contract! You have discarded the Club loser on the Diamond loser. By assuming East has the ♦K you actually make your contract regardless of who has it.

Now it is time to play to the first trick. Small from dummy, East plays the Queen and you pay the Ace. Draw trumps in two

rounds by playing the Ace and King. Now lead a Diamond to the Ace. With the lead in dummy, call for the Queen of Diamonds and discard your only remaining Club. You don’t care whether the Queen wins or loses as your contract is safe.

If the Queen loses then win West’s return (they will probably try the ♣K but you can ruff it). Cross to dummy by leading a trump to the Queen and take the remaining three Diamond tricks discarding all your little Spades.

If the Queen wins then keep leading Diamonds until East plays their King and ruff it. Cross back to dummy with a trump and discard your remaining Spades on the good Diamonds.

The slam can’t be beaten but only half the field made 12 tricks. Would you bid it? Would you make it?

1 Forcing to game with four card Heart support

Wednesday

11/09/2019

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Ballina Bridge and Holiday Trip to JapanA trip with Ballina Bridge players and others will depart for Japan on the 8th August next year. It’s a 27-day trip and includes a 9-day private tour in Japan followed by an 18-day cruise back to Brisbane on the Sun Princess.

Special provisions have been made for the group to play bridge on sea-days.

In Japan we land in Osaka and travel to Hiroshima to see the Peace Park and Miyajima Island. Next stop is the ancient capital of Kyoto, the cultural and historical heart of the country. Following that we go to Takayama to stay in a traditional Japanese hotel and on to Kanazawa which is renowned for its impeccable geisha and samurai districts and the iconic Kenrokuen garden. In all these cities there is the opportunity to experience an onsen, Japanese communal swimming in geothermal pools.

On our return trip we stop at the Japanese ports of Shingu and Kobe, then on to Taipei in Taiwan followed by Hong Kong and Alotau in the Milne Bay area of PNG where there is spectacularly beautiful carving, often inlaid with mother of pearl.

If you are interested in joining us you’ll need to be quick. The Tokyo Olympics finish the day after we arrive and accommodation is very tight. Please contact either Liz (0414 492 110) or Howard (0414 392 110)

When do the kitchen bins get emptied ? At the end of play each day the Bins need to be left empty or near empty

for the following day.

Who empties the bins?

No one particular person is responsible. The method here follows other kitchen jobs like the regime for tea cups. It operates on a system of noticing what needs doing.

At the BBC & in keeping with Council’s requirements regarding waste disposal we are always looking for ways to eliminate or minimise our use of plastic & single-use plastic bags.

The literature says : ‘when it comes to lining your bin to contain rubbish that is destined for landfill, using newspaper or no bag at all is the best option.But if you still prefer to use a plastic bin liner, avoid degradable bags and choose a certified compostable plastic bag’.

FYI - Council has initiated a ‘Lift the Lid Audit Program’. This means we have to be careful to place our waste in the correct bin.

FYI - U may be interested to hear that Ballina Council has proposed the ‘Return and Earn Recycling Kiosk’, removed from Ballina Fair, be REINSTALLED at the Ballina Recycling Centre. Not sure when.

Recycle Right! at BBC

- Beth Martin

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Vale Bruce HoultBruce was a valued and active member of Ballina Bridge Club for over twenty years. He wasn’t a champion player but a gutsy one and really enjoyed the social side of the club.

Bruce believed in encouraging beginners and inaugurated the Bruce Hoult award, given to a newer player who achieves the most master points during the year. The recipient is always surprised and delighted.

When the new Club house was built the Club was in debt and grateful for help from many members.

Bruce and Lin were very generous - becoming our first sponsors (with Ballina Taxis), providing all stationery to us for two years. Bruce also supplied the metal bidding slip holders we still use daily.

The office safe and the garden shed are both thanks to Bruce but it was his time which we value and remember with gratitude. He mowed the lawns, pruned and planted for many years and with help from other green fingered members, kept the grounds looking good. We would often turn up to play to find Bruce in his gardening clothes - too busy to play but always maintaining the grounds with care.

There is a saying that one gets back from an organisation what one puts in —- well I hope Bruce enjoyed his association with the Bridge Club because he sure put in.

He is remembered with affection by so many members of Ballina Bridge Club.

Ballina Mah Jong Club News Congratulations to all the Friday Mahjong winners for the month of September:

6th Shirley Coleman13th Lorna Simpson20th Shirley Atkinson27th Jan Williams

by Jenny Wardley

Edna Moss gets an OBE!!Edna and her playing partner Gay Warburton enjoying the moment!

Edna spoke about how she values our bridge club and the people in it.

Edna has overcome a lot to be still mobile and playing bridge and lately has changed her life for the better with diet and exercise to be

fitter than she has been for a long time.

No walking stick now for her!

- Rebecca Rogers

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MELBOURNE CUP PAIRS

DATE: Tuesday 5 November 2019

TIME: 11.30am for 12.00 noon start

COST: $5 per person (pay on the day)

Come with a partner and please bring along something sweet or savoury to share.

There will be a break for the race and a free glass of wine or champagne will be available for all

players while we watch the Cup.

Sweeps will be run for all the Punters!

Enjoy a fun afternoon with a bet on the side!