Bal l ina Br idge Club

Newsletter — March 2015

Current Office

Holders

__________________

President

Ngaire Wills

Vice President,

Rebecca Rogers

Secretary

Sue Burns

Assistant Secretary

Judy Woodward

Treasurer

Julie Harwood

Assistant Treasurer

Jan Blay

Masterpoint Secretary

Bill Powell

Chair of Play

Judy Forsyth

Committee Members

Chery McCallum

Maureen Baker

Chris McDowell

Maintenance

Alan Sims

Congratulations to Fiona who competed in

the Open Division the recent Gold Coast

Congress. She was in the 6 person WARE

team who qualified first. They were nar-

rowly defeated in the final 113.5 to 115

which shows how close the final must have

been. She is seen opposite with fellow

team mates Tony Nunn (left) and Hugh

McGann (right).

(photo with permission Qld Bridge Association)

Congratulations to Fiona

President’s Report

Very positive feedback has been received from those who attended the Individual competition,

Sunday 8th March. 40 participants enjoyed a fun evening where each person played one board with

every other player. Despite some initial confusion, nobody got lost and all found their next table

and partner! Congratulations to the winner Helen Tootell, Henry Hirschhorn in second place, and

Howard Jeffery in third place. A big thank you to Howard for organising the movements and

keeping track of the scoring and to the House Subcommittee for providing another enjoyable

meal.

Our Maintenance team of Alan Sims, Greg Lester and Chris McDowell have had a busy few weeks.

They have pressure cleaned the front path, organised the delivery of a load of crusher dust and

filled up potholes near the driveway entrance and spread the remainder around in other lower

lying areas. They have organised a building pest inspection (no nasties found), arranged for the

carpet to be cleaned, and arranged to have the solar panels inspected and cleaned. Thank you for

your ongoing work in keeping the building and grounds in such good condition.

Marjorie Askew will be running another series of lessons in April covering more intermediate and

advanced topics. Last year’s lessons were very popular so remember to book in early this year.

We have received a letter and Certificate of Appreciation from Our House in Lismore (one of the

Club's previous Charity Day recipients) updating us on how useful the complex is for people who

need to stay in Lismore for medical treatment. Since Our House opened in December 2012, nearly

2000 guests from across the region have stayed in the complex. If you would like to read the let-

ter in full, or view the accompanying DVD, please see either Sue Burns or myself.

Just a reminder that the Ballina Swiss Pairs competition is coming up this weekend and the only

play on Saturday 21st March will be for those taking part in this competition. Country Pairs also

commences on 19th April and a Red point pairs (ANZAC pairs) on 25th April. Yamba is also hav-

ing their popular Swiss Pairs event on 2nd—3rd May.

Ngaire

In the recent Gold Coast Con-

gress, Paul and I came across

this unusual hand. With East/

West Vul, West opened 3C,

North (Paul) X and East bids 3♠

(!). Clearly he was psyching with

the intention of keeping us out

of a game or slam in ♠. Being

Non-Vul, I decided to pass and

wait for partner to double.

Note that if I bid 4♥, East will

double for a disastrous contract

for us. Paul wisely chose to pass

and take the money; if he dou-

bles, then East will bid 4 ♣ and

(possibly) escape being punished

for his psych bid. East ended up

playing in a 1-3 fit of 3♠ and made 2 tricks for 7 off -700. We ended up scoring

6 IMPS on this board when the datum come out, but it could have easily ended

up in tears :-).

Marjorie is again holding her very popular lessons on Wednesdays April

15, 22, and 29 starting at 10.15am and going for about an hour. Lessons

will be on the following subjects:

1. The joy of counting

2. End plays and throw-ins

3. The simple squeeze

These lessons are intended for intermediate to advanced players

(lessons for improving players will be run later in the year). To assist

with planning, please submit a nomination form in the Club Box. Costs

are $5 per lesson or $10 for all 3. All proceeds go towards teaching re-

sources at the Club.

Marjorie’s lessons

Please support

our sponsors

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Page 2

Avoid ing the psych trap

Dispatches from the Gold Coast Congress newsletter

Gold Coast Congress Page 3

Ballina was well represented at the recent Gold Coast Congress held at the end of February. It’s now the larg-

est Bridge event in Australia, attracting international and professional players and very well run. Fiona Brown’s

team finished first in the qualifiers (WARE team) which is an incredible achievement given the quality of the

field and were narrowly defeated in the finals by the Indonesian team. Ballina was also strongly represented in

Novice, Restricted and Seniors divisions with excellent results.

PICK team competing in Restricted Division

Ian PICK, Bob HART, Carolyn HART, Graham CARSON

HURLEY team competing in Open Division

Marjorie ASKEW, Eric HURLEY, Bill POWELL, Janet BROWN

TAYLOR team competing in Novice Division

John HARRISON, Charlotte HARRISON, Shelley TAYLOR, Leonie LOVE

TOOTELL team competing in Seniors Division

Peter TOOTELL, Gary LYNN, Helen TOOTELL, Susan LYNN

FORSYTH team competing in Open Division

Mike GILFOYLE, Judy WOODWARD, Lyn ARNETT, Judy FORSYTH

FRASER team competing in Open Division

Ellen WATSON, Mary GOODALL, John FRASER, Anne BIGG

Leads

Maureen’s Book Tip

Bridge is full of pithy truisms like “second hand plays low”, “lead

small from an honor” etc. Although there are always exceptions,

99% of the time it’s good practice to follow them. One of the

most useful and one that I should have followed, is “don’t lead

unsupported aces in a suit contract”. Defending 4♥, I was con-

fused by the bidding (another story but nevertheless no excuse)

and decided to lead the A♣. When dummy went down, declarer

(North) ruffed in hand and drew trumps finishing in dummy when

they broke 2-2. They then simply cashed the remaining high ♣s and made 13 tricks for a total top board. The safest lead is a

small ♦ which keeps the contract to 11 tricks (or anything other

than the A♣!).

If your computer screen doesn’t show all the pages in the new website you can display more of the pages

by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the minus button. Holding down Ctrl and pressing the plus

button makes the image bigger. Thanks also to Jill and Don Cox for the provision of the set top box which will

enable us to view the Melbourne Cup on the projector screen.

Computer tip and thanks

Contributions to the newsletter

Contributions to the newsletter are always welcome. For enquiries or to submit material for upcoming editions, please con-

tact Winston on 0416 065 910 or else email to: winstonguymer@gmail.com The newsletter is published monthly and copies are available on the BBC web-site: http://www.users.on.net/~bbclub/index.html

Finally, a written breathalyzer test… The Golden Age. Joan London. published August, 2014

Set in 1950”s Perth, “The Golden Age” by Australian author Joan London tells the story of Frank Gold,

the son of Hungarian refugees Ida and Meyer Gold. The family have escaped from brutal circumstances

in Budapest and, having hoped to take refuge in America, have arrived in Australia. Ida, who was a con-

cert pianist, finds Perth difficult and disappointing. Meyer however is stoic and adaptable. Not long after

their arrival their 12 year old son Frank is diagnosed with polio and sent to the Infectious Diseases

Branch of Royal Perth Hospital.

Here Frank meets Sullivan, an older boy who is seriously ill but who writes

beautiful poetry. The two become close companions and Frank decides that

he too will become a poet. When Sullivan dies it is thought that it would be

better to move Frank to a hospital especially for children. Here he meets

Elsa, the only other child of his age at the hospital. The novel deals with the

deep friendship, love really, between these two. It is interesting that London

takes these children so seriously; we see their strength and ability as their

sense of self develops throughout the novel.

There is warmth in this novel - a sense of calmness and hope as each charac-

ter we meet develops and grows. It is a novel which is beautifully written

and where moral judgements are never harsh and yet it keeps us reading and

thinking.