Newsletter 12 February 2026
In our newsletter this week...
- Vale Barbara Garland
- President's Message
- Workshop with Will Jenner-O'Shea
- Youthish Night
- Wednesday Night Pizzas
- Upcoming Events
- 2026 ANC Selection Events
- Women's Selection Event Change of Schedule
- Australian Youth Team Selections
- Online Lessons
- Un-Supervised
- Make a Wish Trivia Night
- Name Badge Order
- Rottnest Swim Fundraising
Vale Barbara Garland
I am sad to have to report that Barbara Garland, my bridge partner of about ten years at Grand Slam and then the Canberra Bridge Club, died last Friday. She had a stellar career as a swimmer representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games and other events in various classes, had a very full family life and made lots of bridge friends inside and outside the club. The family is looking at a funeral on Friday 20 February but an announcement will be made.
- Peter Hoskin
President's Message - Thank You (and What a Week!)
It has been an exceptionally busy and rewarding week at the club, highlighting the strength and spirit of our bridge community.
2026 Novice and Rookie Pairs Championship
Last Saturday the club was buzzing, with approximately 132 players participating across the Novice Championship Honour Board event, as well as Supervised, Rookie and Graded Pairs sessions (see results below). It was terrific to see such strong participation and enthusiasm at every level. Sincere thanks to Steve and Bricet for their organisation and ensuring the day ran smoothly, and to Jodi for her work in encouraging entries. A special thank you to Nicole Finn for providing celebratory “bubbles and nibbles” at the end of play which was very well received by all!
Events of this scale reflect the collective effort of many members, and we are grateful to all involved.
Beginner Buzz
Our first intake of Beginner Lessons for 2026 has wrapped up, bringing about fifty enthusiastic players into the club. The laughter, questions and “aha!” moments have been a delight. Welcoming new players is vital to the future of our club, and this intake has been a tremendous success. Thank you to Barb for guiding the group so patiently, to Elizabeth for keeping everything running smoothly, and to our teaching team and director Jodi for navigating a few unexpected bumps along the way. And to our Wednesday regulars - thank you for your flexibility and good humour through the temporary changes!
The Chairs Have Landed!
The long-anticipated arrival of our new chairs occurred this week - albeit slightly later than scheduled. Projects like this involve far more behind-the-scenes work than most people realise. My thanks to Rob, Sylvia, Stephen, Steve and Chris for the quick turnaround. Behind the scenes, Nick, Steve and David had already done plenty of groundwork (including chair disposal duties!), and Kate cleverly found new homes for some online - thank you all.
ABF: Australian Open Playoffs
Looking ahead, we are honoured to host the 2026 Australian Open Playoffs at the Club from Saturday through to Wednesday this coming week. We look forward to welcoming many of Australia’s top players, and are especially pleased that several of our own members will be competing: David Appleton, George Kozakos, David Hudson, Andrew Spooner, Sebastian Yuen, and our former much loved Director Christy Geromboux. We wish all participants every success.
- Mary
Workshop with Will Jenner-O'Shea
Once again Canberra Bridge Club is very lucky to host a series of workshops presented by one of Australia's most gifted teachers!
Will's first workshop for 2026 will be held at CBC on Sunday 1st of March.
The workshop is on "Commonly Misunderstood Auctions, And How To Get Them Right" focusing on:
- Defining Which Jumps Are Strong And Weak
- How Many Cards And How Many Points
- Identifying When Conventions Apply, And Don’t
Details:
- $60 per player including a delicious morning tea, a light lunch, and a booklet of notes.
- $20 for players under 30. (A portion of entry fees and book sales goes towards Youth Bridge in the ACT)
- Sunday 1st March 10am to 3pm.
To make a booking click on the link below or with any enquiries please email
Youthish Night
The next Youthish night for ACT Bridge Players is on Friday 20 February 2026.
Entry is FREE and there will be a Pizza dinner!
All experience levels are welcome, no partner required.
Come to either session or both!
• Session 1: 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM
• Dinner: 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM
• Session 2: 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Contact CBC Youth Coordinator Suz Wilkinson
Wednesday Night Pizzas
The Wednesday night pizzas provide the opportunity for social interaction while enjoying a pizza sampling. It provides a great opportunity to talk to and socialise with your fellow players, which is not always the case when engaged in playing bridge.
- 25th February - 6:30pm
- $5 payable on the day for half a pizza
Those wishing to partake should place their name on a list on the noticeboard or contact Jon Pike directly. His email is
Upcoming Events
The next Tuesday night competition is Summer MP Pairs starting on 17th Feb running for two weeks.
2026 ANC Selection Events
BFACT will be holding events to select pairs to play as ACT representatives at the Australian National Championships (ANC). Women, Senior, Open and Youth teams can go to the ANC.
The event (with the exception of the Youth Selection event which will be played on a Sunday) will be played on Saturday and Sunday, adding Friday evening if more than 10 entries, and the following Wednesday evening if more than 16 entries. Please see regulations for more detail.
Register in myABF through the links below :
- 20 - 22 Feb Women's Selection
- 06-08 Mar Seniors Selection
- 8 March Youth Selection
- 27-29 Mar Open Team Selection
Women's Selection Event Change of Schedule
It has been brought to my attention that there is a wedding of 2 members of CBC on the Sunday afternoon of the Womens ANC selection event and some players would like to play, but it conflicts with the wedding timing. After consultation with the director and notifying BFACT Council, I am setting the playing schedule as follows:
- start playing at 7:15 pm on Friday, 20 February,
- play all day Saturday from 10:00,
- play Sunday morning from 10:00, finishing at lunchtime.
This should allow all interested players to compete in the selection event.
- Niek Van Vucht
Australian Youth Team Selections
New ABF Youth Coordinator Laura Ginnan has made it possible to send 5 Youth Rep teams to Heifi, China, Aug 3-8.
The U26 was selected and ratified in January and will receive full ABF rep subsidies.
The other teams are U16, U21, U31 and U26 Women's teams - they will be 'self-funded' with the ABF subsidising their uniform and entry fees.
Official Regs for selection have just been released.
Key dates:
- U26 Women's: Apply by 1pm, 21 Feb 2026; Selections on 28 Feb-1 Mar 2026 (if required). Applications are open now.
- U21: Apply by 1pm, 14 Mar 2026; Selections on 21-22 Mar 2026 (if required). Applications open soon!
- U16 and U31: Apply by 1pm, 21 Mar 2026, Selections on 28-29 Mar 2026 (if required). Applications open soon!
-Suz Wilkinson
Online Lessons
Will is running regular Online Lessons that are suitable for Club players of all levels.
There is a LIVE ZOOM on Thursday Mornings at 9:30am, or you can sign up for the lessons and receive the Recording, Hands, Notes, and a way to Replay the hands later. The full list of lessons and topics can be found on our website.
The first lesson for 2026 is on Fundamental Bidding Tips on 19th February. Purchase through the link below.
Results
The winners of the Hugh Hudson Pairs are:
- BILL TUTTY / RUITIAN LANG
Un-supervised!
On Saturday, the Club ran its annual Novice and Rookies Pairs Championship for 2026. You can read about the event elsewhere in this newsletter. As director, there are some hands you “keep an eye on” and my favourite hand occurred just after lunch. Here are the four hands:
At most tables, it began simply enough. North opened One Club, East passed and South responded One Diamond. West’s spade holding is a pretty anaemic suit and you have to squint quite a bit to get it to “6-10” High Card Points. Nonetheless, many West’s chose to pre-empt with this hand – bidding either Two, Three or Four Spades depending on their youth and/or sanity.
It’s not clear what action North should take on this hand (personally, I’m a fan of doubling to say “I have a better than minimum opening but no clear idea of what to bid”). It appears that most North’s chose to pass, since almost the entire room ended up only bidding game.
Holding the South cards, I would not need much encouragement to bid slam. Even if my partner had passed Three Spades I would have bid Six No Trumps (if my partner doubled I would still bid Six No Trumps and wonder if we’d missed Seven). When it comes to slam bidding you need to have two things – a source of tricks and controls. This hand is full of both and once my partner opens, I am going to be very, very keen to push us to at least the six level.
It turns out that most of our players are less optimistic than I am. In the Graded pairs, only three of the nine North-South pairs bid Slam. In the Novice and Rookies none of the nineteen pairs bid slam. However, in the supervised section, one brave pair out of five bid and made Six No Trumps. In his own words: “Once my partner opened I knew we had to be in slam. The only thing I needed to check was that the defenders didn’t have two Aces”.
Oh yeah. Asking for Aces. I forgot about that….
If you have any interesting hands that come up (or hands you wish you’d known how to play) we would love to hear about them at:
- Steve Geddes
Make a Wish Trivia Night
Our Bridge Club is supporting Make a Wish, a fine charity dedicated to granting cherished wishes for children fighting serious and life threatening illness. The local branch is running a trivia night on Saturday 14 March to raise funds. Grab some friends and of course, your bridge partner, and test your general knowledge - all for a great cause. Club secretary, CJ McKenzie, is putting together a table so you can email her at
The Canberra branch of Make A Wish currently has over 15 wish children at various stages of the wish granting process. With support from the community they can achieve the Make A Wish goal of making sure every child is able to have a wish granted.
Name Badge Order
If you would like a magnetic name badge please submit your order by clicking on the link below. The badge will display your full name and abf number unless you add in the notes section your preferred name.
- Click here to order a name badge through myABF
- Cost: $20 - please pay when you register
Rottnest Swim Fundaraising
The Rottnest Island 19.7km swim is now only one week away, and my full training sessions can now start quietening down.
Our fundraising is progressing very well, but I am still $500 short of my fundraising goal. Any help you can give will help research into cardiomyopathy treatments. The Victor Chang Institute has a full-time Professor working to find a genetic answer that will lead to a cure. I promise pictures of the day’s swim
The link to my fundraising page is https://rottnestchannelswim26.grassrootz.com/victor-chang-cardiac-research-institute/tim-mather
Any help you can provide to reach my goal of raising $3,500 would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to keep up with my kids!
- Tim Mather
Have a great week everyone!
Elizabeth
