Newsletter 31 July 2025
In our newsletter this week...
- Beginners Class starting in August
- Online Lessons with Will Jenner-O'Shea
- Canberra In Bloom - Early Bird Entries
- Important Notice Re. Teams of Three
- NSW State-Wide Pairs at South Canberra Club
- Australia Wide Open Pairs
- Upcoming Events
- Results
- Lighter Moments
Beginners Class Starting in August
New players are essential to the club. Most of our beginners learn bridge because a friend or family member suggested they should learn. So pick up a flier next time you are in the club and please encourage your friends and family to come to our lessons.
Our next beginners lessons start on:
- Wednesday 13 August 2025 at 7:30pm OR
- Friday 15 August at 10:00am.
The lessons go for 6 weeks and the cost is $90 which includes a book and detailed notes.
Online Lessons with Will Jenner-O'Shea
Did you know that Will's last lesson "Defend Better by Knowing What to Do!" is available to purchase online? This lesson and many other topics taught in his workshops can now be viewed online with notes to download and practice hands to play over and over again.
On our website under the "Essentials" menu or under the "Lessons" page there's a link called "Online Lessons". This link will take you to the North Shore Bridge Club's education site where Will has uploaded his recorded lessons. As Canberra Bridge Club is an affiliate, please make sure to sign up via our own website by going through the link below:
Canberra In Bloom - Early Bird Entries
Canberra's own national gold point Congress, Canberra in Bloom, is being held 3-6 October. There are events for everyone, with pairs and teams events across novice, restricted and open categories, as well as a mixed teams event. Early bird entries close on 15 August so get in quick. For further information, see myABF or contact Roger Brake at
Important Notice Re. Teams of Three
Our 2025 Teams of Three event is still open for registration with a few spots left but it will be closing soon. We will be finalising the numbers on Monday of next week to work out the movement and organise catering so please contact the office as soon as possible if you are still interested in participating.
All the captains have been emailed with preliminary instructions, if you have put your name down to be a captain but did not receive an email please let the office know.
As we are busy formatting all the teams, you might receive multiple email messages saying that the organiser has withdrawn your entry from a particular team. Don't be Alarmed! Rest assured that if that's the case we've moved you to a different team. Although the list isn't yet complete and could be changed to accomodate late entries, you can click on the link below to check that your name appears in one of the teams:
All the participants, including the captains will receive a confirmation email on Tuesday of next week. To ensure the success of this event, it is essential that everyone that receives the final email is able to attend on the day.
NSW State-Wide Pairs at South Canberra Club
South Canberra Bridge Club is hosting a session of BridgeNSW's State-wide pairs on Wednesday 6 August:
• Hands are provided together with a booklet, which features brief commentary on each deal for perusal at the completion of the session.
• The event is then scored across all participating clubs and overall winners determined.
• Overall results should be published on 10 August.
• Cash prizes and gift vouchers are presented, as well as certificates for the winners in each club.
• Prizes are also awarded in the restricted divisions of Under 25, Under 50 and Under 100 masterpoints (as at 30 June 2025).
- Date: Wednesday 6 August 7pm
- Venue: Community Room 2 at the Canberra Southern Cross Club Woden
- South Canberra club's website is https://www.bridgewebs.com/southcanberra/
- The event website is 2025 NSW State-Wide Pairs | Bridge NSW
- South Canberra's email address:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Australia Wide Open Pairs
The Australia-Wide Open Pairs has a rich history that goes back more than 40 years, bringing together thousands of players from all around the country.
Each player will receive a souvenir booklet on the day, describing our recommendations for how the bidding and play should have gone. After the results are in, there will also be a second personalised booklet available on our web page, looking at every board to see how your bidding and play compares against our recommended results.
- Date: Wednesday 27 August 7:15pm
- Entry fee: $15 Concession : $13 Youth : $7.50
This is a walk in event which will run in place of our usual Wednesday evening Duplicate. (Supervised session will be on as per normal)
Upcoming Events
The next Tuesday night event is the ACT Swiss MP Pairs:
- 12 August and 19 August
- Click here to register
The next f2f GNOT Qualifier Gold Masterpoint competition will be run on Thursday:
- Thursday Aug 21 and 28 - 10am DUP
The next RealBridge GNOT Qualifier Gold Masterpoint competition will be run onSaturday:
- Saturday Aug 23 and 30 - 1:15pm RB
Results
The winners of the Monday morning Red MP TBIB Pairs Competition are:
- Keith Mitchell - George Zuber
Lighter Moments
- The plus side about being locked in a mirror shop is that it gives you time to reflect.
Early last Monday morning I considered the dilemma of either having to crawl out of the Director's window onto the office desk or ring up someone and explain my embarrassing situation of having become a hostage inside the Barry Turner room. The window looked much higher and narrower than I remembered (I last went through it two years ago, rookie mistake - can't believe it happened again!) so I thought better of it and decided to call for help. The first person said he would come though he was at the Coast, luckily the next nice person obligingly turned up ten minutes later to the rescue.
The plus side of this story is that I finally remembered to ask the sliding door technicians who came for maintenance in the afternoon to switch the sensor around so that door could never become locked from the inside again. The sad side of this story is that someone smarter pointed out later that I could have just gone out through the fire door.
Talking about being grateful, thanks also to John Donovan for staying behind late on Wednesday night to calculate the Eclectics for July and update the noticeboard.
Have a great week everyone!
Elizabeth
