From the 2023 AGM - 13 March

President Terry-Anne Maunsell presented her report at the AGM:

"It is wonderful to be able to hold an AGM in a relatively restriction free atmosphere.

"Last AGM we had resumed Monday and Tuesday sessions albeit with small numbers and were still negotiating with Easts Club re the resumption of Wednesday sessions. Thankfully we were able to resume Wednesday sessions fairly soon after. Over the year the number of tables at each session has slowly been increasing and it has been wonderful to see so many familiar faces returning.

"Numbers are not yet back to pre Covid levels for a number of reasons including many of our members taking the opportunity to again undertake overseas travel. Our experiment of Tuesday night sessions was not very successful but may be revisited in the coming year.

"Our Beginner's classes have been popular with the latest commencing a week ago with 20+ participants. Some are people who had their previous course curtailed by Covid but most are those who have heard by word of mouth from members or previous students.

"We now have 114 members and our financial situation is recovering after the losses incurred during lockdowns etc. We have been able to resume offering free game tickets to monthly winners and to the top pair (N/S or E/W) when there are 10 or more tables.

"A big occasion during the year was the 100th birthday of Maurice Steinfeld. We were honoured to be able to celebrate this big day with Maurice and his family. Many members attended to wish him all the best and enjoy the pizza and drinks we funded with him. There was also a delicious cake supplied by Easts Club who also arranged a photographer to record the occasion. Many thanks to Nicoleta who together with the family arranged a slide show of photographs of Maurice's life.

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Beginners Class

Learn to play BRIDGE

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Tuesday 7 March 2023 at 1 pm

Enquiries:    Nicoleta 0414 876 175

President's  Message November 2022

It has been wonderful to see the increasing number of people returning to the bridge table over the last few weeks. We also have an enthusiastic group who are now halfway through their  Beginners Course and I hope to see many of them joining the regular sessions before too long.

We will be having a celebration of our 25th Birthday on Wednesday November 30th at 4pm at the conclusion of the bridge session. We hope you can come along and join your fellow players in commemorating this milestone. I think after the difficulties we all have endured over the last couple of years , we certainly  deserve some festivity. If you have any photos of  the club ( either sessions or events) , we would love you to bring them along to a session before this date so we can scan and show a presentation at the party.

 Also  mark your diaries  for December 14th as Maurice Steinfeld who is known to most of us will be celebrating his 100th birthday on that day and we will be  having  another party on that day.

We are reintroducing free game tickets for the monthly winners, as well as the top scorers in sessions of 10+ tables. (North-South OR East-West).

At the last meeting of your committee, the decision was made to increase the annual membership  for the first time in a number of years. The new fee will be $50 and forms will be available at sessions from November 7th.

Regards

Terry

President's Message July 2022

While we now have three sessions of Bridge at Easts per week , the number of tables is smaller than at pre COVID times. The cold weather and many cases of colds and flu have probably contributed to this as well as many people finally taking the opportunity to travel again. I hope to see the numbers gradually increasing over the next few weeks. I ask you to encourage any people you might know that have not returned as yet to do so.

As you can see in the newsletter the club has a number of competition events over the next couple of months and I hope that there will be good levels of participation. In the meantime. keep well and warm and remember " Bridge is a test of your skill against your opponents' luck"

Terry Maunsel

President's Message June 2022

It has been great being back playing bridge at Easts and it is particularly pleasing to now have sessions on Wednesdays. The number of tables at all sessions is less than at pre COVID times but is slowly building up and I hope will continue to rise. Unfortunately our trial of Tuesday night sessions was not as successful as we had hoped and we have discontinued them but we may consider another trial later in the year.

Congratulations to those who have just completed the bridge lessons with Nick and we look forward to seeing you at the regular duplicate sessions.

All keep well in this cold wintery weather.

Terry

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President's Message May 2022

It has been lovely to be back playing face to face bridge at Easts. The number of players is slowly increasing at the Monday and Tuesday afternoon sessions.

The "experiment" of holding a Tuesday evening session has not been as successful as we had hoped so we will be discontinuing it for the time being. We may revisit the idea in the coming spring .

The really GOOD news is that we will be resuming Wednesday afternoon sessions from May 18th. I know this is something that members have wanted and we have to thank the management of the Easts Club for their co operation with this.

Our beginner's classes have just concluded and it is hoped that we will gain a few new players from the group.

Terry Maunsel

 

President’s Message April 2022

It has been wonderful to be back playing bridge face to face at East’s over the last month. The table numbers are smaller than pre Covid times but are gradually increasing. For me it has been so pleasing to see how much enjoyment members have had just being able to see one another across the bridge table.

At present we have sessions on Monday afternoon and Tuesday afternoon (supervised) and the new Tuesday evening sessions. We encourage you to attend this new session and mention it to friends who may not be able to attend afternoon sessions. It is very easy to join friends for a meal or drink in the adjoining bar and bistro areas before play.

The committee is in discussion with the management of Easts re resumption of Wednesday afternoon sessions and are hopeful of a positive result.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Helen Van Dam and Shirley Rowan who stepped down from the committee at the recent AGM for their assistance over the years. Welcome to the new committee with a special welcome to the new members Adelia Tchelnokov and Gaby Paroz.

Here’s hoping we have an uninterrupted year of face to face bridge

Terry Maunsell

February 2022 News

 For a variety of reasons we dd not send a newsletter to our members  for February.

Here is a list of what we hope will be our face to face sessions at Easts and  BBO sessions in February.

Monday  7th February        Cancelled

Tuesday   8th  February      Cancelled

Wednesday 9th February   Online BBO

Monday   14th February    Cancelled.                       

Tuesday   15th February     Cancelled  

Wednesay 16th February   Online BBO

Monday  21st  February     Cancelled                        

Tuesday  22nd February     Cancelled.  

Wednesday 23rd February Online BBO

Monday 28th February       Easts.                       

For face to face sessions please book at

 https://www.easts.bridge-club.org/bridge/au2065/upcoming-events

While it was hoped to re-commence face to face bridge on 14th February, there hs been little interest from our players, Covid case numbers are still above 12,0 a day,  and our directors are not available the next week because of the Gold Coast Congress. So we plan to re-start on Monday 28th February.

A plea to all our playing members to exercise diligence  when we return to face to face bridge - wear masks as required and monitor for any symptoms however slight.  If you are feeling even  mildly unwell please   ISOLATE AND TEST IMMEDIATELY.

Remember  that membership renewals are due and that the AGM will be held on March 14th at the completion of the Monday bridge session.

On a sad note , Hilda Harris a much loved member of the club passed away recently aged 99. She will be sadly missed by her many friends at the club and especially her playing partner Ted Popper. 

Our condolences to her family.

 

 

November '21 News

It is certainly exciting after all these months to be able to say we will be back playing bridge face to face in the Bondi Room of Easts Club. The session times are listed in the newsletter. As mentioned elsewhere in the letter, you will be required to show your vaccination certificate when you enter the Club or your medical exemption letter. We will also make sure that the correct covid protocols will be in place at the bridge table. While the Easts Club has been closed, changes have been made to the catering at the Club. Lunch specials are back and there are a number of more reasonably priced meals available. In addition, you can order coffee at the bistro or at the adjoining Artie’s Bar and it will be bought to you in the Bondi Room where you will be playing. I encourage you to take advantage of these facilities. I look forward to seeing familiar faces across the bridge table very soon.

Terry

July '21 News

The last month has certainly been one of mixed emotions .

 Firstly we were excited to be returning to Easts Club to resume our bridge sessions on Monday and Tuesday afternoons . We were also planning the introduction of sessions on Tuesday nights. We did manage the first session back at Easts on Tuesday  June 22nd  which was the final of the three well received “Improvers’ Sessions” conducted by Nick Hughes. It was wonderful to see some familiar faces returning now that we were back “home”.and were looking forward to others returning over the next few weeks.

BUT then, we like all of Sydney went into “lockdown” due to the spread of COVID 19 infections mainly centered in our local area. The Committee and our Director, Nicoleta sprang into action and hastily arranged some BBO sessions for those members who wished to participate. 

I hope we will be able to resume our Face to Face sessions at Easts before too long. I will continue to update you over the next few weeks but encourage you to participate in the BBO Sessions in the interim.

Finally I would like to thank my fellow committee members for their assistance  with the logistics involved in the return  to Easts and the numerous communications we have had re the lockdown.

Terry Maunsell

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