The TBA Committee met on November 10th from 2.45pm. Present were Julie Rhodes (P), John Grosvenor (VP), Leigh Blizzard (T), Trish Colles (Sec), Fran Healy, Paul Fredheim, Robin Barnes and Malcolm Sherlock. Jo Beck and Maggie Crawford also came to present their proposal for the 2028 TFoB. The following matters were discussed:

Good Luck to our GNOT teams !

Our TWO teams in the GNOT finals, Tasmania (Hugh Grosvenor, Tania Lloyd, John Grosvenor and Mardi Grosvenor) and Tasmania South (Meryl Derby, David Marshall, Maria Gibbs, Bal Krishan, Julia Corr and Jo Beck), are about to travel to Brisbane to compete at the end of November and we wish them all the best.

Coming Events

There are some great upcoming events in the run-up to Christmas.

TBA Board A Match Teams – Sat December 5th

This event will commence at 9.30 with lunch provided by the TBA. Please bring a plate to share for morning/afternoon tea. There will NO regular Saturday bridge, so this is an opportunity for regular Saturday players to come along and try this new and exciting format. Feel free to ask for help if you need team mates. Enter via My ABF.

Board-A-Match scoring is probably the most straight forward method of scoring. The document here provides a brief overview of the format.

Tassie Swiss Pairs – November 21st and 22nd

This is our premiere pairs event. It commences at 10.30 on Saturday and 9.30 on the Sunday to facilitate entry from Northern players. Enter via My ABF. This is an important event for anyone thinking about nominating for a Tasmanian team in next year’s ANC.

TBA Teams of Three – Sunday November 29th 1.15 pm.

This is a one session event in which experienced players (Team Captains) play with a “team of 3” less experienced players. The captain plays a match with each of the three team members and there is an opportunity to discuss the hands afterwards. This event is limited to players with fewer than 50 Masterpoints.

Enter on My ABF as an individual, pair or threesome, and we will organise teams and captains.

2028 TFoB

From 2028, we plan to extend the Tasmanian Festival of Bridge to six days, incorporating the very first Australian Board-A-Match Teams Championship (subject to ABF approval). This is due to player demand for a teams event, and to make our event longer. The usual events will bookend the BAM Teams.

In the meantime, get your entries in for the 2027 TFoB as the early bird rate will disappear in a couple of months.

Eating and Cards

Every week, hundreds of boards are dealt by our erstwhile team of volunteer dealers and we would like to make things easier for them rather than more difficult. Something which is always difficult is when cards get stuck in the dealing machine for any reason, but often it is because a tiny piece of food is stuck to one of them. It is TBA policy to avoid eating at the playing tables for this reason, and I know it is difficult at the moment as there are limited eating areas available. However, please be aware that eating at the table then handling the cards causes problems for our dealing team (as well as the TBA as may have to prematurely replace the affected cards)

Suggestion Box

There were several suggestions from Members this month and we are responding to each of them :

Saving power on lighting by installing proximity lighting in the toilets. We won’t be doing this as it is too dangerous if the lights suddenly go off. However, in Summer it is often bright enough that we don’t need extra lighting in the toilets. Please feel free to turn off the lights in the ladies or gents toilets if you think it is bright enough.

Restricted Pairs competing in a restricted event are disadvantaged if they have to compete against experienced pairs, as for example in the TBA session of the recent Australia Wide Restricted Pairs event. The committee agrees that this is a valid concern and will refer the matter to the Tournament Committee.

Membership Renewal

We are approaching the start of the annual membership renewal process. Personalised renewal notices will be sent out by email to impacted members in early December. Membership fees for the 2027 year are due by 1 January 2027. The various methods of paying will be detailed on your renewal notice. Please note that the TBA is not able to accept payment via Amex cards.

The easiest way to pay your membership fee is via My ABF Bridge Credits. This is the most reliable method of processing membership payments and minimises the work required by the Directors, Treasurer and other volunteers involved in the process. Please consider using this method for paying your 2027 membership fee.

More details of the renewal process are available here on the TBA website.

Christmas-New Year Schedule

Our normal schedule will apply until Thursday morning 9.30 am session on December 24th.

The following sessions will then be held across the Christmas - New Year peiod:

  • Monday Supervised, 10.30 am December 28th
  • Tuesday Daytime, 10.30 am December 29th
  • Wednesday Morning, 10.00am December 30th
  • Thursday Morning, 9.30am on December 31st.

Our regular schedule will then recommence on Saturday January 2nd. This schedule can also be found on the online TBA Calendar.

New Members

We welcome the following new and reactivated members to our club and wish them all the best on their bridge journey :

Anita Carlin, Sofia Pashev, Kristin Riley, Susan Riley, Michele Klok, Brigid Ritchie, Mark Gillard, Imogen Blackie and Hannah Jenkins.

Promotions

Congratulations to the following club members on their promotion to a new playing rank :

  • Terry Mitchell: Promoted to Graduate Master
  • Maria Rolls: Promoted to Club Master
  • Doug Bridge: Promoted to Bronze Local Master
  • Anne McEntee: Promoted to Silver Local Master
  • Anne Parrott: Promoted to Bronze National Master
  • Malcolm Sherlock: Promoted to Life Master
Save the Date - Bring your Grandchild to Bridge – Friday Jan 29th 2027

If you have a young person in your life that would like to learn bridge, please bring them along to the club on Friday January 29th at 10.00am. We will be starting from the absolute basics, and those who are keen to continue after that will be able to join our Youth program in 2027.

Bridge Tip – The increasing importance of MyABF

As the ABF invests more and more to increase the functionality of MyABF, it will become increasingly important to the all bridge players. If you have not yet set up your MyABF account, or you don’t feel confident using it, please ask Hugh or John to help you. Once you have used it a couple of times, you will find it quite easy to use, and it will make all aspects of your bridge playing life easier.

Julie Rhodes
President