The TBA Committee met on September 8th from 2.45pm. Present were Julie Rhodes (P), John Grosvenor (VP), Leigh Blizzard (T), Trish Colles, Sue Falkingham, Pam Murphy, Fran Healy, Robin Barnes, Simon Edler and Hugh Grosvenor. The following matters were discussed:

Special General Meeting - Building Extension

If you can, please come to the Special General Meeting which will be held at the club on Saturday September 12th from 12.30 pm. Anyone attending that meeting will be offered free bridge in the afternoon session.

The motion to be put at the Special General Meeting will be :

"That the TBA proceed to contract with Tasbuilt for the construction of a building as specified by them in their proposal to the TBA."

Building Extension FAQs

Over the last couple of weeks, I have had the pleasure of chatting with many members about the extension, answering their questions and listening to their suggestions. As a result we have refined our design to make it even better.

John and I have worked together to document most of the questions asked by members along with the relevant answers. Our “FAQs“ are available on the website or as a PDF (the PDF may take a moment to load). A copy is also on a noticeboard at the club. We hope this will provide answers to any questions you are still have about the proposed development.

Coming Events – Southern Open and Handicap Teams

Get your entry in as soon as possible for this event commencing at 9.30am on Sunday September 27th. As previously noted, the TBA will be providing a free lunch and we need to know the numbers for the caterer. Entry is only $80 for a team of four. If you would like help putting together a team, see Sue Falkingham who will be directing the event. Come along and have a fun day of teams play.

Save the Date – BAM Teams & Spring Pairs

The Spring Pairs will be held on Sunday October 25th commencing at 9.30 am.

Our last club championship event for 2026 will be held on Saturday September 5th starting at 9.30 and is a 1 day BAM teams event (if you are not familiar with Board-A-Match scoring this document provides a quick introduction). It will replace normal Saturday bridge, so start putting your team together – feel free to ask for help if you want to put a team together.

Suggestion Box

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

  1. The Club will trial starting the Monday evening session a little earlier. From Monday October 5th, the Monday evening session will start at 7.00pm.
  2. Wednesday morning session will remain with a 10.00am commencement time, not 9.30am as requested. We already have two morning sessions starting at 9.30am and it is the objective at the TBA to have a variety of sessions and start times.
  3. Constitutional changes to allow for proxy voting. We will investigate this – it is not a trivial matter to change the constitution.
  4. This suggestion is from last month but needed extra consideration as it is logistically complex. From next Monday (September 14th) for players who play more than three sessions in a given week, there will be a discounted rate ($5) for each subsequent session after the first three. This arrangement will apply to regular walk in sessions only and once you have completed your three sessions, you will have to “claim” your discount from the presiding Director. This arrangement will replace the current Thursday afternoon discount, and we hope it will encourage you to come to more sessions – the more you play, the better your bridge will become!
Women’s Bridge

The ABF has written to us to seek a volunteer who would like to liaise with them about issues relating to Women’s Bridge. If you would like to do this, please see me.

New Members

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

Bridge Tip – Play Improvement

When defending, you often have to come up with discards from your hand. As a general rule, try to protect your four card suits. You will be surprised at how many times your “fourth” card wins a trick.

Julie Rhodes
President