Monthly Summary - October 2023
October greeted us with warmer weather and plenty of action at the club.
At the AGM, held on the 17th of October, retiring committee members Bernard Yates (Secretary), Shirley Lavarack (Treasurer) and Kate North (former President) were thanked for their contribution. The new Committee ably led by Sylvia Bray (President), Prue Hart (Vice President), Jacqui Ecclestone (Secretary) and Christine Spartalis (Treasurer), along with committee members Eve Clarkson, Brian Embleton, Jan French, Veronica Ntoumenopoulos, Carla Sullivan and Sandy Veling were welcomed.
Richard Basham was awarded a Life Membership of the West Australian Bridge Club. Richard continues to be staunchly and tirelessly supportive of the club. He is always friendly, willing to help, and has devoted many hours of his time for the benefit of the club. As a Life Member he joins a select group (25 since 1975) who have been recognized by Club Committees over the years.
At the AGM our Patrons, Helen George and Peter Smith, presented the Patrons’ trophy, the Mabs McCulloch Cup to Kate North. Kate has won this cup for the past six years and joins Jocelyn Parry with the most wins. Congratulations yet again Kate.
We all knew that Andy Hung could play a reasonable game of bridge. He was over in Sydney last week and won the TBIB Open Teams at the Spring Nationals as part of the ASHTON Team: Sartaj Hans - Andy Hung & Sophie Aston - David Wiltshire. Hopefully he is celebrating in the Margaret River region on his Bridge Holiday.
Also in Sydney, Viv Wood, who is a home club member of WABC, was part of the LUSK team that won the Linda Stern Women’s Teams at the Sydney Spring Nationals. Her team was Sue Lusk - Viv Wood & Paula McLeish - Pele Rankin. Well Done.
It seems that one or two of our directors can also play bridge. Not only did Mark Doust playing with John McMullen win the Western Seniors earlier this year, but last weekend there was Peter Holloway & Tuya Cooke winning the Spring Swiss Pairs at the Undercroft Congress.
The WABC Mixed Pairs Championship finished last week with Anne Youngs & Vinod Nasta winning from Fran & Geoff Holman with Martin Doran & Mimi Packer coming third.
The WABC Restricted Teams Championship was held at the end of October. This was won by the Veling Team (Patrick Cooney, Jeff Veling, Mira Erskine and Ziggy Morawiec) with the Leung Team (Beverley Lurie, Alfred Leung, Sandy Veling and Anrea McCallum) coming in second place. Well done to all of the players.
Saturday afternoon Supervised Sessions recommenced this month under the able direction of Peter Hicks and volunteers. We are hoping that many of our working members will take advantage of this session.
There will be plenty of action in November with Andy’s fourth term of lessons coming to an end. On the competition front we have Jackpot Week and the Christmas Congress. The Christmas Congress is a mix of one and two session events. There is something for everyone and no club sessions so please consider playing in at least one of the events. If you need help entering then please see Martin Doran or David Burn.
And then there is December and the Christmas Party - Tuesday 12 December following afternoon bridge.
