From the Committee
October has been another month of competitions at the Club and at Congress events. Congratulations to Maggie Gibbs and Susan Jensen on winning the Under 100MP Competition. On the Congress front, congratulations to Peter Clarke and Hans van Weeren for winning the two-day Two Men and a Truck Restricted Teams at the 2017 Sydney Spring Nationals event.
This month, we sadly lost two of our members, Bob Woodcock and Vona Hadfield. They will be missed at the Club by their friends and partners and by the Club as a whole.
Having made it through most of a hectic year our President has gone abroad for a well-deserved break, leaving you with me to try to write this monthly letter to you.
The month has had its significant successes:
- Peninsula edging our Brisbane Waters in our first head to head competition
- An excellent Melbourne Cup function
- A successful transition to a new Committee at our AGM
- The welcoming at the AGM of three new Honorary Life members - Alan Davies, Anita Kite and Catherine Whiddon
- Peninsula doing well in the state's Most Improved list
- Peninsula doing well at the State Open Pairs
If you have a a little bit of time and a little bit of interest in helping with communication then we'd love to welcome you to the communications team to help you help the club! Email me at
- Story writers - both your own ideas and ones that are commissioned
- Photographers - taking suitable photos for stories
- Bridge question gurus - Answering how-to bridge questions that are emailed in
- Peninsula stationery organiser - refresh our stationery with the new club logo and font - guidance/support given
- Website support - update and maintain the website, helping others add their content - training/support given
Members are reminded that, with GST being recognised from the beginning of September:
- Table money will rise to $7 for members, and $12 for non-members
- Sets of 10 Prepaid Vouchers (PPVs) will cost $65
- Members will be able to use existing PPVs and yellow and pink vouchers at sessions and from 1 September at supervised sessions.
- From now until 1 September there is a purchase limit of 10 PPVs per member per day.
The committee asks, in the best interests of all members of the club, that members do not attend the club when they are ill and contagious. We want to avoid others catching the flu and other diseases via coughs and sneezes and through touching the cards and boards that others will also touch.
All members are encouraged to wash their hands and do whatever they can to minimise these risks.
If you look at your Pianola results message and wonder how you can improve then the optional Pianola Plus subscription might be just right for you.
The club (via Cath Whiddon) has negotiated a 20% discount on the first subscription to Pianola Plus for any of our club's members. To activate the discount the promo code is PENINSULA (all caps).
Pianola Plus offers a number of additional features of interest to those wishing to improve their game, such as:
In response to a member request we have started a service where members can ask bridge questions via an email to
Please give the service a go! You might not always agree with the answers but you may still learn something valuable.
And if you have reasonable bridge experience/knowledge, an open mind, a willingness to say when you don't know an answer, and empathy for and a desire to help other bridge players trying to improve their game - we would like to invite you to nominate for the panel that responds to such questions. If you are interested, then let me know at
These are the six main changes, effective from 1 August 2017, that Peninsula club players should know about:
- Claiming - If a player claims he or she needs to face his or her cards at the same time as providing any information about an intended line of play. If doubt is expressed about the claim, and only if all four players agree, the hand can now be played on, otherwise the director needs to be called.
- Comparable calls – In some situations a player who makes an insufficient bid or a call out of turn may be able to make a comparable bid (that is one that contains all the information of the withdrawn call) and thus avoid restrictions that might otherwise apply to his or her partner’s bids or leads.
