The TBA Committee met on May 12th from 2.45pm. Present were Julie Rhodes (P), Leigh Blizzard (T), Sue Falkingham, Sue Falkingham, Paul Fredheim, Fran Healey, Hugh Grosvenor and Laura Bauermeister. The following matters were discussed:

TFoB Merchandise

We have decided to make available some TFoB themed merchandise at next year’s event. At the moment we are looking for a suitable logo to put on the merchandise. If you have any graphic design experience, or any ideas for this, please let us know – we would love some more creative input!

Tasmanian Online Championship - June

Not looking forward to those chilly Winter afternoons? How about three fabulous sessions of bridge played in the warmth and comfort of your own home? Make sure you enter in our very first ever Tasmanian Online Championship to run at 2.30 pm on Sundays June 14th, 21st and 28th.

You can play with a partner from anywhere – the more entries we have the more fun it will be. Entry fees are only $10 per session and you will be able to enter via MyABF.

Suggestion Box

This month we were asked if we would consider a concession on our annual membership fee for pensioners. The current annual membership fee is $75. Of this $27 is paid to the Australian Bridge Federation as a “capitation fee”. A further $20 is the state affiliation fee which goes into the State Bridge coffers which provides travel assistance to National and State Representative players as well as funding State events and State Team training. hese fees are common to all affiliated bridge clubs in Australia.

This leaves $28 which actually goes to our club. This money pays for things like the glass of wine which you have after an event, special events like the Melbourne Cup, expert training sessions, library books etc.

This doesn’t really leave much room for a Membership Fee discount, and at $1.50 per week, TBA membership is quite good value. However, we appreciate that money can be tight for pensioners which is why we have a 20% discount for pensioners on our Table Money. In additional we do have a financial hardship policy for those who need extra assistance. If you want to discuss this, Sue Falkingham is the relevant person.

Building Extension

We are going to investigate an alternative strategy for our extension and need to finalise our thoughts before approaching the building manufacturer. We have established a building subcommittee which will report to the Committee, then to our membership as a whole. If you would like to participate, or have any input please get in touch.

Liam Milne Training for Everyone

The TBA has organised for Liam Milne (a former and current Australian player) to conduct the State team training this year in May. In addition, he will be running a session which will be open to everyone. It will run from 2.00pm to 4.00pm on Friday afternoon May 29th at a cost of $25 for TBA members and $30 for non members. The topic is :

“Slam Bidding Workshop - Bid better slams and stay out of poor ones!”

A very useful topic for all of us – who doesn’t need help improving their slam bidding? - I will certainly be attending! You can enrol for this workshop on MyABF or just turn up on the afternoon with your $25.

Coming Up – Change of Event Dates

The Club Novice Championship has been moved to July 19th and the TBA Board-a-Match Teams has been moved from July to make a fabulous teams weekend along with the Southern and Open Handicap Teams on September 26th and 27th. The TBA will be providing lunch on both days so “save the date” for that weekend.

New Members

We welcome the following new and reactivated members to our club and wish them all the best on their bridge journey : Michael Brown, Denise Brown, Jennifer Lowns, Charlotte Sainsbury, Clare Darling, Fiona Mansfield, Mary Co-Pavier, Rosalie Kinstler, Paul Carter, Terry Mitchell and Pauline Stanton.

Promotions

Congratulations to the following members who have received rank promotions last month:

• Louise Gilfedder & John Green were promoted to Graduate Masters (>2 MPs)
• Elizabeth Gordon, Lyn Sinclair & Victoria Vyvyan were promoted to Local Masters (>15 MPs)
• Nola Calvert & Rex Calvert were promoted to Bronze Local Masters (>25 MPs)

Bridge Etiquette – System Cards

Try to remember to bring your system card with you to the table. It is a courtesy to the opponents and saves them having to ask you about your carding or other aspects of your system.

Julie Rhodes
President

The Tassie Individual Championship was held at the TBA on Sunday 26 April 2026. Congratulations to Ann Burnett who won in a field of 24. Julie Rhodes came second and Geoff Green came third. Full results are available here.

In an Individual event players enter as individuals and play with as many of the other competitors as possible. Each combination of players may only play together for one or two boards across the event. All players use the same simple standard system as there is no time to agree conventions with each new partner.

Individual events have not been played frequently at the TBA in recent years. The Individual Championship was brought back in 2021 as a way to celebrate the life of Bert Forage who was particularly fond of this format. In 2025 we ran the Individual Championship again, this time as a fund raiser to help Hugh Grosvenor with his travel expenses to represent Australia in the Seniors Team playing in China. Previous winners are listed here.

Individual events are complex to organise and score. Thanks to Simon Edler for organising and directing the day.

The 2026 TBA Congress was held on 11th and 12th April 2026. Saturday was Matchpoint Pairs with Open and Novice sections (20 and 8 pairs respectively). Sunday had 38 pairs playing IMP scored Swiss Pairs. The TBA provided a light lunch each day, which was partially catered by students at Rosny College.

The Open Matchpoint Pairs was won by David Robinson and Phil Beck. Dallas Cooper and Barbara Holland came second. Hilton Francis and Julie Rhodes came third. In the Novice section Yolande Boost and Sharlene Campbell came first. Lee McCaghern and Anne McEntee came second. Full results are available here: Open, Novice.

In the Swiss Pairs the Open winners were Gulum Kocak-Sunamak and Guray Sunamak. Hilton Francis and Julie Rhodes came second. Pam Murphy and Barbara Giizel came third. Prizes were also awarded for the Novice and Restricted catagories. The highest placed Novice pair were Ross Addison and Jack Pashev. The top placed Restricted pair were Anne Fancis and Jegs Nuttal. Full results are available here.

Thanks to Simon Edler and Sue Falkingham for directing. Thanks also to Pam Murphy for being the event Convener. Thank you to all members who brought plates to share for morning and afternoon tea.