Below is the President's Annual Report to the 2026 Annual General Meeting. This is also available in document form here

PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL REPORT - AGM, MARCH 2026

During the last 12 months at the TBA, we have continued to make steady improvement and build on the work of previous committees.

Teaching and Membership

We have continued to focus on recruitment and retention of new members to ensure the future viability of our club. Sue Falkingham has continued to conduct Beginner’s Classes twice a year, which has resulted in many new members joining our club. Please make them feel welcome whenever you come across them at the table.

Consequently we have a larger proportion of “rookie” players at the TBA than in the overall population of ABF registered bridge players. It is important that we assist these new players to grow their expertise so they can fully enjoy the pleasure of playing bridge. Monday morning has emerged at the principal “transition” session for beginners before they can feel comfortable moving to Tuesdays or Wednesday nights.

We are conducting more “beginner focussed” events. We are trialling some “restricted” Sunday Swiss pairs events. If these are supported by members we will continue to run them. Most TBA events now include prizes in the Restricted and Novice categories as well as Open prizes.

The TBA has appointed Laura Bauermeister to act as a Membership Officer to assist new members to settle in to the club, and Pam Murphy as a Partnership Facilitator, to assist any member needing a partner. Many thanks to Laura and Pam for their work during the last year.

Thank you to all TBA members who have assisted a new member to feel welcome into our club, and keep up the good work in this regard.

Member Communication – New Web Site

We currently use the monthly “What’s On” newsletter to communicate with all members as well as the notice boards and slides at the TBA. The Suggestion Box continues to make us aware of member concerns and has resulted in the implementation of several good suggestions. We have decided to use the MyABF and our own web site to more fully describe our regular and special TBA events and publish them earlier to facilitate early entry. If you think we can do better with member communication, please let us know.

As our old web site has become creakier and creakier, the committee approved the development of a new and much more fabulous web site for the TBA.

John and Hugh have been putting in a huge effort to create the new web site. It already looks great and will only improve with time. If you have an idea about our web site, please let us know.

Intermediate and Advanced Training

Sue Falkingham has established a “Laugh and Learn” improvers lessons on Wednesday afternoons at 2.00pm. These include a social aspect, as well as the opportunity to improve your bridge.

Bridge coaching by acclaimed Bridge Experts has been and will be made available to players at the TBA in 2026, including those aspiring to represent Tasmania. Andy Hung conducted two lessons at the club in February and Liam Milne will be running a session on slam bidding which is open to all comers on Friday May 29th from 2.00pm to 4.00pm as a cost of $ 25. In addition to running state team training on May 30th and 31st, Liam will lead a discussion on selected hands from the Saturday afternoon session. Anyone who nominates for State Team Selection is eligible to attend the State Team Training.

On Line Bridge – First On Line Championship!

The TBA continues to run one on-line session per week on Wednesday nights at 7.15pm. This is an opportunity to earn red master points without leaving the comfort of your home, as well as play in a partnership with someone outside of Hobart. In addition, this year we will run our first On Line Championship – the Tassie Matchpoint Online Pairs on Sundays June 14th, 21st and 28th.

State Bridge

Last year we trialled holding the annual state meeting via Zoom. Most clubs participated and once we all became comfortable with the technology opinions were freely shared, and solutions to problems proposed. It was resolved to continue holding the annual state meeting in this format.

Tasmanian Festival of Bridge and Australian Playoffs

This year’s Tasmanian Festival of Bridge has attracted a record number of entries. We are all excited about the prospect of hosting a well run event at our fabulous venue – MyState Bank Arena. In addition, the ABF has approached us to ask if we can help host the playoffs for the National Seniors and Mixed Teams. These will commence at the TFoB and will continue at the TBA on the following Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Many thanks to all volunteers who have put their hands up to help at these events including drivers, furniture movers, cake, soup and sandwich makers and general volunteers.

Policies and Procedures

We continue to establish and document TBA policies and procedures to bring some consistency to the administration of the club. This is being led by Fran Healey who is doing an excellent job. Once finalised, these are published on the TBA web site for the information of members as well as affiliated clubs.

Vision for next 12 months

We have had a good year from a financial point of view with a solid operating surplus generated. This has allowed us to restructure the Director’s fees with the result that most sessions will result in an increase of Director payments.

Also, as previously noted we are investing in the development of a new web site which will greatly enhance the smooth running of all aspects of our club.

Any additional surplus will go towards our club extensions which we will continue to pursue in 2026.

Operations Manual and Director Support

To encourage a new generation of Directors, we need to work on a Director’s Manual to assist existing and aspiring Directors who wish to run TBA duplicate sessions. This will include relevant TBA policies and procedures, Committee information, instructions around the Compscore2 system, and information on common movements and infractions.

An Operations manual for the TBA is also under way detailing TBA current policies as well as information how to run particular events such as the Melbourne Cup, Eastcoaster etc.

These are to assist future committees and avoid duplication.

ANC 2027 Hobart

The TBA is hosting the 2027 Australian National (Bridge) Championships which will be held in the Ricky Ponting room at Bellerive Oval from July 3rd 2027. We will continue to work towards this event throughout the year to ensure we put our best foot forward next year.

Committee and Volunteers

The TBA oversees the running of bridge at the State level, as well as the day-to-day running of club matters. The other six Tasmanian clubs depend on us to ensure state-wide information is disseminated, and accurate, with regard to bridge events held in Tasmania.

I would personally like to thank the hard working TBA committee and other volunteers for their assistance and support during the past twelve months. I would particularly like to thank John Grosvenor for his ongoing technical support and general advice.

The TBA would not be able to operate without the help of its Management committee or volunteers so a big thank you from all club members for your work in 2025 I am looking forward to the TBA consolidating and building on the previous year as we move through 2026.

Julie Rhodes
President
March 2026