MAYFIELD
DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB
NEWSLETTER No. 45 – JANUARY
2007
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING –
TUESDAY 24 April 2007
The
24th Annual General Meeting of the Club will take place in St.
John’s Hall on the above date at a start time of 7:30pm, followed by bridge as
soon as possible. The usual format will apply with the Officers’ reports being
posted on the notice board and, in some cases, on the web site in advance of
the Meeting. It is hoped that these will be taken as read at the Meeting.
Please
advise the Secretary, Rosemary Rice of any business that you wish to be raised
at the Meeting by 16 April 2007; otherwise it may not be possible to include it
in the agenda. A copy of last year’s
minutes has been available at the club for the past 11 months and will remain
so until the Meeting. If you require an
individual copy please speak to Rosemary Rice.
It is hoped that the accounts will be available in advance of the
Meeting.
Members
are reminded that, if they wish to propose an amendment to any of the rules, it
must be given to the Secretary 4 weeks before the Annual General Meeting – 27
March 2007.
When
Malcolm Channing became Chairman in April 2004 he stated that he would take
this office for a maximum of 3 years and has now completed his tenure. We are therefore seeking someone to take
over that task. Malcolm has expressed
his willingness to continue on the Committee if the newly elected Chairman is
accepting of this. Proposals for the
new Chairman need to be made at least one week before the AGM.
There
are vacancies on the Committee and nominations to fill these are welcomed.
These should be made no later than one week before the meeting. A list will go
up on the notice board well in advance of the meeting. Please take note of our
Chairman’s comment later on this subject.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Norman Cup – 13 Feb (heat) / 13 March (final). The final will be limited
to 5, 6 or 7 tables according to the original entry. There will be Open Pairs on 14 March for those who do not qualify
for the final or who were unable to enter in the first place.
Mayfield Teams Cup – 30 Jan / 27 Feb: Teams can have up to 6 players so that in
the event that you can only get a team for one evening you can have up to 2
substitutes for the second night.
Mixed Pairs Cup – 8 May: Members should note that, although unmixed
pairs may turn up to play, they will be expected to pair up with other unmixed
pairs where possible. Any pair left
unmixed will still be able to play but without standing.
Dorothy Williamson Handicap Teams – 29 May. We introduced a handicap into last year’s
teams event which appeared to be successful so intend to keep the same format
for this year.
Mens & Ladies Pairs – 19 Jun:
PLEASE
GIVE ALL THESE COMPETITIONS YOUR SUPPORT
CHRISTMAS PARTY NIGHT
This
event was very well supported and it was good to see the Mayfield once again
filled to capacity with 18 teams. Our thanks are extended particularly to: -
Rosemary Rice
who organised the refreshments together with her team of helpers,
Mary Street, Helen Seymour and Sylvia Timberlake,
Joan Underdown, Ron Maclaren
John Timberlake who
purchased the booze
Roger Sugden, Chris Pullan and Ron Maclaren who ran the bar
Chris for organising the
competitions and prizes and directing for the evening.
George and his wife Angela
for their work throughout the evening to run the catering and clearing up with
their usual efficiency.
The
winners on the evening were Maria Martin, Liz Martin,
John & Ann Cruickshank.
Roger Morton produced had his camera to the
fore and his photos taken during the evening are shown on the Web site. Thank
you as always for this added attraction, Roger.
MEMBERS SUCCESSES
National Mens
Pairs 3rd
Bob Rowlands & partner
Year End Congress
Mens
Pairs 7th
Arun Suri & partner
Teams 4th Margaret & Peter Lee, Bob Rowlands
& partner
Surrey Competitions
Ladies Pairs (Aileen Filrose) 2nd Maria Martin & Rosemary Rice
Green Point Teams A flight 2nd Bernard Pike, Arun Suri, Tony Scouller
& partner
Surrey County Pairs Plate 1st Audrey
Randall & Renate Lane
Surrey Affiliated Clubs
League Mayfield A team,
captained by Tim Cook, leads with 40/40 with Roy Smith’s Mayfield B team lying
2nd with 33/40
Club Competitions
Committee Cup 1st Laszlo Magos & Phillip Brooks
2nd Chris
Pullan & Mike Cowley
Liz Phillips Cup 1st
Dean Morley & Joan Cullen
2nd Alan
Bailey & Roy Smith
Pro-Am
Cup 1st Bernard
Pike & John Osborne
2nd
Chris Pullan & Norman
Grant
.
NEW MEMBERS
We are pleased to welcome
Priscilla Rhodes, Fiona, Lorraine Murphy and John French as new
members to the club. Their telephone numbers are included with this Newsletter
but, for those of you accessing this Newsletter on the internet, their
telephone numbers are posted on the Notice Board.
The Grand
Master that never was
Rene started playing bridge while serving in the RAF
doing his national service. He was a member of Surrey for well over fifty years
and served on the Surrey Committee for several of them. He represented both
Berks & Bucks and Surrey. His great heroes were the Italian Blue Club Team
who won so many World Championships and Olympiads.
Rene's pet hate was the master point system
declaring that in some instances it never truly represented the calibre of the
player. He was probably one of the few people who actually tore up green
points. He was a truly ethical player with an analytical bridge brain and had a
vast knowledge of all systems. Of all his many achievements both at Club, County
and National level, winning the Surrey County Pairs the year before last gave
him immense pleasure
Having partnered Rene for over 20 years I will so
miss not seeing him opposite me at the bridge table and I know for me
personally that bridge will never be quite the same again.
He leaves behind four children, eight grandchildren
and a partner.
Obituary by Martin Trouse
Robert Bruce Canning (Bob) was born in 1923 and passed away in September 2006, aged 83, after a short illness.
He and I played bridge together for many years, often as much as twice a month. He was a fine player and was excellent in all departments of the game. He was a kindly man and never criticised my mistakes, for which I was always grateful.
Although I knew Bob for many years, I knew little about his personal life beyond the fact he was married with two sons. He and his wife were fiercely proud of them both. He was a very private man and it was not until I attended his funeral on 12 September 2006 that I learned a little more about him.
He spent most of his working life with the C&A group and, during the Second World War, he was a fighter pilot flying from aircraft carriers in the South Pacific.
I shall miss playing bridge with him very much.
Obituary by John Timberlake
Ann sadly passed away on Sunday, November 12th after a brave fight for several
months against cancer.
After retiring from Glaxo, Ann's father Joe Nathan
started up the original Mayfield Bridge Club in the early 1950's at their house
called Mayfield in St Martins Avenue, Epsom. It took over the remnants of a
bridge club in Alexandra Road, Epsom run during the war and briefly postwar by
Mrs Dorothy Williamson (another name from our history). When Joe died in 1973,
his wife Grace wanted the club to continue and Kath Coward ran it until 1982
when the present Mayfield Duplicate Bridge Club was formed.
Ann was a regular and loyal club supporter for over
50 years. She leaves behind 3 daughters, several grandchildren and her brother
Derek.
As has been reported
earlier in this newsletter I have decided that it is time that I stepped down
as Chairman. When I was elected as Chairman nearly three years ago I said that
I would not stay in office as long as my predecessor and would vacate the
position after two or three years. When the AGM comes round in April I will
have served three years and I feel that the time is right for someone else to
take over the reins. I will, of course, be willing to continue on the Committee
if that is the preference of the new Chairman.
One of the most
disappointing trends that have occurred during my tenure as Chairman of the Club
is the decline in both the membership and attendances, and I hope my successor
can turn this trend round.
I must thank all those
Committee Members and others, too numerous to mention, who have helped me over
the last three years and I am sure that they will give the new Chairman the
same level of support and guidance.
One of the most
depressing duties of the Chairman is to announce the passing away of Members
who in many cases are personal friends. Other the last six months I have had to
inform the members of three untimely deaths, Rene Price, Bob Canning and Ann
Whitmont. Elsewhere in this newsletter are obituaries.
Turning to a more
cheerful note I must congratulate the rest of the Committee, especially
Rosemary, for the Christmas Party and I am sure that all those who attended
were overwhelmed by the mountains of food prepared by Rosemary and her helpers
and I am sure that the rest of the Club will join me in expressing heartfelt
thanks for all their hard work.
The date of
the Annual General Meeting is 24th April, at 7:30pm and we hope to
start the bridge as soon as possible afterwards. I look forward to seeing as
many of the Members of the Club as possible.
The Nomination
Sheets for Officers and Committee Members will be put on the Notice Board in
the near future. This will give members a long time to ponder the situation and
put themselves forward for consideration for one of the positions.
Since the last
AGM the Club have operated with one Committee Member short as there were not
enough nominations to fill all the vacancies. I hope that this year we do have
enough volunteers to fill all the places
on the Committee.
In the next few months
there are a number of Club Championships, details of which are contained
earlier in this newsletter. Over the last few years the number of entrants for
these events have been dropping to such an extent that for the heat of the
Norman Nixon Pairs in 2006 there were only 7½ tables with a final of 5 tables.
If this situation recurs this year the Committee will have to consider whether
it is worth continuing with the current format of a heat and a final.
§ ¨ © ª § ¨ © ª § ¨ © ª§ ¨ © ª § ¨ © ª § ¨ © ª
by Andrew Robson
This article is printed here
by permission of Andrew Robson.
It is copied from his Bridge Section in the Times from last
August.
Dealer: South Vulnerability:
N-S
♠
K
♥
K Q
7
¨ A K Q 10 8
♣
Q 8
6 3
♠
4 ♠
J 9
8 6 5
♥
9 6
3 ♥
8 5
4 2
¨
7 6 5 4 3 ¨
9
♣
K 10 7 5 ♣
A J
9
♠ A Q 10 7 3
2
♥
A J
10
¨
J 2
♣
4 2
S(Scouller) W N E
1♠
Pass 2¨ Pass
2♠
Pass 3♣ Pass
3NT
Pass 4NT(1) Pass
5♠(2)
Pass 6NT Pass
(1)
Quantitative
(2)
Marginal
acceptance, but the two major-suit tens and upgraded jack in his partner’s
diamonds tip the balance. He responds to show two of “five aces” (king of
spades counting as an ace) plus the queen of spades, in case partner meant 4NT
as Key Card Blackwood agreeing spades.
Opening
lead: ♥6
Winkle: “ A secondary
squeeze that forces opponents to choose between a throw-in and an unblock, each
of which costs a trick”. This beautiful end position was analysed and named
by Terence Reese in his classic “The Expert Game” (1958).
Surrey’s Tony Scouller has
been waiting (in his own words) 48 years for a Winkle to come along. He made
full use of his opportunity, which occurred whilst practicing for the RAC
London vs Automobile Club de France annual fixture (which they won).
Avoiding the fatal club
lead, declarer won the heart lead with dummy’s king, cashed the king of spades,
crossed to the jack of diamond then led the ace of spades. West discarding was
a blow, reducing declarer’s tricks to 11. Was there a chance of a 12th?
Declarer ran dummy’s
diamonds, and followed with the queen o hearts. He led dummy’s third heart over
to his ace, putting East in the quandary in this four card ending:
♠
♥ 7 (led)
¨
♣ Q 8 6
♠ ♠
J 9
♥ ♥
¨ ¨
♣ K 10
7 5 ♣ A J
♠ Q 10
♥ A
¨
♣ 4
East cannot spare a spade,
or declarer’s queen-ten will be promoted. If he discards the jack of clubs,
declarer can exit with a club. East wins with the ace, but is endplayed low
lead a spade from his jack-nine. Finally, if East throws the ace of clubs, then
declarer cashes the queen of spades and leads towards dummy’s queen of clubs.
West can score his king, but dummy wins trick 13 with the queen. 12 tricks and
slam made.
At the end declarer
reflected that the 5-1 spade spilt was a blessing. Had spades split 4-2 (no
jack dropping) he would surely have tried a third top spade in the hope of a
split – and ruined the Winkle.
© Andrew Robson
Alerting Doubles
by Chris Pullan
Since the introduction of
the bidding changes last August, one area where there may be some confusion is
the alerting or not of double bids. The
position up to and including 3 NT as set out by the EBU is:
|
Action over Opponents’ calls |
||||
|
Opponents
Call … |
Meaning
of their call… |
If
your Double is… |
Alert |
No Action |
|
A suit at any level |
Natural |
Take-out |
|
Yes |
|
Anything else |
Yes |
|
||
|
Does not show the suit (i.e. conventional ) |
Showing the suit doubled |
|
Yes |
|
|
Anything else |
Yes |
|
||
|
A suit opening |
Prepared, Phony, Short or Nebulous 1C or 1D opening |
Take-out |
|
Yes |
|
Anything else |
Yes |
|
||
|
No trumps at any level |
Natural or conventional |
Penalty |
|
Yes |
|
Anything else |
Yes |
|
||
§ ¨ © ª ª ¨ © ª § ¨ © ª § ¨ © ª ª ¨ © ª § ¨ © ª