MAYFIELD DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB

NEWSLETTER No. 46 – JULY 2007

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The 23^rd Annual General Meeting of the Club was held on 24^th April 2007 with 63 members present. This ran very smoothly lasting only 20 minutes so enabling us to complete 20 boards.

Malcolm Channing resigned as Chairman of the Committee after serving 3 years. Chris Pullan thanked him on behalf of the Committee and presented him with a book and a music voucher as a thank you for his service to the Club as Chairman.

One of Malcolm’s last tasks was to persuade someone to succeed him as Chairman and he achieved success by persuading Sylvia Timberlake to rejoin the Committee in the capacity as Chairman. The Committee are highly delighted to have Sylvia’s talent back on board and I’m sure the members have to agree that she is eminently qualified for the task. Thank you, Sylvia.

The following Committee was elected: Sylvia Timberlake (Chairman), Rosemary Rice (Secretary), Peter Lee (Captain), Chris Pullan (Treasurer), Andrew Barnett, Malcolm Channing, Ron Maclaren, Roger Sugden, Keith Jackson, Roy Smith and Terry Kedgley.

The Club trophies were presented by Molly Slevin as follows:

Norman Cup	Audrey Grzesiak & Hazel Farmer
Mayfield Teams Cup	Dean Morley, Joan Cullen, Julian Hemsted, John Lockyer, Jack Feld
Mayfield Cup	Liz Phillips
Mayfield Handicap Cup	Dean Morley
Kath Coward Cup	Sylvia Timberlake
K Coward Handicap Cup	Philip Brooks
Men's Pairs	John Timberlake & Rene Price
Ladies' Pairs	Gwen Easto & Olivia Dawson
Mixed Pairs	Liz Phillips & Arun Suri
Committee Cup	Lazlo Magos & Philip Brooks
Liz Phillips Cup	Dean Morley & Joan Cullen
Dorothy Williamson Cup	Chris Pullan, Terry Kedgley, Julian Hemsted, John Lockyer
Pro-Am Cup	Bernard Pike & John Osborne

MEMBERS ADDRESSES & TELEPHONE NUMBERS

The membership database has been updated and the list of telephone numbers is included with this newsletter. Please check that we have your correct address (on the envelope) and the correct telephone number on the list. If in error, please inform either Ron Maclaren or Rosemary Rice of the required correction.

NEW MEMBERS

We are pleased to welcome Peter Cogliatti, Anita Durrant, Gillian Hutt and Carol Letts as new members since the last newsletter.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Please Note:

St. John’s Hall is due to be refurbished during the week 13^th to 18^th August and, as a result, there will be NO BRIDGE on 14^th and 17^th August.

Committee & Liz Phillips Cups – Tuesday, 21^st August. The rank determining the split between these two events will be decided on the night in order to even out the number or pairs in each. It will be either National Master plus or Premier Regional Master plus.

Pick up Teams - Tuesday, 31^st July.

EBU Simultaneous Pairs - Tuesday, 18^th September.

Pro-Am - Tuesday, 23^rd October.

No Bridge - Tuesday 14^th August, Friday, 17^th August,

Friday, 16^th November, Tuesday 25^th December

Christmas Party - Tuesday, 18^th December

MEMBERS SUCCESSES (or otherwise)

National

Peter Lee reports that his team lost their recent NICKO quarterfinal by 1 imp. Bad luck indeed.

Surrey

Victor Ludorum Peter Lee

Lady Rose Cup Runner-up Peter Lee’s team

Senior Pairs 1^st Liz Phillips & Tim Cook

2^nd Peggy Moir & partner

Mixed Pairs 1^st Peter & Margaret Lee

Aileen Filose 2^nd Rosemary Rice & Maria Martin

Surrey Affiliated League Division 1 – 1^st Mayfield A (Liz Phillips, Tim Cook, Peter & Margaret Lee, Arun Suri, Angela Forsyth)

Division 2 – 2^nd Mayfield C (Ann Madden, David Dick, Mary Street, Adrian Patrick, Lucia Grant, Phil Brooks)

AGM Swiss Pairs 1^st Liz Phillips & Peter Lee

Club

Mayfield Teams 1^st Helen Seymour, Rosemary Rice, Terry Kedgley and Chris Pullan

2^nd Liz Phillips, Peter Lee, John Frosztega, Sean O’Neill, Rolf Alexander

Norman Cup 1^st Audrey Grzesiak & Hazel Farmer

2^nd Tim Cook & Arun Suri

Dorothy Williamson 1^st Helen Seymour, Rosemary Rice, Terry Kedgley and Chris Pullan
2^nd Tony Scouller, Arun Suri, Tim Cook & Roger Morton

Mixed Pairs 1^st Loraine Murphy & Tony Belton

2^nd Alan Bailey and Peggy Moir

Men’s Pairs 1^st Dean Morley & John Lockyer
2^nd Arun Suri & Bernard Pike

Ladies’ Pairs 1^st Denny Wade & Liz Phillips

2^nd Olivia Dawson & Gwen Easto

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CHAIRMAN’S NOTES

When I retired from the Committee 2 years ago, I did not foresee myself returning to the fold and especially in such a position. It was an honour to be asked to fill the vacant role that Malcolm had so ably managed and, although a little reluctant at first, I accepted the challenge and trust that I can serve you well.

My first task was to address the subject of a dress code which was raised at the AGM. When the club was first formed it was unacceptable to play at the club unless the gentlemen were wearing jackets and ties. However, we have moved on apace since then and, even in offices, it is quite usual to wear casual clothing. So the Committee discussed the question of shorts which several gentlemen like to wear in the hot weather. It was agreed that these would be approved provided that they were knee length and it is hoped that all members will comply with this decision.

I made a plea at the AGM for members to help Malcolm out as a Director. He has agreed to be our Chief Director as long as he only directs once a month plus the competitions. Thank you to those members who have already added their name to the list. For those who are still thinking about it, please be reminded that it is very much appreciated by the Committee when help is forthcoming from the membership.

A bugbear at the club is slow play and this has also been discussed in Committee and Malcolm will give our recommendations on this further on in this newsletter. Suffice it to say that if you know that you are a slow player, please make a concerted effort to speed up as, not only does it hold up the movement, but it is very frustrating to follow you.

Here endeth my first lesson in St John’s Hall!

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EBU Proposal to replace your subscription

The EBU have proposed a change to their funding – it has been named as ‘Pay to Play’ and we would appreciate your comment on their proposal.

Players will not be required to pay an annual subscription to the EBU (currently £20 per annum) but the proposal is that the Club increases the table money by 30p and collects this money on behalf of the EBU. Clearly, for someone playing only once a week this looks like very little change but for those playing more frequently it will mean a much greater contribution.

The affiliated clubs (such as the Mayfield) will be required to pay an Annual Affiliation fee which would cost our club £75 per year.

As you are all aware, we run at a small loss every year. It is probable that the table money will need to increase by 50p in order to cover the additional EBU expense to the Club and the likely reduction of numbers which may well result from the EBU proposal.

You may view the EBU strategy document on the Home page of the EBU website. For those of you who do not have access, we have paper copies available on request.

CHIEF TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR

First, I would like to thank those members who have come forward in recent weeks to offer their services as Tournament Director for the evening.

We still have repeated complaints from members about slow play, so please be considerate to others. If you think this might apply to you, speeding up can be achieved by:

a) make the initial lead before writing the contract on your card

b) keeping discussion of the first hand to a minimum,

c) if the Director has called move before you have finished, please just score up and move immediately after East has checked it. If you do finish before the Director has called move, you may discuss the hands if you wish but please do so quietly as other people will be playing the hand later on in the evening.

DO NOT DISCUSS THE HAND IF PEOPLE ARE WAITING TO START THE NEXT ROUND

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New Rules on artificial two-level and strong one-level openings

As reported in the April edition of the EBU magazine, a revised ruling on strong and artificial opening bids will take effect from August 1^st. You will need to satisfy ONE of the following conditions:

a) a minimum of 16 high card points, or

b) a hand that conforms to the rule of 25 (high card points +number of cards in your 2 longest suits, or

c) the hand contains as a minimum the normal 1-level opening and has a minimum of 8 clear tricks

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Chris Pullan offers some useful comment relating to common misunderstandings on

Rules and Ethics

Announcing

Last August, we started announcing the strength of 1 No trump opening bids, stayman, transfers over 1 NT and the strength of single suit opening two bids. This was originally for a trial period of one year and following mixed reactions, the existing arrangements are to continue until further notice. So don’t forget!

Mis-explanations or failure to alert.

Occasionally, players will fail to alert or mis-explain a bid on request. Where this occurs, the Orange Book sets out the procedure to be followed. 3 D 5 states:

If a player is reasonably or completely sure that partner has misalerted or given a wrong explanation, he must rectify the situation at the appropriate time by calling the TD and explaining the situation. The appropriate time is as follows:

a) If he becomes declarer or dummy, before the opening lead is selected: and

b) If he becomes defender, at the end of the hand, not earlier.

Three points to bring out are:

1) The later time scale for defenders is to avoid giving unauthorised information to or reminding partner about their own system;

2) If a) occurs, then under Rule 21, the last player making a pass may withdraw this call since it was based on misinformation;

3) The TD will determine whether damage has occurred and, if so, award an adjusted score.

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LOCAL POINTS

The Mayfield have not been issuing Local Points Certificates since April. Now we are registering them direct with the EBU so that we no longer need to produce hundreds of little pieces of paper. We have just registered Local Points for the last quarter and the points registered were:-

Ulla Adilz	111 (5)	Pam Jardine	63 (2)	Adrian Patrick	48 (3)
Alan Bailey	114 (3)	Elizabeth Johnson	186 (6)	Liz Phillips	127 (4)
Andrew Barnett	108 (7)	Terry Kedgley	146 (6)	Bernard Pike	110 (5)
Tony Belton	70 (3)	Audrey Kolbe	116 (4)	Shirley Preuveneers	46 (3)
Adrian Boulding	42 (4)	Alan Laker	18 (2)	Chris Pullan	206 (8)
Jacky Boulding	18 (2)	Dorothy Laker	18 (2)	Audrey Randall	104 (3)
Philip Brooks	155 (8)	Renate Lane	148 (5)	Rosemary Rice	150 (4)
Malcolm Channing	165 (9)	Margaret