Sunday 1 March 2026 saw 132 keen bridge players fill our clubhouse. Congratulations to all the winners listed below and to all who participated in the hard fought but enjoyable event. We thank the dedicated band of volunteers who made the congress a success by providing and organising the food, garnering sponsorship (see article below); donating raffle prizes, standing in to make up numbers, and ensuring every little detail was perfected.

We are grateful for the support and generosity of the following local businesses for their recent sponsorship. Please consider supporting them in return.

• Beach Bums Cafe
• Coles, Forster
• Forster Beauty
• In House Gifts, Forster
• New Day Spa, Forster
• Rock Kidz, Forster
• RYFT News & Gifts, Stockland Mall
• Watson's Family Pharmacy

Congratulations to all who competed in Saturday's Swiss Pairs, and special cheers go to the following winners:

Open 1st - David Watson & Helena Dawson; & and 2nd - Sue Eishauer & Terry Bodycote (not pictured)

Yes, it's upon us already - our 2026 Congress kicks off this weekend! With thanks to the massive amount of work our volunteers have been doing, we'd like to remind everyone of a few things:

Beginners Lessons for 2026 at the Great Lakes Bridge Club will be a 7-week course on Tuesday afternoons and are free.

When:       2pm - 4pm weekly from Tuesday 3 February to 17 March 2026 

Where:      Great Lakes Bridge Club, 34c Lake St, Forster

At our last session for 2025, Great Lakes Bridge Club President Uve Andersen named the playing area in memory of a much-loved club founder, Gwen Perkins. Gwen's son thanked the club for the honour, adding that his mother would have been both pleased and humbled by the dedication. 

A large and hearty crowd gathered for our annual awards ceremony and Xmas party last week. Kicking off the proceedings was a speech by GLBC President Uve Andersen, who named the playing area in memory of a much-loved club founder, Gwen Perkins. (separate article to come)

Next came the club's 2025 awards, presented by Denise Marr. With too many to list, pictured below are the trophy winners: 

With an amazing win in the 2025 Under 100 Master Points (MPs) Pairs competition, huge congratulations go to local beginners Warren Mason & Carolyn Jackson-Moore who placed first in the <25MPs section. And 5th overall with a very healthy 65.4%, in a field of over 200 pairs, overtaking many higher ranked pairs! (full results)

We'll be watching these two with eager eyes in the future...

Congratulations to GLBC pair Eta Rogoyska & Kathy Reaney who placed in the top 60 of the Open field in the NSW State-Wide Pairs held during the first week in August 2025. With just over 600 Masterpoints between them, in a field of 604 pairs from 37 clubs, this was indeed an excellent result.

We are indebted to our committee and tournaments director(s) who each year provide us with opportunities to compete in expanded competitions from the comfort of our own clubhouse.

Club members are advised that the red programme booklets for next year are available at the clubhouse. Directors ask that everyone takes the time to read the Playing Conditions in the front. One of ongoing GLBC playing conditions, they remind members to have their complete and up-to-date system cards (aka convention cards) visible at the table during play from 2026 onwards. (Not only a requirement, they're rarely helpful in the car or on the kitchen bench back home...)