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...)

With thanks to Nikki, GLBC's Saturday HiLo games have proved such a success that our once-tentative beginners are now confident enough to play with any partner they choose. Setting up a regular partnership of similar experience is an important step towards improving one's bridge game. Therefore, from Saturday 6 December 2026, games on the 1st and 3rd of the month will be run as normal events for established pairs who can register themselves in the usual way (using the Entry tab above). Or contact Nikk if you require a partner.

Congratulations go to one of our favourite couples, Jan and Bob Gribble for placing first in our recent Swiss Pairs event. Throughout the 2-week event, they played consistently and held firm with 5 wins and one loss. Well done!

Sadly, Great Lakes Bridge Club lost one of our leading lights last week when Dick Barry passed away. 

Congratulations to Shirley Craig and Toni Alexander (pictured), local winners of 2025's nation-wide restricted pairs competition held in October. Shirley and Toni were ranked 122nd nationally. 

Accolades also go to Maretta Callow and Carmel Pike who placed first in our club nationally (106th) following board-by-board adjustments across the entire field. Check out our club's full results here.

For further information on how this event is scored, see the clubhouse noticeboard.

It was the first Tuesday in November so it was races not rounds at bridge. Players were told to 'giddy-up with no hesitating' as we didn't want the stewards called.

Thanks go to John Van Doorn and Michael Rossell for organising the sweeps and being very discerning judges of our fashion in the bridge room. Despite the hard field, Gail and Warren won by a country mile!

This week we celebrated Pat Maunsell's 90th with a delicious cake and some speeches. We wish you many more Pat!