It seems a long time since I last put pen to paper & produced a newsletter and in actual fact it is about seven months. We have now settled down at St Peters and fresh news has been scarce and I could not see the point in regurgitating old news. However, a seven month lapse has given me enough material to produce the 27th issue of our newsletter.

We have held two Sim Pairs heats since January, one on a Wednesday and one on a Monday. I am pleased to report that there was an improvement in numbers for the Wednesday event & we had seven full tables. It is essential that enough members support this use of a Wednesday evening, otherwise it is certain that Wednesday evening heats will have to go.

There is never any worry about numbers when the heat is on a Monday (or a Thursday) & we had 11.5 tables. For the Monday event, our highest placed pair nationally was Ian Kane & Ken Hassell & they finished 63rd out of 3,016.

Numbers have crept up and we have over 230 paid up members at the time of writing this newsletter. I am sure that this must make us one of the largest club memberships in the Greater Manchester and the Cheshire & Merseyside Area. Do not hesitate to consult your list of Club members – I am certain that some member, somewhere, is eagerly awaiting a phone call from you and an invitation to play with him/her!

DO YOU WANT A "LATE" PARTNER ?

This has nothing to do with turning up late at the Club! What it means is that if your partner calls off a day or so (or an hour or so) before you are due to play, then you may ring Jean Dawson (0161 282 1754) & she will inform you of other members who have similarly contacted her.

Several members are already using this service, but there is plenty of scope for expansion.

We have been at St Peters for well over two years and the time is approaching when our Committee need feedback from you about your likes and dislikes of the premises. We have an initial five year lease with St Peters and I suspect that we will wish to have talks with them about a lease renewal well before the five years are up.

It would be very helpful if you would approach a committee member with an oral or a written list stating how happy you are with the conditions at St Peters. Please bear in mind that we cannot take on board opinions, suggestions etc if you will not bother to communicate with us.

In order to make life more easy, it may suit many members to write their comments on the insert sheet of this newsletter which has some relevant questions on it. Then hand it in as requested.

The following dates are all in the club diary, but, as they are in the near future, I have brought them to your attention :-

9th Oct, Thursday: Simultaneous Pairs.

3rd Nov, Monday: Club AGM at 7pm (bridge to follow)

29th Oct, Wednesday: Improvers Course starts

5th Nov, Wednesday: Committee Meeting 7.30pm

One pair (pair A) at the table stated that the other pair (pair B, both of whom were experienced & tournament players) who had bid and played the contract, were entirely to blame for the slow play. Pair A realised that they could be at least 7 minutes behind the rest of the room. Pair A were general club players and felt that they would be rushed and under pressure & not be able to concentrate on the second board if they had to play it.

Our policy on slow play has always been the same. The director will either immediately give a warning to both pairs that any future slow play in the same session will get that pair an average minus or, if he thinks it is sufficient, he will speak to both pairs & inform that a warning will follow on the next occasion of slow play. In the meanwhile, the second board has to be played & the full time allowed when both pairs start to play the next two boards. I suppose that at our club, in order to maintain the flow, an average could be given for the second board, but only if both pairs and the Director agrees.

Slow play is a nuisance, especially to a director at our club who is both playing and directing. The director tends to lose concentration because the administration of slow play rarely has a short fix and can drag on throughout the evening. Generally speaking, a player knows when he is going slow & will try to accommodate to pick up time.

Directing at County level (and not playing), I have given several warnings to pairs about slow play. The warning always seems to be very effective, because I have never had to award an average later in the session. Having said this, I realise that it is difficult to compare conditions at a County tournament with a local club session.

Slow play can be very frustrating but it will always be a part of the bridge scene, albeit an unwanted part.

This Calendar should be consulted, giving dates for club and county events, Bank holidays (when we are always open) and Xmas openings.

It is not often that I take up a chunk of space with the achievements of some of our members, but we have in our club many competitive members & I think that periodically it is a good thing to make this known to everyone. I have garnered the following results from bridge magazines, the County web site and the County newsletters that have appeared since the issue of our last club newsletter in January 2003.

a) Geoffrey Fink; was a member of the team who won the Manchester County Roy Higson Cup Final

b) Anne Jordan/Elise Ford/Mike Asher; were the main members of the Altrincham A team who won their Division & are promoted to Division 1.

Anne Jordan/Elise Ford; who came 2nd in the Chester Congress Swiss Teams.

c) Ian Kane; played in a Manchester County Triangular match & with Raymond Semp was the highest scoring pair in a win by Manchester.

Ian Kane/David Olliver; came 4th in the Manchester team in the Lancashire Swiss Pairs; came equal 7th in the Mersyside and Cheshire Swiss Pairs; came 7th in the Manchester Congress Championship Teams Final.

Ian Kane/David Olliver/Barry Davies/Ken Hassell; members of the team who won their Division and are promoted to the Premier Division.

d) Jim & Jenny Morris; came 1st in the Lancashire County Thwaites Smooth Swiss Teams; tied for 1st place in the Merseyside & Cheshire Swiss Pairs; came 3rd in the Chester Congress Swiss Teams; selected to play for the Manchester County team against Derbyshire.

e) Anna Drysdale/Ann Edwards; won the Intermediate prize in the Killarney Annual 7 Days Congress; won the Open Pairs in the Chester Congress; came 4th in the EBU Shrewsbury Swiss Pairs.

f) Howard Kay; has been selected to play for the Manchester County team against Barrow.

Two of our members, Michelle Brunner and John Holland, are in a class of their own and I do not intend to even try to tabulate all their successes. There are too many for this type of publication!

I apologise for any omissions, but would remind you that I have frequently asked members to let me know results and have not had many positive replies.

Thanks are due to Jim Morris who, having completed two years as Chairperson, has now resigned from the Office. Barbara Taylor, acting as interim Chairperson until after the AGM, will Chair the AGM.

Peter Dawson (August 2003)