Newsletter - March 2026

NEW MEMBERS

CLUB NOTICES - BRIDGE

NSBC is setting sail on our inaugural Bridge Cruise, in November

There are vacancies for 48 people and more than 30 positions already taken.

If you’ve been thinking about coming along, now’s the time to book, we’d hate for anyone to miss out simply because they waited a little too long. No matter your bridge ability, there’ll be a game to suit you. It’s going to be a terrific mix of cards, company and cruising.

Will Jenner-O'Shea will lead this event and while it is still in the planning stages, Will is aiming to run a Pairs Championship with Holiday Red Points, and hopefully a Holiday Teams event with Red points.

The specifics aren't confirmed as yet, but there will be several 'normal' sessions as qualifying events, and then a Pairs Final and Consolation. The Teams event will probably be a two-session round robin style event. All the events and duplicates are optional, play as much or as little as you want. Will is planning to run a shore excursion to a local Club either at Airlie Beach and/or Cairns for anyone who wants to go and play in a local club - It's a great way to meet locals, find out good places to visit and eat, and is a lot of fun. Depending on the day, Will, will run 1 or sometimes 2 sessions of bridge. If the numbers allow, the sessions will split into sections based on experience and masterpoints. Will aims to run short lessons on every sea day and the lessons will be tailored to match the level and standard of the players -they will be fun, educational and completely unmissable. As a bridge teacher, Will has run lessons for mixed ability groups before and promises that everyone who wants to learn something, will. Players of all levels are welcome and will be catered for. There will be an overall Pairs Champion partnership, and a Teams Champion. We will also crown a winner of Restricted, Novice or Rookie players if we have enough players of those categories. Now if that's not a great Bridge holiday led by an excellent teacher and player - cruising, visiting places and playing Bridge, then I don't know what is!

For all the details and to secure your spot, click here.

Fixed Income Solutions Stratified Pairs Each Saturday in March

Face to face East Lindfield and Online Real Bridge.

This event is to be scored across both fields - all playing the same hands every Saturday in March.

Your best 3 scores of 4 will count so your worst score will be dropped off if you play all 4 sessions.

There are great prizes and there will be 4 divisions 0-100 MasterPoints 100-300 MasterPoints 300- 750 MasterPoints and 750+ MasterPoints

ROLLERS NEWS

Meet Your Bowls Committee

We sat down with the team dedicated to making our club a fantastic place to play. Get to know the faces behind the greens!

Susie Meares | President

Phil Lewis | Bowls Secretary

Gerry Ryman | Bowls Manager

Nick Wiener | Committee Member

Steve Murphy | Committee Member

Gary Forster | Committee Member

Alan Plambeck | Committee Member

2025 Club Competitions

A massive congratulations to all our winners! You can view the full list of champions on our website:

https://lindfieldrollers.com.au/competitions/#2025

________________________________________

New Synthetic Greens: Project Update

We are thrilled to announce that the contract for our two new synthetic greens was signed in late January. This upgrade represents a major investment in our club’s future.

Key Dates & Info:

FROM THE PRESIDENT - BRIDGE

NSBC’s Inaugural Cruise – November 2026

Our very first NSBC Cruise is officially underway, and what an exciting new offering this is for our members and their friends.

A huge thank you to Jenny Madden, Mike and Will for their assistance in getting this off the ground. There are plenty of moving parts behind the scenes, and their support has been invaluable.

Bookings are flowing in steadily and, as I write this, we are already over half full — an exceptional position to be in this far out. Thank you to everyone who has supported the initiative so early.

We will be running two sections onboard, so whether you’re a Rookie or an Open player, there will be a game to suit you. If you’re tempted, do consider joining us — it promises to be a wonderful mix of bridge, learning and holiday atmosphere.

Club Update

We’ve started the year strongly. Membership attrition is currently sitting at 7%, compared with 7.9% in 2025 and as high as 26% in previous years. This suggests we’ve stabilised our membership base, which is very pleasing. Those leaving are largely doing so due to time pressures, ill health, or relocation out of the area.

Session numbers at East Lindfield continue to grow, with some sessions reaching record attendance. In January, East Lindfield was up 14% compared with January 2025. Our standout performer, however, was our online congresses, which saw a 25% uplift in player numbers. Thank you all for supporting these events — they are an important part of our club’s reach and reputation.

Jo is currently working with the auditors to finalise our 2025 accounts in preparation for the AGM in April.

We also have two beginner classes underway. Thank you to the many members who referred friends — both classes have very healthy numbers. As these students represent the future of our club, this is a vital part of keeping our membership strong and sustainable.

Merger Update

Your representatives on the new Lindfield Bowling & Bridge Club Board have already been hard at work. Representing you are myself (Vice Chair), Jo Ampherlaw (Treasurer), Terry Dunne (Club Secretary) and Peter Marshall (Board Member).

The greens renovation project has now been finalised. In light of the recent negative press and increasing concerns surrounding the environmental and health impacts associated with artificial turf, the Board decided to take a more cautious and responsible approach. Instead of proceeding with synthetic turf, we have opted for a more environmentally friendly carpet surface. It may sound unusual, but several other bowling clubs have adopted it successfully, and it avoids many of the issues that have been raised in relation to artificial surfaces.

There will inevitably be some minor disruption while the works are undertaken. The process for both greens is expected to take 6–8 weeks, and every effort will be made to keep noise and inconvenience

to a minimum. We appreciate your patience while we complete this important improvement to our shared facilities.

The membership transfer process is almost complete, with fewer than 50 members yet to join the merged club. This is an excellent outcome and thank you all for acting so promptly in completing what was, admittedly, an annoying but necessary task.

Thank you for your continued support of our club — 2026 is shaping up to be a very positive year indeed.

Warm regards, Shaz

OUR MEMBERS - OUR CLUB - BRIDGE

Did you know that some 12-15 members of NSBC, are professional Bridge players. I had previously spoken to Sophie Ashton, some months ago who is an outstanding Bridge player and asked whether she played professionally – she indicated that she had played professionally only once in a Teams event but had not played professionally as such, since. I was intrigued to be told we have so many members who play professionally. This month I had a conversation with one such player – Jamie Thompson.

I asked Jamie to give me some background on how he to came to play Bridge and then to play professionally. Jamies started to learn and play Bridge at about 12 years old. His father a high-level Bridge player himself encouraged and taught him. His uncle, Ben Thompson is Vice President of the World Bridge Federation – so certainly a strong family background and support within the family. Jamie said that while he was pretty good scholastically, he wasn’t outstanding but certainly good enough to enter University to do a degree. He started playing professionally when he was eighteen years old.

His first bridge “job” was as an assistant at Waverley Bridge Club in Melbourne. His initial introduction to the world of being a professional bridge player involved 50% directing and 50% teaching and a little playing. Jamie says playing with someone professionally when he was about 18 years old was an unbelievable experience – someone was going to pay me to do something that I would have done for free because I love Bridge so much! I talked to my Dad about this and he said - it’s like if you have the means, go and play – it’s not unlike something in the theatre or ballet where you pay hundreds of dollars to see people perform their art – the person I was playing with – paying me to do so – it was her form of entertainment and that helped me get over the complex of being paid to do something I loved to do.

While he does play in Tournaments where there is prizemoney, globally this amount is relatively insignificant except for tournaments such as the HCL International Tournament where there is a team prize opportunity of $200K (US) available. While he hasn’t entered that level, he thinks that those

sorts of tournaments require compartmentalisation of mental thought and process to be successful and a challenge he would like to achieve.

His role as a professional Bridge player has evolved into a segmentation of roles where he is a director, an educator and a player with a group of clients where he plays as a partner to them – generally these people are seeking a learning improvement, achieve better results and/or enjoy the experience of playing with a skilled partner and play with a person who can teach/advise through playing with them. Some Clients want feedback right away at the table, which isn’t my style. I’d rather give feedback at the end of a session, going over the hand record with them and pinpointing gaps in their game and trying to help them improve.

Having a number of clients who use a variety of conventions and playing styles requires a knowledge of more conventions/protocols than Jamie would generally use but he needs to have that knowledge to be able to adapt to that partner. Jamie acknowledges that there are a huge number of conventions and while knowledge of them is required, some of them are so infrequently used there is a need to balance between system complexity and reliability and the risk of forgetting conventions can outweigh the marginal advantages.

When asked about the level of partner, he acknowledged they were usually of a relatively high level – tending to be good to strong Open players – had he played/coached players at the Rookie level, he indicated he had not done so as yet and thought that it would not be right for him to do so in that environment, being much too strong for opponents.

Jasmie’s work schedule is made up of about 30-40 hours per week based on private lessons, client availability, up to 5 private lessons per week with 2-4 people and has a couple of semi-regular playing clients. Lessons take up about 60% of his time, professional play about 30% and directing about 10%. Club session play with clients involves post-session feedback and hand record review.

I came away from my conversation with Jamie realising the role of a Bridge professional is not unlike many other professional roles – from the golf professional at my local golf club to the ballet teachers to whom I have taken my youngest grand-daughter. They provide an opportunity for improvement, a sharing of a skill base that their clients want or need to achieve, a satisfaction level in the game/skill of their choice – many of us want to achieve at a higher level than we currently achieve and with the help of those with a higher skill level we can possibly achieve – sounds like a win for those who want try it

MAJOR RESULTS

Summer Online Teams Event

The Summer Online Teams Event was concluded in the previous period with a replication of previous of last year's result where Team Mundell were again the Winners

Winners: Team Mundell - Giselle Mundell, Andrew Peake, Tania Lloyd & High Grosvenor

Runners Up : Team Przewozniak : Aleksandar Milovanovic, Wieslaw Przewozniak, Patrick Jiang & Wayne Zhu

Third ; Team Ward : Rob Ward, Peter Gill, Cevat Emul, Catherine Zhang

Summer Online Swiss Pairs Congress

Open

Winners: Liz Wilkinson & John Scotford

Second: Gary Lane & Leo Goorevich

Third: Nazife Bashar & Kingas Moses'

Intermediate:

Winners: Peter Robinson & Susan Feeney

Second: Craig Mietzke & Christine Hanley

Restricted:

Winners: Stella Jansen & Marina Shteyman

Rookie:

Winners: Patrick Horseley & Lousie Horesley

UPCOMING EVENTS

Fixed Income Solutions Stratified Pairs Tournament for Open/Intermediate/Restricted/Rookie - East Lindfield and Online March 7th, March 14th, March 21st, & March 28th NSBC Saturdays | Pairs | F2F 13:00 | Online 13:30 | Red Masterpoints

Club Monthly Winners Tournament

Friday, 20th March All Day starting 10:00 By Invitation Only | Pairs | F2F |

NSBC Kieser Intermediate/Restricted/Rookie Swiss Pairs - East Lindfeild Sunday, 5th April, All Day, starting 10:00 NSBC Sunday | Pairs | F2F| Red Masterpoints Click here to enter via MyABF

NSBC Kieser Open Swiss Pairs - East Lindfield Sunday, 5th April, All Day, starting 10:00 NSBC Sunday | Pairs| F2F | Red Masterpoints Click here to enter via MyABF

NSBC Mixed Pairs (State Qualifier) 2 seperate sessions 16th & 23rd April starting 19:00 NSBC Thursday Nights | Pairs | Online | Red Masterpoints Click here to enter via MyABF

NSBC Intermediate/Restricted/Rookies Morgan's Swiss Pairs Thursday, 7th May, 14th May, 21st May, 28th May & 11th June NSBC Thursday Nights starting 19:00 | Pairs | Online | Red Masterpoints Click here to enter via MyABF

NSBC Open Morgan's Swiss Pairs Thursday, 7th May, 14th May, 21st May, 28th May & 11th June NSBC Thursday Nights | Pairs | Online | Red Masterpoints Click here to enter via MyABF

Mother's Day Intermediate/Restricted/Rookie Swiss Pairs Congress Sunday, 10 May, All Day starting 10:00 NSBC Sunday | Pairs | Online | Red Masterpoints Click here to enter via MyABF

Mother's Day Open Swiss Pairs Congress Sunday, 10 May, All Day starting 10:00 NSBC Sunday | Pairs | Online | Red Masterpoints Click here to enter via MyABF

LESSONS

Will Jenner O'Shea Workshop Sessions at East Lindfield - Face to Face with Will

Commonly Misunderstood Auctions

Friday, March 6, 2026, 10:00 AM

Commonly Misunderstood Auctions and How To Get Them Right. All hands have opportunities for good play or defense to have an effect on the outcome. Which Jumps Are Strong And Weak. How Many Cards And How Many Points. Identifying When Conventions Apply, And Don’t. Fee $60.00 includes a fantastic lunch, snacks and all notes of the workshop plus Will has some gadgets for you to play some of the hands. Finishes 3.00 - 3.30pm.

To book for this session please Click here

Friday 24th April

Jacoby 2NT Raise and Slam Bidding

Slam Bidding, Evaluating Hands For Slam. Jacoby 2NT and follow-ups. Interesting Play Hands for Slam. The Game Forcing Jacoby 2NT Raise, and Responses. Slam Bidding Using 4NT Keycard (14/30). How To Value Hands For Slam (Shortages, Honours). Examples of Control Bids, Asking For Kings.

To book for this session please Click here

Will Jenner O'Shea March Sessions - Online with Will

What's Included in Will's Online Sessions

Recorded Video Lesson

2 hours of recorded video lesson, firstly covering the theory. Then Wills shows us the theory with real hands. Lastly Will gets Students to play the hands.

Practice Hands

The choice of two tools to practice what you have learned. You can practice on your own, with Will's guidance throughout.

Downloadable Notes

The Presentation, Hand Notes, plus PBN and LIN files for you to upload to BBO for practice with friends or practice with Robots.

Thursday 5th March 09:30 - 11:30

Double, Overcall, 1NT or Pass

Which competitive bidding tool should you use if you have a choice of more than one. Is an Overcall or a Double a better description of your suits and points. When to overcall 1NT and when not to.

Price $17 per lesson (if purchased prior to the lesson and is a NSBC Member only offer), $17 will be charged to your PP Account on the day that the lesson takes place.

To sign up for this lesson please Click Here

Thursday 12th March 09:30 - 11:30

Responding to a Double

They open, your partner Doubles, and it's your turn. Which suit to bid, when to Jump, and how to get to the best contract. What should the Doubler do next.

Price $17 per lesson (if purchased prior to the lesson and is a NSBC Member only offer), $17 will be charged to your PP Account on the day that the lesson takes place.

To sign up for this lesson please Click Here

Thursday 26th March 09:30 - 11:30

Checkback part 1 - Simple Checkback

A common and useful convention for finding the best game after Opener rebids 1NT. Finding your best fit on a game hand, and stopping in the best contract when you don't have a game.

Price $17 per lesson (if purchased prior to the lesson and is a NSBC Member only offer), $17 will be charged to your PP Account on the day that the lesson takes place.

To sign up for this lesson please Click Here

Thursday 2nd April

Checkback part 2 - Two Way Checkback 09:30 - 11:30

This is an optional extension to Checkback used by most tournament players. It is not too hard to learn and makes it clear when you are inviting game, weak, or strong.

Price $17 per lesson (if purchased prior to the lesson and is a NSBC Member only offer), $17 will be charged to your PP Account on the day that the lesson takes place.

To sign up for this lesson please Click Here

Thursday 16th April

Showing Stoppers After Minors 09:30 - 11:30

How to use the bidding space to find 3NT when your only fit is in a minor. How to find 3NT when you aren't sure. Trying to get to 3NT when it doesn't seem obvious.

Price $17 per lesson (if purchased prior to the lesson and is a NSBC Member only offer), $17 will be charged to your PP Account on the day that the lesson takes place.

To sign up for this lesson please Click Here

Thursday 23rd April

Pre-empts and the Rule of 20

Which hands open a Weak Two, which hands open a Pre-empt, and which shapely hands open at the one-level with less than 12 points.

Price $17 per lesson (if purchased prior to the lesson and is a NSBC Member only offer), $17 will be charged to your PP Account on the day that the lesson takes place.

To sign up for this lesson please Click Here

DEAR DIRECTOR

My tip for this month is on leading. As leading is very important and so often everyone (including me gets it wrong)

Do lead partner’s suit

Don't lead an unsupported Ace

Don't lead away from an unspupprted Ace in a suit contract

Lead top of a sequence

If your partner doubles an artificial bid it usually means please lead this suit.

EL Sat 07/02/26 board 21

This hand seemed to cause a lot of grief. Some players had a view they should be in a part-score and some rightly thought they should be in a slam but failed to make it!

5 pairs in 6 Spades not making

4 pairs in 4 Spades making 11

2 pairs in a part score

5 pairs in No trumps making 10-11

This is how I think the play should go (please see above). Please note 5 Spades says I have two keycards plus the Queen of trumps.

The play, - Win the opening lead.

Cross to dummy with a diamond or Club. Play the Queen of Spades (south just duck) and let this run now play a low spade and the 10 pops up and you play the Jack and draw the last trump. You can take the heart finesse which fails but you are making your contract.

If West happens to be playing in spades you can make all 13 tricks as the North hand gets squeezed. If East is in 7NT they can make as the North hand is squeezed they can’t protect diamonds and hearts. But you should be really happy if you are in 6 Spades and you make 12 tricks.

This is a great hand played on Thursday 12th February at EL. Board 3

One table opened 3NT (that would be my preference, this says I have 7 solid cards in a minor with no more than a Queen outside of my long minor) This makes life a lot more difficult to find 7 Hearts.

If you open 1 Diamond, now West should call 2 Diamonds (5 5 in the majors can be weak or strong) North will probably pass . East has some points and should jump in with their major and call 3 Hearts. Now I would start showing my first-round control and call 3 Spades, East co-operates and calls 4 Clubs. Now West calls 4 Diamonds. East calls 4 Spades. Now West is picturing their partner's hand. They don't have three spades as they would have just called 3 Diamonds you choose. So, no Spade losers. We don't know at this stage about the Queen of trumps. No diamond losers and only 1 club but we have long spades to get rid of our club losers. Call 4NT and now partner comes up gold with 2 Keycards and the Queen of trumps. Call the grand slam. - 7 Hearts. With the play just remember you have two pitches on the spades which will get rid of your club loser and one diamond loser so you also need to trump two diamonds to make your 13 tricks before drawing all your trumps.

The board was played 20 times

Three East/West pair played in 3 Hearts

One North/South got to play in 4 Diamonds

Two North/South pairs playing in 5D X (this should be a good sacrifice)

Fourteen East/West pairs playing 4 or 5 hearts

But no-one played in Grand Slam Hearts

ASK GARY

Q) Who is bridge for? A) Simple short answer is everybody who enjoys playing cards. Participation in bridge at our club does not require expertise to enjoy the game. We offer both duplicate bridge and various forms of competitive bridge. Our regular duplicate sessions—conducted face-to-face and online—primarily emphasise social interaction. Many accomplished players attend these sessions to practise agreements and enhance their skills. Ultimately, these gatherings are intended to be enjoyable and should not be approached with undue seriousness, particularly at the expense of others.

It is important to acknowledge that some members may be advancing in age and may not perform as well as others, yet they find unique enjoyment in the game. For some, bridge serves as an escape or provides relief from challenges associated with ageing, and their satisfaction is paramount as is yours. Occasionally, players may be slow or make substantial bidding or play errors, and it is necessary to accept this as part of the experience. Even seasoned participants encounter such situations in national competitions, so learning to adapt is an essential skill in bridge. As directors, we strive to maintain timely play and, when needed, average boards to ensure fairness, usually 50/50 but we sometimes use +/- to compensate further if we deem necessary. We take measures to see that overall scores remain unaffected in cases where a board must be passed due to time constraints. While you may lose one board during a session, consistent slower players may forfeit several, which can encourage improved pace. Please remember that bridge is foremost a social and enjoyable activity during our weekly sessions. For those seeking greater challenges, we invite you to join our championship events held on Thursday evenings, weekend congresses, and special tournaments such as the Stratified Pairs every Saturday throughout March.

MONTHLY WINNERS

Congratulations to the following players who were the overall Monthly Winners for their session.

East Lindfield Monday 10.00 AM Rookie - Fiona Read / Melissa Smith East Lindfield Monday 1.00 PM Open - Peter Marshall / Janet Crocker East Lindfield Monday 7.00 PM Rookie - Peter Taylor / Anne Taylor East Lindfield Tuesday 1.30 PM Rookie - Judy Chapple / Noni Glew East Lindfield Wednesday 10.00 AM Open - Peter Taylor / Anne Taylor East Lindfield Thursday 9.45 AM Rookie - Sue Carr/Tony Carr East Lindfield Thursday 9.45 AM Supervised - Karen Rose / Timothy Rose East Lindfield Thursday 1.00 PM Open - Tony Howes / Roslyn Howes East Lindfield Saturday 9.30am Supervised - Jane Branson / Maryanne Galletti East Lindfield Saturday 1.00 PM Open - John Ackerman / Bob Lygo The Willis Monday 1.30 PM Rookie - Virginia Dowling / Helen Ritchie The Willis Tuesday 12.30 PM Open - Mary O'Toole / Tina Strickland The Willis Wednesday 9.30 AM Supervised - Kim Williams / Sarah Gordon The Willis Wednesday 12.30 PM Open - Marlaine Gahan / Carol McMurray Online Mon 10.00 am Open - Peter Bendelstein / Helene Jacobson Online Mon 1.30 pm Open - Roslyn Howes / Tony Howes Online Mon 2.00 pm Rookie - Tricia Higgins / Renuka Patel Online Tue 1.30 pm Open - Brett Slater/ Tony Halse Online Tue 2.00 pm Rookie - Helve Beale / Ian Newton Online Tue 7.00 pm Restricted - Alison Pick - John Pick Online Wed 1.30 pm Open - Lynn Kalmin / Judy Osie Online Wed 2.00 pm Rookie - Noni Glew / Judy Chapple Online Wed 7.00pm Open - Debra Birkby / Paul Birkby Online Thu 1.30 pm Open - Gary Lane / Ed Truscott Online Thu 1.30 pm Restricted - Lorna Davies / Owen Aubrey Online Fri 1.30 pm Open - Lorna Ichilcik / Lynn Kalmin Online Sat 1.30 pm Open - Lorna Ichilcik / Mannie Ichilcik

MASTERPOINT PROMOTIONS

Congratulations to the following members on their promotions.

Marie Westgarth to Regional Master David Rieser to Silver Local Master Sue Flannagan to Silver Local Master Ben Poon to Bronze Local Master Peter Poon to Bronze Local Master Paul Henderson to Bronze Local Master Neale Fraser to Club Master Kym Hooper to Club Master Tim North to Graduate Master Caroline Gordon to Graduate Master Christine Hanley to Life Master Anthony Smuts to Bronze National Master Jenny Scully to State Master Jenny Burchfield to Regional Master Kate Mallett to Silver Local Master Renuka Patel to Bronze Local Master Carol Mackee to Bronze Local Master Jackie Taylor to Bronze Local Master Christine Bradfield to Bronze Local Master John Ackerman to Local Master Geoffrey Lyons to Local Master Helen Ritchie to Club Master Kerri McCrae to Club Master Glen Armstrong to Club Master Tracy McIntyre to Club Master Mushfiqur Rahma Mohn to Graduate Master Kali Lawrie to Graduate Master Andrew Lang to Graduate Master Wanda Magill to Graduate Master Sarah Armstrong to Graduate Master

NEW MEMBERS

A warm welcome to our new members this month.

Robert Boyd-Boland - Lindfield Maureen Fanning – Redfern Carol Macleod – Lindfield Donna McIntosh - Sydney Mushfiqur Rahman Mohan - Bankstown Anna Powell - Auckland Belinda Power - Linley Point Loraine Sladden - Mosman Gina Sutton - Mosman

North Shore Bridge Club Inc, 2B Carlyle Rd, East Lindfield NSW 2070, 325A Eastern Valley Way, Middle Cove NSW

2068, NSW

here.