Page 5 - ABF Newsletter August 2024

A relatively short article from me this time as you will find another submission from me later in the newsletter regarding the ABF’s financial situation. I encourage you to read through that lengthy article and contact me if you have any questions.
Some of you would be aware that I have lived in Orange for the past three years. My wife Cate and I were among the masses of people who escaped city life (in Sydney) during COVID. We love living in Orange and an added bonus was that it had been selected by the NSW Bridge Association to host their next ANC. Originally planned for 2021, before I moved here, it finally happened in July! I would like to extend my thanks to the organisers, echoing the sentiments of the vast majority of attendees. Run- ning a bridge tournament is never easy and Rob Ward and his team did a marvelous job under ex- tenuating circumstances.
We have some more gold point events coming up in the next few months. The highly popular Coffs Coast Congress is in August and Darwin is host- ing this year’s Territory Gold at the end of August. For those of you living in Perth or
fancy a visit there we have the Joan Prince Memorial Swan River Pairs in August and the HGR Memori- al Congress in September. And in October there’s the Canberra in Bloom Congress at the beginning of the month and the Spring Na- tionals in Sydney starting on the 19th.
If you prefer not to travel then I encourage you to put together a team from your local club and participate in the third Club Teams Knockout online event that starts in August and runs through until December. There’s more details re- garding that event on MYABF and in this newsletter.
Over recent months, when I have had the opportunity, I have been encouraging bridge players to
invite ex-players to return to the bridge table. I am sure that we all know of people who used to play at our club that for a variety of reasons have let their membership lapse. We all know what a great game bridge is so it would be wonderful if you could all invite someone for a game to get them hooked again!
For clubs that are interested in running a campaign to target getting those players back, I recently con- tacted all clubs to let them know that the ABF has produced a “lapsed player toolkit” which has a broad range of resources that can help them with this en- deavour. If you would like more information regard- ing these resources then please contact me via the email address at the top of this page.
Finally, since our last newsletter, the ABF’s long-term secretariat, Jane Rasmussen, has commenced her retirement. I would like to formally thank Jane on your behalf for her service to the ABF and bridge players throughout the country. We wish Jane many happy years of retirement and hope to see her at the bridge table soon.
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: August 2024
Page: 5