hallway

This is interesting ! We play Acol weak Nt 12-14 (bottom level Intermediate !! - be kind now ::) ) RHO opens 1NT = 12-14 balanced (no 5 card major) LHO goes straight to 3NT = 13+ did not transfer, no 5 card major : did not Stayman, no 4 card major I wd therefore be "hopeful" of establishing one of the major suits !! And yes, I wd stick to 'longest/strongest" and lead 6H But then I never have gotten the hang of what to lead /when ;D

Want to change it ? Choose Options (gear wheel /toolbar) Try the other two choices My preference Verdana :-)) Thank you Uday :-)

Thank you Paul, I am getting really good feedback from your sessions, they are much appreciated by Members. As indeed are all the sessions by our 7 open session Mentors. The last 7NT hand was especially fascinating to watch unfold. A link to your website is now also available to members from the B/I Lounge Club News. Enjoy your holiday the members look forward to your return

Beginner Intermediate Lounge Mentoring I must assume , John, that you did not receive the Lounge News Update otherwise you would be aware that there are currently three sessions per week specifically dealing with BB Basic System . The lounge now has in excess of 630 members and grows daily !! It is my intention that all members will have the choice of attending sessions dealing with the Members system of choice. The benefits to the members are not solely to improve their enjoyment on BBO (though that is the primary purpose of the Lounge ) but I also want the members to become shining lights at their home clubs also. :o To do that sessions honing their skills in the system used when playing with their hometown partners are also necessary. Members must and will chose which sessions they want to attend. In time there may well be more than one session running concurrently 8) The members are exceptionally fortunate that BBO provides them with such excellent opportunities - it is up the members to exercise their freedom of choice and be selective in what sessions they attend. I have received requests from members wanting to be able to attend sessions on three other systems not currently being catered for - I have to find suitably skilled experts willing to GIVE of their time to provide those. One can but hope that 'all good things will come to those that wait " ;)

My Notes say - Use with discretion ! give preference to a simple overcall or X (change suit with 16+) We use it with a strong hand - always constructive - 8+ if P can bid a suit at the 2 level OR 10+ if P 'will' have to bid at the 3 level in the above example my 2H bid would be telling P that I had 5 Spades and 5 in one of the minors. Which calls to mind one of 'those' bridge moments ::D The first time I made such a bid my Partner positively jumped in her seat and her loudly exclaimed WHAT!! caused heads to turn :-[ when my LHO had recovered sufficiently to pass my Partner went into one of her ceiling gazing trances (very hard on my nerves these I have a tendancy towards hysteria !) and upon her return she smilingly bid 4S ;D "Use with discretion" seems to me to be remarkably good advice.

[glow=red,2,300]MEMBERS TO CELEBRATE[/glow] 17:00 EDT (UTC21:00) Thursday 23 OCTOBER 2003 Beginner Intermediate Lounge All Members and Honorary Members are INVITED geofspa has the Stella and Newcastle Brown on hand billy_jeff a selection of chips & dips...... start planning now :D Members and Honorary guests check out the CLUB NEWS next time you enter the LOUNGE !! [move][glow=red,2,300]It is to be a VERY SPECIAL EVENT [/glow] [/move]

How can one discuss the invitation BEFORE having to accept or reject the invitation ? I couldn't get the CHAT to work until the Invitation Form was cleared. ;)

Dear Fred, Just a little over a month ago you enabled the Beginner Intermediate Lounge. I didn't realise - and if you did you didn't let on - just what we had started. 8) I want to thank you for allowing me the privilege of setting up a Private Club where the Beginner Intermediate membership may now go to play bridge for their enjoyment & fellowship. For providing us with a place to learn, practice, improve and compete with one another. During this first month the membership has grown to over 550 , we have held two Imp tournaments and 8 Mentoring Sessions. (that is just the tip of this iceberg ! ::) ) I cannot Thank you enough for all the help, support and undestanding both Yourself and Uday have given me - (I love the new Club mail messenging service :)) This is just the start of a long and exciting journey ahead (there is of course a Wish List ) But what a wonderful journey it has been so far - when I look back over the past 2+ years and reflect on all those milestones reached and surpassed , of all the enhancements , services and much much more that you have GIFTED to the worldwide Bridging Community I am truly humbled and grateful to be given this opportunity to play some small role in BBO's journey into the future. I am daily exhorted by members of the BIL to "Thank Fred" and indeed I am pleased to pass onto you their myriad messages of gratitude . I will take the liberty of quoting a comment made to me yesterday - "ONLY on BBO could you get this level of teaching for people like us - FANTASTIC " There are so many ONLY on BBO 's . All of the Beginner Intermediate fraternity THANK YOU . The Beginner Intermediate Lounge have a CELEBRATION coming up and on behalf of all the members I would like to formally invite Yourself, Sheri and Uday to be our Celebrity Guests for the occassion The date/time and programme will be announced shortly :) [glow=red,2,300]THANK YOU FRED for CREATING and GIVING the BRIDGING COMMUNITY such a WONDERFUL VENUE.[/glow]

The Movement has Started ! ? Yes, I do believe there is a little trickle ::) THANKS TO all the splendid support that has been received from A growing Team of MENTORS - the following have pathed the way (alphabetically) Cascade inquiry JRG lrargerich(*) paulg we look forward to seeing The Hog in action on Friday and there is keylime's promise and YES there are others whose names I will keep under wraps until we are ready to schedule them 8) and Ben (inquiry) and his supporting Directors that make it possible for the Lounge to have our Tournaments [move][glow=red,2,300]AND of course there is THE CELEBRATION coming up. :) [/glow][/move]

;D 533 MEMBERS !! ;D We are going to CELEBRATE I have a VERY SPECIAL Event planned - just dotting the i's and crossing the t's then I will make an announcement. You will be given plenty of notice. While the timing won't suit some members we have chosen one that I think will suit the majority - for those that are challenged - set the alarm or have an afternoon nap - it WILL be WORTH the effort !!!!! Memberships There has been some 'hiccups' :-[so if you know of someone having problems gaining access after having registered please leave me a message. Also I have had a few email addresses 'bounce' - if you are not getting the News Updates and you want to please re/send me your email address. Good Bridging All

Honorary Membership Available The Beginner Intermediate Lounge is pleased to receive requests for membership from Advanced >>>> BBO members. These are granted as Honorary Memberships the criteria being that the applicant is willing to aid, assist, HELP the members. [glow=red,2,300]The reward - the satisfaction the giver gets from knowing that which they have given has helped a fellow player. [/glow] To date we have : Honorary STARS - they pop in from time to time to offer encouragement and rumour has it (I wasn't there B) ) have even been known to sit awhile and play a few hands. Honorary TEACHERS/MENTORS - who make time available to hold Open sessions in the lounge to which all the members are invited. BTW - there can't be enough of you people, the membership is global, the systems being used by members are global, the languages spoken by members are global - 400 members and growing could be thousands !! No reason why teaching tables shouldn't be able to be run concurrently - the members will choose that which suits them best (no contest ) Honorary DIRECTORS - without whom we could not run our Tournaments. Beginner Intermediates are sufficently challenged learning to play good bridge without having to administer the LAW ! Honorary ASSISTANTS - Members are allowed to invite their 'coaches' - one of the benefits of membership being that this is a 'safe' place to play/learn - no interruption from .......... Offers of help have been received from those willing to act as 'crowd control', assist with running mini tournaments etc etc. No offers of genuine HELP will ever be refused. No application for membership from an Advanced > will be accepted unless there is an offer to HELP (some can get accepted because of the way the system works but as soon as that is uncovered the name is deleted and will only be reactivated if the person comes forward with - an offer of HELP ) There are a lot of members with a 'private' skill level - for now they are being given the benefit of the doubt - all will be revealed in the fullness of time :D - playing in our Tournaments will be a dead giveaway Inquiry and his team of Directors can spot the difference in a jiffy ;D The REWARD for Honorary Membership of the Beginner Intermediate Lounge is singular [glow=red,2,300]the satisfaction you get from the knowledge that you have helped a fellow bridge player on their journey to enjoying the game of bridge as you do [/glow] Good Bridging Everyone

Honorary Membership Available The Beginner Intermediate Lounge is pleased to receive requests for membership from Advanced >>>> BBO members. These are granted as Honorary Memberships the criteria being that the applicant is willing to aid, assist, HELP the members. [glow=red,2,300]The reward - the satisfaction the giver gets from knowing that which they have given has helped a fellow player.[/glow] To date we have : Honorary STARS - they pop in from time to time to offer encouragement and rumour has it (I wasn't there :D ) have even been known to sit awhile and play a few hands. Honorary TEACHERS/MENTORS - who make time available to hold Open sessions in the lounge to which all the members are invited. BTW - there can't be enough of you people, the membership is global, the systems being used by members are global, the languages spoken by members are global - 400 members and growing could be thousands !! No reason why teaching tables shouldn't be able to be run concurrently - the members will choose that which suits them best (no contest B)) Honorary DIRECTORS - without whom we could not run our Tournaments. Beginner Intermediates are sufficently challenged learning to play good bridge without having to administer the LAW ! Honorary ASSISTANTS - Members are allowed to invite their 'coaches' - one of the benefits of membership being that this is a 'safe' place to play/learn - no interruption from .......... Offers of help have been received from those willing to act as 'crowd control', assist with running mini tournaments etc etc. No offers of genuine HELP will ever be refused. No application for membership from an Advanced > will be accepted unless there is an offer to HELP (some can get accepted because of the way the system works but as soon as that is uncovered the name is deleted and will only be reactivated if the person comes forward with - an offer of HELP ) There are a lot of members with a 'private' skill level - for now they are being given the benefit of the doubt - all will be revealed in the fullness of time :D - playing in our Tournaments will be a dead giveaway Inquiry and his team of Directors can spot the difference in a jiffy ;D The REWARD for Honorary Membership of the Beginner Intermediate Lounge is singular [glow=red,2,300]the satisfaction you get from the knowledge that you have helped a fellow bridge player on their journey to enjoying the game of bridge as you do [/glow] Good Bridging Everyone

I like It Ability to create private boards leapt out from your description - yes to that Calandar - all the BIL events to track - yes to that Buddies List - label facility - a member , a 'secretary', a hosting member , directors......... yes to that Management of IM's (pm's) simple / quick/ effective ....yes to that Clean clear presentation and text etc. - yes to that My quick visit didn't unearth any negatives.

I am seeking Help from an Australian The Australian contingent in the Beginner Intermediate Lounge are stalwarts , they are all working so hard to make the Lounge a great place for ALL Beginner Intermediate BBO members. They deserve to be rewarded. 8) All our Mentoring sessions scheduled take place when they are catching up on their beauty sleep ::) Is there a kind, friendly, knowledable Australian who could spare an hour or two now and again to hold sessions at user friendly Aussie hours ? :)

Sorry folks those of you who have not given me an email address won't have received a Notice about our busy week this week. I downloaded 3.4.12 and I am facing a few Private Club Manager challenges with the Chat facilities :) Let's hope you took notice of my directions to become BBF members and this will get the messages to you ::) Beginner Intermediate Lounge Update Monday 29 September 2pm (14:00) EDT PAULG - (90 minutes) Paul/sceptic will bid and discuss three hands then with the help of two of you will play a set of 8 boards (time permitting) All members are welcome to Kibitz Tuesday 30 September 3pm (15:00) EDT TOURNAMENT (our first) CLOCKED IMPS Pairs Register Early (I have to cajole some willing Directors to keep things running smoothly) Wednesday 1 October 6.30 pm (18:30) EDT JRG - (60 minutes) 2/1 session All Welcome player participation. [move]There are other good people working on their formats for up coming Sessions - we are SO fortunate to be a part of BBO [/move] REGULAR WEEKLY SESSIONS Mondays (STARTING 6 October) 2pm (14:00) EDT CASCADE Themed General Session (details will be emailed when finalised) Player particpation. Thursdays (STARTING 2 October) 3pm (15:00) EDT CASCADE Conventions (details will be emailed when finalised) This first session will explore STAYMAN Player participation. You can have the weekend off to practice all that - I'm going AWOL.

Paul, When you have some time to spare and would be prepared to do some Mentoring all you have to do is go to the Private Club - Beginners Inetermediate Lounge start up a table - enable it as a Teaching Table send out a message to the Lobby and the Club to tell the B/I members that you are ready and waiting. (In these early days there may not be any tables in play when you enter - but please don't let that deter you , set up and invite - wither you lead so may they follow :) ) ( please -allow them time to withdraw from their tables in good order.) There in the Lounge you will not suffer any disruptions because only the Beginner Intermediate membership can access your table. As you have shown willing to help the B/I membership I have given you Honorary Membership - so be our guest any time you like. (btw 300 + members now) I would love to hear from other like minded people - IM here or mail message on BBO - there is no limit to the # of Honorary Memberships :D

2over1 - Your help was greatly appreciated at the Beg/Int Lounge Tournament as indeed was all the help and support we received. You say: "If you are a beginner, do not be afraid to avail yourself of the resources here on BBO. In addition to Fred's fine facilities (including a wonderful library), there are people here who are willing to help if you approach them and ask. Don't be afraid to ask for help. There are people willing to give it... but, don't wait for them to come to you either. " Excellent advice - sadly The truth is most of us are "afraid to ask' Which is one of the core reasons I have for starting the Beginner Intermediate Lounge. I will use my own ftf group as a microcosm example of this :- - at our lessons when the teacher asked a question I found myself being the one that spoke up (I fully expected to be wrong , if I knew the answers I wouldn't need to be paying for lessons - lol), when I said nothing there was - silence :D - when I found BBO I had the five members of my group with computers download it. One attended one of Wayne's sessions and just once played a few boards with me. Just one other played once. Too inimidating was the reaction. Yet, in my Lounge at home they want to know all about what I have gleaned that week from Wayne's sessions and the posts on BBF !! heaps of questions ::) 9 out of 10 I haven't a clue so then I am told - 'well ask' !! ::) With the BIL the 'space' will be the members (hopefully they will come to perceive it as their Lounge at home) then when people such as yourself 'make yourselves more accessible' by coming to the Lounge to play/mentor they will participate and the questions will flow. I believe this can/will happen. In fact I was immensley gratified a few days ago when I 'dropped in' on a table and the three Beginners were chattering away with the 4th who was helping them. The BIL Honorary Members List has 3 x 5th Chair Mentors who have said they will use the Lounge to hold their sessions and it is my hope that more will do likewise. I would like to welcome more and more such willing people. Ones who will from time to time hold impromptu sessions. Open a table and send out a message to invite the members to congregate. Maybe the informality of that will pave the way to getting participation from those present. The Main Bridge Club IS a very intimidating place - we know just how little it is we know about bridge and we DO want to learn and improve BUT those that WANT to be helpful are indeed a small minority. I was told that it takes at least 3 good boards to offset the effects of one bad board and that holds true with table behaviour ..........you see the problem......... BBO is global and that in itself creates a challenge for the B/I's . We are learning in our own little corner of the world the prevalent system here/there. In my case Acol - now being told I should have bid.........from an Adv++ SAYC player would 'lead me up the garden path' when I do so need to be kept 'on the straight and narrow' :) So in the BIL good people like yourself can offer to ,from time to time , hold mentoring sessions on a particular system be it Acol, SAYC, 2/1, Polish Club, Precision or whatever at times that would suit the members most likely to be using/learning those systems - just say the word and I will tell them. Through the BIL Newsletter I hope to bring to the attention of the membership a realisation of ALL the resources here on BBO that they can avail themselves of. Meanwhile the Club News does bring to members attention some specific articles in the Bridge Library. Newcomers to the game are the Future of the game.

The Beginner Intermediate Lounge First Imp Tournament is now part of BBO history. Thank you Fred, Uday for making it possible and for enduring my ceaseless questions. - the new mail message feature is marvellous Thank you Ben - our Tournament Director who despite that hurricane was still there to nurse us through this first attempt. Thank you Wayne and Steve for ably assisting him - though rumour has it that there was not much assisting called for :) Thank you too to a whole bevy of illustrious guests who stopped by with encouragement and some who came to the rescue when a sub was needed temporarily. [move]You all epitomise the ethic that is BBO[/move] [glow=red,2,300]CONGRATULATIONS[/glow] To: Janehererehi and Selena1731 WINNERS siverfox and mpefritz Second luckyldy and mgiurgeu Third I am , of course, more than just a tad pleased with the winners - they are a couple of Terrible Tuataras. ;D It was unfortunate that another Tournament's start time coincided with ours which caused a huge amount of confusion for those new to Tournaments - with the conflicting Lobby messages happening at the same time. In our First Newsletter I will make the subject for the BBO User Tips and Hints section "Registering for a Tournament" there was a lot of misunderstanding in respect of the Partnership Desk - with members assuming that if they hadn't paired up they would BE paired up. We live and learn . My earnest messages , sadly , didn't reach all in time. :'( Still as the saying goes 'from small acorns do sturdy oak trees grow' - so we will grow from strength to strength . 280 members now !! When is the next tournament they keep asking :D mmmmmm well all good things come to those who wait - let me see you using the Lounge, then we'll see 8)

I do not understand why it is happening >:D But I am having my mailbox cluttered up with Advanced players applying for membership of the BEGINNER INTERMEDIATE Lounge. Non of you could possibly WANT to COMPETE in a tournament for beginner intermediate level players - surely ::) . You might (should) end up with the top score BUT you would NOT have WON !! It makes me a tad annoyed having to waste my time with your application BUT it makes me angry on behalf of the members who want to join THEIR Club but who may because of the actions of these - yes, I will say it , - selfish people will probably miss out . Because my mail box has only a limited capacity at present their applications can be turned away - they could reapply but many will not. UNFAIR [glow=red,2,300] We are truly grateful to the Advanced +++ members who have been given Honorary membership so that they can come and mentor their 'brood' of learners.[/glow] But I also know that there are a number of Advanced players with no such honorable intentions that have slipped in 'the backdoor' . I might be an Aged Void when it comes to bridge playing ability BUT not when it comes to knowing people !! So if any of you who have sidled in are reading this I challenge you to do the decent thing and send to the members (you can email me hall@timaru.com ) an apology/resignation. If you promise never to enter a Beg/Int tournament and offer to come to the Lounge with a partner from time to time to play with the members so that they can practice against superior players then I will leave your membership in place. :D There is a quantum leap in skill level between an Intermediate player and an Advanced player - we admire your abilities and we aspire to them . Here on BBO we have been given the opportunity that is denied us in ftf bridge to LEARN and improve RAPIDLY - never fear we'll front up to you when we're ready. ;D so, PLEASE, give the beginners & intermediates a fair go.

Hi Members, :D I need your HELP please. Would any of you intending to play in our First Tournament PLEASE register NOW. Once a tournament is filed the software takes over - there will not be time to be answering questions or helping people to register. So do it NOW and then if you have any concerns you can contact me and hopefully I will be able to resolve them for you. Firstly please check that I have enabled your membership correctly - enter the Lounge if you can't get in let me know - the software accepts anything I type as a member name but when you try to enter it has to be an exact match. Some of you have some challengng User names with - _ spaces between letters, capitals in odd places, the i's look like l's that look like 1 's, and spelling that I am not used to !! I am an Aged Void so please bear with me :-)) To REGISTER - a lot of you will know this already 8)- some won't ! :) Main Lobby Yellow Tournament Button bottom right Select #2 First Beg/Int Lounge If you have a partner arranged: click on Registration 'sign up Partnership' type in the name of your partner (the software knows who you are !! ) Click request registration If you do NOT have a regular Partner click on Partnership Desk click on 'add your name' - ( the software knows who you are you do not have to type anything !!) THEN most important READ the HELP - click on the Help Button - it will 'walk' you through the process of finding a partner to play with. When you click on the Tournament name you will see a profile of how the tournament will run - please read that so you will know what to expect. and as it says please click on the large CONDITION OF CONTEST button and read those notes also click on the red HELP button , botom right of your screen and read all the Tournament help notes in there. Then you will be fully prepared and everything should go like clockwork on the day !! :-) ::) Be Cheerie all of you Maureen :D

B) :D :D :D It is Official :D :D :D :D The FIRST Beginner Intermediate Lounge Tournament will commence at 8pm EST FRIDAY 19 September 2003 BEN (inquiry) your Tournament Convenor presiding MEMBERS ONLY There are now over 130 members. The members wish to Thank Fred for putting a Notice in the BBO Lobby News The Tournament WILL be RESTRICTED to MEMBERS only so if you know of any fellow Beginner Intermediates who you think might like to play - tell them to join up EARLY. One person (me !) can only do so much - so if they leave it till the last moment they will very probably miss out.. Membership Applications will CLOSE 1 hour before start time ] SORRY to our members in the GMT CET type time zones I know that 8pm EST is when you are catching up on your beauty sleep. There had to be a first and EST is Ben's home turf and we absolutely have to have him to mastermind this for us. Hopefully it won't be too long before we get some other equally generous , helpful people who will make it possible for there to be Tournaments happening regularly that suit all the different time zones - the joys of living on a globe ! To help you with your timing conversions www.timeanddate.com have a World Clock and a Time Planner. Nada's (hope) Gatherings - Nada lives in Sydney hence the times: Nada has very kindly offered to be online and in the B/I Lounge each week at the following times. She will start tables - though you know once you have entered you can do that yourselves - this is your safe place Send out Lobby messages - you can do this too - click on CHAT select send message: ' to lobby' (use the little arrow to find it) Type away - "seats avail in Beg/Int Lounge pls join us" or anything else you wish to say. She won't be able to join up new members, but members who want to join will be able to give her their User name which she will pass on to me. It is very good of Nada to do this , so when she lets you know she is there - go to the Lounge to play You can / should be doing that all of the time !! :-)) whether she is there or not !!!! Tuesdays Sydney time 11AM = Tues 1pm NZ = Monday 6pm PST = Mon 9pm EST = Tues 2am BST Fridays Sydney time 7PM = Fri 9pm NZ = Friday 2am PST = Fri 5am EST = Fri 10 am BST If there are any other members in other time zones who would like to do this too - please send me a message hall@timaru.com Good Bridging Everyone Maureen :D

Jean B) Fred has generously agreed to posting a Notice for us for our First Imps Tournament. I shall be sending him the details today. For all who read this it will be a happening on Friday 19 September 2003 at 8 pm EST entries will be restricted to MEMBERS ONLY I am sorry that this time slot will not work for you Jean (a sleeping beauty at that time I guess) nor for our UK members. There had to be a first and no matter what time was chosen it could not suit all the members all around the globe. To hold these tournaments we will be ABSOLUTELY RELIANT on the Help and Goodwill we receive from the Expert BBO Community who are willing to VOLUNTARILY give us their valuable time to Run and Direct our Tournaments for us. It says much for the BBO community spirit that there are a number who have 'put up their hands' and offered assistance when they are able to. I can assure all members that as time progresses Tournaments & Events will evolve at a variety of times so that ALL members can gain from their membership. Good bridging have patience this Aged Void can move but slowly ::D

[move]NEWS FLASH **** NEWS FLASH **** NEWS FLASH[/move] The Beginners Intermediate Lounge is LIVE 70 + MEMBERS and rising A VERY WARM WELCOME to ALL Firstly I would like to make a few acknowledgements: FRED (fred) owner, founder, creator of BBO - THANK YOU for allowing me the privilege of setting up a Private Club where the Beginner Intermediate membership may come to play their bridge for their enjoyment & fellowship. Providing us with a place to learn, practice, improve and compete with one another. BEN (inquiry) our BBF Forum Moderator & Tournament Convenor - a long time dedicated Beginners Forum Moderator on BBF who is eager to promote tournament play for our membership. I must thank Ben for his assistance in making the Club News a reality ( lin files being a mystery to this Dos dinosaur !!) WAYNE (cascade) a dedicated bridge Mentor on BBO who has offered to mentor for the membership. The membership is fortunate indeed to have Wayne ‘on board’ - thank you Wayne. DWAYNE (keylime) has kindly offered his assistance to the membership as our Director when required for both our private tournaments and main stream Teams Tournaments . – thank you Dwayne. JOHN (JRG) will guide us through all the wonderful features BBO has to offer all its members so that we get the most we can from being a part of such a diverse & dynamic Community. - thank you John [move]ADVICE for MEMBERS[/move] When you log in - Main Bridge Club / Private Clubs / Beginners Intermediate Lounge - you will be able to set up a table and/or join a table exactly as you do now in the Main Room Please take time to read the Club News (you will see the button - bottom right) - don’t hesitate to contact me if there is anything you wish to query / contribute. This is all very much learn together as we go. The links typed in bold are ‘live’ so click on those to go directly to those sites. When you set up a table send a chat message to the Lobby to let others know – those with membership rights will be able to join you. Be helpful to those who can’t get in – tell them how, then they will be able to join you next time! You are the pioneers, I need your help to make this the place to be. A little over two years ago I could log into BBO and in the Main Bridge Club think 'wow' when I found five tables in play - as I write there are 1600 players logged in and 214 tables in play in the Main Bridge Club ! ........yesterday we had 4 tables in play in our Lounge ! It is a beginning .. thank you to those who responded to my call. ( btw I was told the wine was fine, the flowers devine , the decor sublime ;) 8) ) A special thank you to: Bev (hypatia_3) for her unbounded enthusiasm, she is our recruitment officer extraordinaire ! John (laird) for his practical 'brain storming' which keeps my 'feet on the ground'. ANNOUNCEMENTS To celebrate our Launch Ben and his Aides will hold our Inaugural IMPS Tournament in the not too distant future the time and date will be whispered to the members in plenty of time On behalf of Nada (hope) I will be issuing invitations to members to join her in the Lounge for a session of Launch Parties - bring your own - be it - Coffee & cake : Tea & biscuits : Wine & grapes : Wiskey & haggis : or what you fancy. Dress formal of course ::( ;D times and dates will be whispered to members in plenty of time Plans for the Newsletter are in the pipe line as are other plans which will be announced in our In House Club News as soon as they are ready. Well that's it for now . The Beginners Intermediate Lounge IS the Members. [move]WELCOME - GOOD BRIDGING - ENJOY[/move]

Thank you Ben for spreading the word. I would also like to thank Ben for his invaluable help in getting the Club News in place. The mysteries of Lin files are for me just that - a mystery ::) I'm a Dos dinosaur ;) Ben (inquiry) will be playing a pivotal role in the Club as BBF Forum Moderator and Tournament Convenor. Wayne (cascade) will be helping members with Mentoring sessions Dwayne (keylime) will assist the membership with Directing at tournaments both within the Club and in main stream teams tournaments. There is more much more but you will have to join first. *********** Hi all prospective Members, When you leave me a message please give me Your name Your email address ( news bulletins etc.) Home Club Ranking (if you have one) all information will remain confidential. I will then enable your Membership The Club is for YOU so join up, use it and ENJOY.

Dwayne my dear, I am 16 hours ahead of you - which is why I was sleeping whilst others replied on my behalf. ::) I would have suggested you download The World Clock (a link Claus kindly supplied for me) - now that you have that , there will be no confusion as it will track the daylight savings shifts also. Oh my, :o that means to be online on Saturday (8.45pm NZ) you will need to set your Alarm for 4.30 AM !!!! - are you a 'night owl' or an 'early bird' ? Never fear if the Alarm doesn't go off I will not hesitate to yell for a Yellow if the need should arise. We will play some future matches AM NZ :)