192 pairs participated statewide in the UHMP final, at 13 venues.

Of the 17 pairs that played in the Brisbane Water session on 23 November, special congratulations to Carolynne Mucharsky and Graham Woof who finished second in the 25-50 division based on handicap.

In other divisions, well done to :
Cheryl Pearse ‐ Jenni Murray & Roz Harvey ‐ Vickie Betts (6th & 8th in the 0-10 division)
Blair Glass - Ian Newton (10th in the 10-25 division)
Peter Mackey ‐ Peter Hall (CCLCBC), Edith Marshall - Warren NIcol & John Aldersley - Beryl Lowry (5th, 7th & 9th in the 50-100 division)

Reports and more details can be found at the NSWBA website.

Our club is classified as Outer Metropolitan. One BWBC squad managed to battle through all the local qualifying to make it to the finals held at the home of NSW Bridge in Goulburn St, Sydney. This event was never going to be an easy assignment with all the biggest Bridge names in NSW optimistic about taking home the championship.

Our Team Bowerman had a colossal Friday/Saturday winning all 7 matches and so became NSW Country Champions. Fantastic effort guys.

Sunday arrived and it was City v Country to decide the State Champion team. Sadly, our Team Bowerman was outclassed by the formidable Sydney troop. Nevertheless, they are worthy NSW Country Team Champs.

In its December Newsletter the ABF reports on membership growth in affiliated bridge clubs across Australia.

The report is within the context of a massive slump of 44% in overall bridge club participation during the peak of COVID. Online bridge participation increased substantially at that time.

Brisbane Water Bridge Club in 2022 increased membership by 21, and in 2021 by 12, and was one of the top twenty clubs for growth of the approximately 330 ABF affiliated playing clubs.
Growth is in no small part due to the club's teaching programs which attracted most of the membership growth.

BWBC plans its next bridge learning program for February 2023 - exact dates to be announced in January.

Seventeen pairs signed up for our Melbourne Cup Day.  It was a day of fun, prizes, sweeps, and hats and of course bridge. Well done to our winners NS Peter & Elaine Hume and EW Jorgen Boettiger & Julie Teague.

Laurie Powell took charge of the event this year and summoned up help from BWBC TAB  operator Martin Johnson. Members supplied their favourite foods ensuring a great lunch for hungry players. Special thanks to all those who helped out in some way. 

Thanks all for a great day. 

Twenty three duos signed up for the Oktoberfest Pairs Red Point event.  The Novice Howell event was won by Linda Cunningham & Ian Newton. Their score was a whopping 11% above the pack! Well done Linda/Ian; hopefully we’ll be welcoming you to the open tables soon.

The open section was much closer with the podium players from both NS & EW swapping positions throughout the afternoon. In the end Christine Hadaway & Chris Hannan won the honours (NS) and Dasha Brandt & David Bowerman (EW) both by small percentages.

Generally, players had a great session of bridge with some challenging boards. A number of technical game contracts were on offer that make and don’t make depending on your mental telepathy skills!  Finally, I noticed some giggling going on which seemed to grow as various players celebrated their Oktoberfest afternoon.

Thanks to Kerry for organising the Oktoberfest food.