First mini congress for Bridge players

There was a fantastic turn-out with 30 players on the Tuesday night and 24 on the Wednesday.

Not only was the weather amazing but the event was pretty good too and the guests appeared to enjoy the Lewis hospitality.

The visitors were from various clubs in the Inverness area and one couple, John and Liz Keasey, who are learning Bridge through their local U3A. Another two, Jeannie Cooper and Jeananne Goodbrand, are novices with a mere nine months of tuition behind them.

They managed to hold their own and kept up with the fairly brisk pace of play – hopefully it wasn’t too daunting for them and it has given them a taste of what it’s like to play in a competition environment!

The other two pairs were ‘old hands’, Elaine and Iain Slinn from the Ness Bridge Club and Tim and Ann Wickens from Inverness Bridge Club.

Both evenings were well supported by Stornoway members who enjoyed the opportunity to meet and play against different people.

Whilst some local members travel to congresses on the mainland many have never played anywhere other than Stornoway, so it was an experience for them too.

The group played a Mitchell movement on the Tuesday and ended up with two winning pairs.

The North/South winners were Gerda Graauwmans and Jenny Morrison and the East/West winners were Jean MacLeod and Derek MacKenzie.

On Wednesday the group played a ¾ Howell and the winners that night with an impressive score of 62% were Jenny Morrison and Gerda Graauwmans.

There were lots of very interesting scores but one in particular stands out.

Congratulations to Colin Scott and Bryan Harris who bid and made (played by Bryan) 6D on the Wednesday night on Board 19.

Thanks goes to the Golf Club for providing the venue for both evenings and the buffet on the Tuesday and to Tim Wickens for co-ordinating the event from the other side.

Pictured are Tim and Ann Wickens and winners Gerda Graauwmans and Jenny Morrison.