Mid Leinster RegionMid Leinster RegionMid Leinster Region

Annual General Annual General Annual General

ReportReportReport

201420142014

M I D L E I N S T E R R E G I O N

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Committee for 2013—2014

President: Bert McKay

President Elect: Barbara Burke

Honorary Secretary: Josephine O’Cleirigh

Honorary Assistant Secretary: Marian McKay

Honorary Treasurer: Veronica Farry

Ex-Officio: Neil Burke

Development Officer: Ann Burns

Committee: Evelyn Blennerhassett

Committee: Angela Doran O’Reilly

Committee: Geraldine Keane

Committee: Francoise Dignam

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Acknowledgements

The President of the Mid Leinster Region would like to express his

sincere thanks to the following for their support during the past two

years.

Cunningham’s Funeral Directors

Sponsors of the Mid Leinster Region Leagues.

Westmanstown Sports & Leisure Centre, for the use of their premises on an

ongoing basis.

Westmanstown Bridge Club for their generosity in allowing us the use of

their equipment.

Leixlip Bridge Club, for their generosity in allowing us the use of their

equipment.

CBAI, Mr Paul Porteous and the staff in Head Office who are always there to

advise and support.

Tournament Directors, Mr. Bernard Higgins & Mr. Eamon Galligan,

Workshop. Mr. Tomás MacCormac (President CBAI 2013/14) & Roisin Troy

for their valuable expertise in running our summer workshops.

Springfield Hotel, Leixlip. Padraig Kennedy who gave us the room free of

charge. Thanks also to the staff who looked after us so well for our Regional

Pairs Events in December 1st 2012 and our Inaugural President’s Cup on

January 18th 2014.

Courtyard Hotel, Leixlip. Jessica Fitzpatrick who gave us the room free and

provided a beautiful lunch at a very reasonable rate. Jessica and the staff

looked after us extremely well for our Regional Teams and Fun Teams of 4

in 2014.

Our Lady’s Parish Centre, Leixlip. Our thanks to Bernadette Murray and

volunteers for their assistance and facilitating us in booking of rooms for our

AGM 2013, our Delegates Meeting 2013, and our ScoreBridge

Demonstration on November 18th 2013

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MID LEINSTER REGION

The 2014 Annual General Meeting takes place in

Westmanstown Sports & Conference Centre on

May 16th 2014, at 7.30pm

AGENDA

1/ Minutes of AGM 2013

2/ Matters Arising

3/ Presidents Address

4/ Secretaries Report

5/ Treasurers Report

6/ Subgroups Reports

Regional

Cunningham Leagues

Communications

Finance

Development

Website

M50

8/ Proposals/Resolutions

7/ Election of Committee

9/ Nomination of Auditor

10/ Nomination of Delegates to National AGM

11/ Any Other Business

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Minutes of the Mid Leinster Region

AGM Friday 17th May 2013

Leixlip Parish Centre

Attendance: Paul Porteous, General Secretary, CBAI, Thomas McCormack, President Elect,

CBAI, Bert McKay, President, MLR Region, Josephine O’Cleirigh, Secretary, MLR, Marian

McKay, Asst, Sec MLR, Ann Burns, Development Officer, MLR, Celaine Rath, Confey Castle,

Tony Smyth, Castleknock, Máire O’Keeffe, Kill Village, Rita Lacey, Leixlip, Jim Murray, The

Thatch, Angela Doran O’Reilly, (Comm. MLR) & Celbridge, Michael Fitzgerald, Westmanstown,

Blanaid Morris, CLTC, Veronica Farry, Treasurer, MLR.

Apologies: Moling Ryan, Naas Trumps, Barbara Burke, (comm.) Neil Burke, (comm.), Geraldine

Keane, (comm.) Evelyn Blennerhassett, (comm.) Eileen McCrory, Lucan, Melita Gorman, St

Mary’s, Lucan, Edel O’Carroll, Naas Thursday.

An Annual General Report was prepared; all who attended the meeting received a copy.

Minutes of 2012 AGM: were taken as read. Adoption of the Minutes was proposed by Michael

Fitzgerald and seconded by Tony Smyth.

Matters Arising: There were no matters arising

President’s Address: The President, Bert McKay welcomed everybody to the meeting. He

extended a very warm welcome to Paul Porteous, General Secretary, CBAI and Thomas

McCormack, President Elect, CBAI and thanked them for coming.

He outlined his objectives for the year as shown below:

a/ Continue to promote classes for Beginners/Improvers

Naas Lawn Tennis Club B. McKay New Club Naas Trumps

VEC in Pipers Hill Richard Boyd Located Naas Trumps

Celbridge Roisin Troy Located Celbridge

Clane Bert McKay In progress don’t know yet

Clane Margaret King Located Naas Trumps

Maynooth Liz Coughlan Located Maynooth

Confey Bert McKay Located Confey

Confey Castle Roisin Troy New Club Confey/Leixlip

K Club Tomas McCormac New Club K Club

Lucan Fionuala Gill To be located

I’m sure there are other classes that were run, that were not aware of.

b/ Organise a new Structure for the Cunningham Leagues

Review the rules for the Cunningham Leagues

Examine the possibility of having one venue and 1 date for all matches in the Cunningham

Leagues

c/ Seek to train /up-skill our Club Tournament Directors

We successfully ran our Basic Club Tournament Directors Course here in the Parish

Centre Thank you to Michael O’Malley and Bernard Higgins

d/ Regional Tournament Directors Course:

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e/ Visit as many Clubs as possible Naas Monday, Naas Trumps, D15, Leixlip, Morning Session

f/ Improve Communications with the Clubs

Josephine will elaborate later

g/ Develop and improve the Mid Leinster Website

Problems with existing Site during the Year. We are changing over to Bridgewebs

Work in Progress

h/ Support the Development Officers in their Roles

i/ Organise Coaching Courses for Master A, B, and Novice grades

We have had a successful Coaching Course last July

Thanks to Tomas McCormac and Roisin Troy

j/ To Promote as far as possible participation in the National Events

We were second to Dublin North in the M50 Tournament last June

A good performance from MLR and in particular the Novice team winning their grade

in the event

We supported the 4fun National Event in Westmanstown

We successfully ran our Regional Pairs in the Springfield Hotel, Leixlip

Thanks to Michael O’Malley TD

Regional Teams in the Courtyard Hotel, Leixlip

Thanks to Bernard Higgins TD

Novice “B” Event in Westmanstown

Thanks to Neil Burke TD

CBAI Simultaneous Pairs

Great Results for Mid Leinster Region

Congratulations to Marian McKay and Sheila Dempsey

Lambert Cup: Once again well done to Ann Burns and Roisin Troy

JJ Murphy Trophy: Ronnie and Monica Woods

National Pairs: Thank you to all of our representatives, Liam Gaynor and Dave

Redmond won a session in the Davidson

National Teams Thank you to all who represented the Region

We had what I’m sure everyone will agree a fantastic Response to our Cunningham Leagues this

year and to see the response and goodwill from everyone at the Presentation Day out last weekend

was heartening, that kind of goodwill will help to keep us all going for next year’s program.

I believe our Committee has achieved all of these objectives, as we have outlined in The Annual

Report

Of Course none of this could have been possible without the cooperation of the Regional

Committee

Members, who worked tirelessly to make these events attractive to our Members, As anyone who

has ever been involved in Committee work will tell you, it means late hours, attendance at

meetings, Teamwork , Communications , Planning and Organisational skills must be good.

One example I would give is: I was on my computer working on an event that was coming up. It

was late and I mean late sometime around 3am. I needed some information to complete the job.

Who has the information I need. Yes, Josephine O’Cleirigh would have that. I sent an email to

J.O’C, Would you believe it; I got a reply almost immediately “are you still up”. Well all I can

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tell you is that this didn’t just happen once. I’m well aware of Josephine keeping late hours. You

only have to look at the times she’s sending the email.

So I’m congratulating the Committee on a great year, but you couldn’t buy the commitment that

our Secretary has given us over the past year. Thank you very much Jo I really appreciate it, but

just in case you think it’s over , you’ll be delighted to know it all starts over again at the end of

this meeting.

To all of our members out there in the Mid Leinster Region, I want to thank you all for your

participation in all of the events we have run. You have shown a great willingness to get

involved. However I know we can do better and we are going to do better next season. Our

Committee will push as much as they can to increase the numbers participating in our Regional

and National Events.

Thank you all

Bert McKay

Tomás McCormack, K Club is encouraging his members to join other clubs for experience, some

have joined Castleknock. Celaine Rath, Confey Castle had contacted Fionuala Gill who was

giving classes in Lucan with a view to them joining their club, she was delighted to report that her

offer was well received and that a number of them would be attending the Wednesday morning

session.

Regional Tournament Directors came up for discussion, Bert expressed concern at the lack of

same in the Region and stressed that we have to source our T.D from outside the Region, Paul

Porteous said he will follow this up with Fergal O’Boyle and hopefully look at a date in the

summer.

Paul Porteous expressed his thanks to all the committee of the Mid Leinster Region; he went on

to say that it has been an un-quantified success. He said a big debt of gratitude is due to all the

hard work of the dedicated committee. Paul extended his congratulations to Ann Burns, Roisín

Troy, Ronnie & Monica Woods, Marian McKay and Sheila Dempsey for their great

achievements this year. He extended his sympathy to the family and members of CBAI on the

passing of Grace O’Shaughnessy, winner of the Bankers Trophy in 2012. Paul reminded us of the

National Fun Teams coming up on June 8th in Westmanstown. He said dress code was our county

colours; a prize would be given for best be-speckled team and best county outfit. Spec- savers

were sponsoring the event and were offering a free hearing test all day. Simultaneous Pairs are

from 3rd to 7th February 2014, I.B.U Pairs 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th & 8th Feb 2014.

Paul reminded us of the Presidents Prize, application forms can be downloaded from www.cbai.ie

The European Championships was a huge success and Paul again thanked the Region for the

volunteers who willing gave of their time which contributed hugely to the smooth running of the

event, he said all the visitors really enjoyed been here and are looking forward to coming back.

When asked by Tony Smyth did the European funds cover the event Paul said that there was a

small surplus.

Bert expressed his thanks to Paul

Secretary’s Report:

This time last year I was rather apprehensive about what I was taking on board. Following in the

footsteps of my predecessor Ann Burns didn’t gave me any comfort; I know how hard Ann

worked for the good of the Region. However we have reached the end of year one and I have to

thank our president Bert McKay, our assistant secretary Marian McKay and all the committee for

their wonderful support over the year.

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Bert McKay has another year to run as president of the Region so no doubt we will build on last

year’s work. We now have 35 clubs affiliated to CBAI in the Region which is four up on last

year. Our new clubs are: Confey Castle, Naas Trumps, Maynooth 2012 and the K.Bridge Club.

We welcome them to our Region and assure them of every support from our committee. Our

Affiliated membership to CBAI currently stands at 2343.

Our first committee meeting took place on June 15th 2012 in Westmanstown Sports & Leisure

Centre.

The calendar of events for the coming year was discussed and draft dates were set, committee

members were asked to go on the sub working groups: Development/Communication, Finance,

Cunningham Leagues, Regional Events and Website with two representatives to go on M50

Tournament committee. Support for the clubs in the Naas area also came up for discussion and

Bert put them on the priority list with the Development/Communication group as soon as the

season commenced.

I designed a new Club Details Capture Form so as we could have updated information on all club

secretaries/presidents. Another reason for this was to upload club details onto the Mid Leinster

Region Website with information on days/times and venues and if clubs were open to new

members. I want to thank all the clubs for their prompt return of the forms. Flyers were also

designed for all Regional Events and emailed to club secretaries well in advance of closing dates.

Details relating to the European Championships, Schedules, Draws and City West Specials, and

diary order forms were sent to all club secretaries. Reminders re affiliation fees were also sent to

club secretaries. Letters to qualifiers were sent to all our members who participated in National

Events. (See report for results)

Event Venues were sourced and we were extremely happy with the deals we got from the

Courtyard and Springfield Hotels in Leixlip for our Regional Pairs and Teams. Leixlip GAA also

gave us a good deal for our Fun Team of 4. Unfortunately this event is clashing with other events

on the same weekend and our numbers are not as good as we expected. Leixlip Parish Centre is

also most accommodating and we are looking at holding our Club Delegates Meeting there in

September 2013.

The first event of the year was the Club Delegates Meeting which was held in Leixlip GAA

Club, on September 21st 2012. 21 members attended: Clubs represented were: Cnucha,

Westmanstown, Navan Road, Dunboyne, St Brigid's, Kill Village, Castleknock C LTC,

Coolmine, St Mary's Lucan, Confey Castle Bridge Club, Leixlip, Clane, DN 15, Confey BC, The

Thatch, Castleknock, Celbridge and Lucan (17 out of 34 clubs in the region were represented)

We would like to see an increase in attendance in the coming year

Congratulations

We have to congratulate Ann Burns & Róisín Troy who took the Lambert Cup home to the

region this year and to Monica & Ronnie Woods who had no intentions of leaving the JJ

Murphy Trophy behind. Congratulations must also go to Marian McKay and Sheila Dempsey,

Confey Bridge Club who were the overall winners for Tuesday night in the CBAI Simultaneous

Pairs:

NATIONAL COMPETITIONS: The Regional Pairs Qualifiers were held in the Springfield

Hotel, Leixlip, on December 1st 2012- 33 Pairs participated, up 50% on last year’s numbers.

(See report for results)

The Regional Teams Qualifiers took place in the Courtyard Hotel, Leixlip, on March 2nd 2013.

21 Teams participated which is 100% up on last year. (See report for results)

SIMULTANEOUS PAIRS: The Region again featured well in the CBAI Simultaneous Pairs,

with first overall going to Marian McKay & Sheila Dempsey, Confey Club for Tuesday night.

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NOVICES & ‘B’s: Day Competition: The novice and “B” Day Competition took place in

Westmanstown Sports & Leisure Centre on February 23rd 2013. Our sincere thanks to out

Tournament Director for the Competition Neil Burke and to Marian McKay for organising the

Event.

We would like to congratulate the winners and thank all the participants who made the day

very enjoyable. Without their support these Events couldn’t happen.

FUN TEAM OF FOUR: The Fun Team of Four Regional Event is been held on Saturday May

18th in Leixlip GAA Club, so far we have twelve Teams. Our thanks must go to Marian McKay

for all her hard work in getting the Teams organised. Lots of time and effort goes into contacting

people.

Mid Leinster Region Cunningham Leagues

It was decided to hold all matches on Sunday in Westmanstown Sports & Leisure Centre and to

also have a Tournament Director. This appears to have been a huge success and congratulations

must go to the hard working league committee who did Trojan work. It eliminated the hassle

experienced by Team Captains having to source venues for matches and having the Tournament

Director on hand, plus committee members to help with scoring was fantastic. (See report for

Prize-giving and Celebrations)

Mid Leinster Region Workshop which was held in Westmanstown on July 21st. Roisín Troy

was the coach for the Inter “B” and Novices. Tomas MacCormac was coach for “A” & Masters.

“I’m delighted to report despite the fact that it was midsummer over 46 players attended; from

the feedback we got, it was a huge success. Thanks to the organising committee and all who

turned up on the day to assist in any way they could.

THANKS: Finally I would like to say that a year along the road I’ve found working with Bert

and all the committee a great experience, been the new kids on the block Marian and I felt very

welcome and supported throughout the year. It also gave us an insight into the enormous amount

of work, time and dedication that it takes to make things happen. I look forward to working with

you all again in the coming year and Neil (I promise to look after the Rain Forest)

Josephine O’Cleirigh

Hon. Secretary

Treasurer’s Report:

Veronica Farry distributed copies of the Statement of Accounts for the year 2012/2013.

Bank Balance amounted to: €6,700. Cash on Hand = €70.00 and €2,000.00 Income due from

Cunningham’s for Leagues Sponsorship showed Accumulated Fund of €8,770.00. Veronica

outlined that we bought ten new tables at a cost of €800.00, she also explained that as the

accounts are signed off at the end of April, there are always several large expenses outstanding at

that stage and that these expenses are recorded in the next year’s accounts, she thanked Paul

Phillips our new Auditor for all his help and for preparing the accounts. Bert said we should look

at changing our end of year accounts to a date that reflects a true account balance. Adoption of

the Treasurer’s Report was proposed by Ann Burns and seconded by Celaine Rath.

Sub Groups Report

Regional Report: Bert Said he had covered all in his address

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Cunningham Leagues:

Bert on behalf of the subcommittee reported that they were delighted with the success of the

Cunningham Leagues this year with a record of forty four teams participating. The format

worked well overall. Bert thanked Bernard Higgins for the smooth running of all matches. He

complimented the organising committee for all their hard work and commitment and all who

helped in any way in making the running of the Leagues such a success. He spoke of the damper

on the Semi-Final night, unfortunately there were other functions taking place on the night and

some disruption arose over the Microphone coming through and causing upset. This was

unfortunate but could not have been foreseen, everybody had to be moved downstairs which was

the best option available. This is something that will have to be looked at going forward.

Communication Report: Josephine O’Cleirigh

Our first meeting was aimed at the needs of the clubs in the Naas area.

We invited the clubs listed to a meeting Sat November 17th 2012 in Naas Lawn Tennis Club

(Junior Room) Naas Monday - Naas Thursday - St David’s - Naas Trumps - Devoy

Club Representatives who attended were: Carmel Cullinan, Charles O’Malley, Sheila Ashe,

Pat Madden, Edel O’Carroll, Nora Kelly, Ann McFadden, Stephanie Cullinan, Noirín Noble,

Bridie Sanderson, Ann Butler, Mary Murphy and Catherine O’Sullivan

Our Agenda was:

(A) To Develop better Communications within our Region

(B) Discuss ways to promote and assist with the Development of their Clubs.

Nuala Switzer, President of Nass, Monday invited some people from the classes which were

coming to an end to play in her club. Bert McKay and I played in Nuala’s club along with eight

from Bert’s class one Monday night and that was a very positive experience. Nuala expressed an

interest in running some open nights over the summer period; she would meet with her committee

get back to us. The Presidents Prize and their AGM was taking place over the following few

weeks.

Work is ongoing here and we hope to revisit the clubs again over the next few months. We have

to take into consideration that some clubs may close for the summer.

Development Officers Report:

Ann Burns said that she hadn’t prepared a report but she is keeping in touch with clubs and their

issues in her area of the region. She said that the Vue club is not affiliated; she thinks that they

are not interested. North Kildare are still functioning, Gerry Frayne has approached her with

some questions which she intends to follow up. Ann spoke about VEC teacher who died and that

the head of Adult Education called her looking for another teacher, she said it is hard to get

teachers. She also said that Richard will not be around come September. Paul said Naas was a

black spot and development was seriously needed to keep Clubs afloat. Bert said some Novices

from VEC class went into Naas Trumps but would be prepared to join other clubs as they need to

develop their game. He said there are twelve tables in Naas Trumps at the moment; he is giving

extra tuition on Monday nights continuing through the summer. Naas Monday are talking about

organising bridge for four nights over the holiday period and inviting the Novices from Bert’s

class. Moling Ryan would be interested in this venture; we are waiting on an update on this. Jim

Murray said it would be an opportunity for Novices to play in local clubs on a visitor status over

the summer. Ann said Celbridge had mostly good players and felt that Novices might be

vulnerable and worried that it would leave them demoralised. Bert suggested that we draft out a

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list of clubs and send it to Fionuala who has been giving the classes in Lucan. Celaine Rath said

Confey Castle would be anxious to take them.

Website Report:

Bert informed the meeting that we had changed our service provider to Bridgewebs and a new

website was under construction. Neil Burke & Angela Doran O’Reilly are working on the design

and launch which hopefully will be up and running shortly.

M.50 Report:

Neill & Barbara Burke are our representatives on this committee and as they were not in

attendance we didn’t have a report.

Some discussion ensued around the dissatisfaction with the management of this Tournament.

Ann Burns disagrees with the format, she said other teams including her would like to play but the

rules prevent this as teams are already picked. Bert said that Mary Reid, Neil & Barbara Burke are

on the organising committee this year and that we have to follow the selection format.

Paul Porteous suggested we see how it goes for this year then abandon it altogether and have a

Dublin Congress instead. He said Templeogue would not be able to facilitate this, Paul said the

four Regions should get together to review this possibility. Tomas McCormack proposed that four

Regions send delegates to M50 Committee with a view to developing a Dublin Congress. Bert

said it should be brought up at Regional Committee meeting. Paul suggested we move quickly and

consider running a two day event, he said premises are being booked pretty fast. Tony Smyth

suggested maybe we should think about City West.

Election of Committee:

Bert McKay has another year in his term of office so therefore no election took place. John

O’Connor stepped down from the committee this year which left one position available. No

nominations were received and nobody from the floor came forward. Bert thanked John for his

years of commitment to the committee of the Mid Leinster Region. Angela will look at

Constitution re co-opting somebody on to the committee.

Nomination of Auditor: It was agreed that Paul Phillips would be our auditor for 2013-14

Delegates for AGM: The AGM of the CBAI is to be held on Sat. 6th July in City West Hotel.

We are allowed 5 delegates. It was agreed that they would be the President, Bert McKay,

Secretary, Josephine O’Cleirigh, and Asst: Secretary Marian McKay, Treasurer, Veronica Farry,

Barbara Burke,). If anyone was unable to make it (Neil Burke) was proposed as substitutes.

Any Other Business: Tony Smyth thanked Bert and committee for all their hard work over the

year and said the Leagues were a great success; Bert in turn thanked Bernard Higgins for doing a

wonderful job. Ann Burns thanked Paul Porteous and Tomas McCormack and said they were

always so helpful. Maire O’Keeffe complimented Paul on the huge success of the European

Championships.

Bert extended his condolences to clubs and their families who lost a loved one during the year.

He thanked Paul and Tomas and everybody for attending and looked forward to working for the

betterment of all clubs in the Region including new clubs which he hopes will come on stream

also.

Signed : Bert McKay

President

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Presidents Address Dear Members,

The Mid Leinster Region was established in 2008. Since then the Development of the

Region has been remarkable, Paul Porteous the Chief Executive Officer of the Contract Bridge

Association of Ireland has said on numerous occasions, that the project to build the Mid Leinster Region

has been an unqualified success. Since 2008 Mid Leinster Committees have worked hard to set the

standards, and to build on previous achievements, I'm hopeful that future Mid Leinster Committees will

continue to maintain these standards for the benefit of all the members.

It goes without saying that this year tremendous work has again been done by the Regional

Committee. It is not my intention here to go into what has been happening since last May. These details

can be readily seen throughout this report. It is very important for me to say that I'm grateful to all of our

committee who have served with me over the past two years. Each one of you have given your time, and

your expertise to serve with me for the betterment of Bridge in the Region. Thank you all for your sup-

port, your trust, and confidence in me.

In the past two years we have continued with the program to develop. Some of the main priorities

were to - Redesign the Cunningham Leagues - Raise the standard of Play in the Region - To run

effective Regional Events as well as supporting the National Events. To run beginner Classes, but to run

them with a view to locating beginners in Clubs or establish new clubs if required. To establish a better

communication system for the Clubs in the Region, and finally continue with the development of the

MLR Website. These were some of the tasks that were on the Agenda. On a Personal note I felt that one

of the most important requirements was to try and ensure that our members were enjoying their Bridge.

Over the past 2 years I'm happy in my own mind that as a Committee we did achieved our objectives.

Looking to the future, I wish Barbara Burke every success in her term of office as President.

I know that she has an excellent committee coming on board. It will certainly be a blend of youth and

experience. I offer my best wishes to Ann Burns who is the incoming President Elect. I'm sure those on

the incoming committee will work hard, and will have many lively debates.

As some of the Outgoing Committee are not going forward for re-election, I would personally like

to congratulate our outgoing Hon. Secretary Josephine O’Cleirigh (or Jo as she’s called). Jo has been such

a wonderful Secretary for the Mid Leinster Region. She really has put in a great effort over the past two

years and to my mind has raised the bar for future incumbents. Thank you Jo. Your achievements have

not gone unnoticed.

Can I also thank our outgoing Hon Treasurer Veronica Farry who has in her own quiet way

managed the finances of the Region. Veronica is handing over the Account Books to Owen Cummins in

an excellent shape. Well done Veronica.

Angela Doran O’Reilly is leaving the Committee. Angela has been involved with Neil Burke on the

transition of the Website to Bridgewebs. She was also involved on the Communications, and Regional

Events Sub Groups. I suspect Angela will have plenty to keep herself occupied having become a

Grandmother recently. Congratulations Angela, and thank you for all your help over the past two years.

Finally I want to say a big thank you to my wife Marian who has also decided to leave the Commit-

tee. Marian has been working on the committee assisting Jo, and has been to the forefront in

organising most of the Regional Events. Marian has also played a major role in mentoring the Novices in

Naas Trumps Bridge Club. Thank you Marian.

On behalf of all the members of the Mid Leinster Region I offer Condolences to those Clubs who

had members who passed away. I also wish to extend our heartfelt Condolences to those members and

their families who have lost loved ones during the year. Ar dheis dhea go raibh a anam.

My Final words are to you the members of the Mid Leinster Region. I have enjoyed my term as

President. I have met most of you at the Regional Events, Classes, Meetings or maybe at the

Cunningham Leagues. As your President over the past two years I believed what mattered was that you

were all enjoying yourselves playing Bridge. I will keep that salient thought in my mind as I hand over to

our new President Barbara Burke. I wish all of you every success for your Bridge, combined with best

wishes to you, and your families for the future.

Yours Sincerely

Bert McKay

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Regional Update

We are delighted to welcome The Vue Bridge Club to our region and also the

return of Mount Sackville bridge club.

We have 33 clubs in our region as it stands, hopefully membership will grow in existing

clubs as classes are opening up opportunities.

Regional Membership Numbers for 2012 - 2013 - 2014

September 2012 our membership was 2182, in 2013 we had 2343 members, we now have

2513

All clubs in Mid Leinster have paid their affiliation Fees:

Regional Pairs:

Entries: 2012 2013 2014 22 Pairs : 33 Pairs up 50% on 2012 : 33 Pairs : Same

Novice “B” Day 37 Pairs 33 Pairs down 11% on 2012 16 Pairs Event cancelled

Regional Teams

Entries: 2012 2013 2014 0 Teams 21 Teams up 100% 20 Teams : Down 1%

Inaugural President’s Cup

Entries: 2014

60 Pairs

Cunningham League Teams

Entries 2013 2014

44 Teams 50 Teams Up 15%

National Events

Mid Leinster Region fulfilled their allocation to the National Pairs & Team Events

Note that the allocation for each region is notified by the CBAI. The allocation for the Mid Lein-

ster Region is as follows:

Davidson Cup for Master (3) Laird Cup for Intermediate “A” (2)

Civil Service Cup for Intermediate “B” (2) (Entry fees were paid for by the Region)

This event was played over the weekend of April 12th & 13th in the Radisson Hotel, Athlone

National Teams Event

Kelburne Cup for Master (1 Team), Bankers Trophy for Intermediate A (2 Teams),

Tierney Trophy for Intermediate B (2 Teams) The entry fees for all Teams representing Mid

Leinster Region were paid for by the region. The National Teams event was held in the Radisson

Hotel, Athlone over the Weekend 26th – 27th April 2014.

JJ Murphy for Novices (4 pairs in 2013 and 4 pairs in 2014, the region paid their Entry Fees)

This competition was held in Whites Hotel, Wexford on April 12th 2014

The results from Mid Leinster Events can be viewed on the Mid Leinster Website.

http://cbai.ie/mlr

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Master & Intermediate “A” 2014 Regional Pairs “B” & Novice Section

Regional Teams Masters & A Section 2014

Mid Leinster Regional Pairs 2013 Mid Leinster Regional Pairs 2014

David Melody, Tony Smyth

Winners of the Mid Leinster Regional Pairs

Winners of the Intermediate “B” Pairs

Mari Glynn , Jim Rowley

Winners Mid Leinster Regional Teams Master “A”

G. McDonald, Bert McKay, Sue Streek, Denis Bowes

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During the preparation of the calendar of events at our first committee meeting of

2013/14 we looked at introducing a new event. Having a Mid Leinster Region Presi-

dent’s Cup seemed to be a popular choice.

The competition took place on January 18th 2014 in the Springfield Hotel, Leixlip.

Once again the Springfield pulled out all the stops to make this a very comfortable

venue .

Eamon Galligan was our Tournament Director for the day and with the use of BridgeMates things

ran very smoothly

Congratulations to Roisín Troy and Ann More-O Ferrell who fought off stiff competition and took

this prestigious Cup to Westmanstown.

Our sincere thanks to all for making this and all of our Regional Events so successful.

Winners of the Inaugural Mid Leinster Region Presidents Cup 2014

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Catherine Zeta Jones & Kirk Douglas

John Wayne & Maureen O’Hara

Peter Fonda & Jane Fonda

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Intermediate “B” Team Section 2014

Winners of Mid Leinster Regional Fun Teams - 29/03/2014

Photos

Josephine O’Cleirigh, Vincent Shannon,

Sharon McGarrigle and Mary Hargadon

Winners of the Best Dressed

Winners of the Mid Leinster “B” Regional

Teams

Sal Higgins, Jim Rowley,

Michael Byrne, Michael Cuddihy

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Winners of Major CBAI Competitions 2013 / 2014

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Master Winners: Westmanstown

Barbara Burke, Larry O’Sullivan, Roisin

Troy, Ann Moynihan,

Master 3rd: Castleknock

David Melody, Tony Smyth,

John McNamara, Deirdre Ridgeway

Mrs Kathleen McCorry, who represented

Cunningham Funeral Directors

at the Presentation Dinner

CUNNINGHAM LEAGUES PRESENTATION DAY

The Mid Leinster Region held their Presentation Night for this years Cunningham Leagues on Sunday May

11th 2014 in Westmanstown Sports & Conference Centre. It was a wonderful occasion with eight of the teams

participating in the Finals during the afternoon. A further 17 tables played alongside in Open Pairs. The Bridge

was followed by dinner and the Presentation of Prizes to the Winners of the Leagues. In attendance was guest

of honour Kathleen McCorry who was representing Cunningham's Funeral Directors, sponsors of our

Leagues. Well done to all concerned. A record number of 50 teams, participated in the Leagues this year.

Changes in the format ensured that all the teams who participated had a minimum of five matches to play.

It has been a very successful campaign and we are eagerly awaiting next seasons League.

Hope you all enjoyed this year’s leagues as much as we did.

Bert McKay

League Winners 2014 Master League

1st Place Westmanstown

2nd Place Celbridge

3rd Place Castleknock

Intermediate “A” League

1st Place Westmanstown

2nd Place Leixlip

3rd Place Westmanstown

4th Place St Brigid's

Master Runner up: Celbridge

Ann Burns, John O’Connor, Joe Coyne

Angela Doran O’Reilly, Briege McShane

Inter “A” Winners : Westmanstown

Arthur McGrail, Michael Fitzgerald,

Una Gillespie, Evelyn Ennis

Inter “A” Runner up: Leixlip

Dermot Lally, Bridie Coyne, Patricia Hudson,

Moira Hogan, Alo Sweeney, Theresa Naughton

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Cunningham Leagues Prize-giving & Celebration

Intermediate “B” League

1st Place Clane

2nd Place St Brigid's

3rd Place Coolmine ?

4th Place Castleknock Lawn Tennis Club

Novice League

1st Place Naas Trumps

2nd Place Vue

3rd Place Castleknock Lawn Tennis Club

Inter “A” 3rd: Westmanstown

Own Cummins, Paul Phillips, Catherine Yeats

Carmel Hickey, Brendan O’Driscoll

Novice 3rd: CLTC

David King, Billy King

Adrian Branagan, Judy MacDiarmada

Novice Winners : Naas Trumps

Valerie Giles, Sheila Daly,

Sean McGaley, Kathleen McGaley

Inter “B” Winners : Clane

Jim Rowley, Michael Byrne,

Sal Higgins Michael Cuddihy,

Mari Glynn, Ann Looram

Inter “B” Runner up:

St Brigid's

Betty Fallon, Frank Fallon ,

Maureen Reddy, Gabriel Dineen

Inter “B” 4th : CLTC

Blanaid Morris, Breda Tuite

Monica Woods,

Ronnie Woods

Inter “B” 3rd : Coolmine

Margaret Mellett,

Angela Harford, Pat Gray

Eleanor Maguire

Inter “A” 4th: St Brigid's

Jean Neary, Ann Murphy

Aileen Fullam, Evelyn Quinn

Novice Runner up: The Vue

Ger Maher, Yvonne Barry,

Martina Glennon, Clara Richardson

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Following on from our Club Delegates Meeting in the Parish Centre in Leixlip on September

20th 2013, Bert and Jo decided to follow up on the interest shown for a demonstration on how to

set up ScoreBridge. Some interest was also shown for bringing an Electronic Annual Master

Point recording system into their respective clubs.

Jo sent out a circular to all club secretaries to see if the interest was still there. Twenty six

people replied and said that they were very interested. We set about organising the event and

held a two hour Introductory Session in Leixlip Parish Centre on November 16th 2013.

Bert had prepared a presentation and instructional handouts; he gave very clear step by step

instructions from downloading the system to setting up your club and doing your club scoring.

He took questions from the floor and spent considerable time making sure that all understood

how the system worked. He encouraged people to take old score/recap sheet and practice.

Jo introduced the spreadsheet system for annual Master Point recording and demonstrated how

to set it up and operate it. She is delighted to report that she has sent on a prepared spreadsheet

to a number of clubs. She has also given assistance with the ScoreBridge programme, and sent

out copies of handouts to people who were unable to attend the demonstration.

Introduction to ScoreBridge

This year we continued with our Program of Classes For Advanced / Improver / Beginners

Naas Lawn Tennis,

This Beginners Class commenced last September and is scheduled to finish at the end of May. Now its

necessary to locate these Beginners in a club/clubs. To this end I have emailed the Sec’s / Presidents of the

surrounding M.L.R. Clubs. I have received two replies from Johnstown Kill and Naas Trumps who are

showing some interest. It is my hope that these Beginners will be playing Bridge and become affiliated to

the CBAI next Season.

Clane: Scoil Mhuire

A Beginners class commenced last September and continued up to last Christmas. At that point the School

set a new Program from January 2014. This did not include a continuation for Class No. 6091. I discussed

the issue with Cormac in Scoil Mhuire and with his agreement set about providing a facility to allow this

class to continue. I set up Second Phase lessons for Class 6091 in Leixlip Parish Centre at the end of

February 2014. This continuation class finished in April 2014. It is my intention to follow up with further

tuition for these members. A new beginners class (10weeks) started in Scoil Mhuire in January 2014, and

is presently continuing with an additional 5 lessons which will finish the program for this season.

It also my hope that these members will be facilitated in clubs.

Further beginner classes were held in Confey Castle and Enfield

Westmanstown (Advanced)

Thomas McCormac gave Master /“A” Classes in Westmanstown in July 2014. The classes continued over

a period of 6 weeks. As we all know Thomas is a fantastic teacher and by all accounts these classes were

excellent. Thank you Thomas

Novice “B” (Improvers)

Roisin Troy took this class over two days in July and August 2013.

Again these classes are of tremendous benefit to the members. Thank you Roisin

Improvers

Naas Trumps: October /November 2013 Completed

Bridge Classes 2013/14

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Mid Leinster Region Website

We have changed our Service Providers to Bridgewebs. Development is

ongoing and we continue to update the Website on a regular basis. If any of

our Clubs in the Region would like to have their Club Events highlighted we

would encourage you to contact the Site Administrator Neil Burke and get

your club events uploaded on the MLR website:

www.bridgewebs.com/mlr Those who are familiar with websites will know that there can be security issues surrounding the

Downloading of attachments so as an option we plan to create a link/s to all the Regional events

on our website. You are encouraged to get your members to check the MLR website on a regular

basis.

CBAI Diaries 2014-2015

Get your order for your club diaries in early so as not to be disappointed.

email: midleinsterregion@gmail.com

Please note that diaries are now costing €5 each

They contain little gems of information

CONTRACT BRIDGE ASSOCIATION OF IRELAND

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE for members

The CBAI has agreed on a standard procedure for formally dealing with complaints by its

members against fellow members, clubs and officials. The purpose of this procedure is to

facilitate the resolution of difficulties where they may arise, in an agreed and fair manner.

The document lays out in five stages the process to be followed in progressing a complaint

and the specific timescale to be followed at each stage. Please note this is a non-statutory

procedure and does not supersede the rules of Bridge or the constitution of the CBAI.

This document has been agreed by the Management Committee at their meeting in CBAI

headquarters on Saturday May 10th 2014. When the document is published a condensed

version will be available in your diaries and the full document will be available on the

CBAI website: www.cbai.ie/

It might be a good idea to have a link to your own club if you have a website

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IBU Simultaneous Pairs:

This years IBU Simultaneous Pairs are on the 3rd to the 7th of November 2014.

Each club in the Region should endeavour to run an Event for the Simultaneous Pairs.

CBAI Simultaneous Pairs:

The dates for next years CBAI Simultaneous pairs are the 2nd to 6th of February 2014.

Make sure to flag this event on your Club Calendar. Paul Porteous, CBAI would like to see more

clubs participating in the CBAI Simultaneous Pairs in 2014.

Public Liability Insurance Cover:

Important Notice

When you receive your affiliation list next Autumn, on the last page you will find a declaration to

be signed, where heretofore you have summarised the numbers in your club and made alterations

to any standing information we might have about your club. We are asking all Clubs who have not

yet joined the Public Liability Insurance Scheme which is now operated on our behalf by Reddan

Insurance Ltd to confirm in writing that they have proper public liability insurance cover in place.

The rate that has been negotiated for our group is extremely competitive at €85 per annum for a

cover of €6.5m regardless of the number of members in your club. This cover is more competitive

than any individual quote reported by clubs. Application form available from CBAI head office,

and will also be available from County Development Officers.

Annual General Meeting CBAI:

The Contract Bridge Association of Ireland will hold their Annual General Meeting on Saturday

July 5th in The Best Southern Hotel, Sligo. Fearghal O’Boyle, incoming president has asked me

to notify all that there will be a Charity Bridge Game starting at 5pm approx. until 8pm, followed

by refreshments.

It was announced at the Governing Council meeting in CBAI Headquarters on Saturday May 10th

that the AGM will be put back to 2.30pm. This is to facilitate the arrival of the 2.00pm train from

Dublin.

The Best Southern Hotel Sligo is just beside the train station.

Master Points

Your club’s full return for the period from 1st September 2013 to 31st May 2014 should be with

us at Headquarters or the appropriate regional official before 30th June 2014. If it is received by

that date, your name will be submitted for inclusion in a free draw for a weekend away (and a

few other prizes - one per Region) – what about that for an incentive?? If you don’t make that

date, please keep in mind that we will be closing off on new submissions for 2013/2014 on

1st August so that we can get through all the printing and processing by September. It is also very

important to note that if Master Points are NOT received for your club by the close off date, the

Automatic Awards of 400 Local points for a Factor 4 Club and 500 Local points for a Factor 5

Club will be made to each of your members.

We can email you an Excel spreadsheet of your members if that will help with the exercise – just

contact us at info@cbai.ie or paul@cbai.ie

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CLUB DETAILS CAPTURE FORM 2014-2015

Please complete and return by post to: John Crimmins, Secretary, Mid Leinster Region,

The Vue BC, 4 Blackwood Cresent, Ongar, Dublin 15.

Or Email: secretary@thevuebridgeclub.com

Club Name

Name

Address

Contact Details:

Email Address:

Secretary’s Details:

Presidents Details:

Name:

Address:

Contact Details:

Email Address:

Club CBAI Number:

Number of members in your Club - Approx.:

Club Venue Address:

Days you play:

Times You Play:

Are you open to new members?

Are you willing to take Novices in your club?

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Election of Committee 2014/2015

As President Elect Barbara Burke will take over the Presidency for the next

two years. The nominees for the other positions on the committee were deemed

elected as no opposing candidates were proposed.

The new committee is as follows:

Proposer Seconder

President Barbara Burke

President Elect Ann Burns Barbara Burke John O’Connor

Hon. Secretary John Crimmins Barbara Burke Yvonne Dalton

Hon. Treasurer Owen Cummins Barbara Burke Neil Burke

Development Officer

Fingal, Meath & Dublin Blanaid Morris Mary Power Ronnie Woods

Ex Officio Bert McKay

Committee Neil Burke Kathleen McCorry Mary Jo Higgins

Committee Ann Nevin Ann Burns Imelda Desmond

Committee Geraldine Keane Neil Burke Barbara Burke

Committee Francoise Dignam Barbara Burke

Evelyn Blennerhassett

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APPOINTMENT OF DELEGATES TO NATIONAL AGM (6)

APPOINTMENT OF HON AUDITOR 2014/2015

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