Anne asked me to post that there's no game tomorrow due to the snow and ice still on the roads.  Enjoy your day at home!

Fellow Bridge Players,

      It has been a while since I have provided an update and I wanted to provide the latest news on the future of the Bridge Center.  On Wednesday I signed a new lease agreement with the Kempsville Presbyterian Church to secure our new playing space.  The new location is in the former church school located behind the church off of Locke Lane in Kempsville. (The address is 817 Kempsville Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23464.) The new space encompasses 3000 sqft of playing area plus a hospitality room of over 250 sqft.  We will need to do some work to make the space a pleasant place to practice our favorite pastime.  The good news is the work will not need to be as expansive as speculated and we have secured some estimates for the work that have come in below expectations resulting in less expenditure than anticipated.

      The new landlord will be charging a rent that includes utilities and is less than 60% of our current cost of our present site.  They have also provided a generous allowance for preparing the spaces for occupancy and have been much easier to work with our current landlord.  Additionally, they will be providing a box truck for our use in moving to the new location.

    The new space is amply sized to support club play, lessons and Sectional tournaments of up to 34 tables.  We anticipate no interruptions to the current game schedule with Bob’s game on March 31^st at the Euclid Rd location and inaugurating club play at the new site on April 1^st with Anne’s NLM game.

    Is this a perfect situation?  No.  But it is the best solution with our current budget.  The location is not far from our current centrally located site and remains near the center of distribution of our Hampton Roads membership’s home addresses.  We secured a playing space that is as large as our current location but will require a slightly longer walk in from the parking lot, which is robust enough to support the attendance at a Sectional tournament.  There will be other tenants but we will have our own separate, locked space within the building.

    I am appreciative of the hard work and contributions of my board members as well as those of Maureen Brines and Doug Lahammer who have been invaluable in getting this deal done.

    When I first became the Chairman of the Bridge Center Board I committed to providing a venue for bridge competition to flourish for the long-term.  That is my only agenda.  I believe that, with this new lease, I have accomplished that goal. I believe that we continue to provide a place to play our game while also meeting our financial obligations. 

     I welcome your input and constructive advice.

Yours in Bridge,

Tom Hirsch

Update:  The Unit Board meeting will be 2/23 at 4:15 at the Bridge Center

Update 2:  Remote participation option for the Unit Membership Meeting on 2/28.  If you want to dial in via Zoom please use the Contact Us feature on the left hand side of the website. We'll provide you with a Zoom link and dial in numbers. 

Unit 146 President Maureen Brines is calling for special meetings of the Unit Board and the Unit Membership.  The purpose of these meetings is to discuss Unit 146 actions pertaining to  a future home for bridge in Southside Hampton Roads.  This email serves to start the 10 day notice period required in Bylaws Article V, Section 2 and Article VII, Sections 3 and 4.

The Unit Board will meet at one of these three times and locations:

1.  Sunday, February 23, 4:15 PM at the Bridge Center.

2.  Monday, February 24, 1:30 PM at the Bridge Center.

3.  Monday, February 24, 4:00 PM via Zoom.

The time and date will be selected soon based on the availability of Board members and will be updated on the Unit website and via email.

The Special Membership Meeting will be held on Friday, February 28, 1:30 PM at the Bridge Center.  Our quorum requirement is 10% of the Unit, which means that we need 26 members to constitute a quorum.  The agenda for the Membership meeting will be set by the Board at their meeting and will be shared on the Unit website as soon as it is available.

At the first 2025 meeting of the Unit 146 Board the following Unit Officers were elected:

♠ President - Maureen Brines

♥ Vice President - Kathy Haglich

♦ Treasurer - Louise Gordon

♣ Recording Secretary - Kerry Weil

♠ Membership Secretary - Wrus Kristiansen

If you see them please congratulate them and show your support.

Sign up now for the New Unit 146 Mentorship Program starting in January 2025!

 Great News for our unit 146 non-life masters: An opportunity to play and learn from a Life Master (sponsored by the Unit 146 Board). 

 Details of the Mentorship Program are in the Attached PDF’s:

·      * Mentorship Benefits_Tips_Laws (created by ACBL)

·      * Mentor_ Mentee Registration Form (adapted from ACBL forms)

Unit 146 will pay the entry fees for mentors playing with NLM students on the first Sunday, second Monday, second Wednesday, or second Friday of each month.

For those of you who are not Life Masters, if you want a Mentor please send your filled out form to the Unit Mentorship coordinator, Maureen Brines (contact details below).

 Please contact a Unit 146 Board member or Club Director if you have any other questions.

Maureen Duke Brines, Mentorship Chair

757-778-4800

Mduke11@msn.com

You are probably familiar with Barbara Duer's "The Dummy Speaks" column.  I've decided to add one of my own related to the rules of the game, titled "On Further Review".  You'll find both of these columns in the left hand menu under "Columns and Features".  The first installment of "On Further Review" covers tapping the pass card, when it is appropriate to ask during the auction, and rules for opening 1NT.

11/20/24 Update:  Added information distinguishing rules for 1NT overcalls vs 1NT openings

Pete Haglich

Open Letter to the ACBL Unit 146 Membership

Greetings,

It has been a while since I last provided an update on the status of the Bridge Center (BC).  To dispel rumors to the contrary, I can tell you that the Bridge Center finances are stable.  Our bank balance is currently at the same level as it was at the BC Annual meeting in February at about $32k.  We can sustain operations at our current location if there are no annual increases in rent (unlikely over any extended period of time).  Alternatively, we will be exploring other locations in the same centrally located area.  In the meantime, we can stay at the current venue at the current rent on a month to month lease but are subject to being forced with just 30 days notice which is not ideal.

Although we are looking at other options, including space provided by VB, nothing promising has surfaced as yet.  I will keep you updated as solutions develop; in the meantime, please enjoy your bridge competition at the BC.  The MWF games are all doing well and the new twice-monthly NLM game on Tuesday continues to grow.

I am pleased to report that Jennifer Douglas has begun a class for beginning players on Friday mornings that has attracted 6 new players who, hopefully, will graduate to live games on Tuesdays.  I believe that Carolyn is planning to start a series of lessons as well.  Keep an eye on this site and the BC bulletin board for updates as these classes are scheduled.

Upcoming are the Fall Sectional on 18-20 October and the Holiday Party game on Sunday, December 8th.  I look forward to seeing you at the bridge table and hope you find the game as challenging and fulfilling an activity as I do.

If you have ideas on how to improve the experience at the BC, please let me know, and I will look into how we can implement them.

Very Respectfully,

Tom Hirsch

Know someone who would appreciate a get well or condolence card.
Select the "Contact Us, Sunshine" from left menu and fill in form.
A card will be sent to the person by the Unit.

Many of you are receiving email from club owners about upcoming events and other bridge topics, even if you never signed up for them.  The club owners probably obtained your email from the ACBL roster.  The ACBL terms of use (found at https://web2.acbl.org/documentLibrary/about/termsofuse.pdf) allow them to send information about ACBL-sanctioned bridge events and announcements and newsletters discussing activities of the respective club, Unit, or District.  If you don't want to receive their emails then send them a note to direct them to remove you from their mailing list.  If they won't honor your wishes then let me know.

Emails from the Unit will be sent using the database we maintain on BridgeWebs, which is also updated with the ACBL roster.  If you want to opt out of those, you can either use the Contact Us form on the web page or else you can update your member profile in the Member Area (under Membership).  If neither of those work then contact the webmaster, Wrus Kristiansen, or myself.

P. Haglich