NATIONAL BANK CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY

While the Club has conducted championships for many years the committee saw a need for a perpetual trophy and in the early 1990's a group including Nancy Thompson, Greville Burrell and June Bleechmore approached the Club's bankers (The National Bank) for support.

The Bank agreed to this request and gave the sum of $100 with the proviso that any cost beyond that amount must be borne by the Club.

The trophy is competed for annually following a qualifying session from which the leading 5 pairs from North/South and East/West compete in a Howell movement final thus providing one winning pair. The trophy is normally presented at the end of the year celebrations.

BARBARA GREEN TROPHY

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS CONSOLATION

Early 2000's Barbara Green saw the need for a trophy for those who did not qualify for the Club Championships final and who competed in a consolation event. Because this is normally run as a Mitchell movement resulting in winners for both north/south and east/west two trophies were donated.

To qualify for this trophy pairs must have competed in the Club Championship qualifying round and, having failed to qualify for the final, compete in a consolation session. While this session is normally open to all players not involved in the Championships the winners must come from pairs who did compete in the qualifying session.

This trophy was donated in 1984 by John and Patricia Sparkes who were stalwarts of the Club over many years. They both held executive positions, both were Directors and John was also the Masterpoint Secretary.

At the time the Club was growing and playing on Monday afternoon as well as Wednesday evenings. The Wednesday players included many who worked during the day and this was their only chance to win a major Club event. Because table numbers were small the event was specified to be conducted as a Howell movement thus resulting in one winning pair. The rules for the conduct of this event are quite specific in the it must be a Howell movement with only one winning pair.

Historical Highlights

15 June 1981   - Inaugural Meeting held at Mudgee Golf Club – 26 persons

Location –

• Mudgee Golf Club to July 1985
• Mudgee Bowling Club, August 1985 to 1990
• Pioneer House Hall, 1994 to
• Mudgee Soldiers Club, 1994
• Mudgee Bowling Club
• Mudgee Rugby Club
• Mudgee Showground, 2015 to

Constitution –

• New Constitution adopted at SGM 2 December 1991
• Amended at  SGM 28 July 2008
• 5 March 2012 – adopted a new Constitution under the Incorporated Associations Act and registered by Department of Fair Trading on 9 March 2012 (Incorporation No. INC9896918, Registration No. Y9896918)
• 3 June 2013 – Clause 16(6) of the Constitution amended at AGM so that no member may serve in the same office for more than five consecutive years. This resolution was not registered with the Department of Fair Trading.
• 5 June 2016 – Special Resolution adopted to “rescind the existing Constitution and adopt a new Constitution as tabled at this meeting”. This action was required so that the Constitution of the Club conformed with the changes to NSW Association laws commencing 1 September 2016. The Special Resolution was registered with the Department of Fair Trading. 

Membership –

• 1981 – 26 members
• 1992 – 75 members
• 1995 – 72 members
• 1996 – 76 members
• 1997 – 77 members
• 1998 – 76 members
• 1999 – 65 members
• 2000 – 69 members
• 2001 – 80 members

Support for Charities –

In the early days, the Club held an Annual Charity Day and over $26,000 was donated to various Charities, mostly local charities. The Annual Charity Day was discontinued following the Annual General Meeting in 2004. Included in these donations was $2,900 to furnish a single bed ward at Mudgee Hospital.

• 1998 – Furnish a single bed ward at Mudgee Hospital - $2900

Mudgee Bridge Congress –

• Initial Congress held in July 1993
• Held annually until 2008
• Re-commenced November 2017

Our thanks to Brian Tuckwell for his research and preparation of this information.

Presentation to Mid-Western Regional Council Open Forum on 15 November 2017

Thank you Mr Mayor and Councillors for this opportunity for the Mudgee Bridge Club to thank the Council and its staff for the assistance in securing a more permanent location for the Bridge Club.

But, first let me give you a short historical overview of our Club – it was initially formed in June 1981 at a meeting at Mudgee Golf Club when 26 interested Bridge players decided to form Mudgee Bridge Club. It is also evident that there were many informal groups playing Bridge in Mudgee prior to this meeting in 1981 and there are still many such small groups enjoying the challenge of playing Bridge. And we still have 4 of those original members playing on a regular basis.

Over the last 36 years, membership has grown to 110 and the vast majority of these members are from the local Mudgee community. It is also fair to say that Senior Citizens make up the bulk of our membership although there are no limitations in respect to the age of our members. In fact, we have had 2 members over the age of 100 years who continued to play regularly as well as others well into their 90’s.

The Bridge Club has played at many locations over the past 36 years and has had to move from one location to another for a variety of reasons over which we had no control. These locations included Mudgee Golf Club, Mudgee Bowling Club, Pioneer House, Mudgee Soldiers Club, Mudgee Rugby club and now finally to Building L at the Mudgee Showground.

This is the first time that the Club has had a feeling of permanency for their Bridge Sessions. The Club is very thankful to Council for the offer to lease Building Land for the renovations carried out to the building to make it very comfortable for our use. I might add that the Club was able to make a substantial contribution towards the comfort now enjoyed by our members.

So what does the Bridge Club do? We hold competition Bridge sessions twice a week – each session takes half a day and we can have up to 60 players regularly for a session. And we conduct lessons for beginners when required. We would like to invite the councillors and anyone else who are interested to know about Bridge to visit our clubhouse. Competition sessions are held on Monday afternoon and Friday mornings. These competitions provide a very important part of the social activity for all members of the Mudgee community and particularly for the more senior members.

Are there other benefits for the Mudgee Community?

Yes  - Earlier this month, the Club hosted a Bridge Congress over 2 days. A Bridge Congress is an open competition for all standards of Bridge players and attracted almost130 entries from players, not only from our club but from Sydney, Dubbo and other areas. We were successful in receiving a Grant from Council towards staging this event and we are very appreciative of this support from Council by being one of the sponsors for what turned out to be a most successful Congress. It also marked the return of this competition to Mudgee as the last Congress was held here in 2008 after a run of 15 years.

Also, over the years, the Club has supported many local charities including the furnishing a single bed ward at Mudgee Hospital. In fact, the Club has donated over $26,000 to various charity organisations.

So, once again, Thank You to Council for the opportunity to have a permanent home for the Mudgee Bridge Club.

THANK YOU.

Presented by Brian Tuckwell to acknowledge the Shire provision of our club premisies at the Mudgee Showground