Five new board
members were elected at the April Sectional in Solon. Listed alphabetically they are: Bev
Carter. Bev
has been on the board previously and served has as its president. She is very involved in teaching bridge and
encouraging newcomers to participate in the game, hopefully starting a 299’r
game at the Whist Club.
Geraldean Jones is honored to have been elected to the
Board. She plans to channel her efforts
and energies towards the promotion and betterment of bridge (her favorite
pastime). She hopes to make our bridge
experiences positive and enjoyable and thanks the members for their vote of
confidence.
Sue Pisanelli is
a first
time board member. She feels she will
really enjoy her experience and feels there is a "THOU SHALL CONTRIBUTE
HELP TO OTHERS” gene in her body. After
reflecting on this notion, she came up with 3 basic reasons for becoming a
board member: 1. to contribute to the organization; 2. to enjoy working with a
group of people who share a common passion for one of her favorite activities,
duplicate bridge; and 3. doing something worthwhile in working to promote and
improve duplicate bridge for the players in this area. So it is not such a
short answer after all. Sue knows there is a role for her and she will do her
best to contribute in a constructive manner.
Ginny
Young returns to
the board after a long hiatus. She is
also a previous past president, is currently in charge of the Vichill League and a long standing member of our Charity
Committee. We welcome her back!
Kermit Wolford is also a previous
board member who works tirelessly at our tournaments providing the wonderful
hospitality we all enjoy and the supplies needed to run the games.
Outgoing board members are: Herb Dessner,
Chet Jain, Donna Largent, Chantal Whitney and Martha Wilk. We thank them for their dedication and
service to Unit 125.
What can you do to help our Unit grow? Do you
have suggestions?
Let Sue or the other board members know and we
will all do our best to help, plan and implement strategies for your
continued enjoyment of the great game of bridge!
At the November
meeting treasurer Cathy Wolford stated that the Solon Sectional broke
even and passed out the current financial report.
The Board expressed concern over clubs
holding their games during Tournaments.
It was suggested a letter be sent to club owners and managers to ask
their cooperation in closing
their games in order to support our Tournaments.
Bad weather canceled our meetings the
last couple of times and threatened to cancel the March meeting as well, but we
persevered and had it amidst a snow storm.
There were over 80 tables at our first
ever 299’r Sectional Tournament in February and it is planned to have it
again. Hopefully the players who
attended this event will also try out our Regional in May at the Holiday Inn, Rockside. There are
many events planned just for new to bridge players which we know they will
enjoy.
New Member Directories are now
available at $1 apiece.
A mailing to the entire Unit 125
membership was sent out notifying them of the membership meeting on April 5th
at the Sectional to vote on proposed changes to our Constitution.
New Chairpersons for the 2008-09 Vichill League are: Donna
Largent and Peter Miller. Scoring
will be done by Ginny Young.
Chantal Whitney stated she is working
on publicizing the Unit’s mentoring program and will soon have information on
the Unit website.
A Committee was appointed to establish
a Unit 125 Honorary Member of the Year. They are working on guidelines to aid in the
selection of a recipient. There was also
a discussion on how to recognize this individual….ie, a plaque of some type, a
certificate or some other form of recognition.
The Committee will report back at the next meeting with a written list
of guidelines and costs.
The Budget Committee presented
additional recommendations to its list which was presented at the November
meeting. Discussion on the cost of the
annual dinner meeting of the board resulted in a motion that board members pay
$10 towards the cost of their meal and that a cash bar be implemented. Action on other recommendations will be
determined at the next board meeting. Chet
Jain stated that a yearly budget be prepared based on the average line items
from the previous 3 years.
Gary Sikon
will be in charge of Summer IMP League.
Kathy Sulgrove
suggested that we hold a Unit STaC Team Game on
Sunday, June 15th. This suggestion was
enthusiastically received by the board and will be followed up on details of
where it could be held.
Donna Largent reported that
there will be no player raffle at the upcoming Sectional and that Entertainment
Books will no longer be sold by the Unit due to slow sales.
The next board meeting will be a
combined one with both outgoing and incoming members attending. It will be held Wednesday, April 16th at
CONSTITUTION CHANGES:
At
the recent Sectional in Solon, Unit 125’s membership voted to change Article
V, Section 2 which is how we notify
members to an upcoming membership meeting to include d.: I. A verbal
announcement at each session of play at the Unit 125 Sectional immediately
prior to the meeting; ii. Directors of all sanctioned games
to announce meeting at one or each of their games; iii. Verbal
announcements at Vichill or Summer IMP leagues
immediately prior to meeting; iv. Announced in
Bridging the Gap published immediately prior to meeting and v. announced on the
Whist Club website at least 30 days prior to meeting.
Article IX was revised to state Amendments to the Constitution may
be made at any membership meeting and copies must be made available as
follows: a. Verbal announcement at Unit 125 Sectionals
that copies are available; b. copies provided to all Unit 125 club directors
and an announcement made to that effect; c. verbal announcement at Vichill and/or summer IMP league immediately prior to
meeting; d. amendment and explanation printed in Bridging the Gap immediately
prior to meeting and e. amendment and explanation present on Whist Club website
30 days prior to meeting.
Reason for the changes: cost of
mailing notices is becoming prohibitive.
With many members now using the itnernet and
other methods of communicating information the Board believes the requirements
set forth in d. should ensure that all members will know of the meeting existance.
DISTRICT 5 UPDATES:
ACBL’s
building in
The new masterpoint plan was approved
so Directors should be using ACBLScore 7.5 or newer
for their clubs.
Roni Atkins
was elected 1st Alternate with Jan Assini as 2nd
Alternate to the District 5 District Director.
A Committee has been formed to study
the requirements for becoming a Life Master and other rank changes.
English has been made the
international language of bridge. All
calls, questions, and plays will be in English.
If all players agree, some common language understood by all of them can
be substituted.
Jay Baum has agreed to a 3 year
contract extension as CEO of the ACBL.
This will provide continuity for the relocation of the office and
streamlining the organization.
Sharon Fairchild’s term as President
of ACBL is over. She tells us it was a
wonderful experience and thanks everyone for their support.
NEW DIRECTORIES AVAILABLE:
In case
you hadn’t noticed…...there are brand new membership directories
available. The
Directories are available for $1.00
each from your club manager or local board members. They are also available at Unit 125’s Vichill League. Be
sure to pick yours up soon.
RANK CHANGES FOR MARCH AND APRIL:
JUNIOR MASTER:
Jay Auwerter, Gates
Mills
Huei Rong Chern,
Ann Hunter, Gates Mills
Ronald Hauch, Vermillion
Joanne Kirk,
Michele Kunk,
Robert McInnes, Pepper
Pike
Jane Pendley,
Ted Silverberg, Beachwood
CLUB MASTER:
Janet Ashe, Solon
Kitty Curto, N.
Ridgeville
Natalie Silverberg, Beachwood
David Ruckman, Gates
Mills
NABC MASTER:
Eileen Kless, Cleveland
Marge Spira, Beachwood
SECTIONAL MASTERS:
Ruth Friedman, Beachwood
Jacqueline Hallack,
Robert Ryan,
Herb Wechsler,
REGIONAL MASTER:
Kathleen LaManna,
Janet Marshall, Moreland Hills
LIFE MASTER:
James Buford,
Sara Buford,
Pamela Jones,
Robert Padgug, Amherst
Thomas Rice, Cleveland
BRONZE LIFE MASTER:
Phil MacFarlane,
Chantal Whitney,
SUMMER IMP LEAGUE TO START
Yep, its almost
that time again..
Our very popular summer team league will begin Wednesday, June 18th at
St. Michaels, Woodside. Game time is
This event is bracketed, which means
that you play against teams with similar master point totals. This is always lots of fun and good practice
for getting those elusive gold points at Regionals. So get your team together and contact Gary
Sikon, at gsikon@Roadrunner.com.