Big Slam Magazine - Flipbook - Page 12
Welcome from
ABF Executive Director
David Fryda
How wonderful it is for the ANC to finally be happening here in Orange. It is a coincidence that I
now live in Orange. At the time the NSWBA decided to host the championships here I was still
living in Sydney and had not even contemplated
taking on the role of ABF Executive Director!
them for a game. Hopefully they will rekindle their
enjoyment and return to become a regular player
and member of your club again.
I wish you all a very enjoyable ANC and it would
be great to speak to you if you have any questions or suggestions for me.
And by the way, yes Orange is cold in winter!
Here’s a photo taken in beautiful Cook Park in
June 2021, the week after my wife and I moved
here:
The organising "Gang of Three" of Rob Ward,
Anne Tonna and Murray Paterson, plus other Orange Bridge Club volunteers have worked tirelessly for several years to put together what is
shaping up to be the best attended ANC in many
years.
I first attended an ANC way back in the
mid-1980s when it was one of just a few annual
national bridge events. In those days the main
events (Interstate Teams and Butler Pairs) were
of course the status events but the side events
were also very popular. It is great to see that,
here in Orange, we are seeing the side events return to these historic levels of popularity.
One aspect of my role at the ABF is to grow the
popularity of bridge in Australia so I am very
grateful to see you all embracing the opportunity
that this year’s ANC is offering.
On the same topic, I would like to highlight a couple of other things. Firstly, we recently ran a series of online beginners for under-25 year olds.
We had over 100 enrolments and we did not
charge them for the first four lessons. The attendees will now either progress with the online lesson program or join their local youth bridge group
or both. If you know one of the attendees can I
please ask you to encourage them to continue
their bridge playing journey and hopefully become a fan of the game!
The other area in which I would like your help is to
get lapsed players back to the game. We all
know someone who used to play bridge but hasn’t done so for several months or even years.
Please help us to encourage them to come back
to bridge by reaching out to them and asking
A winter's day in Orange
Note the date!
This stylish
artwork was
produced for the
2021 ANC,
scheduled for
Orange before
being moved
online due to
Covid..