Many congratulations to Dublin’s Regent Bridge Club, which marked its centenary with a special congress over the weekend. Throughout the hundred years, the Regent has been an integral part of the CBAI. In the early years of the Association, before the regional structure and the rotation of the Presidency was adopted, the Regent, regarded as the country’s premier club, supplied many of the officers of the Association.
The festivities started with an audience with the great Zia Mahmood, hosted by Milltown Golf Club, on Thursday evening. Zia was entertaining as always, but there was a serious side to the conversation as he drew admiring attention to the role our own Tom Hanlon had in the efforts to uncover, and deal with, the cheating which had become very prevalent in the top echelons of bridge in the mid-2010s.
Guess which of the other three Zia wanted sitting beside him!
The Congress itself was held in the O’Reilly Hall in UCD over the weekend. The sun shone, the venue was lovely, and the presence of players from (at least) Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and the UK to join the Irish contingent created a carnival atmosphere, and a full house. Very well done to Centenary President Paul Porteous and his committee, and to TDs Fearghal O’Boyle, Diarmuid Reddan, Bernard Higgins, and Huey Daly for ensuring everything went off without a hitch. The weekend concluded with a surprise, and very welcome, visit from the doyenne of Dublin bridge, Kay Downes, for the presentation ceremony.
Regent Congress TDs
The competition winners were:
- IMP Pairs: Tom McCarthy & Angus Simpson
- Mixed Pairs: Maria Callanan & Frank Davey
- Intermediate B Pairs: Patricia Gardiner & Mary McCarron
- Novice Pairs: Anna Harms & Jude Duffy
- Congress Pairs: Irene Baroni & Thomas Bessis
- Intermediate Pairs: Borislav Dobroykov & Jacinta Kangley
- Congress Teams: Tom Hanlon, Conor Boland, Irene Baroni, Thomas Bessis
- Intermediate Teams: Lillian Swaine, Austin Leahy, Siobhan McCarthy, Vicky Pigot
- Full results
Regent Congress Mixed Pairs Winners
Regent Congress IMP Pairs Winners
Regent Congress Pairs Winners
Regent Congress Teams Winners
The Irish Bridge Union also took advantage of the weekend to make a special presentation to Paul Porteous to mark his retirement from the European Bridge League Committee, on which he had served, including as Secretary, for more than ten years.
Paul & Maureen Porteous with IBU Secretaries Martin Purdy and Harold Curran
Very well done to all concerned, and here’s to the next hundred years for the Regent Bridge Club!