FROM AROUND THE WORLD Bridge players to descend on town for the weekend
there’ll be a couple of thousand finds, all of which will be washed, dried, bagged and registered.’
Next year, 2019, marks the 850th anniversary of the Norman landing and it is hoped that there will be a big launch for that event next year. So far, the response and results from this dig have been extremely positive.
Denis remarked: ‘We’re uncovering a different narrative to what we usually hear. The vast majority of people fade into history without a mark. In time, this site will tell us what society and life was like 850 years ago.
‘This project and dig was meant to be us dipping a toe in the water; we’ve ended up putting in a foot.’ ALMOST 1,000 people will be visiting Wexford at the weekend, hoping for some winning tricks to make contracts.
Bridge players from all over Ireland will be in the town to attend the 46th staging of the Wexford Bridge Congress at the Clayton Whites Hotel.
Michael Coffey, chairman of the organising committee, secretary Maurice Brosnan, treasurer Martina Flynn and the committee, made up of members of the clubs which play in the Wexford Bridge Centre, have been hard at work for the past few months ensuring that everything is ready for one the most popular and successful Bridge Congresses on the Irish bridge calendar.
Over the three days of competition, bridge players will compete for almost €6,000 in prize money spread over a number of events.
Guest of honour for the weekend will be Jim O’Sullivan, from Donegal, the current president of the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland.
Grainne Tuohy, the South East Region President who hails from Waterford will also be in attendance. The congress will be officially opened at 7.15 p.m. on Friday evening (February 2), in Clayton Whites, by Mr O’Sullivan.
All competitions over the weekend take place in the hotel’s McClure Suite. The focus of competition on Friday night will be on the mixed pairs, inter ‘B’ pairs, novice pairs and open pairs, all starting at 7.30 p.m.
The highlight on Saturday will be the Congress Pairs and Intermediate Pairs where some of the top local players will be striving over two four-hour sessions to keep some of the valuable prizes on offer from the hands of the visitors.
Open pairs will be held on Saturday afternoon and again on Saturday night in Whites.
All competitions on Saturday afternoon start at 1.30 p.m. while the evening session is at 7 p.m. Prizes for the mixed pairs, congress pairs and intermediate pairs will be presented after the close of competition on Saturday night.
Proceedings will start on Sunday with the congress teams of four starting at 11 a.m. The open pairs will begin at 1.30 p.m. while the final session of open pairs will commence at 7 p.m. on Sunday evening.
Almost 1,000 bridge players are expected to be in action over the weekend and the presence of so many visitors to the town will surely be a boost to the local retail and hospitality business.
Entries for all the major competitions to Michael Coffey at 053 9158853, Maurice Brosnan at 086 3388249 or by email to wexfordbridgecongress@gmail.com.