All hands on deck for 47th Bridge Congress
THIS coming weekend will see the 47 th Wexford Bridge Congress take place in the McClure room in Clayton White’s Hotel.
The event will run from Friday evening, February 1, to Sunday, February 3.
The congress in Wexford is one of the most popular events of its type on the Irish circuit and it always draws a very big influx of visitors to the area throughout the weekend.
The Chairperson of the organising committee, Michael Coffey, and his fellow committee members have been extremely busy over the last few months preparing for the event and ensuring that everything is in place for a great weekend.
The committee is composed of members from the various bridge clubs that make up the Wexford Bridge Centre.
The Guest of Honour for the weekend will be Peter O’Meara, from Birr, Co Offaly. Mr O’Meara is the current President of the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland.
The South East Region President, Marie Devereux, from Fethard-on-Sea, will also be among those in attendance.
Mr O’Meara will officially open the congress at 7.15 p.m. on Friday, February 1, and after the initial formalities everyone will be invited to begin playing.
The main focus of attention on the opening night will be on the mixed pairs competition and speaking to this newspaper about the event the Wexford Bridge Congress PRO, Jim Doyle, said the Friday night will also see separate intermediate B pairs, novice pairs and open pairs competitions take place.
‘Prizes for the Intermediate B and Novice Pairs will be presented on Friday night at the end of the session,’ said Mr Doyle.
On Saturday the main competitions will be the Congress pairs and intermediate pairs and Mr Doyle said some of Ireland’s best players will be in action.
‘They will be matching their wits against the top local players,’ he said.
The intermediate pairs will feature players from all over the country.
On Saturday there will be open pairs competitions at 1.30 p.m. and 7 p.m. and the prize-giving ceremony for the winners will take place on Saturday night.
The participants will have a relatively early start on Sunday with competitions beginning at 11 a.m. for the Congress teams-of-four.
The open pairs competition will begin on Sunday at 1.30 p.m. and the final session will take place at 7 p.m.
Sunday evening will also feature a novice pairs section. Entries for all of the major competitions are now being accepted by Michael Coffey (0539158853), Maurice Brosnan (086-3388249) or by email to: wexfordbridgecongress@gmail.com