Trevor v Nigel Richards in round 3

David v Nigel Richards in round 8

David collects 2nd prize from Chris Cree

Geelong Tournament November 9th 2008

60 players from various parts of Victoria converged on the Fred Flanagan Room at the Geelong Football Club for today's annual tournament. A rather solemn but impressive portrait of the renowned Geelong player Fred Flanagan witnessed the joy and despair and the highs and lows of play throughout the day, and helped me keep everyone in order, although we had little to do as everyone behaved impeccably.
Seriously though, thanks to Marlene Ellis for finding such a great venue, spacious and with good lighting, and with fresh sandwiches available to purchase for lunch. The alternative was a very tasty meal at the Cats Bistro, although indigestion was a problem with some after lunch as the service was rather slow, leaving little or no time to consume the goodies. Not everyone was served in turn, as far as I could tell, and I think John Parker is still waiting for his cake and coffee. Apart from that it was a lovely day, very well organised by Dorothy, Mary and Marlene and the Geelong members, and we thank them for their efforts on our behalf. Also thanks to Carol on computers, Barry for his freely-given help, Don and Norma for transporting the resources, Anne Menheere's three lovely granddaughters for "running" tirelessly all day, and Mary Mackie for acting as the standby player.

Home of the Geelong Cats, seen from the playing room	Carmel Doney 1st Place: Masters	Dianne Gibson 1st Place: Advanced
Lorraine Robinson & Don Marshall Don: 1st Place Intermediate	Val Martin, travelled south from Ballarat. 1st place: Recreation	Pat Weston & Dorothy B. Pat received her badge for 1000 games played
Anne M. with g'daughters Amy, Laura, and Rachael	Lorraine T. & Patricia M. Good friends, via Scrabble	Paula M. with Lorna P. Time for crosswords

MASTERS saw the reemergence of Carmel Doney as a force to be reckoned with, placing first ahead of Heather Long from Bendigo, with a happy Doug Ristic in third place. Cynthia Curr managed a day off from her motel management, and it was good to see her back playing scrabble. In ADVANCED a delighted Dianne Gibson took the honours, winning a tournament for the first time in her career, well done, Di. She was closely followed by Lorraine Thomas who is on her way back from a bad patch, and Natasha Podesser, who will be jetting off at the end of the month to play in the Causeway Challenge and the World Youth Championship in Penang. Ageless Geelong Club member Don Marshall won all 6 games in INTERMEDIATE to emerge a clear winner, with Mornington's Marjorie Page and Natasha's dad Oliver Podesser placing second and third. And in RECREATION Val Martin from Ballarat won by just 3 margin points from Charlene Wardley, a young mum of three who also plays at the Ballarat Club. Third placing went to Gloria O'Loghlin, who travelled across on the ferry with the other Mount Martha players. All would have caught the return ferry with plenty of time to spare as play finished reasonably early. High words for the day were CATTAILS 113, QUIETER 102, RICKETTY 100, and SWATTING 100, played by Norma Fisher, Gillian Kinder, Julie Belle and Val Martin respectively. High game scores were 537 (Norma Fisher), 507 (Dianne Davis), 493 (B.J.Winzer), and 453 (Margaret Kane). I hope to see you at the Bentleigh Tournament on November 30th, click here to find the details.

The Camberwell Club

has relocated to 38 Bowler St Hawthorn East, not far from their previous home.
Click here to find the details

Dec 6, 2008: The Vic/SA Border Challenge, Horsham

Games will be played at the Bull & Mouth Hotel, with seven games on Saturday, and three on Sunday morning. The hotel does not offer accommodation, so you will need to find this elsewhere in Horsham. There are many places to stay, ranging from motels to hotels to bed and breakfast places, and by clicking here you will find a couple of helpful links, as well as full details of this fun event.

November 4, 2008. Update on the Malcolms

Friends of Chile and Harry, as well as those who subscribe to the Ozscrabble list, will know that the Malcolms are happily awaiting the birth of twins, a girl and a boy expected in January. Chile has had a sojourn in hospital with problems unrelated to her pregnancy, and everyone was pleased to hear that the twins are continuing to grow and develop as expected. Chile was visited by Barry Harridge, pictured doing what he does so well - setting up a wireless internet connection on Chile's laptop. More news will follow as time goes by.

Harry and Chile

Barry at work, with Chile

Scrabble at Halls Gap:

The third Thursday of the month at 7pm is the right time to visit the Grand Canyon Motel, nestled at the foot of the picturesque Grampians in Halls Gap, for a game of scrabble with Cynthia Curr and her fledgling group. As many of you know Cynthia and Greg took over the motel last year, and both have been extremely busy with ongoing renovations, as well as caring for their guests, who include various groups such as busloads of bikers.
Cynthia is only able to play an occasional tournament at the moment, and we look forward to seeing her at the Geelong event. Needless to say Cynthia and Greg will make you and your family and friends most welcome at any time, even if its not the third Thursday of the month.......
Click here to find full details of the Halls Gap Scrabble Club.

SCRABBLE^® is a registered trademark of J.W. Spear & Sons, England ( a subsidiary of Mattel Inc.) within Australia and the rest of the world (except North America). Within U.S.A. & Canada, Hasbro Inc (& Hasbro Canada Inc.) own all intellectual property rights to SCRABBLE^® Brand Crossword game.