July Newsletter 2011
                       Fort Dodge Duplicate Bridge Club




     It is not too early to be thinking about the annual Unit 235 Charity
Weekend in August.   This two session, pairs event will be on Sunday, August
21, with an 11:00 a.m. start.  The bridge play and dinner between sessions
will be held at the Elks Club in Storm Lake.  The bridge play and dinner
are free.  All that is asked is a free-will donation to the charity that
the Spirit Lake club will pick.  Each year the charity recipient is rotated
between the 3 clubs of Unit 235.  The city of Storm Lake is picked as the
site since it is centrally located to the three clubs in Unit 235: Fort
Dodge, Sioux City, and Spirit Lake.  In the past, Fort Dodge has not been
overly represented at this event.  This year we hope that we will have a
fine number of players in attendance.  The games will be stratified and so
players of all experience levels are encouraged to attend.  Be sure to
circle August 21 on your bridge calendars.
     Our rent to the Senior Campus consists of the annual rent fee and 14
memberships to the Campus at $30 a piece.  To be able to park in the Campus'
parking lot on the southside of the building the city is now requiring a
parking sticker.  This requirement is only for daytime parking and does not
include night-time or weekend parking.  And so, the club has 14 parking 
stickers and 14 membership cards available.  We are encouraging our Wednes-
day afternoon players to get these for a price of $10.  If you play on
Wednesdays and want to park in the parking lot you will need a sticker or
you will pay a parking fine.  These 14 stickers will be offered by the
club on a first come/first received basis.  You can purchase them from a
game director when you play.  We have also been warned that the city
fathers will also be watching more diligently daytime overparking on the
city streets surrounding the Campus. If you play on Wednesday afternoons,
you are NOT required to buy one of these stickers, but You will not be able
to park in the southside lot.  You could park in the city parking lot
next to Crickets which is free parking and is a block away.
     There will be a regional tournament this fall in Sioux City, September
27-October 2.  This regional is at a club city of our Unit 235.  We
encourage all to plan on playing in this event, especially those of you
who are looking to obtain gold points for your Lifemasterships.  A day
before the start of the tournament (September 26), there will be a teacher
training seminar for those of us who would like to teach bridge classes.
This is an all day class with a 1:00 p.m. start, a break for dinner, and
an evening session starting at 6:30 p.m.  The cost for the class is $125.
For the first 12 people who sign up, District 14 will pick up $100 of
this fee.  Thus, if you sign up early enough, you will pay only $25. We
would encourage anyone who is interested in teaching bridge to partici-
pate in this class.  The class is taught by an excellent teacher and
good teaching tips and materials will be obtained.  If you are inter-
ested, there is a flier for the class on the bulletin board at the
Senior Campus.  You can sign up online or contact Sarah Imig of Sioux
City.
     There will be two weeks of North American Pairs games in July at
our regular scheduled games.  You can find these games on the July
calendar for the club which is also on the club's bulletin board.
     The board of directors will have their two-month meeting on July
22 at 5:15 p.m. before the regular Friday night game.  All members
are most welcome to attend and participate.