The winner of the President’s Award for 2019 is Sister Moira Lynam of the Mater Hospital Bridge Club, seen here receiving the award from CBAI President Peter O’Meara.
The Mater club was established in 1994, but membership had declined, and by the time Sister Moira joined, the club had become a very small and essentially social one. Sister Moira set about rejuvenating the club, improving the standard of play, and formalising the club competitions. She did this in a number of ways – encouraging more experienced players from other clubs in the locality to join the Mater, holding numerous courses and teaching sessions, bringing Novices into the club and integrating them effectively, joining forces with the larger Botanic club for weekends away, bringing in external TDs and encouraging club members to do TD courses, and entering external competitions such as the Kirwan league. As a result of all these efforts, which Sister Moira undertakes in addition to running the club as its secretary, the Mater has gone from strength to strength, and now has twelve or more tables on most evenings, and manages that rare combination of being very welcoming and having a strong competitive spirit.
Sister Moira is therefore a very worthy recipient of the President’s Award 2019, and I am sure all CBAI members will join us in congratulating her and thanking her for her contribution to bridge.