Bridge NSW’s Spring National Mixed Teams Event will from now on be called the Spring Nationals Gumby Lazer Mixed Teams event, in honour of Pauline Gumby’s and Warren Lazer’s decades of service to the bridge community.
The pair have lifetime free entry to their event, and were given $500 each to go towards entry fees in 2025 as part of Bridge NSW’s celebration of their service.
The acknowledgement was made at an ABF event in Canberra last night celebrating Pauline Gumby’s achievement of becoming Australia’s first Diamond Grand Master with over 15,000 masterpoints.
Warren, an Emerald Grand Master, is second to Pauline on the national all-time masterpoint list with nearly 13,600 MPs.
Decades of service
Both members of the Sydney Bridge Centre club have committed countless of volunteer hours to the NSW Bridge Association and Bridge NSW over the decades.
Pauline did an invaluable job running the old NSW Bridge Association website to perfection for 25 years. As calendar coordinator, she ensured the fair and equitable distribution of congresses and championships for decades. Another achievement was her co-creation with Matthew McManus of results presentation software that is still in use today.
Warren initially joined the NSW Events/Tournament Committee and went on to chair it for many years. It was a momentous effort, with NSW events like Monday nights running like clockwork under Warren’s watch. Warren also had a leadership role on the NSWBA Council.
Without their efforts and passion, bridge in NSW and Australia would not be what it is today.
Both Pauline and Warren oversaw the Bridge NSW transition from NSWBA. While they are no longer directly involved with Bridge NSW, they remain a treasured part of the Bridge NSW family.
Outstanding players
Pauline started playing bridge in 1968 and qualified for her first Australian National Championships (ANC) in the Women’s team in 1973.
Warren, a former NSW junior chess champion, started playing while studying at the University of Sydney and partnered with Peter Gill through the late eighties, representing the NSW team for the first time in 1987.
Their first tournament together was the ANC Butler Pairs in Brisbane in 1992. The partnership remained firm from 1995 onwards.
Pauline, who goes under the nickname of “Gumdrops”, represented Australia twice in the Venice Cup and the Olympiad, and the formidable partnership donned on the green and gold for the Bermuda Bowl and the Mixed World Championships. Last year, they won the national seniors championship (ANC) in Orange.
Both received lifetime membership of NSWBA (the former Bridge NSW): Warren in 1997 and Pauline in 2014. With the creation of Bridge NSW, lifetime memberships are now recognised in an Honour Roll.
