Blogs

A team of 6 from the Tokoroa Bridge Club took part in the second annual Cambridge Sixes event on Saturday.

Here are a small selection of photos to give you a flavour of this fun event and a couple of your players in action. The team comprised Michael Ware, Vera Verhaegh, Gary Cuttriss, Graeme Farrow, Sven Johannsen and Judith Cutriss.

HeidiHi
Bay Titty Rollers

Vera Verhaegh and Sandy Davies turned in another steady performance for Tokoroa today at the Te Awamutu Christmas Tournament.
Sandy and Vera
A morning score of 55% followed by an afternoon score of 58% saw them a creditable 10th overall out of 40 pairs competing and only a smidgen away from a top 5 place. Winners today were Ed and Heather Roggeveen by a whisker. You can see the full results on the X Club in the Results tab at the top of the page.

I was invited to speak at the Regional Conference in Christchurch at the weekend. Some of you attended the Waikato Conference a couple of weeks ago. It was a pleasure to be the guest of the Rangiora Bridge Club and to meet bridge players from a different region and hear how their clubs are faring. And so that was how I got to meet "Curly Shirley" of NZ Bridge Magazine fame and she was kind enough to billet me and take me on a tiki tour of Christchurch CBD. I had not been there since the earthquakes. Here are some pictures of the things I saw:

Trust Anne Berben from Putaruru to find the ideal wine to present to Eileen, the label says it all!
Prize wine
Eileen
Eileen received her prize for winning the Spirit of South Waikato Photo Competition at Monday night's play at the Putaruru Club.

Putaruru Bridge Club is justly proud of its very own National Congress winners.
Congress Winners

Playing in the inaugural Novice event, Margaret Hook and Beverley Smith, both unranked players, creamed the field to finish the 2014 New Zealand Novice Pairs Champions. They feature in the current New Zealand Bridge Magazine. Many congratulations to them both for putting Putaruru on the national bridge playing map!

Yes, the results of the Spirit of South Waikato photo competition are in!!! Many thanks to our esteemed Judge Michael Ware, Number 1 bridge player in NZ, who has pored over the 16 entries submitted and his decision (which is final, no correspondence will be entered into!!) is as follows:

WINNING ENTRY

Entry number 6

An exciting 12 months lie ahead for the two South Waikato bridge clubs. Long-term supporters of each other they have decided to collaborate more closely over the coming year and share ideas and resources to the advantage of them both. Their first step is the launch of their joint website. It is a one-stop shop for anyone local wanting to know about their clubs and the game of bridge as well as providing news and results to the existing members.

Jane StearnsAt the helm of the rejuvenation process for the next 12 months is Cambridge-based Bridge Babe, Jane Stearns, fresh from her work with the Te Aroha and Matamata Bridge Clubs. Te Aroha has gone from struggling to find 3 tables to play once a fortnight to 8 tables weekly over the space of two years. Jane said, “When I saw how the Matamata club were supporting Te Aroha I realised what potential was available from two neighbouring clubs working in collaboration. Twice the people halves the load and I am looking forward to an exciting 2015 working with both clubs.”

A planning meeting with representatives from both clubs was positively buzzing with enthusiasm and excitement. The clubs are exploring a revamp to their 2015 playing schedules, a revitalisation of lessons combined with a big recruitment drive as well at a joint entry to the Waikato Bays Interclub competition for the first time in both clubs’ history. Electronic scoring and dealing are also under consideration with sharing those resources a possibility between the clubs to halve the costs involved. As both clubs take up the challenge of encouraging more people to take up the fascinating game of contract bridge they open up their window to the world through their new website here today.

Wednesday 24th September saw a battle ensue as four teams from each club fought for the much coveted shield. The local derby match has been ongoing for many years and is named after the stream that crosses the boundaries halfway between them.

Ngutuwera Stream

This year Tokoroa were in fine form and came out victorious with four of their pairings finishing in the top 5. Congratulations Tokoroa and enjoy the title for a year. Putaruru will be back in pursuit in 2015.

Local Waikato Bays Regional Council member Jan Spaans was guest director for the night and ran the event with Bridgemates. Cambridge Bridge Club had kindly dealt and provided boards for the teams event and Jane Stearns from that club launched the “Spirit of South Waikato” photo competition. A wonderful spread ended the evening and the players went home to examine their results for the first time on the X-Club website.

Photos of the event. The President of Putaruru is Eileen Barker and the Tokoroa President receiving the shield is Graeme Farrow.