Blogs

bridge lessons: Te Aroha kicks off their expensive promotional campaign

As you can see by the image, there are no expenses spared with the bid to attract new players to the Te Aroha lessons kicking off on Wednesday 19th March.

We count on existing members to be the cheerleaders for Bridge and challenge every club member to sign up at least one person each for lessons!

Same is true for Matamata club members ... The Matamata lessons start on Tuesday 29th April (7-9pm) and will also run for 10 weeks. Matamata have the services of Bridge Babe, Jane Stearns, as their tutor this year!

Contact:

tearohabridge@gmail.com for information about lessons at Te Aroha

matamatabridge@gmail.com for information about lessons at Matamata

Each year a series of 6 tournaments, called the Waikato Area Pairs takes place around the region.
The are some great things about these tournaments:
a) They are "walk-in" so no pre-registration is needed;
b) It is only $10 a person to enter;
c) It is competitive, but not too intense - so for those who have played some lower grade tournaments, this is a great way to introduce yourself to the next level;
d) You can earn A points - just by winning a session and/or a day. Many junior and intermediate grade players have earned their first A points playing in one of these;
e) You can play as few or as many of the events as you like;
f) There is a prize for best non-Open pair at each round and overall prizes for best Open-Intermediate, Open-Junior, and non-Open (You have to play in 5 of the 6 rounds to be eligible for overall prizes).

Play begins at 10am and usually 52 to 56 boards are played so it finishes around 4:45. The schedule for this year is:

Sunday 16 February at Matamata;
Sunday 16 March at Cambridge;
Sunday 13 April at Waikato;
Sunday 25 May at Te Aroha;
Sunday 6 July at Morrinsville;
Sunday 3 August at Hamilton.

This event has really grown over the last few years and it would be great to see some Te Aroha players take part and come along to support Matamata in the first round. It is an enjoyable day and you might come home with a prize!
The full rules of the competition can be found in the WAP tab at the top of the page.

sadies birthday

Matamata Bridge club Patron turned the grand age of 100 this month. What a magnificent achievement and we celebrated with her on a special day of bridge at the Clubrooms on her birthday of Wednesday 29th January.

The first major tournament of the year occurred in Thames from 10 - 12 January.

Congratulations to Hermanna & Henk Hemmes and Lynette Morgan and Ian Bond. Their team came 9th out of 28 teams in the Open Teams event with Lynette and Ian finishing 4th in the butler results.

The the other multigrade Teams competition, Team Te Aroha (Anna Kalma, Tim Rigter, George Sherrell and Greg Saxon) had some good wins to finish the day in 3rd place. Tim & Anna also had a good day to finish top of the butler results.

Other noteworthy performances include Ross Stewart and Jacob Kalma who finished 10th in the multigrade pairs event on the Sunday and Tim Rigter and Greg Saxon who paired up on the Friday night for a credible 18th with 50% against some top opposition.

Are any of you having Bridge withdrawals? Is one of your New Years Resolutions to play more bridge? Fear not, there are some summer options available to satisfy your urges...

1) Play at the annual NYE bridge tournament in Matamata. This is organised by Hermanna Hemmes and is a social event which you don't need a partner to enter . . . but you do need to let Hermanna know if you want to play so there are the right amount of players (phone 07 8873 781). Great way to see in 2014! Kick off at 7.30pm (be seated earlier)

2) Grab a partner and find out which clubs in the area play summer bridge during the day (Matamata starts weekly day bridge on Wednesday 7th January and Hamilton weekly on Friday 9th January.) Visitors are always welcomed to the summer events - but check times and details on the relevant website first.

3) Grab a partner and enter a tournament. All the big guns turn out at the Thames Festival which happens during 10 - 12 January. This year there will also be the inaugural Junior Tournament which starts at 1.30pm on Sunday 12th January and will be limited to 22 boards ... a new concept in New Zealand Bridge Tournaments and would be suitable for many of our new junior ranked players.

4) Start some house bridge ... ring Hermanna if you would like to play bridge around the coffee table ... she and Henk are always keen to set up a game and no doubt there will be a grandchild hanging around to make a foursome if required!

Another great night out at Te Aroha Bridge. Thanks to all the visitors and members that attended and enjoyed the good old Te Aroha hospitality. Some unedited photos are attached ... as usual I failed to capture images of those who were busy behind the scenes (thanks Anne Cummins for organising all the food and George Sherrell for directing!!)

Look forward to 2014 - have a merry Xmas everybody:)

xmas party
Xmas party
Xmas party

Working Bee: Many hands make light work at the Annual Spring Clean of the Te Aroha Bridge Club. Thanks to all those that turned out (and the cleaning fairies that came in during the weekend also).

Looking forward to seeing everybody on Tuesday Night 6pm for drinks and dinner followed by bridge at approximately 7.30pm.

First time playing together and they managed to come top of Xclub on Wednesday across 70 pairs from three different clubs. An honourable mention to Ari Rigter and Anne Cummins who were just behind in 2nd place.

http://www.compassmate.bridge-centre.org/results/weekly

Well done Te Aroha

Well nothing really startling happened at the AGM but we do have some new appointments with new blood on the committee:

President: Greg Saxon (nothing different there)
Secretary: Jacquie Loney
Treasurer: Victor Kooter
(and new committee member: Rochelle Van Heuven)

Some of the topics covered:

Subs & Table money: due to increases from NZ Bridge, Te Aroha will increase fees as per the following affective 2014:

Annual subs: $35
table money: $2.50
Affiliation/associate member: $15

Lessons: will start in March and run for 10 weeks on a Wednesday. Encourage all club members to sign up at least one person each. Word of mouth best promotion for the game.

Xmas dinner on the 10th December. Unsure if we are able to open the event up for partners due to space restrictions. But will firm up numbers and make a decision about this in the coming few weeks.

Working bee/annual spruce up: Monday 9.30am 9th December @ the clubrooms.

2014 Programme: some minor changes which will be firmed up and ratified after circulation at the club on Tuesday.

The third quarter national rankings are out. In the prestigious Baden Wilson List, one Te Aroha player features. In the Unranked players listings, Te Aroha has the second highest placed Female in the country. Take a bow ROCHELLE VAN HEUVEN. It will be the last time Rochelle will feature in the unranked player list as she has now reached her Certificate of Proficiency going through the 500 C point barrier. Many Congratulations Rochelle! Rochelle - 2nd in New Zealand
Below is the ranks report featuring Rochelle.