Anna Kalma's blog

Good turn out of 8 teams representing a mix of hippies, farmers, tourists, rock chicks, royalty, fairytales and pirates turned out for the final night of the teams in Te Aroha.

Some more pics

teams: peter pan and pochahontas pair up for some magic bridge

farmers: Milking the cards for all its worth

Te Aroha Teams: the girl band (oh and Henk on the air guitar)

Te Aroha Teams: far out dudes (the Matamata committee)

Te Aroha Teams: The Scary Godmother

Te Aroha Teams: June, our Chinese pirate.

Te Aroha Teams: this wasn't the best photo of our Queen and fisherfolk

Te Aroha Teams: ahoy there maties

Te Aroha Teams: another rock chick

Te Aroha Teams: tourists vs rock chicks

Players at both ends of the spectrum were podium winners at recent competitions - from our most experienced to our newest club members.
Sonia and Ann

Winners of the Championship Pairs were our life members Ann Ring and Sonia Crawford who bettered the rest of the Monday night field with an average score of 57%. Lynette Morgan and Ian Bond were second 55%.

Donna
The Thursday night President's Trophy was won by Donna Gaskell (63.44% average) with Shirley Townsend (63.22%) coming second. Both of these players are recently out of lessons and performed consistently well over the six nights to top the field.

Fantastic results!

Good to see 5 and a half tables competing at the Waikato Bays Novice Tournament.

Novice

Congratulations to Jol and Catherine Glyde who won the Novice with a magnificent 77.50% in the afternoon session to take the title ahead of Liz Clayton and Peter Vincent.

Attached is information regarding the special one session Novice Pairs event that takes place at Congress this year. Those that played today get a half price entry to the event.

Help Matamata! Te Aroha are looking for an extra team (or even two) to join the 7 teams who are registered to play in an upcoming local club competition.

The Teams event takes place over three Tuesday nights on the 9th, 16th & 23rd of September.

Of course - any competitors who play in a competition at Te Aroha over the year are entitled to attend our famous end of year Christmas Party ... a highlight on the bridge calendar!

Talk to or email Anna Kalma to register (anna_kalma@hotmail.com)

After great performances in the two junior tournaments held so far this year, Raewyn Richards and Barbara Keys are currently lying in joint 3 place on the Waikato Bays League Ladder.

The next event on the calendar is the Junior and Intermediate Tournament in Tauranga on the 30th August.

Attached are the league table to date for both the Intermediate and Junior Sections.

A concerted effort by members selling raffle tickets in town and a great turn out for the annual Benefit night at Matamata saw $1500 raised for the Matamata Health Shuttle Service last Thursday.

Sandra Hunter gratefully received the cheque from President Lawrence Teaz and explained how popular the service was with over 2500 user trips over the past year.

There was 16 tables on the night with visitors from our neighbouring clubs of Morrinsville and Te Aroha also competing and enjoying the supper.

The winners on the night were Dorothy Stubbins & Alex Randrup (North South) and a great result from newly graduated player Maeleen Borkin who partnered Helen Reid for top East West.

Perhaps the happiest player on the night could have been Sherie Gill ... another new player who not only performed admirably to come second North South but also took home the coveted raffle.

The recipe for Jane's slice is attached here.

Morrinsville is hosting a Cream of the Country Bridge Tournment open to all grade (including novice)this Sunday 27th July.

It is only an afternoon and the $6 entry fee includes afternoon tea. Grab a partner and head along for an afternoon of fun bridge.

Venue Morrinsville Bowling Clubrooms (corner Thames (SH26) and Waverley)

Entry $6 per player

Start time 1pm (30 boards played so finish about 4:30 to 5)

Afternoon tea provided at the end

Entries to Nick Whitten at 07 889 7831 or morrbridge@xtra.co.nz

The major Wednesday handicap competition has been won by Mavis Buchanan and Sherryn Wright.

Mavis and Sherryn

They played all 7 rounds and their best six rounds averaged 59.51.Congratulations Mavis & Sherryn.

The Runner up pair were Jim Anelay and Anne Beetham averaging 56.29

Congratulations to Team Carter (Patrick Carter, Julie Atkinson, Jenny Millington & Barry Jones) who triumphed today in the Spa Town Teams over last years winners Team Jacob (Tom & Steph Jacob and Barry & Glennis Palmer) in second and team Glass (Brett Glass, Gary Foidle, Ian and Cynthia Clayton) in third .

Okay the link to Te Aroha is tenuous at best (Barry Jones was Te Aroha president some years ago).

The winners in the inaugural Intermediate Section were the Tauranga Team YOUNG (Malcolm Christie, Graham Young, Ruth Pepper & Mary Toner).

Unfortunately I failed to take any photos today in the rush to get everybody home in this inclement weather ...

Thanks everybody for taking part. Great work from the Director and Scoring Duo - Dallas Dagg & Jan Spaans. Thanks Matamata for letting us steal a lot of paraphernalia from your bridge club as well as the Te Aroha team for pulling it together.

Hope to see you all next year.

Some last minute shuffling of teams means we are expecting 30 full teams in Saturday's Spa Town teams (22 in the Open Section and 8 in the intermediate). Rest assured the roof is still on St Joseph's Hall and the wind has abated in Te Aroha.

Remember: the latest entries can be viewed on the Programme Tab on this website only (the WBBC website does not have the latest entries).

Team Jacob (Tom & Steph Jacob and Barry & Glennis Palmer) are back to defend their title along with all of the other top finishers from 2013 including Team Moore (Ian and Pam Moore, Sue Sterrenberg & Ian Southen)and Team Jarvis .. albeit sporting a somewhat different team in 2014.

There was an early prize draw for a night for two at the Te Aroha Landing Motel for all those teams who registered early. Congratulations to team Roggeveen from Te Awamutu who won this (Ed & Heather Roggeveen, Linda Sloan & Terry Morrison). Here's hoping a good night sleep for at least half their team will mean they arrive refreshed for a day of 60 boards.

Play starts at 9.30am on Saturday 12th July.

The new venue is at St Joe's Hall (next to the Catholic Church) on Te Aroha's main street.

Click here for the link to google maps: https://goo.gl/maps/eCV4X

Please contact Anna Kalma for further information or entry information. Contacts details are 0275 183 133 or anna_kalma@hotmail.com.