Anna Kalma's blog

Matamata Golden Girls

It was tense last night at the conclusion of the Quilty Tray Teams event.

Going into the final night, team Quilty (Lesley Quilty, Heather Kneebone, Sonia Crawford & Ann Ring) had a small lead over their nemesis; team Bond (Ian Bond, Lynette Morgan, Rita van den Einden & Desma Dickinson) who just happened to be their opposition first up.

With Desma and Rita bidding 6 on board 8 and scoring a good match win, the Bond team overtook Quilty to take a healthy lead with two matches left to play.

In round 8, The Te Aroha minnows (Anna Kalma, Hermanna Hemmes, Tim Rigter & Greg Saxon) surprised everybody (not least themselves!) by scoring an upset win over the more fancied Bond team. Quilty team in the meantime were up against Waikato and when Malcolm and Alison Smith failed to make 6 against a 3NT making opposite they gave away 13 MPs in board 13, the Quilty team was back into contention trailing by just 1MP going into the final stanza.

The final match up saw Bond vs Hamilton (Malcolm and Alison, Richard Fletcher & Linda Lin) and the board 17 was the decider which saw 6 made by Alison & Malcolm giving them a buffer that Bond team wasn't able to make up. In the other match Quilty vs Waikato (Lesley Chubb, Alan Dawkins, Judy Butler & Carolyn Black) the sides had a relatively flat match with only one positive and negative score each finishing with a +1 MP for the match.

Thus sealing a win for the Quilty Team who reclaim the trophy for Matamata. Bond was second and Hamilton third. Waikato while placed 4th had the most wins in the tournament only dropping two matches throughout the three nights.

A full wrap of the WAP Round 4 is now up on the WAP tab. A good turn out at Te Aroha with 15 tables.

I can report it was a good day for Gary Foidl and Yuzhong Chen however the Clayton's still retain top spot overall

Last Friday a simultaneous pairs event was held around the country and 363 pairs took part. At the Matamata club 8 tables competed raising $310 towards the Youth trip to Turkey.

The overall winner was Jeff Miller and David Green from Otago who made 74% and the top Matamata pairing were Ann Ring and Sonia Crawford who finished 23 with 61%.

Sonia and Ann: File photo: Sonia Crawford and Ann Ring hamming it up for the camera

On a lighter note, an amusing tale of how bidding can go horribly wrong (with some help from other substances) which features our very own teacher Jane Stearns taking part in the Youth Fundraiser in Cambridge on the same night...the story can be accessed by clicking on the link: http://www.cambridge.bridge-club.org/node/512

Well the results have yet to be ratified ... but it does appear that unofficially Elaine Saywell and Coral Daisley have triumphed in the Mokena Pairs and will take the silverware back to Matamata ahead of Greg Saxon and George Sherrell. Congratulations to Elaine and Coral.

For anybody looking for the results ... for some reason my home computer which I'm in the process of restoring after a bit of a meltdown last week is sending the results to the Matamata site ... hopefully will get it fixed after a strong coffee and some sleep - but for the time being check out the latest results under Matamata:)

Also on the subject of competition winners ... a huge congratulations to George Sherrell for winning the Jim Shine Individual which finished last week. It is the first time it has been played for several years so it is nice to see the trophies back in circulation.

Congratulations to the competition winners from Matamata.
Nola Barron was successful in winning the Norm Beecham trophy on Thursday night.

Nola Barron

A handicap competition played over 6 nights with the top 5 scores counting and Nola gained an impressive average of over 60%. In second place was Joanne Swanwick and in third place Helen Reid

Also a few weeks ago saw the conclusion of the Edie Schwartz competition which was won by Hermanna Hemmes followed closely by Anne Beetham and Rita Van Den Einden

Hermanna

Congratulations Ladies!!!

Matamata hosted a Junior Tournament in the weekend with 13 full tables with representatives from as far afield as Auckland down to Taupo taking part.

Melanie Trevethick and Malcolm Hill from Cambridge were the eventual winners with two great sessions to finish with an average of slightly over 60%. Just behind were the top Matamata pairing of Barbara Keys and Raewyn Richards with consistently strong performances through the day. Geoff Wane and Anne Clark from Mt Maunganui were third.

Full results can be accessed here
.

Thanks to the sponsors Property Broker and Sonia Crawford for donating wine as prizes.

Matamata Club will be hosting a fundraiser for the New Zealand Youth Team on Friday 9th May at 7.30pm. It should be a fun night and the opportunity to score across the rest of New Zealand with a rare chance to win A points at club level.

The event will be a simultaneous scoring event (bit like NZ wide Babich Pairs) with the hands being duplicated across the country and scored across the nationwide field at which point

Masterpoints will be awarded as follows:

 Winners at Club Level 1 A Point

 Winners at Regional Level A Points for the top 5 pairs (5,4,3,2,1)

An entry fee of $10.00 per player is payable to NZ Bridge.

Further details about the event is attached. Grab a partner and sign up on the sheet at the clubrooms or register via anna_kalma@hotmail.com (ph 07 8873 686)

Thames hosted Te Aroha in the second session of the interclub. Another great night of bridge across 9 full tables. Again the honours were split across Te Aroha and Thames with Hermanna Hemmes and Joan Darby Smith taking the North by storm with 61.57% marginally more than Jena Robinson & John Peppiatt who won East with 61.37%.

After two nights, the leaders are Jena and John, followed by Leonie Sentch and Pam Buchanan (Thames) and in third place Tim Rigter & Anna Kalma (Te Aroha).

The night will be remembered for good fare, friendly atmosphere and board 21...A rare opportunity to bid and play a 7NT hand. Congrats to Denise and Allan Barclay and Joan Flynn & Sabrina Peters who did just that!

Looking forward to the series decider later in the year.

A workshop for directors, a new NZCBA board and some great new initiatives from the Waikato Bays team ...

Read all about it in the latest edition of the New Zealand e-Newsletter which is available by clicking here

You can subscribe to the the monthly newsletter by registering your details at the New Zealand Contract Bridge website

Bridge lessons are drawing closer. The 10 week set of lessons start on Wednesday 19th March at 7pm.

Lessons

Venue is the Te Aroha Bridge Club on Whitaker Street (next to Countdown and opposite the Information Office).

To register your interest please contact Anna Kalma on 8873 686 or 0275 183 133 or tearohabridge@gmail.com.