Anna Kalma's blog

Another busy week at the Te Aroha Bridge Club has seen a core of volunteers give the grand old lady a well deserved internal makeover.

The interior is now fresh and bright but perhaps the biggest change is the statement wall ... being of a rather brilliant red hue (or Resene dynamite to be precise.)

Thanks to all those who turned up for a day to help ... or even turned up both days (George Sherrell!), whether or not they belonged to the club or not (Ayako and Jane from Cambridge, George from Matamata), whether they had ever held a paint brush before (Ayako) and the other Te Aroha troopers (Henk, Hermanna and Joan)who got the job done.

painting: Cheer up Jane, you still look glamorous!

painting: our new statement wall

painting: Is that a halo around Joan's head?

painting: George hard at work ...

painting: Joan paints over the old wallpaper circa 1978

painting: Ayako tackles the high stuff

Our new dealing machine arrived and has been successfully installed with the first boards dealt and ready for bridge on Tuesday.

This signifies a large investment from the club alongside the grant for the purchase of the machine (thanks to the Rigters for putting together the grant application). The dealing machine joins other cutting edge technology installed in the Te Aroha bridge club - including bridgemates and Compass scoring programme.

our dealing machine: Our new dealing machine

Thanks to all those people who turned up at short notice last Thursday to help prepare the clubrooms for painting.

George, Anne C, Laurie, Joan, HErmanna, Henk and Anna proved many hands make light work and managed to clean up and get the walls ready for painting.

However, with cleaning and sorting, it became obvious that some further remedial work required doing to get a good result.

Enter Laurie B who coopted a couple of local handy men - Merv and Will who have spent several days this week of their own time and providing many of their materials helping to patch up walls, rehang cupboards and tidy up some of the eyesores of the clubrooms (like the Meter Board).

sprucing up clubrooms: Will (left) and Merv enjoy a well earned lunch

The end is now in sight - looking forward to the painting working bee ... next Monday 25th February.

Jacob and SadieTe Aroha regular, Jacob Kalma (14) and Sadie Swap (98) paired up on Thursday night for the Matamata Bridge Club and capped off a great year of bridge with a session win at the annual Christmas Event.