Matamata, Te Aroha, Morrinsville Clubs

Matamata Bridge Club is holding a Melbourne Cup afternoon on Tuesday 3rd November.

Start time 12.30pm

Play Bridge 1.15 - 4.30pm

4.30 nibbles and wine

$5 table money

Best hat competition

$2 sweep stakes

Attached is the flyer ... EVERYONE WELCOME!!

A stellar first session at the Hamilton Congress intermediate tournament in Hamilton saw Laurie Belfield and Beth Vosper take a comfortable win after both sessions with fellow local Anna Kalma coming in second with Hamilton-based partner Mark Thompson.

The Hamilton Congress included a three-day competition for open players and on the Monday, Lynette Morgan and Ian Bond finished an excellent third in the Swiss Pairs against a strong field.

Following on from the Matamata Intermediate tournament where the director, Ed Roggeveen, was queried by a player regarding their opponents deviating from their system card. Ed has written a fine account on when deviants are allowed ... and when it isn't kosher at the bridge table.

The article can be accessed via the following link http://www.teawamutu.bridge-club.org/blogs/ed15oct

Well done Malcolm Kirkby and Peter Daffurn the only locals [well sort of] on show at the Waikato Bays Novice Tournament in Matamata.

They pulled off two consistent sessions to win by 2% average overall from Putaruru Pair of Rodney Vercoe & Dexter Morgan with Cariss Oliver and Karen Harper rounding off the podium.

Novice winners

The tournament was ably controlled by Rona Driscoll. And it got off to a great start with the ability to watch the World Cup rugby match between All Black's versus France. The timing was perfect - 15 minutes after the whistle (in the rugby) we were able to kick off the bridge:)

Congratulations to Malcolm Kirkby and Austin Brown for achieving joint highest and second highest male players respectively in their rank across NZ.
Austin

Malcolm Kirkby
The Baden Wilson Ranks Reports released quarterly by NZB show the top 10 male and female players in their rank by accumulation of Masterpoints over the year. For the 3rd quarter Malcolm features as joint top with Austin Brown featuring as joint second in the Novice category across the nation. Congratulations to them both for showing their steady and determined progress in the game since attending lessons.

Reminder that the Waikato Bays Novice tournament is being held on October 18th 2015.

Cost - $10 (or $5 if they played at the Novice at Congress in Hamilton recently)

time - start at 10am sharp (morning tea from 9.30am) and will end around 4pm

BYO lunch.

Enter as a partnership via http://www.waikatobays.bridge-club.org/entries

NB Latest entries can be seen at the website above ... not on this site.

The Thames and Te Aroha bridge clubs enjoyed the final night of the four night pairs event which was played at the "away" venue of Thames.

Winners of the Gilligan Barclay Trophy: Jennifer and Josie being awarded the cup by Denise Barclay in 2014

The winning duo from 2014 Josie McKenzie and Jennifer Watts, repeated the feat from last year putting in an solid final performance to win from Sheryl McKay and Estelle Cashmore.

The top Te Aroha/Matamata pair were Laurie Belfield and Nelson Hodgetts in 4th place however the majority of the Te Aroha contingent appeared to be more set on enjoying the social ambience of the occasion!

A great day was had by 26 pairs last Sunday at the Matamata Intermediate - and penultimate round on the Waikato Bays Intermediate League. Nice to see Ed Roggeveen back from overseas with his affable directing style.

Eventual winners Rosalind Phillips (Tauranga) and Garth Robinson (Taupo) were late entries but proved that their trip to Matamata was worthwhile, after they put in two excellent sessions to win honours on the day with an average score of 59%. Cambridge duo Margaret Fitzgerald and Ayako Imahashi were second and Bunny Cox and Richard Knight from Te Awamutu took the third place slot.

Top Matamata pair Laurie Belfield and George Sherrell just missed out on a podium place finishing in 4th place.

The win has cemented Rosalind as the leader of the Intermediate league this year with just one Intermediate Tournament to come in Cambridge on the 1st November. However, there are a few close behind. The league can be accessed on the http://www.waikatobays.bridge-club.org website.

Te Aroha club hosted their annual team events and some pictures of the final night of the teams are below (theme was the letter L). We were supported by the Matamata club who sent two teams to compete and who not only got in the spirit on the final night dressing up but also were the winning two teams at the end of the three night competition.

Te Aroha Teams

Te Aroha Teams: lumberjacks

Te Aroha Teams: Lords and Ladies from Matamata

Te Aroha Teams: lollipop men (poor effort guys!)

Te Aroha Teams: Matamata selection

Te Aroha Teams: lightning

Te Aroha Teams: Learners

Te Aroha Teams: Lemonheads

Te Aroha Teams: Lab technicians

Te Aroha Teams: Local lovelies

Jane has filmed her Rejuvenating a Bridge Club seminar that has been presented at Regional Conferences throughout NZ at the request of NZ Bridge. The last 3 mins of Bloopers are worth a view for a laugh. Click here to view the video.

Jane is currently filming the Beginners' Lessons so that teachers and students will have an aid in 2016. Those students who miss a lesson or those who want to repeat a lesson or go through some of the topics covered again in their own time will be able to catch up via YouTube. Some beginners from Te Aroha this year have been helping in this project by viewing clips and giving feedback to help with editing and production.