Matamata, Te Aroha, Morrinsville Clubs

Congratulations to Matamata Mother and Daughter duo; Barbara Keys and Raewyn Richards who had the 3rd highest cumulative score in the Waikato Junior League (with 12 points each). Eventual winners were Kate Owens and Sally Whittaker from Te Awamutu (with 19 points each).

Barbara and Raewyn played in each of the 6 Junior Tournaments over the year to qualify with some great results including coming second in the Matamata Junior Tournament.

In the Intermediate league, Shirley Bain and Graham Young from Tauranga were well in front of the rest of the field.

Full results available on the wbbc website: http://www.wbbc.co.nz/latestnews.asp?docid=11

The 2014 winners of the Gilligan Barclay Trophy were Jennifer Watt and Josie McKenzie from Thames.

Winners of the Gilligan Barclay Trophy

They are seen here being presented the trophy by Denise Barclay (nee Gilligan!).

The Trophy has been resurrected after a couple of years gathering dust ... it was previously awarded as the interclub prize between Thames, Paeroa and Waihi. Also pleasing was 11 tables playing at both Thames and Te Aroha on the final two nights.

The final top placings after four nights were:

1. Josie McKenzie and Jennifer Watt 62.23%
2. Tim Rigter and Anna Kalma: 56.93%
3. Jena Robinson & John Peppiatt 56.795%
4. Hermanna Hemmes-Miedema & Joan Darby-Smith 54.14%
5. Denise Barclay and Allan Barclay 53.34%

I went to my first Congress this year initially with some trepidation but ultimately with a sense of awe at a great event. With around 600 participants the place is heaving with bridge players who hail from around NZ as well as many other countries.
It was reassuring to see many familiar faces from Matamata and Te Aroha competing in the event. There were some standout performances from some of the locals:
• Margaret Hook and Beverly Smith took part in the inaugural Novice event winning N-S with a very impressive 67%
• Henk and Hermanna just missing the cut in the NZ Pairs (with many more fancied internationals and gold masters below them in the initial rankings).
• Lynette Morgan and Ian Bond had a great run in the Open Swiss Teams and were placed 4th after 7 matches but ultimately finish 19th out of 118 pairs. They had a great result of 6 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses.
• Lesley Quilty partnered with Tom Henwood had two good sessions to come 11th in the Mixed Pairs with an average of 54.5%
• Lynette and Ian also competed in the Senior Pairs and came an awesome 6th out of 62 pairs with an average of 55.6% in two sessions
• Jacob and I also won top Junior Team and top Junior Pair in the Intermediate Teams and Swiss Pairs coming 8th and 7th respectively.

Must admit, I have never played so much bridge and perhaps the lack of experience took its toll after a few days making some silly mistakes which potentially cost us some games. Hopefully we will be more bridge hardened next year! Looking forward to returning in 2015.

Seeded teams was broke but now fixed ...

Current standings after 6 rounds:

1. Beauties with No Beast
2. Teachers Pet
3. Me and My Girls

See you all on Thursday for the finale.

The Matamata Intermediate Tournament took place last Sunday and the overall winners were Te Awamutu Pair Bunny Cox and Richard Knight.

Winners Matamata Intermediate

Top Matamata Pair were Coral and Elaine who received the coveted bottles of Crawford wine for their achievement. Sonia Scott and Beth Vosper also received bottles for their performance in the second session.

All the Matamata Pairs had a less than perfect start to the day and only one local pair managing to crack 50% (Nelson and Zelda with 50.35%) but the afternoon proved more lucrative for many.

Full results available under the Results tab.

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.

Here are some photos from the second round of the Mini Moos held at Morrinsville Bridge Club today. Eight beginners from lessons at Matamata took part.

Sherie and Maeleen

Mike and Sandra
Austin and Pamela
Michele, Austin, Pamela and Barb
Mike relieved to be dummy!

Sherie and Maeleen in action
Moos 2 in Morrinsville
For those interested in what the Mini Moos is all about there is an article in the NZ Bridge Magazine this month ... not subscribed? It is free ... go to http://www.nzcba.co.nz/ and sign up today. The mini moos noosletter, Moos Noos is attached below.

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)