Matamata, Te Aroha, Morrinsville Clubs

sadies birthday

Matamata Bridge club Patron turned the grand age of 100 this month. What a magnificent achievement and we celebrated with her on a special day of bridge at the Clubrooms on her birthday of Wednesday 29th January.

The first major tournament of the year occurred in Thames from 10 - 12 January.

Congratulations to Hermanna & Henk Hemmes and Lynette Morgan and Ian Bond. Their team came 9th out of 28 teams in the Open Teams event with Lynette and Ian finishing 4th in the butler results.

The the other multigrade Teams competition, Team Te Aroha (Anna Kalma, Tim Rigter, George Sherrell and Greg Saxon) had some good wins to finish the day in 3rd place. Tim & Anna also had a good day to finish top of the butler results.

Other noteworthy performances include Ross Stewart and Jacob Kalma who finished 10th in the multigrade pairs event on the Sunday and Tim Rigter and Greg Saxon who paired up on the Friday night for a credible 18th with 50% against some top opposition.

Are any of you having Bridge withdrawals? Is one of your New Years Resolutions to play more bridge? Fear not, there are some summer options available to satisfy your urges...

1) Play at the annual NYE bridge tournament in Matamata. This is organised by Hermanna Hemmes and is a social event which you don't need a partner to enter . . . but you do need to let Hermanna know if you want to play so there are the right amount of players (phone 07 8873 781). Great way to see in 2014! Kick off at 7.30pm (be seated earlier)

2) Grab a partner and find out which clubs in the area play summer bridge during the day (Matamata starts weekly day bridge on Wednesday 7th January and Hamilton weekly on Friday 9th January.) Visitors are always welcomed to the summer events - but check times and details on the relevant website first.

3) Grab a partner and enter a tournament. All the big guns turn out at the Thames Festival which happens during 10 - 12 January. This year there will also be the inaugural Junior Tournament which starts at 1.30pm on Sunday 12th January and will be limited to 22 boards ... a new concept in New Zealand Bridge Tournaments and would be suitable for many of our new junior ranked players.

4) Start some house bridge ... ring Hermanna if you would like to play bridge around the coffee table ... she and Henk are always keen to set up a game and no doubt there will be a grandchild hanging around to make a foursome if required!

Another great night out at Te Aroha Bridge. Thanks to all the visitors and members that attended and enjoyed the good old Te Aroha hospitality. Some unedited photos are attached ... as usual I failed to capture images of those who were busy behind the scenes (thanks Anne Cummins for organising all the food and George Sherrell for directing!!)

Look forward to 2014 - have a merry Xmas everybody:)

xmas party
Xmas party
Xmas party

Working Bee: Many hands make light work at the Annual Spring Clean of the Te Aroha Bridge Club. Thanks to all those that turned out (and the cleaning fairies that came in during the weekend also).

Looking forward to seeing everybody on Tuesday Night 6pm for drinks and dinner followed by bridge at approximately 7.30pm.

First time playing together and they managed to come top of Xclub on Wednesday across 70 pairs from three different clubs. An honourable mention to Ari Rigter and Anne Cummins who were just behind in 2nd place.

http://www.compassmate.bridge-centre.org/results/weekly

Well done Te Aroha

Well nothing really startling happened at the AGM but we do have some new appointments with new blood on the committee:

President: Greg Saxon (nothing different there)
Secretary: Jacquie Loney
Treasurer: Victor Kooter
(and new committee member: Rochelle Van Heuven)

Some of the topics covered:

Subs & Table money: due to increases from NZ Bridge, Te Aroha will increase fees as per the following affective 2014:

Annual subs: $35
table money: $2.50
Affiliation/associate member: $15

Lessons: will start in March and run for 10 weeks on a Wednesday. Encourage all club members to sign up at least one person each. Word of mouth best promotion for the game.

Xmas dinner on the 10th December. Unsure if we are able to open the event up for partners due to space restrictions. But will firm up numbers and make a decision about this in the coming few weeks.

Working bee/annual spruce up: Monday 9.30am 9th December @ the clubrooms.

2014 Programme: some minor changes which will be firmed up and ratified after circulation at the club on Tuesday.

The third quarter national rankings are out. In the prestigious Baden Wilson List, one Te Aroha player features. In the Unranked players listings, Te Aroha has the second highest placed Female in the country. Take a bow ROCHELLE VAN HEUVEN. It will be the last time Rochelle will feature in the unranked player list as she has now reached her Certificate of Proficiency going through the 500 C point barrier. Many Congratulations Rochelle! Rochelle - 2nd in New Zealand
Below is the ranks report featuring Rochelle.

Here are some photos from our Mini Moos 5 garden party and at the end of the photos you will find the more detailed results.
CONGRATULATIONS to MARIE MONCUR from Cambridge, a last minute stand in, on her success today in winning Mini Moos 5.
Mini Moos 5 winner - Marie Moncur from Cambridge
Runner up from the host club Alison Cradock
Third Place from Hamilton Jol Glyde
Winner - best hat - Jacquie Loney
Moos in the Garden
Moos and Pimms
Victor thinking hard
Fred in pondering mode
Rochelle considers if Pimms is causing loss of form
Anne returns to the Moos
More Moos
Cath Glyde - concentrating hard
Clare considers options
Robert asks why he ended up the sober driver?
Moshe hard at work on the bidding
Some More Moos
Margreet keeps a low profile
Te Aroha Moos

RESULTS: (Pimms influenced in some cases!)
Marie Cambridge 96
Alison Te Aroha 92
Sue/Jane Te Aroha 90
Jol Hamilton 84
Margreet Cambridge 83
Angela Te Aroha 82
Clare Hamilton 79
Cath Hamilton 79
Peter Cambridge 77
Rae Cambridge 77
Gerry Morrinsville 76
Moshe Te Awamutu 75
Sue Hamilton 73
Robert Hamilton 73
Rochelle Te Aroha 72
Jill Cambridge 72
John Cambridge 69
Victor Te Aroha 68
Mary Morrinsville 67
Fred Hamilton 66
Jacquie Te Aroha 64
Nicola Morrinsville 61
Marcienne Te Awamutu 58
Anne Te Awamutu 57

Thank you to Te Aroha Bridge Club for allowing us the use of their clubrooms for the day and to Club President Greg Saxon for taking the trouble to come down and greet us and welcome us to the club.

New Zealand Bridge are setting up an electronic enewsletter and are encouraging subscribers by offering the chance to win an ipad for those that sign up before 23 November.

Instructions as below ...

1. Please open: www.nzbridge.co.nz
2. Find the iPad symbol
3. Enter your email to receive news, views and information from NZ Bridge
4. Do it by November 23, 2013, and you will be in the draw to win a new, donated iPad

Not only will you be more well informed about the world of bridge ... but you may also be the lucky winner of a new electronic toy to distract you!