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There’s been plenty on the agenda over the last couple of months for Top of the South. The second round of the Margaret Cederman Cup, a two round match between Motueka and Golden Bay was played in early September with Motueka the firm favourites going into the competition with 191.32 VPs against Golden Bay’s 129.73.  However, maybe it was being on home turf but there was a massive swing and the 2017 winner was Golden Bay with 330.28 to Motueka’s 310.77.  Motueka were not down-hearted and set the record straight at the end of September in Picton when they were victorious in the Interclub Junior and Intermediate Teams, taking home the very elegant trophy kindly supplied by Keith Harrop of the Picton Club.  It was a great day, 8 junior and 8 intermediate teams, 7 from the TOTS clubs and a local ring-in team to make the even numbers.  Once SH1 is open again, and Kaikoura don’t have their massive detour, they too will be fielding teams.

 

Motueka's TOTS Inter-Club winners with Keith Harrop's lovely trophy

The day before was the Picton Intermediate, won by Westport’s Glenys Tyler and Wendy Coburn (their first ever tournament win as a partnership ,well done ladies). Second were Golden Bay’s Jude Edmondson and Suzan van Wijngaarden and local pair Denise Urquhart and Faye Daken third. 

                                              

Wendy Coburn and Glenys Tyler                                                        Jude Edmonsen and Suzan van Wijngaarden

 

The Ernest Rutherford Open Pairs was contested over 3 afternoons in Richmond Club 31 August, 7 and 14th September, ably directed by Leigh Gamby, new to Richmond but well known to Top of the South.  Nothing like entering at the deep end when new to a club!  The format works well especially for those unable to play on a Saturday and so drew in a slightly different crew.  Overall winners were Steve Gray and Lindsey Guy with 63.99%; Bevan Russel and Carol Glen second and Bet Glengarry and June Tippett from Motueka were first in hearts.

 

Winners at Richmond, Steve Gray and Lindsey Guy

 Finally at the beginning of September, Marlborough hosted the TOTS 10A Open Teams.  16 Teams battled it out for the weekend, with Kate Davies, John Patterson, Maurice Carter and Tony Oberdries overall winners and Lindsey Guy, Steve Gray, Rebecca Osborne and Pam Dravitzki winning the Plate.

TOTS Open Teams winners, Maurice Carter, Tony Oberdries, Kate Davies and John Patterson

Thanks to all clubs, organisers and directors who make these events such a success.  Camaraderie is strong in Top of the South and there is good support for each other’s tournaments, which makes them both a success and more importantly fun.  The interclub bond continued with at least 40 TOTS players spending last week at Congress.  All had successes and disappointments but a few names were read out, with Maurice Carter and Tony Oberdries being the highest scoring veterans in the NZ Open Pairs; Ed Roggeveen from Picton along with his team mates from outside the region were the best team with less than 250 A points and Jane Worthington, Vicky Russell, Sita Monaghan and David Cook being the highest ranked team with an average of 175 A points in the NZ Teams.  It was David’s first Congress; it has been on his bucket list for a long time and he and Sita along with several other TOTS players made it into the Plate of the NZ Pairs, about which he was delighted.  Lindsey Guy, Steve Gray, Rebecca Osborne and Pamela Dravitzki made it into the final for Back to the Future.  Another Congress debutante was Ann Smith from Richmond who hasn’t been playing very long at all, and now has more A points than rating points! The rest of us “also rans” had a great time and as I said all left at the end of the week with some personal successes.

Other news

Lindsey Guy has once again being running improvers lessons in Richmond, which have been well supported (4 tables), enjoyed and useful.  Golden Bay has once again supported Loud Shirt Day, the annual appeal of Hearing House and Southern Cochlear Implant Paediatric Programme, pitching up wearing garish shirts and donating their table fees and extra to the charity.

" Loud Shirt Day" at Golden Bay

Ray Cannell from Nelson and Richmond clubs has been our media star with an article in the Nelson Mail “Nelson man hooked on the ultimate of all card games”.  Kaikoura has recently undergone a big drive for membership and has grown from 2-3 tables to 6-7 playing regularly.  Five members came to Congress, four for the first time, and there is a party of seven of them heading off to Rarotonga in November for more bridge, one of whom, Jill, is in her 90’s and established the Kaikoura club with her husband.  Have fun.  We are all a bit jealous!

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