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Waikato Bays May Round-Up

We start with a milestone … Enid Trower turned 100 in April.   Enid is a great endorsement for why playing bridge is good for your mind and soul.   She is an active playing member at Hamilton and Morrinsville. So she was lucky to have two bridge celebrations for her during her big week.    She has played in all but two National Congresses. Enid missed the first Congress (she was probably too busy) and the last one due to a fall but that didn’t keep her away from the bridge table for too long. So we hope to see her back at our National Congress in October with her son Chris.   I’ve had occasion to play against Enid a few times and she always seems to get top boards by doubling me for penalties (usually vulnerable).   The moral of the story is perhaps "beware underestimating the veteran bridge player!"

An article about her remarkable life can be viewed via the following link:  http://www.hamilton.bridge-club.org/sites/www.hamilton.bridge-club.org/files/enid.pdf.   Happy Birthday, Enid from us.

Another notable occasion was had when Alan Turner received his QSM at his investiture in Wellington recently.   Apparently the Governor General Patsy Reddy confided in Alan during the ceremony that she enjoys a game of bridge but her new role has kept her from playing.  Well done Alan and thanks for all the work you have done on behalf of us bridge players with NZ Bridge.

Alan Turner

Tournaments

Following the flurry of team events in the first part of the year, we are back into Pairs and Rubber Bridge.    Some notable performances include;

A joint first place in the Hamilton Ladies’ Tournament to Kathy Yule/Lesley Quilty from Matamata and Judith Malcolm/Judy McLeod of Tauranga in the 3A Open while Cambridge’s Pam Hall and Kay Dixon won the Intermediate.    There was not a man in sight in the playing room – they were all banished to the kitchen where they did themselves proud by providing a fantastic lunch and afternoon tea for us deserving females.

A full room of women enjoying their ladies’ day out in Hamilton.

Taupo held their 5A Open at the start of May which saw competitors come from all over the North Island.   The Taupo tournament is unusual due to its ‘traditional format’ – i.e. it is played over two days starting at lunchtime on Saturday with an afternoon and evening session finishing with a third session on the Sunday morning allowing the out of towners ample time to arrive and the opportunity to enjoy a night in Taupo.   The format obviously works for Taupo (apparently the bridge club has the best views in the country!) as they had an impressive field of 36 pairs sign up for this event.

George and Carol Wilkinson from Auckland emerged as victors after the three sessions from Blair and Liz Fisher of Hamilton  … so a good day for the married partners at bridge.   

Tauranga also held their 5A and it was another perennial pairing that rose to the top;   Christine and Jenna Gibbons were consistent with two 60+ sessions to score a win over Jo and Sam Simpson (another husband and wife duo).

Mike and Angela Newton (yes they are married also) from Tauranga won their first tournament at the Matamata Junior Pairs and took first place on the ladder of the Waikato Bays Junior League after two events.  

The third round of the Waikato Area Pairs at the Waikato club was well attended with 19 tables and (yup you guessed it) married couple, Ian and Cynthia Clayton, topped the bill.   Is it just me or does there appear to be a recurring theme here?    I’m in two minds whether to improve my bridge I need to upskill my non-playing husband or find a new one that does play bridge.   But seriously who would look after the kids while I’m at bridge tournaments (definitely not my mother who plays more bridge than I do!)

The Bay Pairs also kicked off in Whakatane and the winners Kate Terry and Judy Pawson spoiled the matrimonial theme that my column is starting to take.

The National Rubber Bridge competition has started and I was given the advice by a veteran player to “make sure I took a handkerchief to sit on” as apparently this will ensure I will get all the cards.   I’ll let you know if it works😊.

Lessons continue

Another club in the region that has had a great recruitment drive is Matamata who are onto week 4 of the lessons and have close to 30 turning up each week.They decided to go for broke this year and actually invest $$ in marketing which has paid off.   This included paid advertising in the local paper, posters and printing professional fliers that the bridge members divvied up between them for a mailbox drop around town.  Kathy Yule is directing the lessons … incidentally she is also married to a good bridge player, Ken Yule, who achieved another milestone in bridge by joining the exclusive club of Gold Grand Master ranked players in the latest rank reports – one of only 27 who holds the Gold GM rank in New Zealand.      

The flier that Matamata Bridge club produced.

We are eagerly awaiting the Inter Provincial Trials in the weekend and look forward to seeing who gets selected to take part in representing our region at the Interprovincial Tournament in Auckland later in the year.    And yes there could even be some married couples in the mix!

 

 

 

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