All News

In a slight oversight a couple of months ago, I agreed to submit this newsletter two days after returning from the Congress in Hamilton. I obviously wasn’t looking ahead that much - which some at Congress might have noticed about my declarer play as well. All credit to the multi-tasking Richard Solomon who organizes the Congress and the processes that generate and publish these newsletters and still finds time to play bridge.

Congress successes

Congress isn’t held in the Wellington region, but that doesn’t stop us locals celebrating the occasional achievement up there. Martin Reid and Peter Newell probably had a good time. They won the Rubber Bridge final, as well as coming second in the NZ Teams final, after a first placing in the NZ Pairs Plate. As I said in the last update, Peter has recently become a Gold Grand Master. So there also was a presentation for him and a photo with Alan Morris.

Helen and Murray Climo, new members of the Wellington Club, took first place in the Novice Tournament. Another local who must enjoy the Congress (by the way, it’s the 33rd one) is Gary Hanna, who went to it one year and has gone back another 32 times.

Report on the South Wairarapa Multi-grade.

Thanks to Katherine Gough (the Wellington Regional Bridge Mate) for this report on the Multi-grade Tournament held by the South Wairarapa Bridge Club on 23 September.

“Following the trend of popular Multi-grade Tournaments, South Wairarapa had an excellent field of 24 tables – everyone wants to come to Greytown to play bridge. We had players from Palmerston North, Feilding, most Wellington Clubs and of course from Masterton and our own club.

The overall winners were Linda Gibbs and Sue Wright. Sue started the South Wairarapa Bridge Club over 20 years ago and is the club’s only life member. Linda joined the club in the early days too – great to see them still rocking it! (Sue on the left in this photo with popular Wellington Director Allan Joseph.)

Intermediate prize – Graeme and Margaret Dick from Upper Hutt Bridge Club.

Open and Junior prize – Rosa Mishkin and Hilda Burgess from Kairangi and Victoria Bridge Clubs.

Junior prize – Dora Aw Yong and Paul Baines – from South Wairarapa Bridge Club."

 

Katherine noted marvelous catering for morning tea and lunch, and - lovely raffles. She said the bridge was played in great spirit and a friendly environment. Grant Poulton of the Masterton Club was happy to win a Lucky Sport prize – all he had to do was sit on a chair that had a lucky yellow spot underneath!

Grant Poulton with Masterton Club President, Lizzie Catherall

Local Competitions

There was a Multi-grade held at the Upper Hutt Bridge Club on the 19th August. Owen Knowles and Susie Pattison (Open-Intermediate) won, with the top Open pair, Lynn Mansfield and Barbara Daly coming second. Karen Eriksen and Jude Lucas were the top Intermediate pair.

The final photograph of this update, taken from the Wellington Club’s newsletter, is of an ex-local, Keith Harris, who led a large contingent from Akaroa to the Intermediate and Junior Tournaments held on 2nd September. Keith is known for his humour as well as bridge. He came second in the Intermediate with Giles Hancock, also from Akaroa. Ruth Brucker, who led the organisation for the club, is also in the photo.

 

Before we return to the several Intermediate and Junior tournaments held recently, I’ll just mention the winners of the Karori Open (26 August) were Joan McCarthy and Nigel Kearney, with Anthony Ker and Russell Dive coming second. I saw a recent photo on Facebook of Anthony and Russell behind chess boards at the 43rd Chess Olympiad in Batumi, Georgia. A link for more information is https://batumi2018.fide.com/en/teams/new-zealand/Man

Here are the top two pairs in each of the recent Intermediate and Junior tournaments.

Bridge Club	Date	Intermediate	Junior
Hutt	12 August	Martyn Rew and Andrew Cushnie ahead of Wendy Cooper and Janice Butterfield (22 pairs in all)	This event was held in May.
Otaki	26 August	Ann and Glen Ballantyne ahead of Joan and John Key (26 pairs in all)	Maciej Szczesny and Sue Storer (average of 60%) ahead of Andeana Pilalis and Julie Newsome
Wellington	2 September	Turei Haronga and Simon Louisson (average of 64.8%) ahead of Keith Harris and Giles Hancock	Jeremy Gogan and Graham Halliday ahead of Maciej Szczesny and Andeana Pilalis
Victoria	16 September	Jeremy Morley and Tegan Bennik ahead of Sandie Lepper and Julie Hawkins	Helen and Murray Climo  (averaging over 60%) ahead of Kim Livingstone and Graeme Schofield

 

 

Go Back View All News Items