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Naturally, with clubs being shut down and non-essential business at a stand-still, Taradale's Council application for new premises is on hold. Meanwhile, when club bridge starts up again, the club can "board" at nearby Napier Bridge Club until they can move to their new home.

The last tournament held in Central Dstricts before the lockdown was the Marton Picnic Pairs held on Sunday, 15th March. The Marton clubrooms can accommodate only 16 tables and are always fully booked well in advance of the entry closing date. 

 The two Palmerston North clubs, Feilding and Wanganui made up most of the field but Taihape also chimed in and it was pleasing to see a pair each from New Plymouth and Pahiatua also present.  The first four placings were very close but Carol Dickson and Mike Park (Feilding) were 1st with an average of 61.86%. Anne Gordon/Hans Van Bunnik (Palm Nth) finished 2nd, followed by Mandy Jones/Marnie Norris (Feilding) and Anita Thirtle/Val Gardiner (Wanganui ). Fifth placing was filled by a Junior pair from Wanganui. Their average of 56.47% was an excellent result and would work wonders for their confidence, especially as they finished ahead of a handful of Grand Masters. Congratulations, Shaaron Benefield and Noeline Kennedy.

Most clubs are blessed with a stalwart or three who are fully attuned to what needs to be done.  One of those is Palmerston North member, Tony Fayerman. He is a committee member these days but right from his earliest days in the club he was always first to put his hand up whenever volunteers were requested. The Covid-19 emergency is another example of Tony's willingness to pitch in when he can be of assistance. Hand sanitisers were initially in short supply. So, Tony made a large stock of sanitiser based on a formula provided by the World Health Organisation and made this available to the members of both Palmerston North clubs.  Great work, Tony. Much appreciated. 

                                                              
                  Tony Fayerman                                       Mike Park, Carol Dickson and the Marton 
                                                                                  event sponsor
            

 Jack is on the way up

There is a young player in Palmerston North by the name of Jack James.  He hasn't been playing all that long but looks to have a very successful bridge future in front of him. It's not common to produce scores of plus 70% for three weeks in a row so it is worth reporting that on February 13th he returned club session scores of 72.92%, followed by a 74.38 on February 20th and then a staggering 79.02 on February 27th..!

Just to prove that this was no fluke, one week later (4th March) he played with Alan Doddridge and  produced a 72.71%.  On the first two occasions, his partner was Alma Bartosh with his father, Alastair, enjoying the third occasion.  Not only is Jack a gifted player, he is also a personable and pleasant young man. Congratulations, Jack. A remarkable sequence..!

Anybody for bridge online?

Lots of us are missing the social interaction of club sessions. However, there are options available online. Not quite the same of course but some folks will find these a whole lot better than nothing. Laura Griffin (Palmerston North) has tried it and here's what she has to say:

"On Tuesday 24th March, my partner and I delved into the world of online bridge. We joined the Auckland Bridge Club tournament organised by Patrick Carter. As you played, the next pair would come from around the same scoring level that you were on - similar to Swiss Pairs. There is a chat bar at the bottom of the screen and this allows you to chat with your opposition at the end of the round.

All up it was a lot of fun. We were all finished by about 9pm and we will certainly be giving it a go again."

Feilding Open - 23rd February

It was another full house at Feilding for this Open tournament.  Evelyn and Bob Hurley won by 6% over the Hawke's Bay pair of Carolyn Yeomans-Alister Buchanan with Charles Ker-Jack James a very close 3rd. The Palmerston North Intermediate pair, Anne Gordon-Hans Van Bunnik, played really well to finish right up there in 4th place.

                                                    TOP THREE at FEILDING

                   
The wiiners:Bob and Evelyn Hurley      2nd placed Carolyn Yeomans        3rd placed Jack James and Charles Ker
                                                             and Alister Buchanan

TARANAKI CONGRESS - 6th - 9th March

This Congress is continuing to go from strength to strength. Players now come from as far afield as Invercargill and Christchurch and from many of the Auckland area clubs.  Organisation of a 4-day Congress is hard work, requiring a myriad of detail and concentrated effort. Behind the scenes workers can feel justifiably proud of the reputation that the Taranaki Congress now enjoys.

 Saluting the workers...

Who would want to be sole Director of a Congress?  Especially when there is simultaneous play in separate rooms!  Lorraine Stachurski does an amazing job of keeping everything ticking along so smoothly. Unflappability is one of her many skills and her ability to deal with all players with patience and understanding is both remarkable and outstanding. Lorraine is a Gold Grand Master and deserves a gold medal to go with it for tremendous service to all participants at this Congress. Thank you, Lorraine. A job extremely well done and appreciated by all.

...and who would want to be sole Scorer for a Congress?  Bridge is a score-orientated game. Every bid and every play is directly linked to it. Every player wants to see the result of the session asap - (mostly!).  Jan Spaans does a tremendous job as Scorer for this Congress and seems to take everything in his stride. Unobtrusiveness is his strong-point and nothing riles him. I know this to be true because I have observed him.  Thank you, Jan, for a tremendous contribution to the running of the Taranaki Congress.

    
Lorraine, taking a rare breather       

And now for the Taranaki Congress results...

Marion Hill was a Taranaki bridge player who, in her hey-day, represented New Zealand. The Marion Hill Memorial Pairs for 2020 was won convincingly by the Wellington pair of Graham Stronach and Sandy McKirdy. A 71.22% in the first session helped no end!  Mairi and Matthew Bristow (Hawke’s Bay) were second followed by Brian Cleaver-Peter Benham (also Wellington).

         The Stars of Taranaki

A fabulous double for Sandy McKirdy and Graham Stronach

Open Teams...

The Congress Open Teams was won by the Wellington team of John Patterson, John Luoni, Sandy McKirdy and Graham Stronach, a wonderful double for Sandy and Graham.  In second place were Gary Foidl-Ant Hopkins-Andrew Janisz-Brecht Luyckx, followed by Pam Livingston-John Davidson, Liz and Blair Fisher.

Congress Swiss Pairs...

Winners here were Fuxia Wen and Ian Berrington. Timothy Schumacher-Richard Solomon were a close 2nd, just ahead of New Plymouth pair, Gillian Gonthier-Lynette O'Shaughnessy.

Swiss Pairs winners, Fuxia Wen and
Ian Berrington

Junior/Intermediate Pairs...

Marian and Cees Dekker were comfortable winners from Jan Hawkins-Annette Weaver, followed by Rob Davies and Aaron Starr.

Junior/Intermediate Teams

Sandie and Tim Howard-Judith Schumacher-Patricia Chivers won,ahead of Johan Strydom-Cees Dekker-Liz and Walt Crawshaw.

 

 

 

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