The coming year.....

hello 2023

Welcome to Hamilton Bridge for 2023 - One hopes you have had a good break and return refreshed for a new year of Bridge. It is going to be a year of considerable challenges from which we hope the Club emerges stronger …..

Regular Bridge for the 2023 year starts next week on Monday 30th January at 7pm.
Sessions for the rest of that week continue with bridge on the same days and times as played last year ( as in last year’s programme book )

Table Money - unfortunately due to increased costs and a lower playing membership it has been necessary to increase the Table Money to $5

If you need more information on session dates then open this link using your browser to see links for all the individual sessions or the complete week as currently planned

The Club has a very uncertain year coming where we have both positive and negative issues to consider and more importantly find solutions……
 

Positive

The Club this year will celebrate 70 years. Plans are being worked on for a celebration bridge / dinner event later in the year to mark this occasion. Currently this is likely to take place in July
 
▶ Congratulations to Blair and Liz Fisher both holding the top positions for the 2022 year for the Baden Wilson Trophy ( The Baden Wilson trophy is for the top overall 'A' point earners in a calendar year based on points earned in NZ only )
 
▶ The increased popularity of daytime bridge and further more the increased popularity of social bridge which is helping offset the decline in competitive bridge
 
▶ The Club is in the position of having reasonable reserves and while decisions will need to be made these do not need to be rushed
 
▶ The programme books for 2023 along with the invoices for the year should be available for distribution next week
 

Negative

▶ The need to increase Table Money and potentially other charges. Currently the Club has at best a stable but more likely slowly declining playing membership as a result of Covid along with the effect on members of national inflation which is beginning to force the Club to make unwanted decisions…… Costs due to inflation have increased considerably over the later part of last year

As an example the Clubs insurance bill in 2019 prior to Covid was $6800. This year’s invoice for the same being $9900 – an increase of $3100. This requires a membership increase of 37 to cover just this increased sum or about 775 members playing between them that number of additional sessions – this is approx. 20 additional tables of bridge played every week through the year ! Hence our major problem……
 

▶ The declining numbers playing evening / night bridge. It would seem that members have lost interest in night competitive bridge. We need around 5 - 6 tables to make a session viable to cover the costs of holding that session. It would seem likely that a combining of Monday and Thursday night sessions will be necessary to cover costs as well as providing a “better playing experience” for those taking part
 

▶ The collapse of Wednesday night bridge at the end of last year. Our Open Players by a large margin make up the smallest percentage of the grades at the club but due to their experience and ability want the best in the way of competition. Unfortunately the small number of Open players does limit the bridge experience available locally so with the advent of Real Bridge and other On-line systems which provide a better playing experience for our Open players they are playing less at the Hamilton Club. Should this trend continue its very likely the Wednesday programme for this year will need to be re-examined
 

▶ WAPs - The WAP's sessions also suffered low numbers during 2022 however the results of the recent survey show a preference for the status quo with face 2 face to bridge each month on the scheduled Sunday. We will be encouraging club intermediate players along with our regular open players to experience the friendly WAP sessions

 
As mentioned above the year ahead has a number of challenges –

● Maximise the numbers taking lessons this year and then retaining them as future members
● Minimise as much as possible the costs in running the club without in the first instance reducing the service and
    bridge experience for the members
● Maximise the number of times our members play during the week
● Don’t give our members any reason to leave the Club for a reason the Club controls……
● Investigate whether we can better use the building to increase our income
● Is sponsorship something the Club can benefit from and if so how ?
   ( Club Open Pairs Championship and like )

The Committee
Hamilton Contract Bridge Club

Breavement

The Club sadly notes the passing of the father of our President Mereana Cullen

Mereana's father passed passed away late last week. We extend our sympathy to Mereana and her family and friends

Sevens Parking for 2023

Sevens logo

Rugby 7's Car Parking
 
Thanks to our Volunteers -
 
Richard Wagstaff organised this group of helpers over the weekend 21 & 22 January to manage the car parking around our club building. In addition to the $4000 prepaid car parking from the Sevens organisers for the weekend the group raised a further $1392 by clever configurations and the use of the grounds next door. Some of the additional income is to be shared with Waikato Kindergarten and Plunket next door for the use of their car parking areas.

Geoff Turner
Steve Weir
Mark Beavan
Steve Baptist
Marilyin Webby
Barbara Daly
Kevin Daly
Tim Seavill
Roger Johnstone
Richard Wagstaff
Nigel Gresson
Richard Fletcher
Karen Mackenzie
Don Weston
Cherie Barton
Bill Bailey
Ian Clayton
Hugh Barton
Laura Sommerville

Manning the gate for the 2023 event

 
























 

Richard ( 2nd from right ) with Roger Gunning , Roger Johnstone , Stephen Weir and "their band of helpers !"

Click on the photograph for a larger view

Welcome to Bridge for 2023

Welcome to 2023
Bridge for 2023
 

Welcome to 2023 and a new year of bridge at the Hamilton Club. One hopes you were able to take advantage of what has been a great period of settled summer weather and now you are ready for the challenges of bridge. Even Covid seems to have taken a holiday of sorts. Long may it continue !

Summer Bridge - this starts again on Tuesday 10th January and continues for the following 3 weeks to the end of the month - should you need all the Summer Bridge dates then click this link here . Once summer bridge concludes the regular bridge programme will commence.....

Table Money - unfortunately the New Year brings a cost increase for all of us players with Table Money increasing to $5. The Club like everyone else has suffered with increased expenses and along with a reduction in the number of members playing we need to minimise as much as possible our losses. Mereana, our President, will be expanding on this subject here in the near future. To help your Club the best thing you can do is for you to play and to encourage your friends to also play.

2023 Programme Book - This is close to being complete but the Club is waiting for approval from external parties and for our printers to return from their Xmas break to progress

Lessons - The other thing you can do to help the Club with is the forthcoming Bridge Lessons - the Club each year needs new members to make up for the natural turnover of members so if you have friends, family, neighbours, workmates who could be interested in bridge then send them a copy of the link below

https://www.hamilton.bridge-club.org/lessons

Happy Bridge

Lessons 2023


The

 one minute on bridge lessons......
 
  The Hamilton Club will be running lessons on "How to Play Bridge" this year - 2023
 These lessons are currently planned to start in late February or early March with the choice of an afternoon or evening lesson time.

The Club - which is all of us - really needs the lessons to be successful so we can keep the Club running as it does now !
In a typical year our membership falls by around 10%, so without lessons and the resulting new members our current membership of approx. 240 is going to in time become a smaller with increasing "subs". Covid is not helping maintain the membership with those with medical conditions no longer playing, members playing at night dramatically down and the splitting of membership between on-line and face to face bridge when the Club gets little benefit from the membership

So that the Club will survive for a long time into the future our membership needs to grow so encourage your family, friends, work colleagues etc. to come along to the next set of lessons session
So if you or someone you know are considering the lessons we would love you to come along and learn the "great game" then click this link to take you to the page with further info and where you can register either yourself or your friends

2022 Hamilton Bridge Club AGM




   

 Election Results 2022 - 2023

 
  President :   Mereana Cullen
 

  Vice President :   Richard Wagstaff
 

  Club Captain :   No Appointment
 
  Committee :

    Cherie Barton
    Hugh Barton
    Michael Davies
    Dave Edson
    Chris Goulding
    Laura Sommerville

 

 Resolutions :

  Proposals received from club members :  

  Prior to the meeting - Nil

  From the floor -
  The Club should investigate an online system for finding Bridge Partners for members   
  Referred to the committee for investigation

  Proposals received from the Hamilton Bridge Club :
  The Dates for the financial year are changed as per the resolution put to the members
  The Motion was passed with the result the financial year is 1 September to 31 August
 

Julie Thorburn
Secretary
 
The annual report presented to members attending on the day is available here

Melbourne Cup

Hello everyone!

 

click here

 

Just to remind you of our special MELBOURNE CUP DAY
Tuesday, November 1st at 12.15 - Cost is $6.00 from your Compass account

 

How about asking a friend who has not been to bridge lately, to play with you that day ?
Just to encourage them to play at the club again.

 

Wear your best hat for the competition - great prizes !

 

Bring cash for the Sweep-stake !
( The Club can't legally use money from your Compa$$ account for a "flutter" )

 
The days format is as follows -

Time
12.15pm Pay for your drawn horse
1.00 - 4.00pm Play bridge
4.00pm Afternoon tea and Best hat judging
4.30pm View the Melbourne Cup race on TV
5.00pm COLLECT YOUR WINNINGS !
Prior to... Please enter on notice board by 31 Oct
Look forward to seeing you there Wearing your name tag please!!

Cheers

 Laura
 Club Captain

Wednesday Night Bridge to Stop Face to Face


Stop for Wednesday night bridge

  Wednesday night Bridge finishes......
 

Due to the very poor turnout for the spring pairs (2 1/2 tables) the decision has been made to run Wednesday night bridge online only until the end of the programme year. We understand that playing online is not everyone's preference, but the club cannot run a viable evening with 2 1/2 tables.
 

Details of the two events that will be run on RealBridge are below.
Let's make this a viable option for the club, but this can only be achieved with your support.
 

 Ella
 Match Committee
 
Message image

Leaving Bridge... What now?

click here

When you have made the decision on the date to leave bridge we ask you to please tell the Club of your pending departure

This advance notice lets us plan your removal from the Clubs Systems – both Compass & Compa$$ and return any surplus funds we hold on your behalf to you. Also, it will let us advise NZ Bridge of your departure thus saving us of some or all of $23 levy we pay annually for all members.

Unfortunately not all members advise the Club when they leave which means the Club continues to pay levies to NZ Bridge until we find out you've left! Also we keep sending you invoices for your annual subscription along with adding your details in the programme book

So could we try for a tidy cut when you decide to part ways with Hamilton Bridge by you contacting the secretary at the numbers / email in the programme book

Thanks

2022 Waikato InterClubs

Waikato 2022 Interclub Teams

The results for Sunday's play are below. Congratulations to Hamilton as the overall winners with Te Aroha as runners-up. Congratulations also to the top two teams in each individual grade who will represent their clubs in the finals against the Bay of Plenty clubs to be held in Cambridge in August.

Grade winners/runners-up are:

Open - Matamata and Te Aroha

Intermediate - Te Aroha and Thames

Junior - Waikato and Hamilton

We trust everyone had an enjoyable day. The results took a bit longer this year as we had to process the intermediate results to be able to integrate them with the overall results.

 

Interclub 2022 winners

 
( click Read More below to see the complete results)

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