Rip Roaring Success

It was a great day for our club on Saturday with two events being held at the same time.
The Open Swiss Pairs attracted a huge field of 46 pairs while in the other room 32 pairs battled it out in one of the biggest fields of junior pairs I've ever seen in Hamilton.

By my calculation that makes 156 bridge players taking part, many of them our own club members, I counted 56. I never heard from anyone who didn't thoroughly enjoy the day. Even the weather was ideal for playing bridge.

Melinda Wang and Bruce Cresswell were leading the juniors after the first session so would have enjoyed their lunch but Megan Jolly and Graeme Hope who didn't go so well in the morning scored a massive 67.73% in the afternoon to grab 3rd prize and be the highest Hamilton pair on the day with Bruce and Melinda ending up a creditable 5th.
Congratulations to the Putaruru Pair of Ross and Susan Provan who won by nearly 4%.

The Open Swiss Pairs was looking like a formality for last year's winners Grant Jarvis and Ian Berrington from Auckland who were leading by more than 12 Victory Points going into the last round but as Grant told me they saved their worst bridge for the last round suffering a big defeat at the hands of Russell Wilson and Patrick Carter scoring just 2.89 out of 20.

In the end it came down to only the decimal points but Grant and Ian hung on by a nail biting 0.87 of a point to win from Wayne Burrows and Clair Miao. Local pairs were the next two - Jenny Millington and Barry Jones 3rd , Richard Hooper and Gary Foidl 4th. Russell and Patrick's big win in the last round got them into 5th place.

Much kudos for the smooth running of the day goes to the tournament convenor Ella Gray and the wonderful team in the kitchen. Please take a bow.
Barry

On Sunday 6 August the Club held a Special General Meeting to vote on the proposed new Club Constitution. Sufficient club members were present for the quorum and the motion voted on gained the necessary votes so the Club has now a new Constitution. The new Constitution has been sent to the Companies Office to have the new document registered and once this is complete the new rules will apply

Attachments :

Pending Constitution for the Hamilton Contract Bridge Club - release II

Superceded Constitution of the Hamilton Contract Bridge Club - 1970 plus amendments

References :

The Club sadly notes the passing of our member Mona Corlett, with the club extending its sympathy to Mona's family and friends. Mona, who was the club's oldest member, passed away last weekend.

A Tribute to Mona, a Floral Artist
For many, many years, Mona's beautiful, elegant fresh floral arrangements greeted us at our bridge club's front door.
At the beginning of the year I became aware of the bare front door table, but as I am not a floral artist I have been purchasing artificial flowers at a variety of charity shops to fill the void.
Mona's beautiful floral arrangements at my daughter, ex club-member Penelope's wedding were so elegant and admired.
Keitha Burton

A little more on Mona's life can be found here in this short item published in 2015 on our website as part of a series on some of our well known members

A tribute to Mona from Billie Phillips can be found here

Another tribute to Mona, this one from Malcolm Smith is found here

In my work as a volunteer with English Language Partners I have often thought how easy it should be to combine my skills and teach bridge to those who do not have English as their first language.
I am helping the Papatoetoe Bridge Club this year - and Ayako (from the Cambridge Club) and I were interviewed on Monday. The result is the article below which I hope you enjoy.

Teaching bridge to migrants and refugees

I have gone into the Cambridge and Papatoetoe English Language classes to teach students there minibridge and hope to go into the Nelson class next month. My goal is to set up a class for migrants and refugees at the Resettlement Centre out near Claudelands in Hamilton.

Most members know that the Club awards vouchers for Bridge Sessions. However did you know you can purchase table vouchers in advance ? Think how convenient it would be not having to find small change each time you play bridge, and it also makes life easier for the directors and our secretary

There are several ways of purchasing the vouchers:

•   Ask your director - they have a limited number of voucher packs - 5 vouchers for $15 available for purchase

•   Email the secretary with your details ( name & bridge number ) and then pay by internet banking with your Bridge Number & code ‘Vouchers’ in the Banking Application "free entry" fields

•   Via the director with an envelope containing your details and a cheque or cash at any bridge session ( as our secretary is part time allow for this in the delivery time )

•   See Yvonne in the office ( see programme book for office hours )