Roundup - Week 42

The Hamilton club's mini-congress was run over Labour weekend with players travelling from all over the country. Good attendances of 19 tables in the Pairs on Saturday, 22 teams on Sunday and 15 tables for Monday's consolation Swiss Pairs played while the top eight teams thrashed out the final and plate in the O'Neil room. Winners are listed on the site with full detail in the Results pages.

An item of interest on the Te Aroha site details an inter-club series completed against the Thames club. This is GREAT for bridge. There's something truly atavistic about emerging from one's cave to do battle with one's neighbours. Another example is the annual face-off between Cambridge and Te Awamutu which has been going on for ... ooh ... getting on for 30 years now. Last week Clare Coles who is club captain at Cambridge circulated a proposal to neighbouring clubs that a similar club vs club series be included in participating clubs' 2017 programme books. The thought was that no-one should have to travel more than 40 minutes as this monthly circus rotated around local clubs. Have a read about it by clicking on the "proposal" link above - check your Downloads folder after clicking.

The annual face-to-face meeting of the Waikato-Bays Regional Committee is to be held in Cambridge on Sunday 30th .. before moving on to the local clubrooms to present the trophies to the winners of the Intermediate League the final round of which is to be held there that very day.

There's a nice little blog about Estelle Cashmore on the Thames site. Sure sounds an amazing lady.

Many clubs in the region are shaping up to hold a section of the Babich NZ-Wide Pairs on the 4th of November. If you've never tried it then why not give it a go this year. Some clubs do pizza beforehand - wine, even. You get a handy little booklet afterwards that tells you all the things you could have done. AND - this could be the biggest field you ever play in. The last two years around 1000 pairs have taken part.

Another annual event held at many clubs is Melbourne Cup Day - this year on the 1st of November. Check your noticeboards ...