sitemaster's blog

Saturday 12th September saw the last round of the Waikato-Bays Junior League in Hamilton. Before the start of the event, there was in a seven-way tie for first place on the ladder. At the end, Rotorua's Leonie Pritchard and Mark Bendall won the day with sessions of 63% and 59%. This was enough to put them ahead of the field in the Junior League. They were also one of only two pairs who made it to all six events - that being the nature of Real Life - it interferes with one's BTP (Bridge Tournament Programme)! Full results can be seen on the Hamilton site at www.hamilton.bridge-club.org Monthly view - look for September the 12th.

With the Club Teams events from both sides of The Hill behind us we approach the Teams Grade Trophies showdown this Sunday starting 10am at the Cambridge clubrooms. This is a play-off between the top two teams in each of Open, Intermediate, and Junior with two teams from each grade put forward as the best-performed in their respective Club Teams events. Two clubs did extremely well to have representatives in all three grades - long timers Rotorua and the new kids from the South Waikato.

Jane StearnsThe talents and enthusiasm of Jane Stearns from Cambridge have been recognised and put to good use by New Zealand Bridge. Jane has addressed the regional conferences of Canterbury, Auckland, Otago, and this week she will be speaking at the Central District's annual conference. Her main message is of fundamental importance to our game: how to arrest the fall in numbers participating.

The latest figures from NZ Bridge show an encouraging growth in the number of registered players.

While this increase is most likely due to the seasonal intake of learners, it is particularly interesting to see that Waikato-Bays is leading the way thanks to the efforts of the many dedicated teachers and their helpers.

Rona & JohnThe winners of this year's Rubber Bridge competition, John and Rona Driscoll of Taupo, will go forward to represent the Waikato-Bays region in the national finals at Congress in the week Sep-26 to Oct-3.

John and Rona advanced to the finals after meeting Gwynn Lobb and Olive Davis in the semis. There they won against Nick Whitten and Janice Bell to claim the $100 prize and the right to play in the nationals.

Rubber bridge is the game in its primal form. One can picture four cavemen hunched over their cards beside