Roundup - Week 48

So unexpected: season's winding down - news content rocketing up. It's all happening in the Mighty Wai-kato/Bays! The Christmas spirit is upon us all with lots of parties and dress-ups. Final flings before the long hard winter of the soul as we take a whole week off from bridge over Christmas.

First up is some great news from Rotorua who made well-known identity Heini Lux a Life Member of their club at their AGM. Heini was the director at the following Saturday's sold-out (39 tables) Xmas Party. Always a popular event it is beautifully decorated with Christmas hangings and quilts from the local patchwork group. Ruth Lewis has been co-ordinating this iconic event for more years than she cares to remember.

Tauranga reports now having a record 14 Grandmasters at their club with the success of Stephen Francks and Amanda Smith in achieving this milestone. It has been nearly a year's wait for them both to scrape up sufficient B points to get over the line. To be a GM you need 1000 A and B points combined, 500 of which must be A points (generally harder to come by) but for both Stephen and Amanda, partners in life as well as bridge, the 9 B points they won at the Te Awamutu Xmas party did the trick.

A nail biting story in similar vein (although somewhat scaled down) is published on the Cambridge site. Those aspiring to remain Intermediates BEWARE. The Rotorua Xmas Party is a graveyard to many such hopes.

The Mini Moos season concluded with a traditional English garden party with lots of Pimms and strawberries at the Te Miro home of co-co-ordinator Jane Stearns. Jane is stepping back in 2017 to concentrate on other projects of great value to New Zealand bridge but, in conjunction with Nick Whitten of Morrinsville, has made available to anyone who wants to use it, ALL the Mini Moos course content. Just click here or on the Resources > MiniMoos tab above.

Plenty of good reading on the Hamilton front page all of a sudden .. much of it happy, some sad, all informative. A veritable bijou of what a club's website can look like - plenty of timely contribution from lots of members. Newsletters - who needs 'em?

See also the article about Mt Maunganui's Charity Week in which all proceeds will be donated to charity.

Clare Coles of Cambridge (nice assonance there, dear Clare) has been shaking the tree by proposing an inter-club Teams series in 2017. Modelled on the popular and long-running Wellington series (also adopted/adapted in Auckland), The Waikato Inter-club Teams Series will be stepping up to the plate in 2017. Clubs had been sounded out about taking part and enough interest was shown to warrant a meeting at Cambridge to explore the How's Who's & When's. The tone became very positive as options were discussed and it's looking really GOOD to GO!! In a nutshell - clubs may commit any number of 4-member Teams in any of (initially) three grades to play in head-to-head round-robins to be held monthly on Friday nights in places yet to be announced. Much depends on how many teams clubs will put up. The emphasis is to be on having FUN - a night out with friends playing cards against the neighbours - how atavistic is that?