Good Works at the Settlement Centre

Isn't it totally amazing how much some people can accomplish? Not only is Jane Stearns devoting four whole days a week to her responsibilities as a board member of NZ Bridge but she has been taking on the tuition of migrants and refugees at the Settlement Centre in Hamilton.

Jane (second from left) has developed a bridge-centric program designed to both extend command of the language by use of Bringlish (Bridge English) and give attendees of her course a vehicle to help with integration into their new communities. We all know how friendly and supportive our clubs can be .. especially to newbies: they seem an ideal landing pad for anyone arriving in a new place once they have worked up enough confidence to make an appearance. And who knows .. maybe our very own Omar Sharif may emerge from these folk brave enough to make a new start in our country.

Your correspondent was invited to attend the fourth of Jane's sessions with these folk. In the previous three they had gained a good grasp of mini-bridge and now they were striking out on "real" bridge - with actual bidding to take place. Using prepared hands the one with 12+ points was to open and his partner with 6+ points was to respond. Baby steps, you might think, but these special players had already come a long way to this point.