Owing to the Covid-19 lock-down forcing the cancellation of IP trials all regions had to be choose their teams by selection. Applications were invited and your committee has chosen, hopefully, the strongest team for many years.

The event itself is to be held at the Wellington Bridge Club over two and a half days from Saturday 21 November. The format is usually a double round robin with byes. The players have been encouraged to get as much game time together as possible before the date.

Of late years there has been a notable uptake of teams sporting their regions' own uniforms. Ours look quite smashing (pic below is not to scale as concerns relative sizing).

Adrienne, Ted, Sabrina, CarolSaturday's third round of the Waikato-Bays Intermediate League held at Mount Maunganui was cleaned up big-time by players from Thames. Ted Cliffin partnering Adrienne Donald won the day followed by Thames president Carol Crowfoot with partner Sabrina Peters. The latter pair currently head the League table with four rounds to play.

The Mount club also ran the WB Junior League's second event won by Michele Liddle and Joy Williams of Matamata. Runners-up were Roz and Bob Strawbridge of Waitomo. These four are at the top of the Junior League which has just two more sessions to go.

Finally some light at the end of a long tunnel .. and it's not an oncoming limited express! There are quite a few results showing for Week 24 in X-Clubs and we expect many more this week as clubs reboot their seasons.

Covid-19 laid waste to the tournament schedule with several iconic events having been cancelled. Luckily the Te Aroha Teams will still take place albeit in the Hamilton clubrooms. We will miss our usual magnificent lunch, however, and have to make do with a self-supplied vegemite sandwich on the day.

The WAPs will rise again from the ashes by taking the best two of three results played at Matamata on Feb-16, Thames on Jul-5, and Hamilton on Aug-2. Click here to see the amended Rules.

.. bridge is cancelled - in case you hadn't heard. Mostly. There's still the Rubber Bridge competition. The deadline for entries has been extended to the 30th April. Should be money for jam - only four pairs in it with a week to go and a purse of $50 each to the victors. Or, if we get the numbers up to eight or nine pairs there'll be an extra $20 each, and if ten pairs the prize money jumps to a massive $100 each!! Wow! The winners also get to represent the Region at Congress (if we have one). And, of course, there's always on-line bridge. The best known site is BBO - Bridge Base Online - but there are plenty of others to be found in a Google search.

Good luck to you all over this unprecedented time. Our family could always tell when my mother was crook. First she'd stop eating. Then, if she got worse, she'd stop playing bridge. This is serious!!