A New Feature!

Peter Pan and Wendy
Peter Pan and Wendy

We would like to introduce a new column of club talk from Peter Pan and Wendy, the well known burglars at Junior tournaments.
 

A Solid Start to the 2023 Tournament Year

The first local tournaments for the year were recently held in Kerikeri. On Saturday, January 14th, the Bay of Islands Craigs Open Swiss Pairs was held and Whangarei players held down 3 of the top four places. Placing 1st were Jane Stearns and Ant Hopkins (who has recently joined our club as an associate member) while Neil Ruddell and Margaret Hooson were 3rd and Patsy Walters and Lee Walters came in 4th.

Prize Giving, 2022

Our Prize giving celebrations were held on December 10th this year. This year, we managed to find winners for all categories as Covid finally receded in the rearview mirror. The photos below (thanks Tel) were taken of our President, Lee Walters, handing out the hardware.

 

Water Damage to the Club

During one of the recent heavy wind and rain events, water penetrated the roof and caused significant damage to the catering area and storage room (see below for photos). Hopefully, insurance will cover the internal damage but the roof may be a different story. The Committee has the situation in hand but, unfortunately, the repairs are likely to take a considerable time. Consequently, we ask for your patience as we proceed.

St John Charity Tournament

On Saturday, November 26th, the club held a charity tournament for the benefit of the St John Society, in recognition of their generous donation of the portable electronic defibrillator that you can see installed in the front porch of the club rooms.  In addition to the tournament, the club ran a raffle and a trading table for weeks prior to the event.

A great time was had by all and over $1500 was raised for the cause! See below for photos of the winners.

Interprovincial Tournament, 2022

This year 5(!) of our members represented the Auckland/Northland region in the Interprovincial Tournament. Jane Stearns won selection on the Women's team while Alan Pumfleet, Juliet Golightly, Kim Thomas and Kevin Grundy comprised two of the three pairs on the intermediate team. Over 3 exhausting days, the teams played 12, 12-board matches against extremely strong competition for the Dougal McLean trophy. The women's team crushed their opposition with a record of 11-0-1 while the intermediate team struggled but still managed a respectable 3-2-7 record.

Improvers' Lessons

Richard is running a single session at 10am on Saturday 5 November at the Club rooms. It is aimed at people who have completed a beginners' course in the last couple of years and would like to know more. The topics are basic bidding and card play. If you are interested in improving your play, just turn up.