As we went into the the final night of the intermediate championships, there were four close contenders all within a percentage point.  Congratulations to Josie and her final partner, Sue Aitken, who held their nerve and scored 60.51% to give Josie a clear winning margin.  And I am sure Josie would like to thank her other partners, Karen, Bill and Anne for their help.

Also well played Barb Wilson and Karen Payne, who won the night with a whopping 63.54%, resulting in Barb being the runner up in the overall championship. Barb just beat Ross Proven by 0.02%.

1946 must have been a busy and happy year for our parents as Gail Ebbett is the third of our members turning 80 this year (with still a few more to come I understand).

Gail has been a member since 1 January 1992 - a mere 34 years, following in her mother's footsteps - Shirley Wilkinson whose cup we play for on a Thursday afternoon.   Delighted that Gail and Allison Vince won this cup in March this year.

During all this time Gail has been a strong stalwart of our club and has again taken over and doing a grand job of looking after the garden.

Congratulations to Anna Kalma and Richard Solomon who won the Matamata 5A Swiss Pairs on Saturday timing their climb to the top of the ladder to perfection!

The competition was sponsored by Williams jewellery, so the prizes were presented by Gary and Joy Williams.

Nice to see not only 12 tables of junior players but four tables of novice players compete in Cambridge on Saturday afternoon.  Congratulations to our local winners, Peter and Robyn, who scored an admirable 61% and coming away with a clear win.  It can be daunting playing your first tournament so well done to everyone, simply by being brave enough to take part. 

PS My apologies. I wrote this at the same time as the other article but somehow failed to publish it….

Huge congratulations to Anna Singlewood and Paul Carpenter who came third in the Cambridge junior tournament scoring a very solid average of 60% over the two sessions.

Clear winners were Jess Bradley and Dennis van Maanen from Rotorua who scored a hard to beat 74% in the morning and 61% in the afternoon. 

Second were Annette Downey and Ainu Su from Hamilton, who just pipped Anna and Paul.

Well done to Anne Tankard and Rob Graham who came 4th overall scoring a commendable 58% both rounds showing consistency is key to a good result!

It was a fun day in Rotorua made by Ian and Pam Moore along with Ian and Lynette Bond coming third overall after four wins from the six 12 board matches.  Well done them securing big wins, unlike the Solomon team that also managed four wins but finished 7th place.  

What an amazing result for Els, who was unable to play bridge last year, to come away with the 2026 junior championship! I am sure she is very grateful to her respective partners who helped get this result.  Go Els!

The results were close….very close indeed and the runner up was Alan Lowe.  Very well done to him who also claimed silver last year.

In third place was Paul Carpenter, last year’s champion.

Also worthy of a mention are new learners, Cooper and Alex, who finished 8th and 9th respectively. A great result!