The 2018 NZ Bridge congress held in Hamilton is over! There was a lot of bridge played over the last week and Cambridge members were seen at the event throughout the week.

Congratulations to everyone who simply took part. Good on you for just pitching up for the experience. It can be quite nerve wracking entering such a large room of bridge enthusiasts and I admire anyone who just signs up to play.  And once there, you realise that it is just the same game of bridge but with some new faces to play against.

It is that time of year again when we are preparing the new programme book. It would help me greatly if eveyone could check their details in Pianola. I use this database to produce the list for the programme book. Next year we are including email addresses instead of physical addresses. You can opt-out of having your email address in the book if you wish. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WISH TO HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS EXCLUDED.

Ian Bond playing with partner Lynette Morgan in the NZ Teams at Congress got over the line of earning 500 A points to become a Grand Master. Their team included Ella Gray and Michael Neels and just missed The Cut for the Finals phase by coming 17th in a field of 108 from all over NZ and The Rest of the World. Just think ... after all these years ... Cambridge has not seen a pair of GM's playing since Bruce and Merle Marr left town back in the 1990's. Lynette and Ian are currently right up there in the running for our Henry Davys Championship.

Well played John Little and Graeme Saunders who came 2nd in this event and to Kay Dixon and Pam Halls who came 4th overall. The event was well attended with 18 tables or 36 pairs playing.

This was the penultimate event in the 2018 Intermediate league and the results have made it exciting leading into the final at Cambridge on 28 October with Eunice and Malcolm Kirkby tying first place but there being a possibility they could yet be overtaken! We shall be cheering on our Members, Eunice and Malcolm, from the sidelines. They can do it!

There is a lovely picture of Joyce in this short article on the Matamata site. Joyce moved to Cambridge from Matamata only recently but endeared herself to us all. She was also a stalwart at Hamilton for many many years.

While Sue Peake and Clare took second honours at the Rotorua restricted in the morning, it was Eunice and Michael who had a consistent day of 3rd in the morning and too in the afternoon resulting in 2nd overall. Congratulations to them! Eunice will be an Open player in no time at this rate!

As Clare rightly pointed out last night, the Play with a Partner series on Monday nights was a pairs series not an individual one. In light of this the correct Final Results have been changed and can be found under results. Congratulations to Kevin and Jan on their very convincing win.

This event is to be held at the Cambridge clubrooms, 14 Fort St, on Sunday 26th August. Four qualifying teams in each grade will play in a 16-board round-robin. With all qualifying teams having confirmed their intention of turning up on the day we're good to go. Morning tea from 9:30am, play starts at 10am. BYO lunch. No entry fee required. Any queries email Mike Neels at quidge15@gmail.com or phone 021 179 1686.

Huge congratulations to Kim and Karen who won the CB SIxes Intermediate competition.  The pressure was on from after round one when they obtained the lead. By the end of round 5 they had succeeded in five significant wins . So when they entered the last round they were 12 VPs ahead of their closest opponents and while they did have their first loss that round, they had done enough to hang on! They were particularly delighted as they came second last year. Photo to follow.

Congratulations to Mike and Ella who won the final WAPs  in Morrinsville today, which gave them enough to come second but not quite enough to win the overall trophy which was won by Lesley Quilty and Sonia Crawford of Morrinsville.