Wellington Region "Hui"

Further to my previous post about the Wellington Region "Hui", the Minutes of the meeting are available here. The full set of meeting papers may be found on the Wellington Region Bridge website.

Recent NZBridge Ranking Updates

As at 30th September, Graeme Norman is ranked 103rd in the top 200 all-time Masterpoints winners list.

John Donbavand is 8th in the Life Master category, and Stella Jury (who has only very recently joined the club) is 1st in the Master category.

Congratulations to all three.

Precision Lessons

John Donbavand and Pryor Rowland are offering to provide a course of lessons in the Precision system, subject to sufficient interest (and Committee agreement as to the administrative details). Players would learn the basic Precision system that is approved for Intermediate tournaments.

The lessons would take place in February next year. They would be available to players of Intermediate level and above. It is anticipated that those taking the course would later have the opportunity to play a series with a partner with experience playing Precision.

If you're interested in this opportunity please contact either John or Pryor by email not later than 31st October, with the following information:

Name:

Grade:

Have used Precision system before: Yes/No

Available in February: Yes/No

Preferred session times: day of week, morning/afternoon/evening

Interested players may also wish to reserve a gap in their 2027 programme for the practice series.

Contact details for John and Pryor are as follows:

John - johndonbavand@hotmail.com

Pryor - pryorrowland@gmail.com

Recycling

A quick reminder that the Club does not have a recycling bin, so we would ask that you please take your drink containers (bottles and cans) back home with you, rather than burdening the recycling "team".

Thank you for your assistance.

Intermediate Pairs

We hosted a very successful Intermediate Pairs tournament on Sunday 27th September, kindly sponsored by Parkwood Retirement Village.

The event attracted 19 full tables, with visitors coming from as far afield as New Plymouth and Palmerston North as well as the Wellington and Kapiti Coast regions.

The winners were the Wellington/Hutt pairing of Ellie Molloy and Eleisha Hawkins (a remarkable effort by Ellie in particular given that less than a year ago she and her then partner won the Junior/Novice section of our annual Junior Pairs tournament).  

In second place were Viv Gray and Craig Jackson (Craig commenting on WhatsApp that “we had a fun day”).

Simon Webber and Jeffry Craanen (Hutt) were 3rd, and Sue Gray and Deirdre Evans (Kapi Mana) 4th, with Vicki Boffa and Rachel Patrick in 5th position.  

Session prize winners were:

• morning - Denise Barnett and Wayne Stechman (Wellington)
• afternoon - Todd Beardsworth and Clinton Scott (Victoria/Kairangi)

The full results are available here.  

Special thanks are due to:

• Anne Ricketts for acting as both Director and Scorer
• Fiona McDonald-Bates for organising the event, and also running the raffle
• Roz King and Alison Hall for all their hard work in the kitchen
• Viv Gray and Craig Jackson for running the bar

and all those members who assisted with the setup before and after the event, and all who brought a plate for what was a very generous morning tea.

Winners: Eleisha Hawkins and Ellie Molloy

2nd: Craig Jackson and Viv Gray

The "Place Getters"

Thank you to everyone involved for your support.

The "Quad"

Waikanae hosted Levin, Otaki and Paraparaumu to contest the 2026 edition of the Horowhenua Kapiti Quadrangular match (the "Quad") on Saturday 19th September.

The full-day event was played as a teams competition over 6 rounds, and I'm delighted to report that it was won once again by Waikanae, who therefore retained the shield (which we have held for several years).

Detailed results are available here. 

I'd like to thank Maureen Pratchett who was both Director and Scorer, and also:

• Nicky Bradley, who organised the event
• Vicky Young, Anne Ricketts and Diane Horton who looked after the kitchen and other arrangements on the day, and
• Derek Snelling and Pryor Rowland, who organised and ran the bar

and of course all the club members who played in the competition itself:

Open -

Pryor Rowland and John Donbavand
Derek Snelling and Isobel Ross

Intermediate -

Miriam Lewin and Suzanne Duncan
Karen Eriksen and Jude Lucas

Junior -

Stephanie Cheeseman and Jim Gordon
Hugh Wolfensohn and Judi Vernau

Congratulations on a great team effort!

Bridge Base Online (BBO)

On 17 August 2026, BBO moved to a membership model. Players received a free Premium period, and its length varies. Many long-standing and regular players were given a full complimentary year. Others received one or two months.

Players with the complimentary year are not affected by anything below.

For everyone else, when the free Premium membership ends, they move to Basic. Basic is free and includes 6 deals a day in free casual games.

Free tournaments do not use the daily deals, and most stay open to everyone, including Basic. Some tournaments are Premium only.

Paid tournaments and paid challenges are not affected, and membership is not required to play them.

Further information is available below.