Looking for a Home

Anita Humphrey is trying to find a new home for a dog, Millie, whose owner recently passed away.

Anita writes:

Millie is nine years old and has been used to life with an older gentleman who gave her lots of love and attention — though not as much in recent times. None of his family are able to take her, so we’re hoping to find her a new home.

Millie would suit a quiet household, ideally with no cats (she likes to chase them!) and someone who can offer her the companionship she’s used to. She enjoyed regular walks and is a gentle, affectionate wee dog who will likely feel a bit disoriented for a while.

If you, or perhaps someone you know, perhaps has recently lost a dog and isn’t looking for a puppy, please get in touch with me. I’d love to see her go to a caring home rather than to HUHA or the SPCA.

Can anyone help?

Melbourne Cup Day

Melbourne Cup Day Celebration - Monday 3 November

Next Monday we celebrate Melbourne Cup Day, which coincides with our monthly afternoon tea.

For our new players, to enter into the Cup fever, you may choose to dress up.

There are prizes for best dressed, female and male, and for the best hat.

You may like to place some bets, $2.00, on the horses, prior to the start of bridge.

Please come along and join in the fun!

Kitchen Spring Clean

  

(Photo courtesy of Vicky Young)

Sunday saw a very productive working bee with Vicky Young, Jo Anson, Liz Campbell, Ros King and organiser Nicky Bradley all combining to give our kitchen a "spring clean".  Many thanks to you all.

Items excess to requirements are on a trestle table for members to claim or help themselves to by Friday please.  The rest will go to the op shop.

Thanks are also due to this group plus Ann Edwards and Chris Farrow who prepared for the very enjoyable - and not-at-all fattening - Loveblock Pot Luck dinner on Friday night.  Other members who helped with the clean up, thank you too. Your help is much appreciated.

"In Brief"

Otaki Open Swiss Pairs

Congratulations again to  John Donbavand and his (Wellington) partner Murray McMillan, this time on placing 2nd in the Otaki Open Swiss Pairs, with 6-0-1 record.  Pryor Rowland and his partner placed 9th.

Loveblock Pairs

The full results of Friday night's nationwide event are available here.

KHAP Round 8

Congratulations to Kevin and Helen Walker who were 2nd E/W, and also to Pryor Rowland and Nicky Bradley who finished 4th N/S.

With one round remaining in November, Anthea Black and Naciye Bagci are currently in 3rd place overall with 58.30%.

Paraparaumu Multigrade

Paraparaumu held their Multigrade tournament on Sunday 12th October, and Waikanae players did extremely well.

The winners were John Donbavand and his (Wellington) partner Murray McMillan. 

In addition -

• Rae Lutman and her partner were 1st E/W am, and 5th= overall
• Craig Jackson and Murray Lobb were 5th E/W am, 10th overall and the top Junior pair
• Paul Brinkman and Anthea Black were 4th N/S am, 4th N/S pm, and 4th overall

Other notable results were -

• Ady Dale and Sue Osborne - 1st E/W pm
• Karen Eriksen and Jude Lucas - 2nd N/S pm
• Anne Ricketts and her partner -  2nd E/W pm

Many congratulations to all.

Paraparaumu Bridge Club

As many will already be aware, Waikanae will be providing Paraparaumu Bridge Club ("PBC") with a "home away from home" from the end of October while their building is undergoing major repairs.  

PBC will be playing the following sessions at Waikanae from 28th October until 14th December (this timeframe may possibly extend into the New Year depending on progress with their works programme):

These days and times have been arranged to avoid clashes with Waikanae sessions and with other users of our clubroom, such as the Quilters and Guides.

Additionally, PBC members may choose to attend Waikanae sessions during this period, at which I know you will make them welcome. Should they wish to do so they will be able to buy Waikanae session cards for this purpose.  If Waikanae members wish to join PBC sessions, payment will be in accordance with PBC's normal arrangements.

PBC will be "paying for the privilege" of using our clubrooms, and as such will make full use of our facilities including supplies of tea, coffee, milk, etc.  They will use our computer for scoring, but will deal their own boards and store them in our clubroom (separately from Waikanae boards). Space will also be allocated on our noticeboard for PBC use.

If Waikanae members have questions or issues about any of this please do not hesitate to contact either me or Rae Lutman.  PBC members will be asked to raise any issues with their own Committee members, who will refer them to us for resolution if necessary.

Please do whatever you can to make PBC members feel at home during this unavoidable period of disruption for them.

Loveblock Pairs - Results

Novice Grade

Liz Campbell and Roz King - 7th⭐⭐⭐

Mixed Grade

Graeme Norman and Carol Hogan - 10th⭐⭐

Lorraine Gaffaney and Sue Osborne - 18th⭐⭐

Open Restricted

Anthea Black and Naciye Bagci - 43rd

Kevin Walker and Helen Walker - 76th

Overall Placings (in the top 100)

Graeme and Carol - 42nd

Anthea and Naciye - 62nd

Lorraine and Sue - 66th

These are nationwide results - many congratulations to everyone, with a special shout out to Liz and Roz for a fantastic result in the Novice Grade.

The Malcolm Hyland Trophy

(Photo courtesy of Margaret Hyland)

On the first anniversary of his passing I'm pleased to be able to tell you that at its meeting on Monday the Committee agreed that the "Malcolm Hyland Trophy" for the Intermediate Player of the Year will be awarded annually commencing in 2026.  

I have written to Margaret Hyland to thank her on behalf of the Club for her generous offer to commemorate Malcolm in this way.

NZ Bridge Foundation

Message from the Trustees of the NZ Bridge Foundation

The NZ Bridge Foundation was created in 2009 to further bridge in NZ with a special focus on supporting youth bridge and helping clubs, especially those with very limited resources, to enhance bridge in their community. The Foundation is keen to make bridge players aware of our purpose and to gain greater support from amongst the wider bridge community.

With our 5 volunteer trustees and the NZ Bridge Secretary, we dispense grants from a small fund each quarter that comes from interest earned and our annual NZ wide bridge tournament. The current trustees are Dwayne Crombie (Akarana), Liz Rowe (Otago), Denis McKinlay (Wellington), Richard Solomon (Te Aroha), Jonathan Westoby (Auckland).

Understandably we don’t have the funds to support routine club maintenance costs but can help on special occasions. Examples of grants include the national youth bridge weekend, support for youth players to the National Congress and sending youth teams to Canberra for the ABF youth events. In the last year, we have also made partial grants to support the Marton Bridge Club, Wellington Bridge Club, Waitemata Bridge Club, Palmerston North Bridge Club, Motueka Bridge Club, Karori Bridge Club and the Feilding Bridge Club.

As a registered charity, all donations meet the IRD’s rules for a tax complying donation.

More information about the Foundation, how to apply for funds that meet our priorities, and our grant cycle can be found by searching for the NZ Bridge site - Foundation page. We are happy to give feedback about the suitability of an application.

Information from NZBridge

The following documents have recently been received from NZBridge:

World Bridge Federation: Executive Committee Report 
World Bridge Federation: Zones Summary
World Bridge Federation: Support for National Bridge Organisations

Minutes of the NZ Bridge Board meeting held 9 September 2025

Chairman's Newsletter No.5

As you will see from the Board Meeting Minutes, John Donbavand has been appointed to the Wellington Regional Committee - congratulations John.

Waikanae Junior Pairs 2025

This year's half-day Junior Pairs tournament will take place on Sunday 2nd November. 

All Junior and Novice players are eligible and very welcome.

Please enter through the NZBridge website here.

Ngā Manu Raffle 2025

THE GREAT KᾹPITI GIVEAWAY

Tickets are on sale for Ngā Manu’s 2025 raffle which is celebrating everything Kāpiti.

For $5 each or 5 tickets for $20, you have a chance to win an incredible prize pool worth $5,000 in vouchers, experiences, and stays to enjoy yourself or to share with friends and family.

All prizes have been donated and together, celebrate the wonderful businesses of Kāpiti. All proceeds go to Ngā Manu to continue its work of caring for our native wildlife and protecting 16 hectares of native habitat including rare coastal swamp forest. 

For details of the prizes please go to the Ngā Manu website 

Tickets may be purchased at various places in the Kāpiti District but for your convenience Pat Stuart has tickets for sale – just ask her next time you see her at Bridge or give her a call on 021 386 192.

Loveblock Pairs

This year's Loveblock Pairs will take place on Friday 17th October, starting at 7pm.

The entry fee is $15.00 per person. This cost includes a booklet discussing in detail each hand played during the evening - regrettably, however, this will be available only after play!

Before play there will be a pot luck dinner, commencing at 6pm. Please indicate on the sign on sheet on the top table what type of dish you would like to bring (or if you prefer you may pay an additional $10.00 as an alternative to contributing food).

This nationwide Pairs event gives players the opportunity to take part in a national event at their own club. 

As in the last 3 years, this event is sponsored by Loveblock Wines, a Marlborough organic producer of quality wines. 

Current National Rankings

The following Waikanae members are listed in the recently-updated National Rankings:

Life Master
John Donbavand - 15th
National Master 
Pryor Rowland - 14th
Master
Graham Cheater - 8th
Local Master
Murray Lobb - 19th

Many congratulations, gentlemen! 

Intermediate Tournament 2025

Our annual Intermediate tournament took place on Sunday 28th September, and was a resounding success, with 19 tables and players ranging in grade from senior intermediate to novice.

I would like to thank everybody who contributed to a great day, but in particular:

• Anne Ricketts for her splendid organisation
• Isobel Ross for her patient and skilled directing
• Maureen Pratchett for scoring
• Roz King for the catering
• Derek Snelling for setting up and running the bar

together with a host of helpers involved in setting up before, and cleaning up afterwards, dealing, running the raffle (organised by Steve Ricketts and won by Lorraine Gaffaney) and especially in the kitchen (Mehegan Goodman, Shelley Ross , Di Andrews, Chris Carlyon and several others), and behind the bar (Richie Rama).

The event was won by the Paraparaumu pairing of Jane Bradbury and Dale Wills.  Julian Kissock and Maxine Keay from Palmerston North were second, and our own Eileen Queree and Lorraine Gaffaney placed third.  

Additional session prizes went to Brian O'Sullivan and Janet Dobbie (Wellington) for the morning, and Linda Couch and Lyn Dash (Paraparaumu) for the afternoon.

Many congratulations to all.

Quadrangular Match

Kapiti/Horowhenua Quadrangular Tournament

This year's Quadrangular match between Otaki, Levin, Paraparaumu and Waikanae took place on Sunday 21st September at Otaki.  

I am pleased to report that Waikanae retained the shield.  

Our Open quartet (Derek Snelling and Isobel Ross, Helen Walker and Angela Gattsche) and our Junior team (Craig Jackson and Murray Lobb, Hugh Wolfensohn and Gillian van Raalte) both won their respective grades and our Intermediate team (Lorraine Gaffaney and Vicky Young, Rezea Morgan and Karen Hutchins) placed 2nd in their group, giving us the overall win by a substantial margin.

A big shout out to the Otaki Club for their generous hospitality.

Next year's event will be hosted by Waikanae on Saturday 19th September 2026.

Disabled Carparks

With thanks to Kapiti Coast District Council - and to Viv Gray for her organisational skills - we now have two new carparks for persons with disabilities adjacent to the new access ramp.  

Spaces for the Director, Duty Officer and Committee will be moved to the North end of the building.

Jocelyn Brooke

I regret to announce that Jocelyn Brooke passed away peacefully on Tuesday 16th September, 4 days after her 91st birthday.

We send our sincere condolences to Jocelyn's family and friends.

A celebration of Jocelyn’s life will be held at Cedarwood, 17 Parata Street, Waikanae on Friday 19th September at 3:00pm. The service will also be live streamed here.

XG Handicapping Trial

As previously advised, at its meeting on 12th May the Committee agreed a proposal to trial a change to the Club's handicapping system. 

Based on advice from the Bridge Advisory Group (BAG), a three-month trial of the Compass XG Rating system was introduced on 1st July. The system has been used for Monday sessions and in the recent Parkwood Teams event.

The trial is due to complete on 30th September and, as agreed, will be reviewed by BAG in October.  BAG in turn will make recommendations to the Committee before any decision is made on whether to revert to the previous system or to adopt the XG Rating system on a permanent basis. 

To assist BAG in its review, the Committee is now inviting all Club members to provide feedback on the XG Rating system.  

BAG has asked that feedback should indicate your preference for handicapping as follows:

1. I prefer the XG method (used from July to September)
2. I prefer the previous method
3. I have no preference

Further comments may be added if you wish.

Feedback is requested in writing by Wednesday 1st October - email responses are preferred and should be addressed to Pryor Rowland (pryorrowland@gmail.com), copy to the Club Secretary (waikanaebridge@gmail.com).

While the review process is undertaken, the previous handicapping system will be reinstated with effect 1st October.

"Mind the Gap"

It has been brought to the attention of the Committee of another club that there is potential for unauthorised information to be gained by playing opposite a player using a card holder.

There may be a tendency to separate each suit in the card holder and when a card is played from a particular holding leaving say just one or two cards then that has the potential to give information to that player's partner.

Note that any such information can be used by the opposition quite legally as such information in their hands is not unauthorised.

While our Committee is unaware of any such issues in our own club, players using card holders are reminded to keep ALL cards closely adjacent to one another at all times.

(My thanks to Graham Cheater for this advice)

Wellington Sixes 7th September

Great result for the "Waikanae Wizards" winning today's Wellington Sixes:

• Murray Lobb and Craig Jackson - 1st Junior
• Pryor Rowland and Graham "Gandalf" Cheater - 2nd Open
• Nicky Bradley and Vicky Young - 8th Intermediate

The team also - deservedly - won the "best dressed" prize!

Many congratulations also to Helen and Kevin Walker, winners of  the Open category.

Improvers' Lessons

I’m delighted to announce that Vivienne Cannell has kindly agreed to deliver a series of three Improvers’ Lessons. 

The lessons will be on 15th, 22nd and 29th September.

The topics are:

1. Slam bidding including Roman Keycard Blackwood, splinters and cue bidding.
2. Multi twos, including defence.
3. Pre-emptive bidding, sacrifices, defensive strategies and scoring.

These lessons are aimed at "senior Junior" level players, but needless to say all are welcome.

If you would like to attend these lessons please put your name on the sheet which will be available shortly at the top table and pay $20.00 into the Club bank account.

Separately, NZBridge are running three further on-line lessons aimed at intermediate players. These run from September 29 to October 12 and cover: 

1. transfer responses to 1NT
2. Keycard Blackwood and splinters
3. Michaels cue-bids & unusual 2NT.

Further information may be found here.

Waikanae Intermediate Pairs

Our Intermediate Pairs event will take place on Sunday 28th September.

All Intermediate and Junior players are welcome.  

Please register on the NZBridge website.

Thanks to our sponsors, Parkwood Retirement Village.

Otaki Intermediate Tournament Sunday 24th August

Many congratulations to Ady Dale and Rae Lutman, who finished 2nd overall in this weekend's Otaki Intermediate tournament (and also won the afternoon session).

In the morning session, Ann Verboeket and Anne Wolf placed 2nd and Nicky Bradley and Vicky Young were 3rd.  In the afternoon session, Nicky and Vicky placed 5th, with Ann and Anne 6th.

Well done to all.

Kapiti Horowhenua Area Pairs (KHAP)

Up-to date KHAP  results:

Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8

Detailed results may be found on the Levin Bridge Club website.

The current Ladder may be found here.

New Scoring Software

The Club currently uses the "BridgeTab" app on the tablets. It is proprietary, and there is a license fee of $15 per year per tablet. We license for 18 tablets. Our licenses expire on 18 September.

Based on technical advice the Committee has decided not to renew these licences and to move instead to "BridgePal". This is a free open source app, and is the one used at Paraparaumu.

Indeed, we are now the only Compass club in New Zealand still using BridgeTab.

Although from a player perspective, BridgeTab is a bit visually nicer and simpler, the 2 apps provide pretty much the same functions.

Our changeover to BridgePal is currently planned to take place on Tuesday 9 September.

We are making this change because it will be the required app when there is a new version of Compass which is expected in a few months, and because it will save the Club about $300 per year.

This is what the tablet screen will look like when the app is started:



After you enter the table, the entry screens are fairly self-explanatory but we will have people on hand to help with any problems.

We may have some glitches to start with until players and directors get used to it so please be patient if we do.

Bill Bussell

I regret to announce that Bill Bussell died peacefully at Wellington Regional Hospital on 9th August. Bill was 85 years of age.

We send our sincere condolences to Bill's wife Jocelyn and to their family.

A private family cremation has been held.

Programme Book Details

Please take a moment to complete the Programme Book information and consent sheet currently located in the clubrooms.  We need you to check your personal and contact information, indicate whether or not you consent to the Club using your photograph and whether or not you consent to your details being published in next year's Programme Book (note that your physical address [although shown on the sheet] will not be included).

The deadline for publication is fast approaching - please act now.

Facebook

I'm currently trying to set up a new Facebook page for the Club, together with an affiliated private members' group.

The main page can be accessed here, and the Members' Group can be found here.

I don't guarantee either of these will currently work as intended, but if you would like to try them you're very welcome.

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS!

Bylaws and Policies

At its meeting yesterday (11th August) the Committee approved a series of Bylaws and Policies as follows:

Bylaws

• Dispute Resolution
• Financial Management
• Health and Safety
• Privacy
• Life Membership
• Sensitive Expenditure and Gifts
• Zero Tolerance

Policies

• Bullying
• Temperature and Ventilation (updated)

These have been posted to our website (go to "Policies and Bylaws" under "How We Work" or click here).  They may also be accessed by following the above links.

The Committee also agreed to establish a Policy Review Working Group which will be convened on an "as required" basis to periodically review and where necessary amend or update all the Club's bylaws and policies.

Multigrade Tournament Sunday 3rd August

Our annual Multigrade tournament was held on Sunday 3rd August with 23 tables making it a very full room.  Special thanks to Anne Ricketts for her splendid organisation of the event, Bryan Green from Levin for directing and Maureen Pratchett for scoring, as well as the large group of  behind-the-scenes helpers in the kitchen, behind the bar and doing the setup before and clean up afterwards.

The tournament winners were the visiting Grandmaster pairing of Charles Ker (who also won our Open Pairs in February) and Russell Dive with a total score of 130.34%.  Second were John Donbavand and Murray McMillan on 123.96%.  Maureen Pratchett and Murray Lobb were in 4th place overall (also winning the Open/Junior category).  Liesbet Gavey and Viv Gray won the Junior/Junior category, and Graham Cheater and Anthea Black were 1st E/W overall in the afternoon session. 

(Thanks to Steve Ricketts for the above photos)

Many congratulations to all involved in what was without doubt a very successful and enjoyable day.

Reminder

A gentle reminder - if you are the last person to leave the clubrooms after a session or other event, please do the rounds to make sure that:

• all windows are closed (including those in the toilets and kitchen)
• fans have been turned off
• heating has been shut down (panel heaters and heat pumps)
• all lights are turned off
• all doors are locked

These steps will help us in our ongoing efforts to keep our ever-increasing power bill under control.  

Your assistance will be appreciated.

Disabled Access Project

As of Thursday 31st July the new disabled access ramp has been completed.

Some finishing work remains to be done (including reconnection of the water toby).

Thanks are due to our contractor, Ryan Freer of RFC Homes Ltd, and to Derek Snelling for his (ongoing) leadership of the project.

Podcast - "The Bridge Zone"

The Bridge Zone radio show is now the second most downloaded podcast on the Hamilton Radio Station Free FM with over 3,000 downloads in August.

The Bridge Zone is a radio show and podcast encouraging fellow Bridge players to share the passion that enthusiasts have in playing this challenging game.

Click here to listen to the The Bridge Zone, or tune in to the The Bridge Zone on Coast Access Radio - 104.7 FM - Mondays at 1.30 pm (Kapiti)

If you would like to sample the show, the most recent podcast is available here.

Recent Results

KHAP Round 5

Lorraine Gaffaney and Vicky Young were 1st overall with 62.91%, and Naciye Bagci and Anthea Black were 3rd with 58.93%.

Selected results from Sunday 20th July:

Rae Lutman and Ady Dale were 1st N/S in the afternoon session of the Karori Intermediate Pairs.

Anthea Black and Naciye Bagci placed 5th overall in the Levin OpenPairs.

Jim Gordon and Laura Kelly placed 2nd overall in the Paraparaumu Junior Pairs. In the afternoon session, Murray Lobb and Craig Jackson were 2nd N/S and Gillian van Raalte and Hugh Wolfensohn were 2nd E/W.

Disabled Access Project

The construction of our new ramp at the front of the building is expected to begin on Monday 21st July.  This will unavoidably cause some disruption, particularly in the carpark, and there may also be some noise during our daytime playing sessions on Monday and Thursday.  

Our contractor is Ryan Freer of RFC Homes Ltd.

When the project is complete we expect to have three carparks for persons with disabilities along the front of the building immediately adjacent to the new ramp, with the existing parking spaces at the front moved to the end of the building.

Please be alert for temporary health and safety hazards when using the existing access to the front door of the building, and take extra care.

Your patience and understanding during this period will be appreciated.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

31 July update - handrails installed and construction complete.

Online Intermediate Lessons - August

The NZBridge Teaching and Learning Committee has organised online Intermediate lessons – suitable for those who have played for a few years.

Cost: $20 for a set of 3 lessons or $8 for a single lesson

Where: Register and pay through HelloClub and you will receive the RealBridge link...

https://nzbridge.helloclub.com/public/event/6876f6bb705af2ca59a20c50/intermediate-lessons

Time: Lessons are 4-6pm Sundays, repeated 7-9pm the following Tuesdays. Log on at least 15 minutes early, check your camera and microphone, as you will be playing the practice hands.

Schedule:

Sunday 10th & Tuesday 12th August - Escaping 1NT Doubled
Sunday 17th & Tuesday 19th August - Interference over our 1NT
Sunday 24th & Tuesday 26th August - Competing over their 1NT

Further lessons in September/October will be notified soon.

(Thanks to Helen Walker for spotting this)

Wellington Regional Club Championships

As previously advised, the Wellington Regional Club Championships took place on 12th July.

I'm delighted to report that the Waikanae team placed 2nd, equal on points with Otaki, and only 2 points behind the winners, Wellington.

In the Open grade John Donbavand and Pryor Rowland were 4th with 52.04%.  In the Restricted grade Angela Gattsche and Helen Walker came 2nd with 54.26%.  In the Intermediate grade Nicky Bradley and Vicky Young were 9th, while in the Junior grade Murray Lobb and Craig Jackson placed 3rd with 55.09%.

Pride of place goes to Laura Kelly and Jim Gordon, who won the Novice competition with a score of 61.48%.

Congratulations to all on an excellent result - and thanks also to Kevin Walker, who was both Director and Scorer for the event.

XG Ratings

The following explanatory note on XG ratings has kindly been provided by Maureen Pratchett:

The purpose of applying handicaps on Monday is to level the playing field, not to punish the good players as some might think.

There are many ways we could calculate handicaps – average scores (which has been used previously) and NZ Bridge rating points to name two ways. We are trialling a different way on Mondays for 3 months as it appears to be fairer than both of these and is easily applied. It is called the XG system. An awful name, but that is what Compass calls it.

Each week Compass calculates an XG rating (a percent score) for every player which is based on all of their previous playing history. Average players will have an XG of around 50. Very good players will have a rating in the high 50s. Novice players who have no previous playing history are given a default value of 40. A player’s XG rating will therefore adjust from week to week.

The XG handicap is dynamically-calculated for each session based on a pair’s average XG rating and the average XG rating of all their opponents during that session.

For example, if you and your partner have an average XG rating of 40 and the average of your opponents is 48, you will get a handicap of +8 for that session – to level the field. Similarly, if you and your partner have an average XG rating of 54 and your opponents have an average rating of 46, you will get a handicap of -8 for that session.

For any (say) NS pair, the opponents they play against may be different from other NS pairs. For example, if there are fewer rounds being played than there are tables, the players who NS1 do not meet will be different than the players who NS3 do not meet. Therefore, even if NS1 and NS3 have the same average XG rating, the average of their opponents may be different, thus resulting in different handicaps.

Any member can go to website https://mycompasss.com (note 3s’s) to see their playing history and their current XG rating. Go to NGS in the top menu, then XG listings. Then you can put your surname in the Search box. You can log in as a guest or create your own login ID for the website.

Current XG Ratings for Waikanae Bridge Club members may be found by scrolling the list below.

  >

  

The full spreadsheet is available here.  It will be updated monthly.

If you wish to check your own rating (or that of any other member) at any time go to https://mycompasss.com/xg/xg.php and enter the relevant search query.

Wellington Regional Club Championships

As previously advised, the Wellington Regional Club Championships will take place on 12 July 2025.

I'm pleased to announce the Waikanae team selected by the Bridge Advisory Group (BAG) is as follows:

Open/Open: John Donbavand and Pryor Rowland

Open Restricted: Angela Gattsche and Helen Walker

Intermediate: Nicky Bradley and Vicky Young

Junior: Murray Lobb and Craig Jackson

Novice: Laura Kelly and Jim Gordon

Good luck everyone - play well!

Welcome to the Class of 2025

i

It’s Graduation time! Our new learners will shortly be joining Monday sessions for some competitive play!

This year's series of learners lessons has come to an end, and three scheduled evenings of play with the Committee have also been completed.   

We are very much looking forward to welcoming the new group of novice players when they start playing competitive bridge on Monday 7th July.  Given the size of this year's class, there may be as many as 18 new players on that day and in the weeks ahead.

We are trying to achieve as painless a transition for our new members to competitive bridge as possible. Many of these players will be nervous, slow, and needing help with both bidding and card play. In recognition of this, there will be at least one non-playing Director, and some experienced players available to assist.  However, no other special arrangements are being made.

I would like once again to thank Ady Dale and all those established members (too numerous to mention here) who have helped with the lessons - you've done a great job!

Please come along to meet and play with our new members - we'd love to see you!

Applications for Membership

Members are requested to consider the following applications from the recently-completed learners' course for membership of the Club.