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.
Waikanae Bridge
XG Ratings
Current XG Ratings for Waikanae Bridge Club members may be found by scrolling the list below.
Wellington Regional Club Championships
I'm pleased to announce the Waikanae team selected by the Bridge Advisory Group (BAG) is as follows:
Open/Open: Graham Cheater 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!
"In Brief"
Current National Rankings
The 30 June ranking reports are out and once again some of our players are mentioned. This report identifies the top 20 players in each grade nationwide:
- In the Life Master grade John Donbavand is ranked 11th
- In the National Master grade Pryor Rowland is ranked 12th
- In the Master grade Graham Cheater is ranked 9th
- In the Local Master grade Murray Lobb is ranked 20th
- In the Novice grade Jim Gordon is ranked 3rd
Congratulations everyone - not bad for a small club like ours!
Disability Access Project
I'm delighted to be able to report that the Waikanae Community Board has given the Club a grant of $10,000 (exclusive of GST) towards the cost of our disability access project, which will see the construction of a new ramp along the front of the building and the development of new carparks to make access easier for persons with disabilities.
I would like to thank Rae Lutman for her efforts in putting together the application, Derek Snelling for his ongoing leadership of the project, and Paul Brinkman. Rae, Derek and Paul all attended the Board's meeting on Tuesday, with Derek as the lead presenter on our behalf.
I will keep you updated as the project proceeds.
Wellington Bridge Club lessons
The Wellington Bridge Club is running lessons every Saturday afternoon until August. Any member of a bridge club can go. Last Saturday there were 12 full tables. The session is 1:00-4:30, and costs $6:00 which includes tea and scones (my thanks to Judi Vernau for this item).
Welcome to the Class of 2025
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.
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.
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.
Life Flight Trust
The Charity tournament at Paraparaumu on Sunday 6th July is in aid of the Life Flight Trust.
Life Flight Trust is not just an abstract worthy cause - earlier this year they directly contributed to saving the life of one of our members by flying Craig Jackson to Auckland for emergency surgery.
Craig says: "I am obviously very keen for them to get as much benefit as possible from the tournament". He has kindly provided this photograph, showing him being loaded onto the air ambulance.
If you would like to know more about the Trust you can visit their website here.
Regional Championships 2026 (and beyond)
If you aspire to selection for the Wellington team to compete in next year's Regional Championships you may be interested in this Bulletin from NZ Bridge:
Wellington Regional Club Championships
The Waikanae team will be chosen by the Bridge Advisory Group (BAG).
The team will consist of 10 players in the following categories:
- Open
- Open Restricted
- Intermediate
- Junior
- Novice (Note: a player with less than 5 A & B Points is classified as “Novice”)
If you would like to be considered for the team, please let Rae Lutman know as soon as possible - but in any event no later than Monday 30 June.
Digital Seniors
This may be of interest.
If you would like to know more, please contact Sally Weatherley.
NZ Bridge AGM
Chris Farrow and I represented the club at the NZ Bridge AGM held at the Wellington Bridge Club on Saturday 13th June.
Points of interest included the following:
- NZ Bridge is still running at a (small) loss, despite passing on increased costs to clubs: cost-cutting measures are being examined "line by line" on a monthly basis in an effort to ensure that the organisation can break even by the end of the current financial year
- a proposal to prepare a 5-year financial plan was agreed: this should be available to clubs by the end of this year
- of NZ Bridge's over 12,000 members:
- 1,047 (8.2%) are Open players
- 4,230 (33.1%) are Intermediate
- 7,505 (58.7%) are Juniors
- NZ Bridge is now required to provide a Statement of Service Performance as part of its audited financial statements
- the "Toolkit" is available - approximately 75% complete - on the NZ Bridge website portal
- Also available through the portal are a range of teaching materials. Teachers are being kept up to date via a dedicated Teaching and Learning WhatsApp group
- this year's Congress will be held in Palmerston North (please refer to previous separate post here)
- the new NZ Bridge website is not yet ready
- a report on the Tournament Review is expected shortly: this is expected to remove all restrictions on clubs relating to the scheduling and delivery of tournaments.
The papers for the meeting can be found here in the unlikely event that anyone wants to read them in detail.
If anyone would like further information please do not hesitate to contact either me or Chris Farrow.
Recent Results
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KHAP Round 4
Lorraine Gaffaney and Ann Verboeket placed 4th overall in the Levin Intermediate Pairs.
Gillian van Raalte and Hugh Wolfensohn won the morning session of the Levin Junior Pairs.
Paraparaumu Bridge Club Fundraiser
Following Bob Jennings' visit to the club on Monday afternoon I have attached both a "flyer" for the Paraparaumu Bridge Club's gin fundraising initiative and also an order form. If you or anyone you know would like to purchase a bottle from Imagination you can complete the form and make an online payment as per the details on the form.
The key points are to specify the delivery address as "Waikanae Bridge Club", and to email a copy of the completed form to Imagination. They have an email address on the form but it is a very small font. It is "orders@imaginationgin.nz ".
The Role of the Recorder
Our Recorder is Graeme Norman, Contact him to discuss in confidence any problems at the Club that are hard to resolve.
The Recorder's role and duties are explained below.
Click here to email Graeme.
Alerting
I was asked recently by a member if I could publish some guidance on the subject of alerting bids. Clearly not being qualified to do so myself, I asked Graham Cheater for his advice - this is what he very kindly provided:
All opening bids of 1C and 1NT must be explained by responder as to their shape and strength e.g.
1NT = 12-14 balanced
1C = 12+ points at least 3 cards
All bids that are NOT natural but have a specific meaning and deviate from the standard part of the system played must be alerted.
e.g. 2C bid over opposition 1NT may indicate a 6 card suit and 2D may indicate the majors (Hamilton)
Exceptions:
- 2C response to 1NT if it is Stayman
- 2C if it is an opening bid and game forcing
- All doubles and redoubles
- All cue bids
- All bids at the 4 level and above
If that player has bid or passed before the alert has been made they have the right to change their bid - Call the Director.
A player should not volunteer any uninvited explanations of a call or play by partner.
A player can only ask the meaning of an alerted bid if it is their turn to call.
Hawke's Bay Congress 2025
Our big contingent to this weekend's Hawke's Bay Congress saw some notable successes:
Pairs Events (Saturday)
Karen Eriksen and Jude Lucas were 2nd in the Intermediate Pairs with a score of 59.32%.
Graeme Norman and his partner were 4th in the Open Pairs.
Team Events (Sunday)
Graeme Norman's team won the Open Teams Qualifying event with a 6-0-1 record.
Karen Hutchins and Miriam Lewin's team placed 3rd in the Intermediate Teams competition.
Pairs and Teams Events (Monday)
Swiss Pairs
Nicky Bradley and Pryor Rowland were 4th E/W with a 4-0-2 record.
Karen Hutchins and Miriam Lewin won the best Intermediate Pair.
Open Teams (Final)
Graeme Norman's team were the overall winners with a 5-0-0 record.
Many congratulations to all concerned on what has clearly been a very successful King's Birthday Weekend.
Matariki
To celebrate Matariki (Māori New Year), we will be repeating last year's successful "Soup Night" event.
The list is now available, so please add your name for what I'm sure will be an enjoyable evening.
Please come along if you can.
Paraparaumu Bridge Club - Fundraiser
As many of you will know, the Paraparaumu Bridge Club has an urgent need to raise funds for the repair and renovation of their clubrooms.
The Club’s latest fundraising event is the launch of its very own bespoke club gin, "BRIDGIN THE GAP".
A local distillery "Imagination" is making and selling the gin and
the club is promoting it to anyone who is interested. The cost is $85.00 for a
750ml bottle.
The launch event is on Friday 6th June 2025 at 7:15pm at the Paraparaumu Bridge Club. Waikanae members are warmly invited to attend.
Chris
Charteris from Imagination will speak about the company and the making
of the gin. There will be a (small) tasting opportunity with tonic, soda, lemonade and water on hand to add. A cheese board with cheese and crackers will be included. Chris will also have EFTPOS etc and supplies to take away.
Every bottle sold will raise the club around $24.00.
If you would like to attend and support our friends at Paraparaumu please let the president, Bob Jennings know by email or text [rjennings@xtra.co.nz, ph. 0211150008].
As the 6th June launch clashes with our scheduled Friday Pairs event that evening, I have also invited Bob to attend one of our playing sessions next month to promote this initiative and to take orders. I will let you know in advance when this is happening.
Interesting Articles
Kate Terry, an NZ Bridge Board member, recently participated in a radio discussion with Matt Heath and Tyler Adams on Newstalk ZB on the benefits of playing bridge.
You can listen to the podcast here.
Articles
Follow these links for two recent bridge-related articles in the NZ media:
Judith and Blair Event
Thanks to everyone who made the day possible:
- Our main sponsor - Hobson Mills
- Our raffle sponsors (Waikanae Butchery, Griffin and Pops, and Relish Cafe), and also Margaret Gordon for providing the designer bags
- Helen Walker for her brilliant organisation of the whole day
- Kevin Walker not only for directing in his inimitable style, but also for setting up the hands and managing the play
- Maureen Pratchett for scoring
- Fiona McDonald-Bates for organising the raffle
- Margaret Gordon for managing the food and everyone else who contributed in the kitchen
- All those other contributors (room set-up, bar team, furniture movers, cleaner-uppers and so on), with a special mention to Sue Osborne (chief washer up)
Thank you also to those who spoke to share their memories of both Judith and Blair, not always an easy task for those less accustomed to public speaking.
For the record, the overall winners on the day were Anthea Black and Paul Brinkman - many congratulations to them.
Handicapping
The new system calculates handicaps on a dynamic basis,
using our existing Compass scoring system to calculate
what's known as an "XG Rating" for every player. This
rating in turn enables a handicap to be applied to any
sessions that use the XG method.
New XG Ratings are re-calculated automatically by the
system for each player after every session. For “average”
players the XG Rating will be around 50%, while for more
experienced players the XG rating will be higher.
The use of XG handicaps will be reviewed by BAG in early
October to determine whether or not the new system should be adopted
for Mondays on a permanent basis.
Winter Draws On
IMPORTANT
I'm not talking here about those chronic non-infectious conditions which affect some of us; these deserve to be - and should be - treated with tolerance and sympathetic understanding.
IF YOU ARE UNWELL PLEASE DO NOT COME TO BRIDGE UNTIL YOU ARE SURE YOU ARE NOT INFECTIOUS.
If you do come when you are unwell, you are not letting your partner down (he or she can always find a replacement for you) - you are letting the whole club down: it's not fair on you and it's not fair on your friends at the club. They will not thank you for playing when you are ill - but they will thank you for staying away and protecting their health as well as your own.
New Zealand Bridge Congress 2025
Advance Notice:
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For more information, go to https://www.nzbridge.co.nz/national-congress-feb-2022.html
Annual Plan 2025
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The Annual Plan for the current year is available here.
The purpose of this plan is to provide a framework to guide the Committee, and to inform the Club's members. In essence all it does is formalise what has been done by successive Committees over many years: it does not set anything in stone, nor does it constrain the Committee from making whatever decisions it needs to take in the best interests of the club.
Progress against the Plan will be monitored by the Committee on a quarterly basis.
Kapiti Horowhenua Area Pairs (KHAP)
Up-to date KHAP results:
Detailed results may be found on the Levin Bridge Club website.
Wellington Bridge Club - Breakfast Event
This is a fundraiser for Breast Cancer research and education. All are welcome.
Laws for Bridge Players - Videos
The programs were paid for by the committee of the Top of the South (TOPS) region of NZ Bridge.
Waikanae/Paraparaumu Interclub
The annual Waikanae v Paraparaumu Interclub event took place yesterday (6th April). Both clubs fielded 13 pair teams made up of players of all grades.
The day's individual winners were:
- 1st Ady Dale and Rae Lutman (Waikanae)
- 2nd Jeanne Wardill and Graham Cheater (Waikanae)
- 3rd Margaret Jamieson and Gillian Travers (Paraparaumu)
The shield was regained by Waikanae by a margin of 56.42 percentage points.
Many congratulations to Ady and Rae for the overall win, and thanks to all who took part in what was a very enjoyable afternoon. Special thanks to Maureen for both directing and scoring, and - as always - also to those who contributed behind the scenes.
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| Bob Jennings (President, Paraparaumu) hands over the shield |
Update - thanks to Chris Farrow, the shield has already been brought up to date with the 2025 result added (click on the photo to enlarge):
NZBridge Website Update
STOP PRESS
We have had an update from NZB and it seems that the roll back to the old website has been successful and we are once again able to access the site.
The only outstanding issue is around tournament entries made since last Thursday. If you have entered any tournament, please check you are in fact registered. If you are not, please contact the Club hosting the tournament.
It is expected to have the old website fully up and running before the weekend.
I previously advised (here) that the new NZBridge website had gone live.
This morning NZBridge have told us that they are experiencing serious issues with the new site including loss of a number of functions such as tournament entry management, membership management and congress entries.
As a result, the decision has been taken to wind things back to the old website. This will enable the new one to be worked on (offline) and tested properly before going live. There is no time frame for this.
The rollback will take place today (Thursday) during which time there will be no website access.
The site will be restored to where it was as of Thursday morning last week. You may need to log in with your former passwords to access the site.
The NZBridge Secretary (email: Secretary@nzbridge.co.nz) can reset members' passwords for the old site (please don't request this unless absolutely necessary - the poor man has enough on his plate as it is).
Please note that, for
a short time, results will not be uploaded to either our website or the
NZBridge website from last Thursday. This will include any
masterpoints changes.
Improvers' Lessons
Topics covered will be:
- reverses and jump bids
- 4th suit forcing
- card reading and inferences
If you're interested, either register on the sheet on the front table, or let Anne Ricketts know.
These sessions are suitable for people with at least a year of playing experience.
The cost is $20 for the three sessions. Payment can be made to the Waikanae Bridge account or on the night.
Rubber Bridge
If you're interested in participating in this year's rubber bridge competition please see the information sheet below:
Important Note: Entries close on 31 March
Lyn Derbyshire
A former member of our club, Lynette "Lyn" Derbyshire died peacefully on 18th March at the Malvina Major retirement home in Johnsonville. Lyn was 83 years old.
We send our condolences to her family and friends.
A celebration of Lyn's life will be held at Harvey's Chapel, 284 Oxford Street, Levin, on Monday 24 March at 11.00am, followed by a burial at The Avenue Lawn Cemetery, Levin.
We send our condolences to her family and friends.
A celebration of Lyn's life will be held at Harvey's Chapel, 284 Oxford Street, Levin, on Monday 24 March at 11.00am, followed by a burial at The Avenue Lawn Cemetery, Levin.
St Patrick's Day Event
Thank you to Vicky Young and her leprechaun assistants for running a fun afternoon on Monday to mark St Patrick's Day.
Thanks also to all those who took up the challenge to wear something green. The prizes for best dressed went to Judi Vernau and Steve Ricketts.
NZBridge Website Update
We have received a lengthy email from NZ Bridge concerning the forthcoming update of their website.
The message is reproduced here.
NZ Bridge - Board Vacancy
The following message has been received from Alan Morris (Chairperson of NZ Bridge):
Following the recently announced resignation of Anna Kalma from the Board of New Zealand Bridge we are keen to bring a fresh face or faces to the table.
We are fortunate to have a broad range of skills ranging from governance, finance, commercial management, communication and research, rules, and regulations.
Bridge in this country, like elsewhere around the world, is at a watershed moment.
The game has been around for a longtime and over that period we have seen the demographic age. Average age anecdotally is close to 80.
We are now experiencing players exiting for a variety reasons. Whilst Clubs are doing a wonderful job getting people into lessons our retention rate is sub-optimum.
We can go with the flow or be progressive and explore new opportunities.
Those opportunities include being recognised as a sport and all the associated benefits, raising our profile and engagement with youth, broadening our engagement and connecting with the large number who play social bridge.
Also recognising the quarter acre dream is a dream of the past. We are seeing living and work life changing and we need to adapt.
We are keen to consider people who will bring fresh ideas. People who have skills and experience in the fields of sponsorship, fundraising, sports management, lobbying.
People who are willing to work within a close-knit team and who will support collective decision making.
Whilst we are keen explore new ideas and creative thinking, we are keen to continue to support a team ethos.
If this is, you and you are keen to give something back to the game I am keen to hear from you.
Our constitution allows us to second people to the board.
My contact details are set out below or I can be contacted on allan.morris@nzbridge.co.nz
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