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

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

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.