Fun and fashion at the Cambridge Sixes

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Dashing 1920s style and some black magic and sorcery were on show when the Rotorua teams competed in the Cambridge Sixes Tournament on Saturday 12 August.

The event, held at the Karapiro Convention Centre, is now the largest one day tournament in NZ, the fun formula of great bridge, trivia and some old fashioned fun of dress up and spot prizes proving very popular. Each team consists of an Open, Intermediate and Junior pair, which makes it a great way for players at different stages of their bridge to join together, and this year there was a total of 44 teams of 6, the largest field ever.

The Geyser Squad finished 12th out of 44, with the Open pair of Ian and Pam Moore coming 5th in their grade. The other Rotorua team, The Sulphur City Scorcerers comprising Heini Lux and Alan Dick, Leonie Pritchard and Mark Bendall, Maggie and Peter Bentley finished 27th overall – the Bentleys came 13th in the Junior grade which was an excellent result in such a big tournament.

It was a great day for all with fantastic food, prizes and raffles.

Interclub Bay Teams 2017

The Bay Teams Interclub competition was held at Rotorua on Sunday 30 July with teams from Mt Maunganui, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Te Puke and Whakatane taking part. Each club fielded a team in the Open, Intermediate and Junior grades.
It was a very successful day for the host club with Rotorua taking out the overall prize with 204 Victory Points across all the grades. Tauranga were second with 173 and Whakatane third with 166.
Within each grade, both the Rotorua Open and Intermediate teams won their competition and the Junior team came a very creditable third in theirs. The Open Rotorua team scored 61 VPs and Tauranga were second with 59. The Rotorua Intermediates amassed a whopping 90 VPs, followed by Whakatane on 57. In the Junior section, Whakatane were first with 65 and Tauranga second with 56. The top two teams in each section go through to the Waikato Bays final to be held in Cambridge on 27 August. (Because the Whakatane Intermediate team wasn’t eligible to go through, the third placed Tauranga will take their place.)
It was a very enjoyable day. Many thanks to the Rotorua members who organised the event, helped in the kitchen and provided a wonderful morning and afternoon tea, to Heini for directing, and well done to all the players!

The intermediate team relaxing after a good day’s work at the bridge table – from left Elspeth Goodrick, Joyce Reid, Cathy Ward and Wendy Blackman

Support our Sponsors


Here is Pam Moore’s experience:
Recently Ian and I decided to sell a rental property we have owned for twenty years. Having enjoyed Scratchies, bidding pads and pens at our bridge club supplied by Stu Phillips, we decided to offer Stu our property to market and hopefully sell.
The house went under contract (at a premium price) a day after it went on the market and three weeks later became unconditional. There were a few minor bumps along the way, which Stu dealt with positively, knowledgeably and with good humour. All my overreactive phone calls were dealt with respectfully and patiently.
So if you’re looking to buy or sell your property- the Moore’s advice is -call Stu. 021 780 785
Extra bonus: we had $1000 worth of free advertising which also worked in our favour to sell the house.

New club Grand Master

Congratulations to Pam Moore, who has recently been named a Grand Master and has joined a select group of Rotorua players, past and present to attain that status. Even rarer is to have a husband and wife who are both Grand Masters, as Ian and Pam now are.
They are two of four current club Grand Masters, the others being Neil Dravitzki and Tom Winiata. (Please let me know if I’ve missed any).
Previous Grand Master couples in the club include Ian and Cynthia Clayton, and Bruce and Merle Marr.

Pam and Ian Moore showing her recently awarded certificate.

Rotorua Open Tournament

Rotorua players did well in the Open Tournament played on Saturday, against an extremely strong field. The winners were Ian Clayton (ex-Rotorua) and Richard Solomon. Second and third places went to the Rotorua pairs of Liz Wilcox and Michael Wilcox, and Paul Cosgrove and Neil Dravitzki, respectively. The next highest local pair were Wendy Blackman and Elspeth Goodrick in eighth …

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Midwinter Christmas Potluck Dinner


This annual event will be on Wednesday 21 June this year.
The bar is open from 6pm (drinks are free!) Dinner is about 6.45/7pm, and will be followed by some fun bridge.
(This is a pot luck dinner and we sit down, so select from salads, vegetables, meat or dessert. Not finger food.)
This night is to welcome our new group of learners into the club, and it’s always lots of fun so we would like to see a big turnout of club members. It’s a great chance to mix and mingle and show our incoming members how friendly we are.
See Ruth, ph 348 2868, for any queries.

Hawkes Bay Congress 2017

The success for Rotorua players continued on Sunday with the team of Gill Nelson, Heini Lux, Marie Milsum and Alison Beer finishing fourth in the Congress Teams. This was in a very high quality field of 46 teams, so it’s a great result, and especially pleasing for Marie and Alison, re-uniting to play together after Alison’s recent move away from Rotorua.

A good contingent of Rotorua players have gone to Napier to take part in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Weekend congress. The intermediate players have started the weekend well, with the pairings of Joyce Reid and Rex Tulloch, and Kevin Jensen and Val Honeyfield coming 6th and 7th respectively in the Intermediate Pairs. Good luck to all the Rotorua players for the rest of the weekend.

Joyce, Rex, Val and Kevin toasting their success in Napier.

Volunteer of the Month – Heini

NZ Bridge have this year instigated a Volunteer of the Month Award and our very own Heini Lux is this month’s recipient. Heini has been a member of the Rotorua Club for over 30 years. He has been President, is currently a Vice President and has served on the committee for many years. His work for the club has included …

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Inter-provincial Trials 2017

A good contingent of Rotorua players made the trip to Tauranga for the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Inter-provinicial Trials, which were held over Saturday and Sunday 13 and 14 May. A total of seven 16-board matches were played, making it a full weekend of bridge! Tom Winiata and Tom Henwood were chosen to represent the province in the Open section along …

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Kelly Peirse Teams

The Kelly Peirse Memorial Open Teams event was held on Saturday 4 February, attracting a large field of 28 teams from around the North Island.

The winning team of Patrick Carter, Julie Atkinson, Jenny Millington and Barry Jones, pictured here with their trophy.

Christmas Tournament 2016

Another very successful Christmas Tournament has been held, with 39 tables filling out the Rotorua clubrooms. As always Ruth Lewis and her helpers, notably her sister Rachel Steele and Marie Milsum did a marvellous job in the kitchen, and Heini did his usual great job of directing. Many other club members, including Ray and Kevin the ham carvers and Trevor the barman, helped out too to make the day enjoyable and memorable for all.

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Annual General Meeting

The AGM and election of officers for 2017 was held on Thursday 1 December. The main positions remained the same with Alan Dick, Vera Bush and Elspeth Goodrick remaining as president, secretary and treasurer respectively. Margaret Hodgson and Heini Lux are vice-presidents and Margie Robbie is the tournament secretary. The new committe is Colleen Allen, Mark Bendall, Paul Cosgrove, Wendy …

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