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Winter = Tournaments. Lots of them.  But also for Top of The South, it is a time when our clubs battle it out in a variety of interclub competitions. 

 

This year for the first time, the Howorth Cup, our TOTS Open Teams Event and Michael Green Trophy, our Novice Teams event, were hosted on the same day by  the Nelson Club.  Richmond returned home with both sets of silverware!  As you can see from the history of the Howorth Cup, this was a fantastic achievement as this trophy has spent most of the last 60 years, with the exception of a few hiccups, oscillating between Marlborough and Nelson.

 

The Howorth Cup

 

The  Howorth Cup was donated in 1956 by Mickey Howorth, for inter-club competition in the Seddon Shield Districts.  She was a member of the Victoria League of Marlborough Bridge Club.  The Howorth Cup has always been contested between some of clubs in the Top of the South even when they were part of the Wellington and Canterbury Regions.  It has become the formal interclub competition since 2010 when TOTS Region was established.  2014 was the first time all 8 clubs were represented, and have been ever since.

The first winner of the cup was Nelson. In the next 21 years Nelson won the cup 12 times and the Victoria League of Marlborough 5 times. Westport won in 1967 and 1974; Motueka in 1975, and Blenheim in 1976. After the two Blenheim clubs combined to form the Marlborough Bridge Club, Marlborough won the cup in 1978 and held it until 1995  when Nelson were victorious. 

 

1996, 1997, 1998      Marlborough

1999                           Nelson

2000 – 2008              Marlborough

2009                           Richmond

2010                           Marlborough

2011-2013                 Nelson

2014, 2015                Marlborough

2016                           RICHMOND

 

Robin Young, congratulating Richmond, sent me this hand and these comments:

 

 

Nelson B v Marlborough A     ( Both N/S pairs playing Precision)

Nelson B N/S:

North played in 6. The lead  was K taken in dummy with the ace and a small heart discard. Declarer subsequently lost K and J,  1 down.  Marlborough A +100

Marlborough A N/S

 After key card asking (presumably in spades), North got a response of 2 plus Q.  They decided that South had at least 6 spades to AKQ.  Why? Doesn’t the A exist? 

The 7 contract was 2 down.  Down 2? No!  Down 6 (let’s not ask why).

 Nelson A +600 Nelson B +500 on this board.  +11 IMPs for the hand for a +4 IMP win.  If that was the way Nelson and Marlborough players were bidding and playing during the day, is it any surprise that Richmond won the trophy? Note both Marlborough and Nelson had 5 grandmasters each.  Richmond had no grandmasters and 6 intermediate players.  Well done Richmond!

On the K lead to 6 , North should postpone the decision about what to discard. Ruff in hand and play two top hearts and then a low heart ruffing in dummy. This will be over-ruffed but the heart suit is now good for declarer who can regain the lead, draw trumps and discard the real loser, a spade on the A in dummy.

 

Michael Green Trophy

A Junior 3B Teams Tournament for less experienced bridge players; those with either “no rank” or “certificate of proficiency” i.e. less than 20 Master Points.

It is specifically aimed at fostering team play among those new to bridge.This has been contested between Richmond, Nelson and Motueka for several years.This year Golden Bay joined forces with Motueka for a combined team.  Richmond matched the success of their Open players in the Howorth Cup, winning the event.

 Richmond's victorious Howorth Cup and Michael Green Trophy winners

Margaret Cederman Challenge

 

This has been on the go for several years now.  Four teams from both Motueka and Golden Bay battle it out over 2 sessions, home and away: one early in the year, and one later.  In the main the teams are fairly evenly matched and the trophy has spent a reasonably equal amount of time in both camps, but this year it was definitely Motueka who had both the upper hand.  Consistency  meant a second win on 3rd September and they took the trophy home.

 

Junior and Intermediate Interclub (thanks Robin again for this report)

The inaugural of the event was held on September 18^th, the day after the Picton Intermediate.  All 8 clubs were represented.  After 5 rounds Picton looked to have a commanding lead; but in round 6 both their Intermediate and Junior teams lost and now Golden Bay had a chance to win.  Golden Bay gained another 4VPs in the last round but Picton held on to win by nearly 8 VPs (161.95 to 154).

The Golden Bay Junior team had a runaway win but their Intermediate team’s bottom placing cost Golden Bay the honour of being the first name on the trophy.  Kaikoura had a 0.33VP win in the Intermediate but their Juniors only just avoided bottom place.  It was the steady performance of both Picton teams that gained the club the trophy: the Juniors 2^nd and Intermediate 3^rd. 

The E/W pairs were quick to note that the cards were running in favour of N/S all day.  They didn’t seem to be consoled knowing that their teammates had good hands with which to “bring home the bacon”; nor did they seem to relish the opportunity to display their sound and brilliant defence!

Other tournaments over the winter have been the Motueka Open, NBS All Grade Open in Richmond, Nelson Intermediate, and Picton Intermediate.  All well supported, catered and contested. Richmond has also run the Ernest Rutherford over 3 Thursday afternoons, which has been a great success; organised and directed by Lindsey Guy and Steve Gray.  And on 10 – 11 September, Marlborough hosted the National 15A Pairs; won by Elizabeth and Tony Fitzgerald, with John Patterson and Kate Davies coming 2^nd. The Plate was won by Jim Jessep and Barbara Fechney; Peter & Trish Downward 2^nd and Jena Robinson and Ed Roggeveen 3^rd.

      

 Westport's Garry Howard and Jill Ireland were placed in the     In the same event, Jenny Cooper and Suzan van Wijngaarden

Hearts Grade at the Richmond NBS event.                                 punched well above their ranking.

Other News

Lindsey Guy has run a couple of Wednesday afternoon improvers’ lessons, in Nelson, with a good dose of her usual energy and enthusiasm. Amazing turn out – so much so there was a mad dash for more photocopying and card dealing to be able to cope! 

Lindsey at work

Nelson held their AGM on 20 August.  Alan Toker is their new President; Secretary Sita Monaghan; Treasurer, Adrian Abraham; Immediate Past President Ruth Allison and Helen Robinson, Gillian Williams, Michael Smith and Gary Chalmers make up the committee.  It was also the occasion that Tony Hinkley was unanimously voted in as Life Member.  Very well deserved and congratulations Tony.

 

Marlborough has a group of 9-10 learners in their lessons, thanks to a newspaper advert and article, banner in the library and the Clubs of Marlborough Open Day.  They have one other newby, Hannah Brooks who has been coming along to play. You may recall I mentioned Galen in an earlier article, 3^rd generation at Marlborough Club.  Hannah is his girlfriend and wanted to know what on earth Galen is up to.  She has learnt from Galen and Robin tells me that without lessons, she and Galen came second in one session.  Robin is keeping an eye on her – “she has the makings of a very good player”.

 

Westport have been using their Monday night sessions to encourage beginners, recent learners and those who haven’t been playing bridge for a while to really get into the game.  They have a roving director / helper “joker man” so if you don’t know what to do, you can ask.  Often works a lot better than been told after the event.  It is an idea Ray picked up from a recent teaching weekend and Westport have put their stamp on it. Good on you, Westport.  And Ray Curnow has also been on the radio talking bridge. At 7am!  Was it live or pre-recorded, Ray?

Congress

What a brilliant week – thank you. As usual a good representation from TOTS.  Freda Herring and Yvonne Scarlett kicked it off for TOTS, playing in the Dan Gifford Rubber Bridge and stayed on for the Restricted Pairs.  The usual suspects came up for the whole week, but were also joined by some new to Congress and Wayne Smith, Helen Robinson and Beth Burdett joined us at the end of the week for the Intermediates.  We are putting the pressure on them to go for the week next year!  Everyone had at least some small personal successes at varying points during the week, but the stand out TOTS success of Congress has to be Roger and Carol Minchin both achieving Silver Grand Master rank; Roger earlier in the week and Carol on the last afternoon!  Many congratulations to both of them – and here they are celebrating this milestone.

 

Roger and Carol Minchin, Silver Grand Masters together.

 

 

 

 

 

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