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Top of The South News with Jenny Pomeroy

Richmond hosted the Ernest Rutherford 8B tournament over three Thursday afternoons, 29th August, 5 and 12th September.  Spreading the sessions over three weeks like this works well for those who are less keen to play a whole day or who aren’t free on Saturdays.  Thanks to Richmond members, Ron and Shirley Burt, who catered or the three afternoon teas and to Ernest Rutherford for their sponsorship and platters for the final afternoon.  Unfortunately your photographer isn’t free on Thursday afternoons, so no pictures, but the winners were:

Spades  

1st        Steve Gray and Lindsey Guy

2nd       Vicki and Bevan Russell (watch out Westport, as this father daughter duo are heading your way)

3rd       Roger and Carol Minchin

Hearts

1st        Mary Hamilton and Vicki Adnams

2nd       Julia Armstrong and Carol Glen

Diamonds

1st        Jo Conway and Mary Leyden

2nd       Elsie Maginness and Carol Stevens

 Picton Intermediate

Picton hosted its ever-popular Intermediate tournament on 21st September.  Three grades ranging from the more experienced Intermediates to Juniors new to the tournament scene.  Nice touch, session winners who didn’t otherwise feature in the prizes won a bottle of wine.  Also a prize for the best novice pair.  And well done those winners in Diamonds!  Well up the field.

Spades

picton1.jpg          picton 2.jpg

1st    Marty Gimpl and Faye Deakin                  2nd   Claire Welch and Lesley Pincombe                   

3rd were Kathy Dowling and John Clarke. Claire is the Picton club president and is seen in the rest of these photos presenting the prizes.

Hearts

picton 3.jpg         picton 4.jpg     picton 5.jpg

1st        Val and Mike Fitzsimons                    2nd   Kay Buchannan and Monica Telfer     3rd  Haley Hawkins and Glenda Seamons                   

Diamonds

picton 6.jpg      picton 7.jpg
1st Myra Sandal and Margot Wilson             2nd Anne and Bevan Bruce (5th overall)
  (3rd overall)

   Third were Shirley Culley and Diane Horton (8th overall).

 

Session Winners                                                                           Best Novice Pair

picton 8.jpg                                     picton 9.jpg
Erica Anker, Fran Wilkinson, Elva Adams and Annie Reid            Rose Prendeville and Richard Coon

 

A Weekend of Bridge in Golden Bay

And most recently, Golden Bay hosted a weekend of bridge with Richard Solomon delivering a lesson on Friday night to a crowd of twenty.  The Golden Bay 3A Open took place on Saturday and the Howorth Cup, Top of the South’s premium interclub competition on the Sunday.  Hospitality, excellent as ever.  And great to see past Golden Bay players back in the Bay, particularly Jane Kara whose visit from Australia timed nicely.

Golden Bay has two local awards.  The Clem Mead Trophy is for the highest placed Golden Bay pair and The Lone Star trophy for the highest placed local Junior pair. this year won by CJ Webster and Rhoda MacDonald. (GB Lone Star)

Clem Mead Trophy Winners                                                       The Lone Star Trophy Winners

GB 2 Clem mead trophy.jpg                                      CJ at Golden Bay.jpg
Suzan van Wijngaarden and Jude Edmondson                              CJ Webster and Rhoda Macdonald
with Christine Mead holding and presenting the cup.                     receive their trophy from Christine Mead

Overall results were:

Spades     1st                                                           2nd                                                        3rd

 GB 1 Steve and Lindsey.jpg                      GB 4   RS.jpg              GB3 Sita.jpg 
 
 Steve Gray and Lindsey Guy                Adrian Abraham and Richard Solomon      Ruth Allison and Sita Monaghan

 Hearts     1st                                                                   2nd                                                       3rd

gb4 hELEN R.jpg                      GB5 Reg Nicol.jpg                   GB6 John Pemberton.jpg
Helen Robinson and Alan Mulligan       Jennifer Cunningham and Reg Nicol            John Pemberton and Pam Whitehead
(3rd overall)

Diamonds      1st                                                       2nd                                                                 3rd

GB7.jpg                      gb8.jpg               gb9.jpg
Sue Solomons and Jenny Pomeroy Suzan van Wijngaarden and Jude Edmondson   Derek Milligan and Alan Toker
Also pictured is Craig Shanahan.

Craig did an excellent job directing and scoring the two days of bridge in Golden Bay and brought along the very decorative yellow banner which gave the 3A event a very good profile.

Clubs    1st                                                                 2nd                                                          3rd

gb10.jpg                        gb11.jpg                 gb12.jpg
  Mike and Val Fitzsimons                                Anne and Bevan Bruce with              Rhoda MacDonald and CJ Webster
                                                                        Jean Wedderburn, event organiser

 Nelson retain Howorth Cup

Nelson had a convincing win on Sunday’s Howorth Cup with Richmond 2nd, Marlborough 3rd and Westport 4th. Nelson retained the trophy they won in 2018.

Winning Nelson team

HOWORTH CUP WINNERS 19 NELSON.jpg
Lindsey Guy, Steve Gray, Sita Monaghan, Pam Dravitzki, Sheila Beggs,
Carol Minchin, Adrian Abraham and Ruth Allison. 

 Other News

 Greymouth held a one session social tournament for the three West Coast clubs: Greymouth; Hokitika and Westport.  15 tables had a great afternoon, with the Westport contingent making their way down the coast by bus. 

A big cohort of Top of the South players had a good week at the National Congress. 

Motueka and Golden Bay battled it out on 14th September in the second round of the Margaret Cederman Interclub.  A convincing win by Motueka ensured that the trophy does another stint residing on the eastern side of the Takaka Hill.  Well done Mot. 

Several clubs have held their AGMs recently.  Simon Langford continues as president of Golden Bay with Eleanor Bradshaw vp; Susan Hinkley carries on as Nelson’s president with Ruth Allison stepping up to support her as vice president and with the Russell family’s imminent move to Westport, Steve Gray was elected president of Richmond Club.  We wish Vicki, Bevan and Marlene all the best with their move and perhaps getting to grips with a different system.

Westport has a youth section playing on Tuesday afternoons.  Nelson hasn’t quite enough for a youth section but have an 11, 13 and 17 year old who have just come through the lessons and are making their mark on a Monday night, all with at least one session win to their names.  Eight learners in Picton have just begun club play and Westport’s tournament in mid November is already sold out!  We all love that West Coast hospitality!

And a big plus for Top of the South hospitality if my experience at Golden Bay is anything to go by. All players seemed to enjoy their bridge which was played in the best of spirit throughout….and a heap of pairs/players went home with either a grade or a raffle prize…and all having eaten from the excellent locally prepared food which included more cockles than I had seen for many a year.

 Richard Solomon

 

 

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