"In Brief"

Artwork

The artwork currently on display in the club room is by Mariliza Larkins, whose contact details are shown below:

She would be delighted to hear from you if you're interested in either buying one of the canvases on display or commissioning a painting from her.

Dealers

Today's dealing team hard at work
(Photo: Rae Lutman)

A big thank you to all the dealing teams: your efforts are very much appreciated.

Waikanae/Paraparaumu Interclub

Shield updated (thanks to Chris Farrow).

Wellington Region Bridge - Newsletter

This is the February edition of the Wellington Region Bridge Newsletter. A short item contributed by Waikanae appears on page 5:

Catering Manager

I'm delighted to be able to announce that Roz King has accepted the role of Catering Manager for the Club.  Roz will have responsibility for catering tournaments and other functions throughout the year and will lead the kitchen team both for special events such as the Christmas function and the Anniversary tournament, as well as managing the kitchen on a day-to-day basis.

We are very lucky to have such an experienced professional to take on this key role.

Rankings

In the national "Top 20" Player Rankings as at 31st December:

• John Donbavand ranked 7th in the Life Master category
• Anthea Black ranked 13th and Graham Cheater 20th in the Master category
• Murray Lobb ranked 14th in the Local Master category
• Shelley Ross ranked 2nd in the Club Master category

As of the same date Graeme Norman sits in 106th place in the updated All Time Masterpoints Earners list with 3250.82 points.

Murray Lobb, Craig Jackson, Viv Gray, Shelley Ross and Gillian van Raalte all graduated to Intermediate Grade as of 1st January.

Congratulations everybody - and especially to Shelley: a great result.

Roadworks

Roadworks are scheduled to take place on Elizabeth Street from January 2026 to May 2026.

Details

The works are part of the Kāpiti Coast District Council's Speed Management Plan and are co-funded by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency (NZTA). The project is focused on safety improvements and creating a more accessible environment for all road users, with an estimated value of approximately NZ $1.5 million.

Key improvements include:

• Reconstruction of four existing zebra crossings into raised safety platforms.
• Conversion of one existing Kea crossing to a flush pedestrian zebra crossing.
• Construction of one new pedestrian crossing
• Footpath extensions and other safety improvements along Elizabeth Street.

There may be traffic delays on your way to and from the Club while this work is undertaken.

Waikanae Junior Pairs

Our annual half day Junior tournament took place on Sunday 2nd November.

The event was very well supported with 15 full tables and players from a wide range of clubs from as far afield as Palmerston North and Wellington.  24 Waikanae members entered the event, including a significant number of  our novice players - well done to them.

I would like to thank everybody who contributed to a great day, but in particular:

• Chris Farrow for his excellent organisation of the event and for also handling the scoring (which was not without incident!)
• Anne Ricketts for directing in her usual calm and relaxed manner
• Vicky Young and Roz King for the catering
• Rae Lutman, Ady Dale and Fiona McDonald-Bates for their general assistance and running the bar

The event was won by the novice pairing of Miriam Tankersley and Victoria Liddicoat from Palmerston North - a great effort from such a young pairing.  In second place were Julie Affleck and Steve Parsons from Otaki, and 3rd were our own Di Andrews and Phil Gavey.  

Outside the top three, the top Novice/Novice pair were David Chalmers (Waikanae) and Corinda Taylor (Paraparaumu) and the top Junior/Novice pair were Ellie Molloy and Angus Kirtlan (Hutt).

(photos courtesy of Chris Farrow)

Many congratulations to all the winners.

Thank you to everyone for your support - I hope you enjoyed your afternoon.

(photo courtesy of Rae Lutman)

Kitchen Spring Clean

  

(Photo courtesy of Vicky Young)

Sunday saw a very productive working bee with Vicky Young, Jo Anson, Liz Campbell, Ros King and organiser Nicky Bradley all combining to give our kitchen a "spring clean".  Many thanks to you all.

Items excess to requirements are on a trestle table for members to claim or help themselves to by Friday please.  The rest will go to the op shop.

Thanks are also due to this group plus Ann Edwards and Chris Farrow who prepared for the very enjoyable - and not-at-all fattening - Loveblock Pot Luck dinner on Friday night.  Other members who helped with the clean up, thank you too. Your help is much appreciated.

Paraparaumu Bridge Club

As many will already be aware, Waikanae will be providing Paraparaumu Bridge Club ("PBC") with a "home away from home" from the end of October while their building is undergoing major repairs.  

PBC will be playing the following sessions at Waikanae from 28th October until 14th December (this timeframe may possibly extend into the New Year depending on progress with their works programme):

These days and times have been arranged to avoid clashes with Waikanae sessions and with other users of our clubroom, such as the Quilters and Guides.

Additionally, PBC members may choose to attend Waikanae sessions during this period, at which I know you will make them welcome. Should they wish to do so they will be able to buy Waikanae session cards for this purpose.  If Waikanae members wish to join PBC sessions, payment will be in accordance with PBC's normal arrangements.

PBC will be "paying for the privilege" of using our clubrooms, and as such will make full use of our facilities including supplies of tea, coffee, milk, etc.  They will use our computer for scoring, but will deal their own boards and store them in our clubroom (separately from Waikanae boards). Space will also be allocated on our noticeboard for PBC use.

If Waikanae members have questions or issues about any of this please do not hesitate to contact either me or Rae Lutman.  PBC members will be asked to raise any issues with their own Committee members, who will refer them to us for resolution if necessary.

Please do whatever you can to make PBC members feel at home during this unavoidable period of disruption for them.

Quadrangular Match

Kapiti/Horowhenua Quadrangular Tournament

This year's Quadrangular match between Otaki, Levin, Paraparaumu and Waikanae took place on Sunday 21st September at Otaki.  

I am pleased to report that Waikanae retained the shield.  

Our Open quartet (Derek Snelling and Isobel Ross, Helen Walker and Angela Gattsche) and our Junior team (Craig Jackson and Murray Lobb, Hugh Wolfensohn and Gillian van Raalte) both won their respective grades and our Intermediate team (Lorraine Gaffaney and Vicky Young, Rezea Morgan and Karen Hutchins) placed 2nd in their group, giving us the overall win by a substantial margin.

A big shout out to the Otaki Club for their generous hospitality.

Next year's event will be hosted by Waikanae on Saturday 19th September 2026.

Jocelyn Brooke

I regret to announce that Jocelyn Brooke passed away peacefully on Tuesday 16th September, 4 days after her 91st birthday.

We send our sincere condolences to Jocelyn's family and friends.

A celebration of Jocelyn’s life will be held at Cedarwood, 17 Parata Street, Waikanae on Friday 19th September at 3:00pm. The service will also be live streamed here.

"Mind the Gap"

It has been brought to the attention of the Committee of another club that there is potential for unauthorised information to be gained by playing opposite a player using a card holder.

There may be a tendency to separate each suit in the card holder and when a card is played from a particular holding leaving say just one or two cards then that has the potential to give information to that player's partner.

Note that any such information can be used by the opposition quite legally as such information in their hands is not unauthorised.

While our Committee is unaware of any such issues in our own club, players using card holders are reminded to keep ALL cards closely adjacent to one another at all times.

(My thanks to Graham Cheater for this advice)

Wellington Sixes 7th September

Great result for the "Waikanae Wizards" winning today's Wellington Sixes:

• Murray Lobb and Craig Jackson - 1st Junior
• Pryor Rowland and Graham "Gandalf" Cheater - 2nd Open
• Nicky Bradley and Vicky Young - 8th Intermediate

The team also - deservedly - won the "best dressed" prize!

Many congratulations also to Helen and Kevin Walker, winners of  the Open category.

Disabled Access Project

As of Thursday 31st July the new disabled access ramp has been completed.

Some finishing work remains to be done (including reconnection of the water toby).

Thanks are due to our contractor, Ryan Freer of RFC Homes Ltd, and to Derek Snelling for his (ongoing) leadership of the project.

Disabled Access Project

The construction of our new ramp at the front of the building is expected to begin on Monday 21st July.  This will unavoidably cause some disruption, particularly in the carpark, and there may also be some noise during our daytime playing sessions on Monday and Thursday.  

Our contractor is Ryan Freer of RFC Homes Ltd.

When the project is complete we expect to have three carparks for persons with disabilities along the front of the building immediately adjacent to the new ramp, with the existing parking spaces at the front moved to the end of the building.

Please be alert for temporary health and safety hazards when using the existing access to the front door of the building, and take extra care.

Your patience and understanding during this period will be appreciated.

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31 July update - handrails installed and construction complete.

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.

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):

Inter-Village Competition 5th March

Yesterday saw the Club host a very successful "Inter-Village Bridge" event. There were 9 tables, and all involved clearly had a good afternoon.  

17 Waikanae members participated on behalf of Parkwood, who came fourth overall.  Naciye Bagci and Lois Anderson took the honours on behalf of Charles Fleming with Midlands second and Seven Oaks third. 

Special thanks go to Anne Ricketts and Margaret Gordon for their part in making the event (to quote Ann Verboeket) "a resounding success".

Message Board

I've added a link in the sidebar on the right to a new "Message Board".  To start the ball rolling, it contains a message I received from Ann Hancock earlier today.

Internet Update

  Web Working Group

The working group I mentioned in my "Updating the Website" post on 25 February has now had its first meeting.  I attended as the Committee's representative.

The group (consisting of Judi Vernau, Sally Weatherley and Shelley Ross) will be taking on three broad strands of work:

• Updating and modernising the Club website to serve as the "base" source of information for our members, the wider bridge community and the general public
• Developing the "Hugh's News" blog as the primary source of "transient" information of interest to our members
• Examining the development of a (currently dormant) Facebook page as an "outwards facing" presence where we can advertise and publicise the club in a social media setting

Judi Vernau has kindly agreed to act as convenor for the group, which will be meeting again in around a month.  I'll update you on progress as it's made.

Webmaster

Shelley Ross stands down today as the club's webmaster after four years in the role.  I would like sincerely to thank her for her expertise and hard work in keeping the site current and relevant during that period and, in particular, to acknowledge with appreciation her willingness to remain involved with the working group and contribute to its ongoing work.

I am delighted that Sally Weatherley has agreed to take over the role of webmaster.  Sally will take over following her overseas travels in April.  In the meantime Judi Vernau has kindly agreed to hold the fort.

Welcome to Hugh's News

Hello everyone,

This blog is my first attempt to provide a new way of keeping you up to date with the goings on at our Club.

I plan to update this whenever something of interest crops up, so that you don't have to wait for a monthly newsletter for your information (don't worry - there'll still be a monthly newsletter for those who prefer to get their news that way).

If you think I should include something, or if you want to comment on any of the posts on this blog, please let me know by either using the contact form in the sidebar, or by email at lukos90@gmail.com, or just give me a call on 0273549570.  I'd love to hear from you at any (reasonable!) time.

Thank you Chris

As Chris Farrow steps down from the Presidency after his two year term, I'd like to acknowledge his leadership, his commitment to the Club and his sheer hard work over that period.  His sense of humour, while no doubt sometimes tested, has remained intact and he has so often "gone the extra mile" both for individual members in times of difficulty or ill health and for the Club as a whole that - as I said at the AGM - he's going to be a hard act to follow.

Chris - on behalf of the entire Club, thank you for everything you have done as President and the contribution I know you will continue to make as you continue on the Committee.  

 "Please be gentle - you know the routine"