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Tony Fayerman is one of those people that are such a valuable asset to any club. He is a member of both the Hokowhitu and Palmerston North clubs and is a devoted bridge player with a sense of pitching in to do any task asked of him. He is the first to raise his arm when volunteers are requested and always carries out his tasks with efficiency and good cheer.

 
    Tony Fayerman

Tony is a great fan of Ron Klinger's bridge cruises and has encouraged others to join him. Here he is in his latest role at the Palmerston North club reading the daily announcements on a Monday afternoon. Tony played in the Dannevirke tournament last weekend and when  asked by text message how he fared he replied as follows...

 "Harold Orsborn was the Director. First time I've experienced him in that capacity. Very impressed. Maybe it was because it was a small local tournament but he applied a light and low-key touch yet kept things moving without forever harassing everyone to move. He had the "time gong" set sufficiently loud that we all heard it and were generally self-policing. Catering was simple but brilliant (soups and breads which made it easy to give good choices for the gluten-free people). I'll be going back again .. Will keep in the diary for next year." 

What an excellent reply to such a simple question!  Well done Tony. Well done the Dannevirke club... Well done, Harold Orsborn.

The 15A National Swiss Pairs held at New Plymouth last month attracted a strong field of 50 pairs. An old expression says "the cream always floats to the top" and this was certainly the case on June 16th.  I'm a strong advocate for Swiss Pairs but couldn't play at New Plymouth and so had to follow the action from afar.  The format was for 80 boards made up of ten x 8-board matches. Seven were played on the Saturday. In scanning the results for day 1 the placings were more or less as I expected, but with one very noticeable exception."What's happened to Pamela Livingston/Grant Jarvis?" I asked myself.  They were listed well down the result sheet .. actually on page 2!   About 35th.!  I imagined that one or both were suffering from some malady. 

 I was amazed to see that in the space of only 30 hands on day 2 they produced such a withering finish that they actually won the competition! .A sort of parallel to Kiwi when he came from near last to win the Melbourne Cup in 1983! This was a fantastic performance!  And not even a photo finish because they won it, going away, by almost 5 vps!  It rates up there with not only Kiwi but with Winx and Black Caviar as well!  Hearty congratulations to both players on a tremendous effort.

Solid performances were turned in by Mark Noble/Charles Ker (Feilding/Palmerston North) who finished 2nd; Elizabeth/Blair Fisher who finished 3rd and the Wanganui pair Robyn and Don Nightingale.

                       
Great Swiss finishers: Grant Jarvis and Pam Livingston      Second place to Charles Ker and Mark Noble

                          
Third place, Blair and Liz Fisher                     Helen Carryer and Anne Fitzgibbons,
                                                                        dealers supreme

Another "solid performance" was produced by the card dealers, Helen Carryer and Anne Fitzgibbons who were responsible for dealing more than 800 boards for the tournament.  Thank you both for your part in making the event the success that it was.

                                                                  Large Numbers Once More at Hawke's Bay Congress

From the Eastern side of the CD region the main event was the Hawkes Bay Congress in its 27^th year and just as popular as ever.  The Congress attracted large fields with 119 pairs competing on the opening Saturday. The Swiss Pairs were won convincingly by Wellingtonians Peter Benham and Tony Lenart. In fact the prize list read almost like a Wellington benefit. Second in the event were Lynda Rigler and Peter DelaHunty and third Ray Gruschow and Graeme Norman.  Only the efforts of Jenna and Christine Gibbons who finished third equal stopped the Wellington whitewash. A similar theme was repeated in the Open Teams which were won by Peter Delahunty, Lynda Rigler. Graeme Norman and Ray Gruschow.  Second in the Open Teams were Mairi and Matthew Bristow, George Masters and Russell Wilson.

The Intermediate Pairs attracted a field of 26 pairs and was won by the Van Ranglerooy sisters; -  Bianca from Auckland and Marit from Hastings. The Junior Pairs was won by the local Napier pair of Doreen Nunn and Penny Cooper .The Swiss Pairs played on Monday  was won by Kate McFadyen and Gwyn Lobb from Hamilton  with Hayden Seal and Jan Davis coming home in second place.

As is the case with all large bridge events, the Hawkes Bay Congress is reliant on generous sponsors and lots of volunteer labour. Our thanks to George Masters of George Masters Motors for his sponsorship of the Open Swiss, Alistair Poulgrain of O’Briens  Bathroom and Plumbing Supplies for his sponsorship of the Open Teams, the Taradale Motor Lodge for the Monday Swiss Pairs and Pat and Martyn Oyston from Bridge New Zealand for their sponsorship of the Junior Pairs.

Inter-Club Teams goes to Palmerston North

The annual 3-way inter-club teams tournament between Palmerston North, Wanganui and Hawera was held in June. Plenty of silverware was on display but unfortunately none of it remained in Wanganui despite the good form of our Intermediate teams who never lost a match. 

 Palmerston North were the biggest winners, unsurprisingly, because they had been well prepared for a  re-appearance after being short of Junior teams over the last couple of years .. and thanks to Ken Bateman who slipped in a bit of coaching on "How to win at inter-club bridge!."  Good one,Ken.  Come to Wanganui and do the same for our teams next year!

The competition consists of four 12-board matches and is an excellent way for the three clubs to intermingle and to gain a little experience of Teams play.  Palmerston North club provided the morning tea. There was a byo lunch .. and Hawera club members brought along the after-match nibbles. The host club, Wanganui, provided the warm welcome and smiles!  Just for the record, the official result was:

Palmerston North 213 imps. Hawera 196 imps. Wanganui  129 imps. All three challenges involving the following silverware took place on the same day.

                                                  Trophies Galour in 3-Way Challenge

                                                                 
Palmerston North President,                                       Jack James, an up and coming                        
Denise Servante, with the Inter -                                Palmerston player with the Marion Hill             
Club trophy                                                                 trophy and the challenge trophy between         
                                                                                   Palmerston N and Wanganui

                                   
Julie Bunnell holds the challenge cup                         Hawera President, Glenice Houghton, proudly
from the Wanganui- Palmerston N challenge              displays the ice bucket played for between her
                                                                                     club and Wanganui.

                       Central Districts Regional Youth Rep Appointed

Jack James of Palmerston North (see photo above) has been appointed as the youth development officer for the region. Jack has worked to promote bridge for younger players in Palmerston North and we know that he will relish the challenge of promoting bridge amongst younger players in our region.

The CD committee also recently decided to support youth players in the region to the tune of $500 per annum to help pay for tournaments they may enter.

                       Passing of Peter Forbes

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