If the numbers of cars in the carpark of the Church Road Bowling Club are anything to go by, the Kaitaia Bridge Club continues to enjoy a surge of popularity that would make it the envy of any local sporting club.
Having leapt into the modern era by introducing electronic scoring, and making results available online, the club is also focusing on capitalising on its recent momentum by providing great tutors who coach/teach new players who are interested in learning this challenging and exciting card game.
Club president Ngaire Wright said the game was as popular as it had ever been, but admitted the two local clubs' numbers were boosted by around half a dozen 'swallows', i.e. Northern Hemisphere players who travel to the Far North to enjoy the Southern Hemisphere summer.
Wright also took the opportunity to look back at the history of the club from the time it was formed in November 1970 by then president Harry Presswood and secretary Nan Andrews, and play first began on Monday evenings in the Kaitaia College Library. The club soon became affiliated with the Auckland Bridge Club and then the New Zealand Bridge Association, while several of the more competitive and skilful players travelled to other clubs and returning having won many prizes.
As membership and interest grew, a group from the eastern fringes formed the Doubtless Bay Bridge Club in 1984 and played on Wednesday evenings in the Taipa Area School library. About 20 years ago, Pat Parker instigated Friday bridge sessions in the Church Road Bowling Club rooms playing from 10.30am to 2.30pm which continue to the present day. And when the Kaitaia College embarked on a massive building alterations including to the library and office, the Far North cardsharps took up permanent residence at the bowling club on Church Road.
As well as playing on Fridays, the Kaitaia players also meet on Monday evenings from 6-9pm, while many also travel to Cable Bay to support the Doubtless Bay Bridge Club sessions which are held on Tuesdays from 10.30am-2.30pm.
The Kaitaia club had also recently greeted the unrelenting advance of technology with open arms to make the local game fully computerised and thus, more accessible. That includes an electronic dealing machine which takes about 10 minutes to deal 30 decks of cards into sets of four hands which have been computer generated; while scoring is done on electronic scoring pads and fed into a computer. At the end of the day's play, the results are printed out as well as being uploaded to the Bridge NZ website, www.bridgenz.co.nz, which enables players to analyse their results as well as those of their counterparts from throughout New Zealand.
This has proven a great tool for those wanting to improve their game and also made the scoring process more accurate and convenient; prior to the introduction of the electronics, it took many hours to manually tally the results. For more information, including enquiries on starting beginners' lessons on how to play bridge, contact Ngaire Wright, 409-4547.
Note there were no results from the Kaitaia Bridge Club session last Friday with a fun day/ instant scoring held instead.