From the President

Welcome back to Akarana for the 2010 season. I hope that you all had a good summer/Christmas recess. As usual, we have a full programme of teams and pairs events throughout the year.

Akarana club members have been very successful over the break, with wins in most of the local competitions. We have also featured prominently overseas, with our best results coming in the Canberra Summer Festival in January. Here, Michael Ware won both the Last Train Open Pairs (with Cathy Chua) and the Grand National Open Teams (with a team of Australians and Kiwi ex-pats), while Eileen Horsman and Carol Richardson (with Christine and Jenna Gibbons) were runners-up in the National Women’s Teams.

During the year, we shall move forward on two matters that we discussed at the AGM in December last year. First, we shall re-activate the Honours Board (formerly the Northern Club) so that those who have done well in club events will have a permanent record of their achievements. Secondly, we shall devise and implement a system that will encourage keeping to time on our club nights.

A number of our members will be playing in the National Trials (in March in Wellington) to represent New Zealand in the PABF in Hamilton in May, and we wish them all success there.

Douglas Russell

February 2010