On 29 March Lyn Mould and I attended the Christchurch City Council Community Gardens’ Award Ceremony where the club received recognition for the second time. Our thanks and congratulations go to Lyn and her team for their ongoing dedication and hard work in keeping our gardens and grounds in such beautiful order.

Maintenance is continuing both outside and inside the club. Remediation will be carried out soon on the circular area underneath the portico to make it a safer area for pedestrians. Safety in terms of visibility has also been improved by the recent removal of two tall trees which were obscuring the main light in the carpark. A Working Bee will be held on 30 May to carry out gardening and other outside maintenance.

There are areas inside the clubrooms which also need attention. We are currently investigating the cost of replacing the existing fluorescent lights with LED ones which give improved lighting and are longer-lasting. A new light will soon be installed above the whiteboard which is used for lessons in the Cambridge Room.

Another ongoing issue has been the heating and ventilation system which sees us catapulting between tropical and arctic conditions on a regular basis. We have employed a Refrigeration and Air Conditioning firm which has installed sensors to collect data that will be analysed to hopefully allow the engineers to provide us with more equable playing conditions.

On the bridge-playing scene, many of our players have performed very well in recent local and provincial events. The Inter-Provincial Trials were held last weekend, and with the exception of one Intermediate pair from Timaru, the Canterbury team to play in the Nationals later in the year, consists entirely of CBC players. We congratulate them all on their success.

Our ANZAC Day Anniversary Pairs event was very well-attended, and despite the initial mix-up over results, provided a good opportunity for interaction among the grades in a pleasant atmosphere. Funds raised from the raffle will be forwarded to the RSA after our next Committee meeting.

The free lessons offered by the club continue to provide us with an important source of new members. Our thanks go to Lizzie Thompson for her tireless work in advertising the lessons and nurturing the beginners. Liz Armstrong and her team of volunteers also do a sterling job encouraging and supporting these new players on Wednesday nights. Our current membership stands at 810.

Happy bridging everyone.

Marilyn Copland,

Club President.