The committee and members of the Masterton Bridge Club were delighted to receive a very generous grant of $9,000.00 to assist costs towards replacing the roof and spouting on the club’s building and wish to record their thanks and appreciation to Trust House Limited.

The club was formally constituted on 1 December 1961.

The club purchased its own premises in Villa Street in 1970. Over the years the building has seen many changes and additions, thanks to the dedication and hard work by members with a vision.

Monday playing sessions are for juniors/intermediates; Tuesday – open to all grades; Wednesday – seniors; and Friday afternoons – open to all members.

When the club began, bidding was spoken. Scoring was done on a scoresheet which travelled on the back of its board around the tables. Calculating the result was a huge task! Spoken bidding has been replaced by bidding pads, making the possibility of another table hearing the bidding of a hand much less likely.

More recently, the introduction of bridge tablets that calculate the score immediately after the contract and result of each hand has been entered. This means that the results are obtainable online virtually at the end of play. No more waiting till next week for your results!

Today, there are approximately 150 members playing bridge, ranging in age from 40 to 90 plus.

It is known that playing bridge even exceeds Sudoku in stimulating the brain to avoid memory loss when one reaches a maturing phase of life!