The Otago Bridge Club, one of the oldest clubs in the country, celebrated its 90th anniversary at the weekend with a three-day festival featuring some friendly competition.
Otago Bridge Club captain Phil Noye said the club debated whether to wait until the 100th for a celebration, but worried some of their 100-year-old members might not be around to see the milestone.
‘‘So it’s going to have to be a celebration tonight.’’
There was nothing wrong with having two celebrations 10 years apart, he said.
The club came to be in March 1936 when Ron Mathieson started getting in contact with some local Dunedin residents to form a bridge club.
Card games, and meeting up in people’s homes for such events, were all the rage back in the day.
Mr Mathieson set up a room above Calder Mackay’s in Rattray St, and 30 to 40 people gathered at the inaugural meeting, the women outnumbering the men.
The Otago Bridge Club currently has about 350-400 members.
The club could at one time boast a membership of about 900; however, the game was still steadily picking up new players, Mr Noye said.
Free beginner lessons were run each week. Currently, 26 people were learning the art of the game, he said.
‘‘They’re quite well taken up — we have steady numbers each year.’’
There was a large mix of ages. The Dunedin club has quite a strong youth contingent, as well as a couple of long-serving centenarians.
Bridge is a strategic trick-taking card game played by four people in competing pairs who bid on how many rounds they believe they can win and then work together to reach that target.
The club began its birthday celebrations with games and a barbecue on Friday. On Saturday, club members played a teams tournament before there was a cake-cutting ceremony and buffet dinner.
Yesterday it hosted a 2v2 tournament.
