Congratulations to Mike Rowell on becoming a District Master; to Jo Rowley on becoming a Local Master; and to Kelvin Butler on becoming a Club Master.

The Congress Pairs were won by P&M Stephens, with S Whitson & P Duncan in second place. The Swiss Teams were won by C Gardiner, J Harper, E Peckham & J Miller. In second place were J Corry, K Nguyen, J Palmer & L Barrett. Click here to see the full results.

On teams nights, although we will use the bridgemates, teams are encouraged to score up at the table. This is half the fun of teams, seeing what your opps did on each board. For the Tom Woodman, the results will be on the web in two forms - first, without handicap, and then with handicap added - look at the results calendar to see both entries. This allows you firstly to check that your results have been input correctly, and secondly to see the full traveller for each board.

We will be putting before and after handicap results up for all handicap events.

UPDATE At a committee meeting, it was agreed that in future, members arriving late would be given one warning, and thereafter would not be allowed to play if their late arrival necessitated changing the movement or putting out extra tables.. If a player knows that he will be late, but his partner is there, this is acceptable.

Please could all members be seated by 7.05 pm. The director needs to be able to decide on the movement, set up the Bridgemates and set out the boards, and cannot do any of this until he know how many pairs are playing. A late start results in a late finish, with lots of complaints. A director's lot is not a happy one, so please make it easier for him/her.

The new season will start on Tuesday 4th September, with an Open MP Pairs. We will be using our newly acquired Bridgemates for the first time. The committee decided to buy these, as we were the only club in the area without them, and it was felt that members were disadvantaged when playing elsewhere by not being accustomed to their use. They will initially be used on Tuesdays, but may also be extended to Thursday night handicapped events, with the handicaps being added later manually. As before, results will be displayed on this website.

A large, lockable cupboard has been purchased, in which to keep all the equipment. The library books will be displayed on shelves, making it easier for members to see them, and it is hoped more use will be made of them. Some new titles have been added.

As suggested at the AGM, there will be a "Pro-am" event in February. This will be run as one of the Grindon rounds, and if it is a success will become a fixture on the calendar. Further details will appear later.

A new Simultaneous Pair event will be held in December, called the Celtic Sims. This will replace the BGB Sims, previously played in April, which are no longer held. The English Bridge Union has decided to go it alone, and hold the English Sims - so Wales, N Ireland & Scotland have clubbed together to run the Celtic Sims.