Roy and Dorothy Pennington.

Married 60 years on Thursday 23rd June.

Well done Paul who came 4th, playing with Richard Tyler, in a field of 30 pairs in the LCBA/Joint Counties Green Point Swiss Pairs event. You can see full details, including how other Blaby players fared, here.

Blaby A lost a close match against Clarendon North in the Samani Salver Summer Knockout for teams. They lost by the agonisingly close margin of -90 aggregate points, in what was a good performance against a very strong side.

This ends Blaby's interest in the competition for this year.

Well done Chris Biggs and Cecilia Dobson, two new Blaby members, who with team-mates Roger Cook and Gerry Bucciero have won the Blaby Summer Cup - a handicapped teams-of-four competition.
The team of Henry and Beryl Cooklin, Cynthia James and Gill Ives were second. In third place were Keith Preston and Greta Cole and Paul and Linda Loveday, just one IMP behind.
Look under Results for all the details.

Blaby A had a fine 9 - 3 win against Golf in their final match of the season. This cemented our 3rd position in Division Two. In fact, following Westcotes' unexpected blip in their final match, we finished just one point behind them.

Blaby B had already completed their fixtures winning Division 4.

You can see the final tables by looking under Leicestershire League 2015/16 in the index on the left.

Well done Mick Mahoney and Ian Bruce on winning the Stanley Trophy, a LCBA pairs competition for "experts" over 7 sessions.

In the final session Ian and Mick did enough to confirm their 1st place overall. In that session, Lyn Hilton, playing with John Glover, came 1st, so bringing themselves up to 7th overall.
In the final standings John and Doreen Arnold finished in 10th place, Peter Nuttall (and Anne Wright) 11th, George and Mary Brown 13th, Richard Smith (playing with Ian McKelvey) 14th, Paul Loveday (and Richard Tyler) 15th and Andrew Billson (and Toni Capewell) 16th.

You can see all the scores in Round 7 here and final standings here.

Thirty-one members attended the Club's AGM when some significant decisions were taken.

Mike Allsopp was elected as Chairman and Tricia Allsopp as Chief Controller. Rowena Payne had resigned as Dial-a-Partner contact and that post is now vacant. All other positions remain the same. The outgoing chairman, Roy Pennington, thanked the Committee for it's help during his tenure.

Constititution. The draft already circulated was approved with one minor amendment. You can see the final version in the menu on the left under Information.

Bridgemates. The provision of Bridgemates was unanimously approved and will be purchased immediately.

George and Mary Brown were awarded both the Club Cup, Club Championship, and Toon Cup for most improved pair.

Welcome to those new members who have joined the Club.

Lyn Hilton was Blaby's highest placed member in the 28th Charity Swiss Teams event held at Glenfield Memorial Hall. The event raised funds for Hope Against Cancer, a Leicestershire and Rutland local cancer research charity.

In a field of 16 teams Lyn came 3rd in Tim GLOVER's team.
Mick MAHONEY's team(Mick, Pat Watson, Marjorie Gilbertson and Gerry Bucciero were 4th equal with Richard Smith (playing in Judy HILL's team).
John ARNOLD's team (John and Doreen, Mike and Tricia Allsopp) were 6th equal.
Neil BEASLEY's team (Neil and Pat, George and Mary Brown) were 8th equal.

All these were above 50%.

Keith Preston was Blaby's highest placed in the final of the Gimson Trophy, Leicestershire's premier pairs competition. Playing with Ken Vernon they came 7th out of a field of 14 pairs.
Roger Cook and Gerry Bucciero, the only all-Blaby pair to qualify for the final, were =8th. John Young (playing with Andy Mackriell) were also =8th. Richard Smith (and Alison Nichols) were 14th.

Press here for all the scores.

The Olga (Ladies) and Buckby (Men) pairs competitions have been held. Several Blaby members took part.

Unfortunately, Mick Mahoney and Ian Bruce were the only Blaby pair to achieve a score in excess of 50%. They came 8th out of a field of 20.

Well done Paul in coming second out of a field of 21 in this prestigious LCBA pairs event, albeit representing Golf Bridge Club partnered by Richard Tyler. Lyn Hilton (partnered by Irene Krantz) also did well coming 7th.

You can see how Blaby's two nominated pairs fared and all the results here.

Well done Ian and John who, playing in Linda Stone's team, have won the Joyce Mixed Pivot Teams competion in which each member of the team plays a proportion of the hands with the others. Mick Mahoney's team (Mick, Ian Bruce, Marjorie Gilbertson and Gerry Bucciero) were second out of a field of 12 teams.
Final positions, including details of Blaby's other teams can be found here.

The final round, of the Pairs League has been completed.

In Division One, Marjorie Gilbertson (and Pat Watson) had a wobble in the final session but managed to hold on to 2nd position overall. Well done to them. 
Richard Smith (and Mike Ayers) lifted themselves a place to finish 5th. However, despite a good session, Ian Walkerdine (and Linda Stone) couldn't avoid a relegation place finishing 7th=.

In Division Two, Keith Preston (and Ken Vernon) had a great session and finished on top. Gerry Bucciero (and Bob Parker) also had a good session and finished 4th. Mick Mahoney (and Peter Halford) came 5th. John and Doreen Arnold were 10th and last.

In Division Three Paul Loveday (and Richard Tyler) gained top spot and John Young (and Judy Hill) 2nd. Assuming the league structure remains the same, these two pairs will be promoted. Dave Pollard and Roger Cook 7th and Andrew Billson (and Toni Capewell) 8th, complete Blaby's interest in this competition.

You can see all the results and final positions here.
 

Neil BEASLEY's team (Neil and Pat, John and Doreen Arnold) failed to reach the final of the Leicestershire Cup, a LCBA teams of four competition with aggregate scoring. They lost to BOWYER in the semi-final. A calamitous first stanza proved too much to recover from and although they pulled back a little they lost by 1560 aggregate points overall.

Keith PRESTON's team will now play BOWYER in the final.

You can see all the results of this competition here.

The annual Blaby LOROS Charity Pairs competition raised £203 for this Leicestershire Charity. Well done everybody.

Thanks to Mary Brown for organising the raffle. All prizes have now been claimed.

The winners of the event were George and Mary & Maureen Williams and Peter Riley equal 1st North/South and Mike and Tricia Allsopp 1st East/West.

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The Blaby Weekend Away at Hilton Warwick organised by Mary Brown was a great hit. Thirty eight bridge players and one relative enjoyed pleasant surroundings, helpful staff and plenty of good food. Visits were made to Warwick and Stratford upon Avon.

Winners of the bridge prizes were:

Individual - 38 players
1st Dave Pollard, 2nd Roy Pennington, 3rd Julie Lashley, 4th Mike Allsopp

Matchpointed pairs
1st North/South - George Pohl & Mary France
1st East/West - Mike Allsopp & Val Hodgson

Teams of 4
Winners - Lyn Hilton, Mike Deakin, George Pohl, Mary France

Aggregate Pairs
1st North/South - Malcolm & Angela Solloffe
1st East/West - George & Mary Brown

Thanks to Mary for organising this new venue, and to George for his support. Thanks must also go to John Arnold, Dave Pollard and George for their help in directing the sessions.

Well done George and Mary in winning the Blaby Club Cup, the club's major pairs competition. Although they did not play in the final round, they had done enough earlier to become clear winners. Paul Webb and Graham Anderson, who had an outside chance of winning, finished second equal with Neil and Pat Beasley. Look under Competitions for all the scores.

George and Mary and one other pair will be invited to represent Blaby in the LCBA Hyman Crammer competition on 4th May 2016 at Rothley.

Well done Roger COOK's team (Roger, Dave Pollard, Marjorie Gilbertson, Gerry Bucciero) who have won the 3rd place play-off of the Josephs Bowl, Leicestershire's premier teams of four competition. In an all-Blaby contest they beat John ARNOLD's team (John and Doreen, Mike and Tricia Allsopp) by 23 IMPs in a match of changing fortunes, which was a lot closer than the score suggests.

Well done George and Mary. After securing the Blaby Club Cup, effectively the Club Championship, they have now taken the Toon Cup, awarded to the most improved pair. This is calculated by comparing the best 15 results of the current year with the best 15 of the previous year. Peter Riley and Roger Wharmby were second and Sandy Blades and Val Hodgson  third.

The second pair invited to represent Blaby  in the Hyman Crammer competition on 4th May 2016 is normally chosen from this competition. However, they must be eligible to play for Blaby B (but not Blaby A).
You can see all the current positions by looking under Competitions.

In this year's Children in Need Simultaneous Pairs contest we raised £177 for the charity, down on last year but nevertheless a good achievement.
Well done to Roger Wharmby and Peter Riley who were 1st North/South and our highest placed pair nationally (97th out of 2069 pairs) and also Peter Nuttall and Lloyd Danvers, 1st East/West (149th).

Thanks to our Events Organiser, Mary Brown, for organising the raffle.

Incidentally, if the owners of ticket Nos. 74, 75, 183 or 169 would care to contact Mary, you can claim your raffle prizes!

This year's Blaby Christmas Party attracted 27 members who enjoyed good food, a festive atmosphere and fun hands. Thanks to our members for providing a great range of food for all tastes. 

The prize winners were:

              Winner                  Runner up
NORTH - John Arnold     -     Jenny Hand
SOUTH - Mike Deakin     -     Paul Webb
EAST    - Dave Pollard    -     Pat Beasley
WEST   - Peter Riley       -     Beryl Cooklin

Booby prize: Tricia Allsopp/David Petrie/John Arnold/George Brown

It is with great sadness we have to report the death of Jean, who had been battling cancer for two years. A Grandmaster and one of Leicestershire's top players she had many fine achievements both in the County and nationally.
She joined Blaby Bridge Club some years ago and played regularly here until her failing health prevented her attendance.

Our thoughts go out to her son, daughter and 3 grandchildren.

Jean's funeral took place at St Peter's Church in Oadby on 11 November.
You can see a tribute to Jean by Simon Stokes on the LCBA website.