Leading the field at the turn for home

With the 2009 club championship approaching the half-way stage, members will find their average score increasing as they eliminate their lower scores.  Only the best 15 results count, so those occasional off-nights gradually disappear from your tally.  See how you are doing at Competitions/best pair latest, which shows your four highest and four lowest scores among your top 15.  Gill and Wynne are still leading the way, pursued by last year's champions Chris and Wilf, followed by Helen and Laurence.

Avon Cup goes to Pershore: Bredon sixth

Bredon's team of Hilary, Daniel, Eileen and Rita did well to finish joint sixth out of 13 teams from eight clubs in the Avon Cup, with Gayle, Chris, Bernie and Di coming a creditable eleventh.  Winners were Alan Boyes, Mel Downing, Martin Rees and Louie Kennedy of Pershore. Other Bredon members, Chris Enticknap and Wilf Atkinson and their partners, playing in Pershore colours, came twelfth.  Thanks to Roger Cooke of Eckington for organising the competition.    

Joneses get cup at last

The Bredon Pairs Cup, first presented by Eve Randsley ten years ago, has proved an enormous success, with yet more names inscribed on the winners' plaque.

Margaret and Peter Jones stormed to victory with 66% to become the tenth pair in eleven years to win the trophy.  Only Jenny and Richard Steel have won the cup twice, and with no-one ever repeating victory in a different partnership, that means that twenty members have shared the glory since 1999.  Wynne Brelsford and Gill Young, who have still to win the Bredon Pairs, finished second on 62%.

The Joneses are pictured receiving their cup from Eve - after a false start when the press photographer forgot to put a battery in his camera.  For previous winners, see Competitions section.

Good news - no extra fees when Pay-to-Play starts

Bredon members will pay nothing extra - in subs or table money - when new pay-to-play arrangements start in 2010.  That is the likely recommendation of your committee following a financial review.

Non-members of the EBU need do nothing.  Everything will carry on as before.  They will get added benefits, but if they do not wish to receive the free diary and bi-monthly magazine, they can tell the secretary.

Your committee believes that the EBU plan will help the game, and improve services to clubs like ours.  For a full report of what the plan means to you, see "Bredon and pay-to-play" in the Club information section of this site.

Wee dram helps Adam to top spot

When Adam Tulloch, senior member of the club, spent his 94th birthday at the club, he celebrated with a small tot of an island malt in his coffee - and went on to claim top North-South score of 59% with partner Roger Gamage.

After receiving a card signed by most members, he made a typically gracious response.  "When you get to my age you have lost so many friends, so I very much appreciate the friendship of everyone here," he said.   

If points were prizes ...

Wilf Atkinson and Chris Enticknap would be rich men.  Congratulations to them anyway on topping the table - by wide margins - of Masterpoint winners in Worcestershire for 2008.  Chris amassed nearly 6,000 and Wilf a staggering 9,650.

Lunch boosts our dynamic duo

Bernie and Di achieved Bredon's best result in the Worcestershire Club Pairs on 22 February after a storming second-half performance put them fourth, just behind the county's top players.  Richard and Jenny finished 20th, Laurence and Helen 22nd. The event was won by Marian Wilcox and Sue Evans of Worcester.

Unicef donation in memory of Audrey Allen

Members generously helped raise £125 in memory of Audrey Allen for the children's charity Unicef at the Sim Pairs evening on 30 January.  Audrey, who was known for her care for others, privately and as a medical social worker, was always concerned about the welfare of children, so the work of charities like Unicef, which provides for those in desperate need, was close to her heart.  One of the club's longest and dearest members, she died the previous week aged 89 in hospital close to her new home at Crediton. Several members and many villagers from Bredon's Norton attended the funeral.  Her husband John, a former club chairman, said  he was very touched by people's kindness and thanked them for their thoughts and generosity.   "It was most kind to arrange this tribute to Audrey, which was a great honour for her," he said.