Bredon Cup glory: Margaret and Peter collected the Bredon Cup after their clear victory with five clear tops.  Their 62% was more than 6% ahead of the field with the unfamiliar partnership of Patricia and Muriel doing splendidly to come joint second with Maggie and Colin.  The Joneses previously took the trophy in 2009, with Laurence and Jessie taking it on temporary loan last year.

Pair in top 20:  Well done Roger and Daniel who collected their certificates for finishing in the UK's top 20 in the World sim pairs of 2 June.  Their 64% was over 7% ahead of any other Bredon pair.

Wynne win situations: Congratulations to Gill and Wynne for beating the experts, and winning a free night at the club.  Bernie and Di also qualify for their maximum against the visitors.

On 4 April, a memorable night, Gill and Wynne scored an excellent 62.86% to push Sue Evans, county asst-sec, and Linda Gervis into second place among North-Souths.

WCBA chairman Richard Jephcott and Dennis Loynes proved almost unstoppable East-Wests.  Their 72.5% was nearly 23% ahead of their nearest challengers and so earned them a place as visitors on the new Seventy Somethings honour board (see Results/70 Somethings).

As no-one beat them, the East-West prize goes to Bernie and Di, the only pair to score a maximum against visitors Sue and Linda.

Our thanks for a terrific evening go to our guests, Dennis, Linda, Sue and Richard - pictured from left - and to Paul Hammond for providing the boards and John Turner the detailed summary for every hand.  Read and learn.  The hands can also be seen in the online results section.

Three in a row for Wilf and Chris:  Congratulations to Wilf and Chris who retained the Scorer's Cup for the third successive year since it was donated by Laurence.  Their 15 best scores for the year averaged just over 62%, with Wynne and Gill again second at just under 61%, and Helen and Laurence finishing third on 60.5%.  The top three pairs would have finished in the same positions had all results in the year been counted.

By making the only slam of the final championship night, Wilf consolidated his position as as Bredon Slammer of the Year for the second year running.  They received their awards at the Christmas party night.

Later Bernie, helped by Di, served their customary, delicious mulled wine and a selection of mince pies.  During the interval, Hilary, Thayer, Laurence and Helen won the bridge quiz and a fabulous prize each of one free entry to - Bredon Bridge Club. 

Club raises a ton for Children in Need:

A splendid turn-out of eight full tables for the Children in Need simultaneous pairs on 12 November raised £100 for the charity.  Thanks go to Lyndsey for making up the hands, which can all be seen in the Results section.  Hilary and Thayer are seen collecting their certificates for winning the event.

Thayer joins the teamsters:  Congratulations to Hilary, Thayer, Pauline and Michael who finally collected their trophies for winning the annual teams of 4 event on 17 September, narrowly defeating Eileen, Jean, Bernie and Di.  It was a first in this particular competition for Thayer, each of her team members having shared the trophy once before.

Roy gets big send-off:  Pershore Abbey was crowded on Wednesday 27 October for the funeral of Roy Daniels, 76, who died following a long illness.  He joined the club in its first year and became its treasurer soon after.  Former chairman Jenny said: "Roy was a truly lovely man, very highly thought of by all members who knew him.  He and Janet contributed a great deal in the formation of the club."  The club made a donation to Dementia UK in Roy's memory.

Goodbye to well-loved June:  Members were greatly saddened to hear of the death of June Warner, one of the club's founding members, after a short illness.  Her funeral service was held at Worcester crematorium on Tuesday 4 May.

Club shares out cups: Chris and Wilf handed over the Anniversary Cup, which they had held for the previous three years, to 2010 winners Maggie and Colin.  Their first-time victory continued the trend for trophies to be widely spread around the membership.

It meant that 33 of our 55 current members - exactly 60% - have now won a club competition. 

Bouquets for Di and Gayle:  Members applauded the work of two long servants of Bredon BC at the 20 August annual meeting.  Di, its former secretary, left the committee of which she has been a part since its formation, and Gayle stood down as current secretary but will remain a committee member.  The chairman paid tribute to both, and presented bouquets.  Di, who was away, had hers delivered by interfloral Bernie.

In response to comments on the chairman's annual report, Colin said it would be wrong for the club not to look at digital scoring, but that no recommendation for its introduction was likely this year.  He pledged that if it was considered a good idea, the proposal would be put to members, and the system would not be brought in unless members were properly trained in advance.

Howard reported that table money was likely to rise to £2 from April 2011, in line with what was already charged elsewhere.  He asked members to pay subscriptions now - and many responded on the night.

Members elected Gill as secretary in succession to Gayle.  Other committee members elected were Colin, Howard, Michael, Laurence and Bernie.

This time Jessie shares the glory:  Jessie became the 35th member of Bredon to get her name on a club trophy when she and husband Laurence stormed to victory in the Bredon Pairs Cup, presented by Eve.  They won the event with a commanding margin of nearly 5% over Chris and Wilf, Bernie and Di.  Laurence had previously won trophies with Helen, and in teams with Gayle, Bernie, Di, Roger and Adam, but never before with his wife.

Unintended bids - what to do?  An unintended bid or mechanical error can be corrected if done "without pause for thought" and if your partner has not bid.  Your left-hand opponent obviously has the option to withdraw any call made over the first unintended bid.

Law 25: "Until his partner makes a call, a player may substitute his intended call for an unintended call but only if he does so, or attempts to do so, without pause for thought. ... No substitution of call may be made when his partner has made a subsequent call."

Even then, there may still be options, or complications.  To avoid uncertainty, it's best to call the director as soon as possible.

Bredon pairs in world top 50:  Gill and Wynne achieved 67.02% - a magnificent 48th position in the world - in the 24th World Wide Sim Pairs held at the club on June 4.  Chris and Wilf were just behind in 50th place with 66.75%.

The competition was contested by nearly 5,000 pairs in 32 countries.  In England alone there were 730 pairs, among whom our stars finished 6th and 7th.  The result also meant that Bredon was the only British club with two finishers in the top 50.  Fantastic.

Entente cordiale wins top ten spot:

Ann and Daniel achieved a great result in the sim pairs held on 29 January 2010 for the Unicef Haiti Relief Fund, with 8th place among 484 players at 27 clubs in 12 countries.  Their 66.07% at Bredon, upgraded to 66.59% globally, was beaten by only four UK-based pairs, two in Canada and one in Thailand.  To see your world standing, see Results and click on Ecats.  The week-long event raised £27,000.

Thanks a ton for help to Haiti:  A cheque for £100 has gone to the Unicef Haiti relief fund following members' generous contributions at the simpairs event on Friday 29 January.  Despite another chilly evening, the event was fairly well supported.  Many members had already contributed to the relief appeal so it was pleasing to see the extra put into the pot.  Thanks to all who helped, including Gayle who made up the boards and Di who scored the event.

Master points - an update:  Every member can still register master points by sending the vouchers to the EBU for as long as they are valid - usually three years.  All club members automatically became EBU members on 1 April 2010, and they can still send vouchers to the EBU, even if they were not EBU members at the time the points were issued.  Scores now feed into a central database, so paper vouchers for master points are no longer needed.  

Michael joins the Bredon book club:  Michael Hill has become the third Bredon member to have a book published - a remarkable record in a small club.  His charming volume of poetry, Recollections, recounts an eventful life as an evacuee and physicist, and is obtainable from him for just £5.95.  His success follows publication of wife Jean's second novel, The Twisted Way, £7.95, a tale of murder, intrigue - and a little bridge, on sale at local bookshops.

Jenny Steel's award-winning short story The Handyman was included in the anthology The Book Lovers' Appreciation Society, Orion £6.99, with £1 going to Breast Cancer Care.  The collection, which also features work by best-selling novelists Meave Binchy, Alexander McCall Smith and Sophie Kinsella, was highly praised by the Daily Mail and Daily Record.

Club happy to get new direction

Pauline and Michael have generously donated a handsome carved oak North sign for the club to display.  The beautiful piece of craftsmanship was made by their son Adam, and given by his parents to mark their Golden Wedding anniversary earlier in the year.

Going out with a bang

2009 finished in fine style, thanks to the splendid mulled wine and Christmas treats prepared by Bernie with help from Di, which members greatly enjoyed.  There then followed another exceptional night of slams, 15 this time, but all of them in East-West - recompense for the opposite situation a fortnight before.

Chris and Wilf jitter but retain title, then cause for Mrs Wilf to celebrate

Congratulations to champions Chris and Wilf who retained the Scorer's Cup in 2009 with 61.7%, despite a nervy final round that saw them record just under 41%, their lowest score of the year.  With Gill and Wynne just behind on 61.4%, they opened the door to their closest challengers, but they too were unable to improve on their best scores, with just 49% on the night.  The Scorer's Cup, donated by Laurence, goes to the pair with the best 15 results during the year.  Maggie and Colin finished third.  Wilf thought of wife Betty after also taking the award for Slammer of the Year, with 22 points, followed by Chris 17, Roger 14, and Di 13.  After choosing a prize, tee-totaller Wilf took home on 1 January a box of chocolates and a bottle of fine Cote du Rhone red.

Other highlights of 2009:  The best score was by Jennifer and Liz with 74.8% on 4 September.  If all scores throughout 2009 were averaged, with a minimum of six games to qualify, they would have finished top, ahead of Helen and Laurence.  Gill had the best individual average throughout the year with 55.3%.  Best score by newcomers was 59.7% by Sheena and Shirley also on 4 September.

Comparing pairs scores with the previous year, Jean and Michael achieved the greatest improvement, up exactly 4% to 55.1%, 9th overall while Margaret and Peter rose by 3.8% to finish 7th with 56.2%.

Wilf and Gill independently scored 6276 and 4126 Masterpoints - the highest tallies in Worcestershire during 2009.  

Clive collects first trophy

Clive won the Autumn Individual Cup, presented by Hilary, with a splendid score of 64.6%.  It was the first time that Clive had received a club trophy when it was handed over by last year's winner Roger on November 6.  Maurice at first came second, but unfortunately he and others suffered a later penalty as his table failed to play all five boards in the final round.  As a result he still came a strong third.

Club helps fund heart machines:  Following a charity donation by the club two years ago, defibrillators - which can restart the heart after cardiac arrest - have been fitted at Bishops Cleeve school and sports centre.  The club's gift went toward the £1,500 cost of the machines and of training ten people between the two sites.