£1100 raised for Richard's chosen charity.

A message from our Chair to Karen Smith, Richard's wife.  Thank you for allowing us to hold an event in Richard’s honour which we did on 30th September.  We had the main tournament room full with 13 playing tables of bridge, 52 people plus the support staff of four in the kitchen.  We served a two course lunch with wine or soft drink for all attendees and held a raffle.  We had representatives of many bridge clubs attend including Grantham, Loughborough, Bradgate, Glenfield, Westcotes, as well as County Bridge Club, four of the other Club Life Members were in attendance Ian had to withdraw because of Covid in his household.  Both Peter Halford and Frank Travers spoke at the end of the event about Richard.

We had donations from many on the committee, and the Club is covering the cost of food and the VAT bill which means all of the money raised through ticket sales and the raffle will go to your chosen charity Versus Arthritis.   £1,100 for the charity to be donated in Richard’s name.  Thank you for the opportunity to hold the event and allow us to honour Richard in this small way, he is much missed by all in the bridge community, myself included.

Anthea Byrne
 

I am sad to inform you of the death of Ron at the age of 91.  Ron started to play bridge late in life after retiring from being a successful comedian.   He loved the game of bridge and became a member of the cbc 25 years ago.  Ron enjoyed giving help when needed and looked after the bar for 5 years when he was in his 80s.   Bridge was a big part of Ron's life and he always said he could not wait to hold the cards in his hand.  Thank you for the very many happy times.
Sue Northen

We were advised that there would be a private funeral so we were unable to publish any arrangements.

Derek's funeral was on Saturday 20th January at South Leicestershire Crematorium, Countesthorpe at 11.00am 

Ted, one of our ex students, passed away on Saturday 25th November 2023..His cremation took place at The Heart of England Crematorium, Nuneaton on Monday 18th December.

Stan died on Saturday 2nd Sept 2023.  Stan died on Saturday 2nd Sept. 

Click for document written by Jon Dean

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Click for Krystyna  Contact Andrew     krzeczk@gmail.com or 07740095777.

Richard Anthony Smith passed away suddenly on his birthday, after a very short illness, at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, on Sunday 12th March 2023, aged 69 years.
A much loved husband to Karen, stepson to Linda, brother to Michael and Simon, Richard will be deeply missed by all of his family and friends.

Richard was elected to Honorary Life Member of the County Bridge Club.   As a previous Treasurer and Trustee, along with Jim Wilde and Tony Odams, he organised the purchase of 1, St. James.
More recently, he has continued to work behind the scenes.  He has done most of the website improvements for both the CBC website and our CBCT teaching website.  The trio of Richard smith, Richard Bell and Ian Walkerdine set up BBO for the club.  All the photographs on the website were taken and uploaded by him.  He has worked with Anthea to set up our accounting system.  He has been a frequent player at club sessions and played in many of the club's teams..  

Richard's funeral service took place at Great Glen Crematorium on Wednesday 5th April 2023.

Joanna's funeral was at Gilroes Crematorium on Tuesday, July 26th. The wake was held at St. Oswald.

Mick died this morning, Monday 7th Feburary 2022.  He was taken to hospital last week with a non-covid infection.  He attended Bridge lessons in the 1970s and became a formidable card player.  He played for the County bridge club's A team in the winter league for many years.  He was very keen to play, whenever the opportunity arose not only at our club but also competed in bridge congresses and in the Midland League.  He was also a keen ballroom dancer.  

The wake was at St Oswald at 12:00  to 16:00 on Saturday 2nd April 2022. 

We are saddened to report that LCBA life member Robert Northage died on 21st December 2021 following a recent stroke. Dave Pollard has written the obituary. His funeral is was on Wednesday 2nd February at Gilroes Crematorium. 

ROBERT H NORTHAGE (Sept 1938 to Dec 2021) Robert was raised in Quorn , Leicestershire where his father was the very first clerk to the local council in 1935, a position he held for 40 years. After university he had a career teaching physics in Bath and when he then retired through ill health in the early 1990s he returned to Leicestershire to live in Quorn. As well as his interest in bridge he was a very strong chess player and returned to captain the Loughborough club where he had played whilst still at school. For a while he wrote a regular chess and bridge column for the Loughborough Echo. Robert played in the LCBA League for Loughborough, Magazine, County and Glenfield clubs at various times. He also represented the county in the Midland League teams , normally partnered by John Wilcox. He had successes in county competitions in teams in the Wilde Cup, Josephs Bowl and the Butterworth Trophy (as it was then called). Robert joined the LCBA Committee as General Secretary in 1995 and served in this post for 20 years. In this time he expanded the role of the General Secretary so that it is at the heart of bridge activities in the county. Robert took on an enormous workload on behalf of the Association. In addition to his support for our various sub-committees he had a particular interest in laws and ethics, along with acting as a Competition Controller of some of our county bridge competitions. He trained as a county level director in 1995 and had been one of a select panel who directed county pairs and teams events consistently until a couple of years ago. The fact the Leicestershire runs a Green Point weekend featuring pairs and teams events is due to Robert’s efforts in resurrecting and organising the events. That this is a successful venture is due largely to Robert’s efforts. Robert was also an EBU Shareholder on behalf of the county whilst Secretary and played an active role in Shareholder meetings. Robert was made a Life member of the LCBA in 2011 and given an EBU Dimmie Fleming award in 2014 for his services to the Association.

David Betterley, one of our former committee members, died on 8th December 2021 at the age of 80.  David passed away peacefully and will be lovingly remembered by his wife, Pam, his children, Nick and Sarah, children-in-law, Verity and David and grandchildren, Finlay, Aurelia, Alice, Warwick and Tom. 

We have learned of the tragic deaths of Ian and his wife Ruth at their home in Desford.  They were both frequent players at the club.  Because of his work experience doing website work for M&S, Ian helped me in the early stages of setting up our Bridgewebs web site.   

David Deane died on Tuesday 2nd November. His wife, Pauline, died two weeks earlier.  He was a member of long standing, playing at St James when it was known as Cranes.  David used to teach bridge at Oadby Beauchamp School.  Among his pupils were Jean Wightman, Colin Gore and Paul Bowyer.

Cynthia was a long standing member of the bridge club, serving on the committee for several years and becoming Secretary.  Cynthia played in many of the sessions each week and attended the bridge holidays for many years, probably more than most other members.  She was a very confidant person, we always knew when she had come to the club.  I’ll remember her, mainly, for the telephone conversations with the phone several inches away from my ear! 

She had been ill for the last few years and had been in a care home in Epsom near her family for the last month.  She leaves a son, daughter and grandchildren.

Norman was an honorary life member.  In addition to time as a committee member, in past times, he was one of our teachers running classes for new students.  He presented the Williams Cup to help promote the playing of bridge for the students.  For many years he attended the bridge holidays and with David Pollard helped instigate and run the holidays not only in England but abroad.

For many years, he was the Director on Friday afternoons which was one of our most busy sessions with his wife, Ann, attending the sessions as host.  There were times when we were so full that the sit out table was in the bar.  Before he retired from directing, he was my ‘trainer’ for the Friday sessions.

His life has included:Merchant Navy, US army (1959), Manager at Ford Motor company, Amateur dramatics (1974), Shopkeeper in Torquay, Landlord in London, Farmer in Wales, 

Ian W

Terry Green  Click for the document.

Marjorie Gilbertson passed away on 3rd March. She was being treated in the Leicester Royal Infirmary for over a month, not for COVID-19, but initially for a bad cough which caused her discomfort and made eating and drinking difficult.

Marjorie and her husband, Don, had been part of the Leicestershire bridge scene for many years and, after Don passed away a few years ago, Marjorie continued to be a very active participant in Leicestershire bridge. Pat Watson partnered her in club games, league matches and County matches for more than twenty years and theyenjoyed many congress week-ends together.

More recently, Judy Hill became one of Marjorie’s regular partners and, not surprisingly, they had a successful partnership at the bridge table and became close friends.  Marjorie was always delightful company - an intelligent, fair minded lady with a great sense of humour and a strong personality. All those who knew her will be feeling a great sense of loss.

We are sorry to report that Doug Rollason died on 2nd September at The Lawns Care Home aged 101 years. Doug had not played at the club for a number of years but will be remembered as a lovely man, a true gentleman. He was Financial Director at Premier Drum in Wigston for many years. If anyone has memories of Doug that they want to share then please pass those on to us.

His funeral will be held on Monday 21st September at 13:00 (A.J.Adkinson & Son).

Geoff Marlow died on 17th July 2020.  He was 80 years old.  He leaves two children, David and Jane.  He had recently returned to bridge and was always a friendly face at the bridge table.

John Harriman passed away peacefully in Brixham, Devon on 25th May, aged 73. Born and brought up in Mountsorrel, John attended Humphrey Perkins GS.  He was a well known local footballer representing Mountsorrel Amateurs and Sileby Town with some distinction.  He was a prominent member of the County Bridge Club in the 1980s.  He left Leicestershire for a career in teaching and then IT, spending most of his later life in Devon. Loved by all who knew him he leaves his wife Jenny and son, Sam. A true gentleman in all senses.

I have been told that David Godfrey has lost his fight against Covid-19.  As a frequent Friday afternoon player, he played on the last Friday before our shutdown. 

We are saddened to learn of the death of Ruth Petter on Saturday 28th December 2019.

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GIBSON Veronica Mary (neé Mullarkey) Previously resident of Hendon Grange and Groby. Died peacefully on Saturday May 4th 2019 at South Lodge Care Home. Beloved wife of the late Cliff, devoted mother of Sue, Sheila and Robin..

Richard Tyler

Richard was born in December 1934 and died on 5 April 2019 age 84 and educated at Stoneygate School, Rugby and Queens College, Cambridge.

Professionally he was Director of family shoe retailing business which he sold and then was able spend more time with his family, wife Gillie, sons Nick and Chris and five grandchildren.

Always, he had a keen interest in sport: Member of Leicester Hockey Club, long-time member of The Leicestershire Golf Club where he served as both captain and president, cricket, tennis and even ping-pong.  He was a keen yachtsman with boat at Blakeney where the family had a holiday home.

Other interests included vegetable gardening and quizzes. 

As a member of the County Bridge Club he has served on the committee, been on a winning Hurwich team twice and has won the Cayless individual cup.
 

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OBITUARY- ANNE KIND OBE

It is with sadness that we learnt of Anne’s death on January 1^st, 2019 aged 96. Anne was a long-standing member of CBC, much valued and loved. Anne led a full and interesting life. She was Leicester Family Planning Clinic’s first volunteer in 1954. She later took on a senior role as a fund-raiser for LOROS and was instrumental in raising more than £1.5 million to develop the hospice.She, along with husband Bill, was a founding member of the Bowmen of Glen archery club and a triallist for the GB Olympic archery team. She was also an award-winning poet. She will be missed.

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I'm sorry to say that Peter Cooney died peacefully at the L.R.I. on Thursday 8th November 2018. He was 88 years old.

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We are sad to report that Sue Bowyer passed away on 28th October 2018.

We are saddened to learn of the death of Jean Jessop, peacefully at home after a long illness, on 26th February 2020. Jean was a member of the club for many years, and although she resigned last year due to ill health she will be remembered by those who went on the club bridge holidays as she attended several of these. The memorial service planned for Tuesday 17th March 2020 has been cancelled.

Yasser died at the end of December 2016.  His funeral was on 5th January in a village in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon.

I am sorry to report that Gary died on Monday, 20th March.  The funeral was at Gilroes on Friday 31st. March 2017 

Gary worked at the Brush Group in Loughborough for many years until he took early retirement for health reasons.  In the early 1980s he was one of the founder members of the Clarendon team along with current members Sue and Paul Bowyer, Jim Mason and Simon Stokes. In those days, League rules dictated that new teams had to enter in the lowest division, so division 7 was their starting point.  Over the years, Gary won several competitions at the County bridge club, winning the Staines Trophy with Marjorie Gilbertson for three consecutive years and the Hammersley Cup three times between 2010 and 2014 with team mates Irene Krantz, Simon Stokes and Yasser Haider.  In LCBA competitions, he won the Hyman Crammer Memorial Trophy twice, partnered by Sue Bowyer on the first occasion, and by Simon Stokes on the second.  He won the Otto and Edith Bowl, twice, partnered by Irene Krantz.  Gary also played regularly in the Midlands County league partnered by David Green.  He was always affable and welcoming to everyone he met at the bridge table. Gary would be the first to say that much of his bidding relied on flair rather than lengthy bidding sequences – the Hurricane Higgins of the Leicestershire bridge scene.

He leaves his wife Margaret, daughter Sarah, son Keith and many friends in the Leicestershire bridge community.
 

To read about Tony 30 July 1933 to 3 December 2016 Click HERE

I regret to inform you that Marjorie Booton died on 30 October 2015.  Age 102 years.

I am sorry to report that Bill Gray died on Friday 13th November 2015.  A brief bridge history for Bill can be seen HERE