2014.            Motor Neurone Disease Association.£350

2015:        This year's President, Richard Edwards, chose the British Heart Foundation as the Club's Charity. raised a total of £280

2016-17                £250 (Umbrella Charity)

2017-18                £685 (Alzheimers Society)

2018-20                £600 (DART Appeal) (that was the ‘16 month year’ when we changed the accounting period)

2020                       Nil (Covid meant no President’s charity events)

2021                       Ditto

2022                       £400 (Pancreatic Cancer)

2023 19th & 21st June. The Treetops Hospice. Money raised £750.

Treasurer Roy Fay says :This year  an extraordinarily generous amount of raffle donations (far more than in previous years, as far as I can remember) and there was an extremely generous single donation of £100 (totally unexpected and far greater than any past donations).

All charities -Total amount raised includes >The top-up we made to the amounts collected during the week (donations, raffles, table fees)

Our AGM will be held on Monday 23rd January 2023.

Held with a simple lunch: comprising of a mug of soup, French bread, cheese or meat along with a glass of something, will be served at midday. This will be followed by the AGM and Bridge (free of table fees)

If you need any further help, please contact Judy Langworthy at derbybridgeclub@gmail.com

The teams of 8 final placings are as follows:

 2021:  Derby A - Div 1 - 2nd, Derby B - Div 2 - 1st,  Derby C - Div 3 - 4th,, Derby D - Div 4 - 1st, Derby E - Div 6 - 3rd, Derby F - Div 7 - 2nd.                                                      

 2020: Derby A - 2nd in Division 1, Derby B - 3rd in Division 2, Derby C - 5th in Division 2, Derby D - 3rd in Division                                                                              

2019 : Derby A - 2nd in Division 1, Derby B - 5th in Division 1 .Derby C - 1st in Division 3, Derby D - 3rd in Division 4                                                                                        

      2018 : Derby A - 2nd in Division 1.  Derby B - 2nd in Division 2.  Derby C - 5th in Division 2. .  Derby D - 5th in Division 3.  Derby E - 3rd in Division 5

Well done to everyone who played for any of the teams!

Tuesday Evening

Derby BC are running a joint on-line event with East Midlands on BBO on Tuesday evenings at 7pm.  The event will be run by Andrew Scott. The number of boards will be dependent on the number of entries.  

If you have played in East Midlands online sessions or in the Derby Bridge Club charity event there is no need to register beforehand as your details are on the database.   But if you need to register please contact Andrew with your EBU number, BBO username and your real name.  His email is andrew.scott42@hotmail.co.uk.  

The sessions will be $4 to ensure costs are covered.  When entering the event, in the search box (above where it says "Entries") type EMBC.  The event is called EMBC/Derby BC Tuesday Evening Duplicate.  The level 2 restrictions have been lifted for these Tuesday evening sessions.  

It would be great if you could join us at this event on BBO.   If you want to play, but do not have a partner, please text Judy Langworthy on 07983973047 by Monday and she will try to find you one.  Also, if you are happy to be a reserve partner please let Judy know.

Tuesday Evening

The results from our survey showed there is currently insufficient demand for Face-to-Face Bridge on Tuesday evenings.

For the time being, Derby BC is joining with East Midlands to hold an on-line event on BBO from Tuesday 7 September at 7pm.  The event will be run by Andrew Scott. The number of boards will be dependent on the number of entries.  If you have played in East Midlands online sessions or in the Derby Bridge Club charity event there is no need to register beforehand as your details are on the database.   But if you need to register please contact Andrew with your EBU number, BBO username and your real name.  His email is andrew.scott42@hotmail.co.uk.  The sessions will be $4 to ensure costs are covered.  Any profits will be given to EMBA to support Spondon.  It has been decided that that only level 2 compliant systems are allowed.  

When entering the event, in the search box (above where it says "Entries") type EMBC.  The event is called EMBC/Derby BC Tuesday Evening Duplicate

Bridge classes will start again this month (September). 

Obviously with the Covid virus and social distancing, these cannot be held face-to-face at Spondon.  But they can take place online! 

Being online means that the classes can be more flexible in terms of timing.  This means that potentially there can be multiple classes during the week in smaller groups.   

If you are interested or you know of someone who wants to learn bridge, please contact Anne Townsend by email at spondonoldschool@yahoo.com or phone 07377 555341

Study sessions on 'Opening Lead' will resume after the Christmas break at 10:00 am on Wednesday January 8th.

Tutorial fee £3.  Pre-ordered lunch (including vegetarian option) will also be available at a cost of £4, but you must book for this.  

Contact Andrew Billson (abillson@bcs.org) or Miranda  (mirandavin@yahoo.co.uk)

Following on from the event with Andrew Robson last month, there will be a series of tutorials held on Wednesday mornings at 10 am to 12 noon in the Lounge at EMBA.  The tutorials will be based on Andrew Robson's lesson books, taking the form of bidding and playing the hands featured in the books.  The play will be followed by finding out what Andrew Robson says happened or should have happened.  

The sessions running up to Christmas will focus on Andrew Robson's Guidelines for Opening Leads.

Tutorial fee £3.  

Pre-ordered lunch (including vegetarian option) will also be available at a cost of £4, but you must book for this.  

Contact Andrew (abillson@bcs.org) or Miranda  (mirandavin@yahoo.co.uk)

At the Special General Meeting (SGM) on Tuesday 27th August, the following proposals were agreed:

1) to change the financial year to 1 January – 31 December

2) to reduce subscriptions to £5 per annum from financial year 2020 onwards until further notice 

3) members joining after 1 September 2019 will not pay their subs until the beginning of the next financial year 

 The Bate Cup is Derby Bridge Club's Teams-of-4 championship.

Bate cup 2018: Congratulations to Janet Jacques, Ken Smith, Michael Bleaney and Steve Lemmings for winning the Bate Cup

Bate Cup 2017: The team who finished first in the competition for the Bate Cup, which was held on Monday February 27, included players who were not members of Derby Bridge Club prior to the event. Consequently the runners-up on the day will be awarded the Bate Cup for 2017.  Well done to Richard Weeks, Munir Tanvir, George Smith and Brian Marshall!  

2016: Congratulations to Jim Tomlinson, Richard Hodgkins, Chris Rogers and David Briggs on winning the Bate Cup in convincing style 

2015: Congratulations to David Briggs, Jim Tomlinson, Chris Rogers and Richard Hodgkins for winning the Bate Cup.

 2014: Congratulations to Maggie Beale, Jim Parker, David Briggs and Jim Tomlinson on winning the Cup.

Click on the blue title bar for details about the Celebration Afternoon Tea on Tuesday 25 June.

If interested, please contact the Secretary before 13 June on derbybridgeclub@gmail.com 

The winners of the  Jubilee Pairs 2018  were Keith Spencer/Steve Fordham

Jubilee Pairs 2014: Congratulations to Cedric Cockroft and John Reavy on winning the Jubilee Pairs

Congratulations to the team of Derby Bridge Club members who won the Silver Plate, a prestigious national competition, which is the consolation event for the Gold Cup.  

The players in the final were Bob Ross, Richard Edwards, Alex Hogg and Peter Kelly.   Don Smedley and John Griffin played in earlier rounds.

Well done everyone! 

2015: This year's President, Richard Edwards, chose the British Heart Foundation as the Club's Charity. raised a total of £280

I am sure that everyone who participated in the Charity Week will be pleased to know that the Bridge sessions and the raffle raised £350 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Well done everybody!

Special thanks to Jennifer and Miranda for all their efforts

The highest winning percentage was achieved by Patricia Hill and Margaret Avery who therefore win the President's Cup

Clearing out the loft at the weekend, I found the article below. It was written by Jock Milton, who was the Derby Evening Telegraph's Bridge correspondent and started Tuesday evening Bridge at Derby. It was published on April 13, 1978(which happened to be a Friday).

This was Hand 21 on Tuesday 18th December,

I don't know what happened on Table 9, but everyone else played in 4

Since there are clearly 2 losers in Spades, the key question is how to play the Hearts.

There is nothing declarer can do if East  holds KJx(x), but otherwise there is a guaranteed line to lose only 1 Heart.

Win the opening lead and play A. If an honour comes from one of the defenders, no problem! If no honour appears, cross to the South hand and lead a small . If East shows out on the first round, cross to dummy twice to lead twice towards North's tenace.

This was a deal which occurred recently. Cover up the EW hands before you decide how to play it!

West leads Q.

Clearly declarer has 12 top tricks (2 , 1, 7and  2). As an aside, if dummy had only 6 Diamonds, the obvious play of leading the J guarantees the contract and if E has the King you make all thirteen tricks,

However, since S has twelve tricks, a losing finessse in Hearts would be of no value. It appears that declarer has to take a finesse in Hearts or Clubs. But look at the possibilities.

E holds K and Q - you can't go wrong

W holds K and Q - you can't win (maybe)

If  each of your opponents holds one of the vital honours, you make the extra trick if you guess right.

But in fact if either opponent has both key cards, you can claim 13 tricks. At trick 2, lead dummy's small heart to the Ace.  Play  K, discarding a small club and run the Diamonds, discarding all your Hearts. A defender with K and Q  will have to throw a Club and the Queen will fall when you cash the Ace and King.

Why is this better play?  Because choosing a finesse early (as you would have to) seems a bit too obvious and is only a 50-50 chance. This line gives you the same odss plus you make all 13 tricks if   K is singleton or the Q is singleton or doubleton.

I was very pleased to find this line of play!  But the real hero of the hand is my partner for bidding 6NT which would have been a complete top anyway!