2019 Summer League

Updated 22-Sep-2019

2019 Garden Cities Regional Final

As winners of the Abbeygate Shield, county teams-of-eight, in late 2018, the club qualified as the Suffolk representative to the Garden Cities, the National county/club competition. First and second in the Regional qualify to the National Final and, to my reckoning, Suffolk has never progressed. This year was tantalisingly close and perhaps the more painful for that. The margin left all of us rueing missed opportunities but Karen and Malcolm Pryor deserve special mention for a super performance.

The club was represented by Karen Pryor, Malcolm Pryor, Chris Green, Peter Sutcliffe, Maria Allnutt, Debby Sutcliffe, Peter Gemmell and Chris Chambers (Captain).

Using the wrong VP scales bedevils this event and those published on the day (and appearing here for quite a while) were incorrect. Under the proper version we were even closer to second but joined in third place. The EBU site has full details (we played at the Stamford heat).

Suffolk Club Teams-of-Eight 2018

Ipswich and Kesgrave retained the Abbeygate Shield for a fourth year.

Cathy Rowland, Din Gudka, Karen Pryor, Malcolm Pryor, Chris Green, Peter Sutcliffe, Peter Gemmell and Chris Chambers repesented the club.

It was a convincing win based on a very strong first-half (113/120) and followed by a workmanlike second session (56/100) on noticeably less swingy deals. All four pairs had great cards, and the team packed the top five in the cross-IMP ranking.

The 2018 Summer League

For the first time ever Ipswich and Kesgrave fielded two teams in the Suffolk Summer League.

Diamonds

Our 'Diamonds' team won the first division. The squad was Cathy Rowland, Din Gudka, Karen Pryor, Malcolm Pryor, Chris Green, Peter Sutcliffe, Paul Whetton, Ralph Parish, Maria Allnutt, Debby Sutcliffe, Peter Gemmell and Chris Chambers (Captain).

Hearts

The idea behind the 'Hearts' team, captained by Wendy Lefort, was to introduce more players to teams bridge, mainly those with little or no match experience. The team would be balanced by a few pairs who were old hands but would inevitably have a large squad. That squad could be still larger and if you are interested with a view to the summer of 2019, please speak to Wendy or Chris Chambers.

In the context of its formation, Hearts acquitted itself well in the second division.

Hearts were represented by Bill Bethell, Andrew Birley, Francisco De Carvalho, Karen De Carvalho, Anne Edwards, Phillip Edwards, Jaroslaw Grochowski, Terry Howard, Paul Lefort, Gill Newton, Clive Norman, Nick Perrin, Alison Simons, Conrad Simons, Trevor Stiff, Bogdan Talaga and Wendy Lefort (Captain).

Suffolk Club Teams-of-Eight 2017

Ipswich and Kesgrave retained the Abbeygate Shield for a third year.

Cathy Rowland, Din Gudka, Anne Edwards, Phillip Edwards, Maria Allnutt, Barbara Barker, Peter Gemmell and Chris Chambers repesented the club.

The result was closer than it looks but we played well in both halves, leading after six matches (86/120) and following with a solid performance (=2nd, 65/100) in the second session of five matches.