A field of 12 pairs contested the annual Mixed Pairs event on a wet November afternoon.  A 6 table 3/4 Howell movement allowed 27 boards to be played, finishing around 16:00.  The event ran extremely smoothly, and all enjoyed an afternoon of competitive and fun bridge.  It was a closely fought competition but the winners, with 58.25% were Debbie Burton and Edward Harris, and Mo Parsons and Keith Stewart second. The winning pair will be awarded the Hannam Challenge Cup at the AGM.

Congratulations to the winners, thanks to Roy Brixton for directing and all those who helped with event preparation and in the running and cleaning up in the kitchen.

This is an event for club teams of four. The unique feature is that each team may contain only one payer ranked as Master or higher, so it gives less experienced players an opportunity to enjoy a teams match against similar players from other clubs.  The event was won comfortably by a team representing Louth, so many congratulations to Rodney Mitchell, Linda Storr, Michael Harrison and Ruth Smith.  Thanks also to Rodney for ensuring the smooth running of the event.

Mark Wardell

An entry of ten pairs enabled us to form five teams of four, with each team consisting of a seeded pair and an unseeded pair.  A most enjoyable afternoon of teams bridge ensued, with every team playing every other team.  The event was won fairly comfortably by Mo Parsons, Debbie Burton, Roy Brixton and Pat Moulds, who won all four of their matches.  Well done to them.  There was one particularly interesting hand where slams could be made by both NS and EW - well done to the pairs who took the right view.

Many thanks to Rodney for scoring and Mark for directing.

Last Sunday saw a good turn-out of seven tables to contest this excellent event.  All the NS pairs enjoyed the services of the same expert (but imaginary) EW pair of team-mates; this enabled them all to rack up lots of IMPs.  Winners in this section, with an impressive + 177, were Mike Waters and Keith Stewart, and many congratulations to them.  The EW pairs similarly enjoyed the services of another expert (but again imaginary!) pair of NS team-mates.  So they too were able to enter lots of pluses on their cards.  Winners of the EW section were Mike Llewelyn and Megan Williams, with an excellent score of + 143 .  A very enjoyable afternoon, giving players the rare opportunity to play an event with teams scoring without having to enter as a team!  And of course the ongoing pleasure of being able to enter plus scores on their scorecards.

Huge thanks to Stuart Knox, who prepared the boards, the Ghost pairs' scores and travellers.  His hard work was really appreciated by all.  Also thanks to Rodney for scoring the event, getting the results out very promptly, and entering all the necessary data in advance of the event.

Next event (the Random Seeded Pairs) is another teams event where you enter as a pair.  Team-mates will be drawn on the day, once the field has been divided according to experience.

Mark Wardell

We enjoyed a good turnout of 19 pairs for this annual event. It is part of a national simultaneous pairs event run by the EBU, with final results being handicapped according to each pair's average NGS. The event ran very smoothly, finishing about 4:30pm.  A 28 board 3/4 Howell movement was played, with no problems encountered. 

The without handicap, the local winners were Mike Llewellyn and Keith Stuart, followed by Janice Troughton and Jackie Pfister. The national results feature a total of 260 pairs from 15 clubs. The results with handicaps applied can be viewed at this site. Sadly, none of our players featured high in the handicapped results.

Many thanks to Mark, Jackie, Rodney and others for directing, scoring and general organisation of the event.

23 members attended the Annual General Meeting of the LCBA held on 6th July 2025.  A new LCBA president for next season was elected - Cos Corry, and trophies for the events run in the past season were presented. This was followed by a 6 table  "free to enter" pairs event, starting at about 2:30pm. A full Howell movement of 11 x 2 board rounds was used. The honours go to Mark Wardell and Jackie Pfister, closely followed by Glyn Jackson and Rodney Mitchell.  The whole event had a very friendly atmosphere and was enjoyed by all present.

The Swiss Pairs for the Gilbert Fry Memorial Cup was held at Dunholme VH on Sunday 18th May. Ten pairs had entered and played six 5-board rounds. With one round to go, there were still 5 pairs in with a chance of winning the event. Towards the end of the last round the computer screen showed the current positions with updates in real time as boards were completed. There were a number of place changes and at the end the narrow winners were Rodney Mitchell and Glyn Jackson on 77, followed by Mike Llewellyn and Megan Williams on 75 and in third were Janice Troughton and Mary Jo Mangion on 74. The event was enjoyable and thanks go to Roy Brixton for directing and helping with the technology.

The Garden Cities is a competition for clubs, who select a team of eight from their membership. The regional final for our area was held at Leicester on 10th May with Lincolnshire being represented by the Louth Bridge Club team consisting of - Mark Wardell, Jacqueline Pfister, Janice Troughton, Mary Jo Mangion, Edward Harris, Kiat Huang, Rodney Mitchell and Glyn Jackson. The team finished 2 equal with the team from Cambridgeshire (Peterborough) and just behind the winners, Warwickshire (Coventry). Full results are on the EBU website. The Louth team qualify as one of 8 teams to play in the national final on the 7th June.

The success was mostly due to sparkling performances from Kiat and Ed and Mark and Jackie who finished 1st and 3rd respectively in the cross IMPS scoring. Janice and Mary Jo also did well and finishing in the top third.

It was a weekend enjoyed by all and a welcome success for Lincolnshire bridge.

The LCBA Annual Championship Pairs attracted ten entries.  This select but relatively small field was able to enjoy a relaxed and convivial single session of 36 boards, the movement being a full 36-board Howell.  Every pair played four boards against every other pair, with a good break for lunch approximately half way through.  In first place were Mark Wardell and Jackie Pfister, who win the Arthur Wilson Trophy.  They were closely followed by Bill Crymble and Cos Corry, who win the Ernest Harrison Trophy, and in 3rd place Janice Troughton and Mary Jo Mangion, who will be presented with the Bell Trophy.  The Lucy Osborne Trophy (highest pair both over 65 years) was won by Richard Tupper and Pete Sharman.

An excellent and enjoyable event, which ran very smoothly - many thanks to Rodney for scoring and Mark for directing

Ten pairs contested the final, playing a full Howell movement.  The top three pairs have the opportunity to represent Lincolnshire in the Corwen Trophy (essentially the national pairs final, played over a weekend). Winners of the Bainton Trophy were Mike Llewellyn and Keith Stewart, closely followed by Pat Lucas and Derek Crumpton in second and Rob Fabian and Brian Chamberlain in third place on a split tie.

Well done to the successful pairs, and good luck to all of them in the Corwen.  Many thanks to Rodney for his diligent scoring (and giving up his Sunday!)

Eight teams of four played in the qualifier, which consisted of an all play all movement of 7 rounds of three boards.  Each board was scored with imps, and imps result of each of the seven matches then converted to Victory Points.  Winners of the qualifier were the team of Mike Llewellyn, Megan Williams, Keith Steward and Brigid Hughes, and they will be awarded the D. and A. Brown Trophy at the AGM.

After a lunch break two separate finals were played, each of four tables.  Again each final was an all play all, this time with three matches, each of seven boards, every match being Victory-pointed.  Winners of the prestigious Championship Teams final were the Lincoln based team of Cos Corry, Michael Stafford, Bill Crymble and Colin Ryan, and they will be awarded the Dutton Challenge Cup at the AGM.  The consolation final was also won by a Lincoln based team, this time consisting of Maurice Lynn, Tina Page, Alan Millington and John Hill, and they will be awarded the Turner Brumpton Trophy.

An excellent day of bridge was enjoyed by all.  Many thanks to Rodney for scoring, and for dealing with the technology and difficulties of two simultaneous events - quite a difficult task!  The next event (on 27th April at 11.30) is a similar format only it is for pairs rather than teams.  We look forward to a good entry!

Sunday's event attracted a good field of 17 pairs.  This enabled us to play a full Howell, with each pair playing every other pair.  Winners of the Ladies' event were Mo Parsons and Debbie Burton (for the third year running!).  The Men's event was won (for the second year running) by Alan Millington and Graham Marshall. Congratulation to both pairs.  Many thanks to Rodney for his hard work with the scoring - all went very smoothly. 

We had a good turnout of 18 pairs for the Bainton Semi-Final playing a standard Mitchell of 9 x 3-board rounds. The event ran smoothly and was enjoyed by all. The honours go to Megan Williams & Ed Harris with a convincing victory, followed by Richard Tupper & Peter Sharman. The top 10 pairs go on to the Final, which will be an "all-play-all" movement of 36 boards and for which all pairs will receive green Masterpoints.