The Ernest Lawson Rose Bowl is a trophy played for each year at the club.It is a magnificicent large bowl which is on permanent display in the Rotunda and could be engraved with your name. Last year it was won by David Wilson and Paul Found ,who are current participants in mentee and mentor scheme, although last year was before it was officially happening.

It was donated to the club in memory of Ernest by his wife. It was to be awarded annually for a fun and different event. Our chairman,Howard and Ross and Marina have given me some background on him. Ernest Lawson was a stalwart of the RAC bridge circle for many years. A character and charmer who loved his bridge without shining particularly. A good man, warm-hearted, generous and well-liked. His major trait at the bridge table was to bid 3 No Trumps whenever and wherever possible, justified or not.

This year we are running it on 2 June which is a mentor and mentee night. They will be the only pairs eligible to win the cup although ,see below about another fun prize ,on the night ,open to all. Obviously we hope as many pairs as possible will enter whether they are part of mentor scheme or not. There is one more standard mentor mentee night on 5 May before this event so you can check if partners are available and if not try and sort someone else to play with.If any mentors or mentees are available to play on 2 June but don't have a partner if they let themselves be known hopefully people can be paired up.

The other prize that will be available to all is a bottle of wine for the pair who bids and makes the most 3No Trump contracts over the evening. If there is a tie the prize will go to the lowest placed pair. It may not be possible to sort this on the night but we will try.

The cup will be formally presented to the winning pair at the Christmas dinner. You will be briefly allowed to touch it for a photo before it goes back in its display case where you will be able to show it to all your family and friends!

Look forward to seeing as many as possible, but as previously said this will be a fun night for all bridge players not just mentors and mentees.

Best wishes 

Sally (on behalf of RAC Bridge Activity Committee )  

Members of the RAC took the first two places in the inaugural Waterloo Cup held at the In and Out on 17^th June. 200 years to the day that the officers of the British army were enjoying a pre battle ball twenty eight pairs competed for a pairs trophy that is intended to become an annual event. Congratulations to Pauli Laumen and John Salter who were clear winners with a score of 65% four percent ahead of Dominic Flint and Pamela Reiss. I have written up hand 8 which was proved too difficult for most players but was played with Skill by Roy Ham.

Michael Bailey and Lester Pereira triumphed in the this years Lords Trophy. Partnered with Nigel Clayton and Robert Buxton they made a formidable team and won the event in some comfort.

Terry Smith, looking for a 4th consecutive victory had to settle for second place in this year's Centenary cup.

And the winners were the Englan Open team. Full details and scores are available on the  event blog.

RAC Open Championship Pairs

The 2015 Open Pairs event proved highly popular, with  38 pairs playing in afternoon and evening sessions.  It was strongly contested: at one stage in the final round of the evening, the results screen was showing the four leading pairs within 1 point of each other. RAC pairs were among the high placings but prizes eluded them.  The afternoon session was won by Graham Barber and Michael Taub of the Cumberland Club, and the evening session was won by Jonathan and Gail Hoffman of the Lord's Taverners, last year's overall winners.  However, this year's overall prize and the RAC Open Pairs cup went to Terry Hewett and Simon Cocheme of Hurlingham.