Castle Comfort Cup - Sunday 4th November |
This annual event, aimed at intermediate players, took place at Newcastle-under-Lyme Bridge Club on Sunday 4th November 2018 with 11 tables in the main section and 4 tables in the mini-bridge section. The winners of the main section were Martin Aherne & William McLauchlan, second Kevin Goode & Tracy Aherne and third Helen Sugrue & Peggy Grocott.
In the mini bridge section, teacher and winners pictured, most of those playing had received about 8 lessons from Viv Milne but 2 had not played bridge before that afternoon and received a crash course over lunch!The group played 12 boards with the occasional need for help from Viv. Teaching has covered leads and scoring which is carried out in the same way as normal bridge. Previously the group had played in a mini bridge simultaneous pairs event organised by EBED. Viv is going to introduce 1NT opening bids next lesson and the bidding boxes will start being used. (For those who have not played mini-bridge, players count their points and the one with the most becomes the declarer and the dummy immediately goes down. After this the declarer then decides the contract and the lead is made by the opponents with dummy already face up.)
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Last updated : 2nd Dec 2018 10:02 GMT |
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The Phoenix Trophy |
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Following the AGM bridge was played for the Phoenix Trophy, the winners were Pam and Tony.
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Last updated : 10th Oct 2018 09:41 BST |
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SSCBA Summer Sim Pairs August 2018 |
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The SSCBA Summer Sim Pairs were played at 5 clubs, a total of 38½ tables, on Wednesday 15th August 2018. The final results are now complete. The winners were Pam Booth-Jones (SSCBA Chairman) & Tony Leech playing at Wrekin, Barbara Tams & Joyce Maddock playing at Newcastle came second with Mike Cornes & Lawrence Haynes playing at Wrekin third. Congratulations all.
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Last updated : 24th Sep 2018 09:47 BST |
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SSCBA members to Represent England |
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Last updated : 24th Sep 2018 09:27 BST |
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Some Success Stories |
Justin Hacket playing with Martin Taylor won the pairs on 22nd August 2018
Jason and Justin won the 2nd prize in the pairs event played 14th August 2018.
Congratulations to Dom Wilson and Jeff Jones who came second in the Swiss Pairs at the Glouscestershire Green point event on Sat 21st July in a very close contest with the winners scoring 100 vp to their 99 vp.
SSCBA was represented by two teams in this event played at Cheltenham Bridge Club, Gloucesterhire headquarters, on 8th July 2018. Roger Keane's team came third and Dave Clarke's ninth.
Jason Hackett playing with and John Sansom won the Llangollen Swiss pairs on 8th July 2018
Some Staffs and Shrops players have done well during 2017/18 season in this competition with Justin Hackett, as a member of Brian Senior's team, eventually being the losing finalists to Paula Leslie's team in the seventh round. Along the way, in the third round, Brian Senior's team played against Dan Crofts team that also included SSCBA member Celia Day.
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Last updated : 24th Sep 2018 09:22 BST |
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Mixed/Flitch Pairs - Postponed until June |
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A good number of players took part in this competition on the revised date of 14th June following the bad weather earlier in the year. With 2 board rounds every pair played every other pair, most enjoyable. The winners of the Championship Mixed Pairs were Kath Adams & John Hartley (Stafford) with Pamela Booth-Jones & Tony Leech (Wrekin) second and John Day & Pat Stacey (Newcastle) third. Winners of the Championship Flitch Pairs were Roger and Elaine Taylor (Wolverhampton). Many thanks to James Vickers for directing and Jeff Jones for organising the event.
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Last updated : 24th Jul 2018 11:03 BST |
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English & International Success Stories |
Adrian Kenworthy and Jason Hackett have won the pairs in Cordoba, Spain on 17th/18th March 2018. In addition to the money prize they also won a ham each!
Nearer home, Barbara Hackett won the Easter Festival Swiss Teams and came fourth in the Swiss Pairs. Barbara has been selected to play for Germany in the European championships and she came to the Easter tournament to practise with her German partner Anne Gladiotor. Barbara regularly plays in the SSCBA Dawes team.
Dave Debbage, playing with John Sansom, won the Godiva Swiss Pairs on 14th April at the Coventry Congress. Several SSCBA players took part in this event.
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Last updated : 26th Jun 2018 10:14 BST |
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Shropshire Congress - 28th and 29th April |
at Park Inn, Telford, TF3 4NA

The Swiss Pairs event, played on Saturday 28th April, was well attended with 52 pairs playing. The winners were Michael Rawlins & Naomi Gibbs from Hertfordshire. Jason Hackett and Adrian, defending their title, came second. Judy Mitchell & Jolanta Coggle (both from Shrewsbury Bridge Club) were the highest ranking amongst the rest of the S&SCBA county players, coming in at 5th. The bottom two places were only there as one pair had to go home towards the end of the event because of illness, and Lawrence Haynes & Mike Cornes, who were the stand-by pair to make up numbers, were asked to withdraw – to keep the numbers even - hence the zero scores towards the end and their placing at the bottom.

The leading non-expert pair were Liz Bretherton and Adam Fraise.
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The Swiss Teams event was played on Sunday 28th April. The winners were Jeff & Ann Wilkins, Michael Tomlinson & Linda Smith (from Lancashire) with Liz Commins & David Stevenson, Dee & Peter Lindon second. The outstanding S&SCBA result was that a team from Newcastle Bridge Club who came joint 3rd Martin Aherne & Kevin Goode, Tracy Aherne & Joanne McLauchlan, they tied with Sheila Shea & Margaret Barnes, Edward Jones & Wyn Williams.

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Last updated : 25th Jun 2018 21:12 BST |
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Championship Pairs - Sunday 18th March |
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Who would believe that snow would cause a problem in mid-March. Unfortunately a number had to pull out due to the road conditions but the competition nevertheless went ahead with a field mainly drawn from those who play in Dawes matches. Winners were James Vickers & Martin Church, second Paul Cutler & Geoff Davies with Marianne Alexander & Judy Mitchell third.
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Last updated : 20th May 2018 09:34 BST |
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Shrewsbury Open Swiss Pairs - Sunday 4th March 2018 |
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A very enjoyable afternoon, the thaw came just in time to permit the event to go ahead. The winners were Helen and Peter Lees who led from the start and never looked back. The Prize for the non-expert leading pair went to Julia Fletcher & Roy Clifford. |
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Last updated : 5th Apr 2018 16:04 BST |
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Successes for S&S Players in Spain |
At the three day tournament in Marbella, 9th - 11th November 2017, Paul Hackett playing with Bhim Ruia won the first prize. Jason Hackett also picked up a prize. Jason Hackett & Richard Bowdery (also a member of S&S) have won the first prize in Oviedo on 24th November 2017.
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Last updated : 24th Mar 2018 19:00 GMT |
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County Sim Pairs - Played 29th January 2018 |
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Five clubs eventually took part in this event, 37½ tables in total. The winners were Linda Davies & Robert Hunt playing at Oswestry, second Joy McCann & Malcolm Roberts playing at Stafford and third Pam Allan & Rachael Ashmore playing at Chasetown, congratulations all. (The results as at 3rd February indicate played on the 24th!) The next SSCBA Sim Pairs will be on Wednesday 15th August.
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Last updated : 24th Mar 2018 18:52 GMT |
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No Fear Pairs - Thursday 22nd February |
A most enjoyable day. North South winners were Polly Green & Christine Penny with Marianne Alexander & Colin Whiteheand second and Janet Bradley & Christine Hartley third, EW winners were Rose Jessop & Ann Sleightholme with Brian McLaughlan & Isobel Rees second and Sarah Currie & John Major third. Many thanks to Jeff for running the event, to Jeff's wife and her team for the excellent catering and to Alma for the scoring.
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Last updated : 24th Mar 2018 18:52 GMT |
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New Year Success Stories |
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Last updated : 20th Mar 2018 13:12 GMT |
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Bridge Activity Day at Adams Grammar School, Newport. |
On July 18th 2017 Adams Grammar School had a bridge activity day. 60 students took part 40 had not played bridge before the rest had some knowledge. Teacher Collette Lonnigan spoke to them initially about the basics of bridge, then the rest of the day was getting them to play mini-bridge.
Jeff Jones, Jayne Ball, Val Lupton and Linda Curtis helped out for the rest of the day along with another teacher Neil. The students were divided into 3 classrooms the experience was noisy, exhausting but very worthwhile. Young people pick new things up quickly.
When the September Term starts they hope to run Bridge Club on Monday and Friday lunchtime and after school on Wednesday. Jeff Jones and Jayne Ball want to help with this and Linda would like to hear from anyone in the Newport Area that is willing to give up an hour a week to help.
IF YOU CAN HELP PLEASE CONTACT LINDA CURTIS 01902 765027 lcalice@btinternet.com. The future of bridge is young people and we need to get involved to enable this.
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Last updated : 9th Jan 2018 13:00 GMT |
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TD Training Course |
There was a good turn out for the assessment session of the course taken by James Vickers and hosted by Eccleshall Bridge Club. Members of several local clubs took advantage of the opportunity to try for qualification as TDs under the new 2017 laws. The end result was the recruitment of 16 more directors for the County, four were awarded a distinction in the assessment - very well done. Thank you James and Eccleshall Bridge Club.

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Last updated : 9th Jan 2018 11:50 GMT |
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Andrew Robson Thursday 23rd November |
 Andrew gave two of his inspiring master classes, on Thursday November 23rd at The Stone House Hotel, with sold out afternoon and evening sessions.
How does Andrew manage to instruct so many of such a wide ability range so well and apparently all so effortlessly?
- Afternoon session Suit establishment in trump contract, take out double, showing your share.
- Evening session After INT opener, bidding big hands, cheat seat.
Kath Adams hosted the cordon bleu interval meal, where did the story of fish and chips come from? Very, very many thanks to Kath and her team of helpers.
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Last updated : 9th Jan 2018 11:50 GMT |
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County Match v Leics 10th December Cancelled |
County Match v Leics. due to take place on Dec 10th cancelled due to the inclement weather and the amber snow warnings issued for Sunday.
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Last updated : 17th Dec 2017 18:07 GMT |
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John Sheppee |
County members will be very sorry to learn of John’s death on 23rd October.
For many years John played for the County in Dawes matches and regularly played in the County League and other competitions.A fuller report is given on the Stafford Bridge Club website.
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Last updated : 7th Nov 2017 16:40 GMT |
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Summer Sim Pairs - Tuesday 15th August 2017 |

Tuesday was a good day to hold the event this year as 8 clubs were able to take part with a total of 47 tables. The overall winners of the event were Graham Link & Geoff Davies playing at Stafford, 2nd Deirdre Newsome & Michael Seavers also playing at Stafford, with third Mike Cornes and Annette Lucas playing at Newport. The leading pairs from the clubs were:
Eccleshall |
Anne Berisford & Geoff Neal |
Newcastle |
Alan Barnes & Bryan Ratcliff |
Newport |
Mike Cornes & Annette Lucas |
Shrewsbury |
Keith Shuttleworth & Jolanta Coggle |
Stafford |
Graham Link & Geoff Davies |
Stone |
Maureen Finlay & Amanda Weaver |
Tettenhall |
Jeannette Townley & Tony Larkin |
Wolverhamton |
Norman Jones & Roger Turner. |
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Last updated : 3rd Oct 2017 11:47 BST |
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AGM - Sunday September 3rd, 2 p.m. at Wolverhampton |
Linda Curtis had announced that, after 3 years, she would be stepping down as Chairman and sadly no one has come forward to take her place so far. Jane Sheehan takes over from Kath Adams as treasurer, Jeff Jones is working alongside Judy Mitchell as competitions secretary otherwise the committee remains as before. A number of points were discussed, how to collect County subscriptions, how to get more participation in County events, how to improve SSCBA performance in the Dawes etc and these were left to be discussed at the next committee meeting. Linda was thanked for her three years in charge and her various successes paticularly with her energy visiting clubs in the County, setting up the No Fear events and getting links between the County and local schools. At the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting the Phoenix Trophy was played for, the trophy being won by Judy Mitchell and James Vickers with cross imps scoring.
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Last updated : 3rd Oct 2017 11:46 BST |
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Congratulations |

Congratulations to Dan Crofts,a Wolverhampton member, promoted Premier Grand Master in July 2017
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Last updated : 3rd Oct 2017 11:43 BST |
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John Seymour |
 It is with great sadness that SSCBA heard that John Seymour died on Sunday 16th July.
John started his bridge at Wolverhampton BC in the early 70's, joined Stafford in the 80's and recently has played more regularly at Stone. At Stone John and his wife, Anne, in recent years have been passing on their bridge knowledge to new recruits to the game.
John has always played a very active part in County bridge. If you refer to the County website under "as we once were," you will see that John won his first County trophy in 1971, winning the County Men's Pairs with Alan Codling. A year later he won it again with Gordon Haywood with whom he had a very successful partnership. John also started playing in the inter-County Dawes league in the 70's. He has played regularly in the County's own league competition and the other County competitions. Over the years he has enjoyed a number of successes at County, club and congress level. He was highly regarded for his bridge prowess and expert analysis. John will also be fondly remembered for his kindness and encouragement to all at the table, a true gentleman.
John bravely fought his illness which was first diagnosed in February. Our thoughts are with Anne at this sad time.
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Last updated : 4th Aug 2017 10:14 BST |
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Championship Pairs 2017 - Results |
Due to the numbers taking part on Monday, 15th May 2017, this was played as a combined movement and the results were:
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Ladies' |
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Men's |
1st |
Alma Richards & Linda Curtis |
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Keith Shuttleworth & John Waller |
2nd |
Kath Adams & Terry May |
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Norman Jones & Roger Turner |
3rd |
Gillian Allsop & Pat Poxon |
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James Vickers & Bill Sherman |
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Played on Thursday, 8th June 2017
1st |
Colin Draper & Sue Yardley |
2nd |
David Alderson & Elizabeth Clarke |
3rd |
Pam Booth-Jones & Tony Leech |
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Last updated : 8th Jul 2017 13:31 BST |
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League and Cup |
The 2016/17 results for these events are now all decided. The Staffs Cup has been won by Paul Hackett's team of Dan Crofts, Jason Justin and Paul who beat Roger Keane, David Beavon, Geoff Davies and Paul Cutler in the final. In division one of the league the order was reversed with with Roger Keanes's team coming first. These two events allow the winners to go on to the Pachabo Cup where the Hackett team came 3rd (June 10th/11th) and The Midlands Teams Challenge Bowl (to be played July 2nd at Wolverhampton) competitions respectively. Jeff Jones' team won division two of the league with Norman Jones' team in second place, both these teams will be promoted next season to division one.
Further Hackett success at the Yorkshire Congress June 3rd & 4th where Jason won both Q1 pairs with Adrian Kenworthy, and Q1 teams events. 3 pairs from SSCBA took part in the Corwen Trophy event on June 3rd and 4th, a clash of dates, but none "on the podium" there.
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Last updated : 1st Jul 2017 17:15 BST |
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Shropshire Congress 22nd/23rd April 2017 |
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The 2017 Shropshire Congress was held at the Park Inn, Telford. The winners of the pairs event, played on 22nd April were Jason Hackett & Adrian Kenworthy just ahead of David Debbage & Paul Hackett with Tim Chanter & Helen Wildsmith in third place. The winners of the Teams Event played on 23rd April were Jill Mumford & Arni Anidjar-Romain and Aleksandar Lishkov & John Dakin from Stuart Matthews & Mark Weeks and Julian Merrill & Paul Roberts with Tim & Babs Matthews and Ken Johnston & Ian Reeves in third place.

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Last updated : 12th Jun 2017 16:23 BST |
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EBU Club Liason Officer visit. |
Bev Purvis, the EBU club liaison officer, visited three Staffs and Shrops clubs over the period 20th/21st/22nd March 2017. Bev was accompanied by S&SCBA Chairman Linda Curtis to Nantwich and Eccleshall and by SSCBA webmaster to Stafford. Bev, seen here at Stafford, was keen to get the views of club members as to how best the EBU could serve all members with the changed EBU membership demographic since p2p introduced. Topics discussed were p2p (of course), teaching (particularly in schools), the magazine content, master points and plenty more besides.
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Last updated : 24th Apr 2017 15:52 BST |
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County Championship Pairs - 19th March 2017 |
 Congratulations to David Beavon and Roger Keane who won the 2017 Championship Pairs with a score of 60%. Second were Ed Levy and David Debbage, third Bill Sherman and James Vickers. The top players go on to compete for the Corwen Trophy on 3rd-4th June in Northampton. The S&S team for the Edgar Foster Cups are also chosen from the results of this competiton, both individual and team cups won by Staffs and Shrops last year.
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Last updated : 21st Apr 2017 17:18 BST |
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Ranked Master Pairs |
Several Staffs and Shrops pairs took part in the events on 25th and 26th February 2017 with Jeff Jones and Dominic Wilson winning the Regional Masters Pairs, well done indeed. Dan Crofts and Gary Hyett took part in the Premier Grand Masters event coming 6th. 99 pairs took part in the Master Pairs played at various locations around the country, a good number of Staffs & Shrops players took part at the Solihull venue. Wonderful picture by ebu.smugmug.com.
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Last updated : 14th Apr 2017 12:42 BST |
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The Hackett Team Successes February 2017 |
Jason Hackett has retained the NEC cup, played 7th - 12th February 2017 in Yokohama, Japan. Others in the team were Paul Hackett (Captain), Brian Senior and Alex Hydes. 53 teams took part in this international event. The Hackett team winning in the final against the England/USA team of Sally Brock, Barry Myers, Karen McCallum, Cenk Tuncok.
Jason, Justin, David Mossop and Paul then finished 3rd in the Monaco Cavendish losing in the semis by 1 imp to Zia's American team, the eventual winners. Paul then flew back to Harrogate and won the teams with John Sansom, Sandra Penfold and Brian Senior
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Last updated : 14th Apr 2017 12:41 BST |
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Shrewsbury Open Swiss Pairs - Sunday 5th March 2017 |
 Yet another victory for Jeff Jones & Dominic Wilson in this blue pointed event following on from their success in the Regional Masters Pairs the week before. Second were Marcus Eassom & Martyn Watkinson with the winners for the last two years, Brian Nicholls & Keith Shuttleworth in third place. 
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Last updated : 14th Apr 2017 11:53 BST |
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New Year - new home for Tettenhall Bridge Club |
From Tuesday 3rd January 2017, Tettenhall has relocated to the Friends Meeting House, 8b Somerfield Road, West Park, Wolverhampton, WV1 4PR.
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Last updated : 27th Feb 2017 20:45 GMT |
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County Sim Pairs - 26th January 2017 |
Eventually 5 clubs took part in this event, Newcastle, Newport, Oswestry, Stafford, and Tettenhall. As the scores came in from the clubs John Davies and Judith Clowes were "top of the leader board" closely followed by Pat Andrews and Michael Seavers. Such are the complexities of scoring for sim pairs, that only adding the results from the 5th club, the order of these two pairs was reversed with Pat and Michael finally the winners. Click here for the detailed results. Apologies for the delay in adding that vital last club's results.
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Last updated : 26th Feb 2017 20:15 GMT |
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Success for Staffs and Shrops players Dec 16/Jan 17 |
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Last updated : 22nd Feb 2017 09:30 GMT |
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Castle Comfort Cup |
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Richard and Jane Mayer from Basford winners of Castle Comfort Cup played at Newcastle-under-Lyme BC on 13th November.
The event was a great success and everyone really enjoyed themselves. There was such an age range, from 17 to 92, with people at all stages of their bridging careers. The players included a group of beginners enjoying their first competitive game and others with 60 years of experience.
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Last updated : 28th Dec 2016 13:11 GMT |
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Isle of Man Congress |
Stone members John Hartley and Terry May played in the Isle of Man congress the weekend 2nd/3rd/4th September came 3rd in the teams and joint 4th in the pairs. John writes: the pair we played with in the pairs was organised by the congress organisers and were the equal 4th pair with us! Congratulations both.
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Last updated : 26th Oct 2016 09:42 BST |
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Phoenix Trophy winners |
 Congratulations to Jane Stirton and Celia Day who won the Phoenix Trophy on a tie-break from Dom Wilson and Jeff Jones.
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Last updated : 19th Oct 2016 12:33 BST |
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