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.

Justin and Jason Hackett were selected to represent England in the European Championships that took place in Budapest from 16th to 26th June coming 10th.  Jason and Justin were in the winning England team for the Home Nations  Camrose Trophy, playing during the second weekend, 4th to 6th March, held in Llandrindod Wells.  The England Ladies' Team won their event in Budapest and are now European Champions!!

Barbara Hackett won the German ladies trials and represented Germany in the European championship, Barbara's team came 11th.

Northern Mid-Week Congress

Justin Hacket playing with Martin Taylor won the pairs on 22nd August 2018

HCL tournament New Delhi

Jason and Justin won the 2nd prize in the pairs event played 14th August 2018.

Gloucestershire Green Point Event

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. 

Midland Counties Challenge Bowl

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.

Llandudno Swiss Pairs

Jason Hackett playing with and John Sansom won the Llangollen Swiss pairs on 8th July 2018

Hubert Philips Bowl

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

SSCBA players, Jason Hackett and Richard Bowdery, finished 2nd in the Oslo New Year's Cup teams event, 7th January 2018, with team mates Høines & Hjelvik. Ed Levy and Paul Hackett were second in the Manchester Congress (7th January) and Paul was in the winning team in the teams event 8th January.  Well done all.

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.

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.

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.
 

Congratulations to Dan Crofts,a Wolverhampton member, promoted Premier Grand Master in July 2017

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 

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. 

Dan Crofts won the Santa Claus Pairs in Manchester and Jason Hackett won the Open Pairs and the teams at the Blackpool year end congress.  Dave Debbage won the pairs, with Jason Hackett & Adrian Kenworthy coming second at the Manchester Congress Pairs event.   Helen & Peter Lees won the Flitch Pairs at the Midland Counties Congress.  Also at the Midlands Counties Congress. 7th equal in the Swiss Pairs:  Keith Shuttleworth & Brian Nicholls from Shrewsbury, and Dan Crofts & Andrew Thompson (Wolverhampton and Newport) out of 112 pairs; 5th in the Swiss Teams:  Annette & Mike Cornes, Linda Curtis and Alma Richards (Wolverhampton) out of 52 teams.

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.

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.

Congratulations to Jane Stirton and Celia Day who won the Phoenix Trophy on a tie-break from Dom Wilson and Jeff Jones.