Release 2.19q

Click for details

..... see less

If you did not receive the newsletter on 7-11-2023 from SSCBA on forthcoming events there are several possible reasons:

..... see more
Contact Webmaster

Please email the webmaster with any news, comments and pictures to be included on the website.

0 0 0 0 0 0
Pages viewed in 2024
Recent Updates
Home Page
26th Mar 2024 13:47 GMT
Interesting hands
15th Mar 2024 14:08 GMT
News Page
13th Mar 2024 10:44 GMT
MCOL Dawes 2023/24
13th Mar 2024 10:42 GMT
Archive
Championship Pairs - Sunday 18th March 2018

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.

Shrewsbury Open Swiss Pairs - Sunday 4th March 2018
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.

 

New Year Success Stories

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.

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.

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.

County Sim Pairs - Played 29th January 2018

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.

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.

Congratulations

PREMIER GRAND MASTER

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

John Seymour
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.

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.

Ladies’ and Men's Championship Pairs

Due to the numbers taking part on Monday, 15th May 2017,  this was played as a combined movement and the results were:

  Ladies'   Men's
1st Alma Richards & Linda Curtis   Keith Shuttleworth & John Waller
2nd Kath Adams & Terry May   Norman Jones & Roger Turner
3rd Gillian Allsop & Pat Poxon   James Vickers & Bill Sherman
 

Mixed/Flitch Championship Pairs

Played on Thursday, 8th June 2017

1st Colin Draper & Sue Yardley
2nd David Alderson & Elizabeth Clarke
3rd Pam Booth-Jones & Tony Leech

 

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.

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.
 

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 

Success for Staffs and Shrops players Dec 16/Jan 17

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.

Success for Staffs and Shrops players Dec 16/Jan 17
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. 

 

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.

Shropshire Congress 22nd/23rd April 2017
Shropshire Congress 22nd/23rd April 2017

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.

Shropshire Congress 22nd/23rd April 2017

Castle Comfort Cup

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.

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.

Phoenix Trophy winners
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.

SSCBA members to Represent England

Justin and Jason Hackett were selected to represent England in the European Championships that took place in Budapest from 16th to 26th June coming 10thJason 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.

League 2015/16 Results

Division 1

1  Roger Keane, Dave Beavon, Paul Cutler, Geoff Davies
2. Paul Hackett, Dan Crofts, Ed Levy, Jason Hackett & others
3. Kath Adams, Graham Link, Anne & John Seymour.
 

Division 2

=1.  James Vickers, Judy Mitchell, Mike Sherriff, Dave Alderson
=1.  Brian McLachlan, David West, Mike Cornes, Annette Lucas and others
3.   Jeff Jones, Dom Wilson, Mike McCartney, Roger Picton

Two teams represent each of the 6 counties, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Staffs & Shrops, Warwickshire and Worcestershire in this competition.  The teams are usually the winning team in league I and the runners up in the Staffs Cup.  The Challenge Bowl winners last year were Worcestershire but Staffs & Shrops teams did very well coming 2nd (Paul Hackett/Dan Crofts with Jason Hackett/Ed Levy) and 3rd (Robin Adey/Geoff Davies with John Day/Geoff Feltbower).   Over the last 8 years Staffs & Shrops have won 3 times!!!

Wolverhampton Bridge Club's 10th Anniversary at the Shaw Rd Business Park Premises was celebrated on Sunday August 28th.  Ron Stevenson welcomed Rob Marris, the MP For Wolverhampton South West, who recalled opening the current premises ten years ago when Dave Clarke was the chairman and Albert Tipton, was club captain. He congratulated members on their achievements and hard work in ensuring the ongoing success of the bridge club. Congratulations go to Ron Stevenson and Martyn Watkinson, overall winners, and Judi Stevenson & Jane Stirton, winners of the handicapped competition

 

Championship Pairs(Bearn) The Open event for members of S&SCBA took place at Newcastle Bridge Club. Dawes team players were well represented, the winners were Keith Shuttleworth & Lawrence Haynes, second Geoff Davies & County Captain Paul Cutler with Ed Levy & Adrian Kenworthy third. Newcastle Bridge Club made the County very welcome and laid on excellent refreshments.

 

2016 Shropshire Congress Results
2016 Shropshire Congress Results

Swiss Pairs played Saturday 16th April
1st Barry & Beth Wennell (from Llandudno)
2nd Ken Crane & David Werry
3rd Peter Foster & Mike Amos
with Mike Cornes & Annette from S&SCBA Lucas coming 4th.


SwissTeams played Sunday 17th April
1st Darren Evetts, Margaret Wort, Martin Jones & Alastair Gidman (mainly from Birmingham)
2nd Bob Pitts, Mark Weeks, Alan Stephenson & Stuart Matthews
3rd Bob Loveridge, Helen Montgomery, Tony Carsley & Rod Sheard.

February and March 2016 Results

No Fear Pairs - Thursday 25th February (click here for full results)

Another of the popular No Fear Pairs events was held at Wolverhampton Bridge Club on 25th February with 25 pairs participating.  The winners were Roma Smith & Sarah Currie, with Polly Green & Christine Penny second and Maureen Kenny & Pauline Jones third.  Many congratulations to you all. Yet again Linda and her team produced an excellent lunch that was enjoyed by all, thank you so much.

Shrewsbury Swiss Pairs (click here for results)
A happy afternoon was had by all at the Shrewsbury Swiss Pairs event organised by Judy Mitchell and directed by James Vickers on Saturday March 5th. Numbers were down this year, possibly because the event held on a Saturday to avoid clashing with Mothering Sunday, but the enjoyment was not diminished. Winners were Brian Nicholls & Keith Shuttleworth, second Kath Adams & Graham Link and third Marianne Alexander & Ian Carless.
Shrewsbury Blue Pointed Swiss Pairs - 5th March 2016
Shrewsbury Blue Pointed Swiss Pairs - 5th March 2016

Holders: Brian Nicholls & Keith Shuttleworth

This blue pointed event, licensed by the E.B.U. and offering a Superb Afternoon Tea, takes place on Saturday, 5th March 2016 starting at 2 p.m. Held at the Radbrook Community Centre, Calverton Way,Bank Farm Road, Radbrook Green, Shrewsbury, SY3 6DZ. Entry Fee: £30 per pair. Enquiries from & entry form to Mrs. Judy Mitchell, 6 Hexham Way, Shrewsbury, SY2 6QX. 01743 235374; mitchellmj@btinternet.com.  Please note it is on a Saturday this time.

Edgar Foster Cups

Edgar Foster Cups Played at Derby on 18th September 2016

Laurence Haynes & Keith Shuttleworth (Shrewsbury) were the overall winners with Celia Day & David Clarke (Wolverhampton) the runners up.  With the third pair in the team, Marion Jordan & Kevin Sullivan (Newcastle) coming 9th, the team event was easily won by Staffs and Shrops retaining their 2015 title.  This is an event where teams of 8 are entered from Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Hereford, Staffs & Shrops, Warwickshire & Worcestershire.  Staffs & Shrops players are chosen from those who have been successful in SSCBA events.

14 pairs, played 39 boards over the afternoon and early evening. The winners were Roger Keane and Dave Beavon;  2nd Annette Lucas and Mike Cornes;  3rd Pam Booth-Jones & Tony Leech. These players qualified to represent the County in the Corwen Trophy event taking place at  the Holiday Inn Hotel at Birmingham Airport on 30th-31st May.
 
Roger Bowles

Shrewsbury Bridge Club is sad to announce the death of Roger Bowles, following a fall at home in Worcestershire over the Christmas weekend. Roger will be a huge loss to bridge generally - being a Grand Master and one of the top 100 players in the country according to the latest National Grading System. He was a greatly respected member of SCBC for several years, and he was probably the best player we have ever had, as well as being a perfect gentleman. While highly competitive, with a tremendous capacity for thinking through the deepest of bridge puzzles, he was always a gentleman at, and away from, the bridge table. As a resident in Wales in recent years he played on a number of occasions in Welsh events, including the Perry, and represented Mid-Wales with either John Waller or Keith Shuttleworth in a number of Welsh National events.


A Personal Tribute from Mike Amos:
I think Roger was the nicest man I’ve ever played bridge with (and that over more than fifty years). One common feature of bridge players is that they think they are much better than they really are. Roger was truly modest. He didn’t bully weaker players, but was generous in his time and pleased to help those who asked him for advice. He was a great team-mate. I’ve missed playing with him since his move back to Worcestershire and am deeply saddened that I will not see him again to talk of hands, squeezes and advanced plays.
31.12.15.

This event between teams representing Derbyshire, Gloustershire, Hereford, Staffs & Shrops, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, was played in Cheltenham on 20th September 2015. The overall result was a team win for the Staffs and Shrops team.  In 2nd place overall were Keith Shuttleworth & Lawrence Haynes, with Annette & Mike Cornes (last year's winning pair) in 4th place and Helen & Peter Lees coming 7th, so Staffs & Shrops won the 2015 Team trophy.  Congratulations to you all.  The pairs that represent the County are chosen from those that do well in the Bearn final so make sure you enter the Bearn which is next taking place at Newcastle on 24th April 2016.

Michael Byrne's teams training seminar
Michael Byrne's teams training seminar

On 24th September England Junior coach Michael Byrne came to Wolverhampton Bridge Club to hold a training workshop. Twenty-nine people who play in our first, second and third teams-of-eight in the Dawes league attended. A talk on teams scoring and tactics reinforced the well-known principles of stretching to bid thin games, especially when vulnerable, making certain of making your contract at the expense of possible overtricks, or of beating the opponents' contract if you are defending, making whatever assumptions are necessary to do so. He also advised us to try to play as many contracts as possible, as the defending side are more prone to make mistakes, and we will score well on the subset of boards where we are declaring (test this theory next time you play a match).

Of the eight practice hands we played, I thought this one exemplified the difference in approach at teams compared to pairs:

♠ A754       ♠ 9862
 6             A843
 KJ1072     AQ4
♣ AK7        ♣ 93

After an uncontested auction you reach 4♠ by West. The lead is the  K. How would you play the hand, and why?

Pat Poxon has hung up her hat as secretary of S&SCBA after 23 years loyal service,  Pat has seen many a club chairman come and go in those 23 years.  Many thanks to Pat for so many years hard work for the County.  We welcome Kate Eccleston from Tettenhall Bridge Club who has stepped into Pat's shoes and hope that she enjoys her new role. Otherwise no change on the County committee.

All clubs should be visited by a committee member over the year for an exchange of ideas, what would each club like to indicate that the County and EBU should be providing and for the County committee member to show what is being provided at the moment.

A couple of dates to write down, The Shropshire Congress is taking place at the Park Inn, Telford on 16th/17th April.  This conflicts with the date shown in the EBU diary.  The Bearn, 24th April, is now open to all S&SCBA members and does not involve club quailfying competitions.  The Bearn is a one day green point event taking place over two sessions, afternoon and evening, at Newcastle Bridge Club in 2016. The leading pairs at the end of the day go forward to the national Corwen pairs event

Andrew Robson is not available to give the County a masterclass in 2016, his time is at a premium, but maybe in 2017....................  Meanwhile Andrew is coming to a fund raising function in Crewe for St Luke’s Hospice.

Following their success last year the Hackett family, Jason, Justin and Paul, went to Chennai to represent England in the Bermuda Bowl and D'Orsi Bowl at the end of September.  Sadly not the winners this year, see EBU reports http://www.ebu.co.uk/node/2169 (Open) and http://www.ebu.co.uk/node/2163 (Seniors).

Championship Pairs 2015 - Wolverhampton
Championship Pairs 2015 - Wolverhampton

Mixed/Flitch Championship Pairs - Wednesday 10th June 2015

The winners were Dan Crofts & Celia Day, with John & Anne Seymour second (Flitch Pair Winners) and last year's winners, James Vickers & Monica Scott, in third place.

Flitch Pair Winners

Ladies' and Men's Championship Pairs - Played on Thursday 14th May 2015

The ladies' pairs were won by Pam Booth-Jones & Sue Yardley, with Terry May and Kath Adams second just ahead of Celia Day & Alma Richards.  The Men's pairs were won by Robin Adey & Geoff Davies with Keith Shuttleworth & Brian Nicholls second and Nicholas Thorne & John Seymour third.

Staffs & Shrops member Dan Crofts playing with Jason Hackett won the Premier Grand Masters Pairs played on 28th Feb/1st March (picture).  They finished on 53.13 IMPs with Patrick Shields (Gloucs) & Filip Kurbalija (Avon) second on 49.49. A terrific achievement.

AGM - 31st August

The AGM took place on Sunday 31st August at Wolverhampton.  The resolution to increase the subscription to £3 was carried by a large majority. Clubs were asked to volunteer to host No Fear events at other locations around the County.  Such had been the success of the events so far put on that a newcomers team had entered the Telford mid week Congress Swiss Teams event.

The Phoenix Trophy was won by Kath Adams and Mike Beach.

Over 1000 pairs from around 60 clubs took part in the Kidney Research Simultaneous Pairs Competition on Thursday 10th July including two clubs within the County area. The two clubs were Tettenhall Bridge Club,an affiliated club, and Stone BridgeClub, a non-affliated club. The winners of the event overall, Anne Jones and John Seymour, were playing at Stone. Congratulations to you both.

Paul Hackett's team, representing England in the seniors event, won the gold medal at the European Championships in Opatija, Croatia.  The ladies' team won a silver medal and  Jason and Justin Hackett came away with a bronze medal in the Open Team event at the European Championships.  A very successful Championship for the England teams. (Sorry, some of the EBU links may give a problem, hopefully temporary, don't miss this one though http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjmYz2gQhCw&feature=youtu.be&t=4m30s -  forget the football disappointment!!!!)

More locally Dan Crofts, Ed Levy, Mike Goldsmith & Andrew Thompson won the Midland Counties Challenge Bowl held in Herefordshire on June 22nd.  12 teams took part in this event, 2 from each of the six Counties.  Placed 4th was Staffs & Shrops other team in the competition, Roy Edwards, Norman Jones, Mike Cornes & Annette Lucas.

Many, many congratulations to you all.

Shropshire Congress - 11th & 12th April 2015
Shropshire Congress - 11th & 12th April 2015

CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of the Swiss Pairs on Saturday: John Currie & Rodney Lighton from Manchester;  Brian Nicholls and Keith Shuttleworth from Shrewsbury Bridge Club came a close second, with Dan Crofts and Gary Hyett coming third.

CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of the Swiss Teams on Sunday:  Ed Levy, Ollie Burgess, Dan Crofts and Gary Hyett, mainly from Manchester.   Second were Richad Horsley, Malcolm Young, Jeff Calladine and Janusz Adamowicz  from Derbyshire.   Third were Mike Cornes, Annette Lucas, Linda Curtis and Alma Richards from Wolverhampton Bridge Club.

CONGRATULATIONS to the winners of the No Fear Pairs Pat Embrey and John Higgs, from Wolverhampton Bridge Club, and to the runners up Judith Griffiths and Shirley Redford from Shrewsbury.

Bearn Final - Played 6th April 2014

Congratulations to Annette Lucas and Mike Cornes, winners with 62.5%. Second were Roger Keane and David Beavon (57.6%), third John Sheard and Dan Crofts (57.4%). The scores are now confirmed, and have been uploaded in the results folder. The leading players in this event were eligible to represent the County in the Corwen Trophy which took place on 31st May - 1st June at the Park Inn Hotel, Northampton.

Andrew Robson's Xmas Quiz

Success for Stafford member, Robin Adey, in the Xmas Quiz set by Andrew Robson in the December edition of "English Bridge".  Result published on page 10 of the February edition.

Important Notice - County Headquarters

After months of deliberation the County Committee, and following the decision of the Committee of Wolverhampton Bridge Club to offer its premises for County use,  the County Committee decided at a recent Committee Meeting that the headquarters should re-locate to Wolverhampton Bridge Club.

The move of the playing headquarters of S&SCBA to Wolverhampton Bridge Club became effective on 1st December 2013.

The address is:

4 Shaw Park,
Shaw Road,
Wolverhampton, WV10 9LE.

tel: 01902 424422

The headquarters has been at Stafford since 1978 or possibly earlier see "As We Once Were".  Even the fire at The Swan in 1968 gets a mention in County archives indicating the connection of the HQ with Stafford!  The new extension at Wolverhampton now offers more room for County events such as the Dawes matches.

County Mixed Championship Pairs - played on Wednesday 11th June 2014

This event was won by Monica Scott & James Vickers from Mike Cornes & Annette Lucus with Sue Yardley & John Pugh third.  Only 1.51 percentage points separated first from third place in this very keenly fought competition.

Ladies' and Men's Pairs 2014
Ladies' and Men's Pairs 2014

Winners of the Ladies' Pairs were Annette Lucas & Roma Smith, winners of the Men's Pairs were Trevor Freeman & Ron Stevenson. These events, both played on Wednesday 14th May, proved very popular this year, Wolverhampton Bridge Club was almost filled to capacity!  Apologies for the initial slight delay in uploading the results.

No Fear Teams of Four

No Fear Teams of Four - Played at Wolverhampton on Thursday 12th June 2014

The No Fear Teams of Four, attracting 12 teams, was organised as a Swiss Teams event and run by Roy Edwards with help from Linda, Judy and Alma.  Each team played four 6 board matches, 2 matches before lunch and another 2 after lunch.  Linda and her team of ladies from Wolverhampton provided the excellent lunch. The winners, shown above, were John Withers, Val Lupton, Paul Keightley and Barrie Tykiff.  Shown below, are the runners up Geoff Thomas, Stan Jarvis, Sally & Gerald Griffin with Pauline Campbell, Audrey Clarke, Rose Jessop & Ann Sleightholme in third place. Click for full results or click here for the simple grid result

This follows on from the success of the No Fear Pairs in February and plans are afoot for more of these in the not too distant future.

No Fear Bridge Event Success
NFB First NFB Second

No Fear Bridge - Played Thursday 20th February 2014

This pairs event, intended for players who do not attend Congress events, took place during the day at Wolverhampton Bridge Club. It proved very popular and plans are afoot to hold more such events, perhaps teams next time (put June 12th in your diary). The winners were Joan Butler & Margaret Revell, second Norman Jones & Trevor Adams, third Jonathan Emmerson & Jackie Bannister and fourth (only 0.02 match points behind) Ron Jones and Eileen Pinches.

Thanks must go to Linda and her team for putting on such a wonderful lunch, Alma for directing, John for scoring and Judy for much of the organisation.

The results are shown on https://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwol/rank.cgi?pid=display_rank&msec=1&event=20140220_1&wd=1&club=staffsshrops in various forms, ranking, scorecards, matrix, travellers and hands, just click the options at the top.  For those not accustomed to looking at the these the travellers show the contracts the computer thought possible with the hands.

NFB Third NFB Fourth
Shropshire Congress - 25th/26th April 2014
Shropshire Congress - 25th/26th April 2014

The Shropshire Congress was held at a new venue this year, The Park Inn in Telford.  Pictured above are the winners of the Swiss Teams and below the winners of the Swiss Pairs. 

Swiss Teams played on Sunday 27th April

The winners were Dan Crofts & Gary Hyett, Barbara Hackett & Ed Levy, second Paul Hackett & Darren Evetts, Martin Taylor & Justin Hackett and third Dave Weller & Ben Britton, George Barrett & Mike Ralph.

Swiss Pairs played on Saturday 26th April

The winners of the were Stuart Matthews & Mark Weeks, with Martin Jones & Alastair Gidman second only one VP ahead of third placed Tracy Capal & Mike Pownall.

Shropshire Congress 2014 

Congratulations to you all.

Paul Hackett's Team won the Senior European Trials, played on January 4th and 5th at Richmond Bridge Club.  Paul's team will be representing England at the Senior European Championships to be held in Opatija, Croatia, from June 21st to June 28th 2014.

On a more local level Paul's team has reached the final of the Staffs Cup.

Jason & Justin Hackett have also been selected to represent England in Opatija in June as members of the Open Team.

Edgar Foster Cups

Staffs & Shrops pair win the Edgar Foster Cups

The Edgar Foster competition, played on 21st September at Wolverhampton, is a pairs event with 4 pairs invited to take part from six counties in the region.   The four pairs selected to represent Staffs and Shrops were chosen from those that played in the Bearn final played on 6th April.  Congratulations to Mike Cornes and Annette Lucas (S&SCBA and members Newport and Wolverhampton Bridge Clubs) who were the winners, with pairs from Warwickshire  Herefordshire coming 2nd and 3rd.     Dave Clarke & Gillian Allsop from Wolverhampton Bridge Club came 7th and Dave Rowley & Peter Collier from Stafford Bridge Club came 12th (24 pairs).  The team trophy was won by Warwickshire.

New Chairman's Message
New Chairman's Message

Further to my plan to visit the County clubs and meet the members over the card table I am trying to arrange mutually convenient dates with the various club contacts.  Anyone who would like to suggest a suitable date for my visit to your club please get in touch.  So far I have visited Chasetown, Newcastle, Stafford and Tettenhall.

My aim is to encourage County members to enter a team in the winter league next year and to take part in County competitions including the new No Fear Bridge event at Wolverhampton on February 20th.  Please take the opportunity to give me your ideas for the way forward for the County.

Linda Curtis

Our New Chairman
Our New Chairman

Linda Curtis was elected Chairman of the Staffordshire & Shropshire Contract Bridge Association at the AGM on 1st September. Linda is presently the Wolverhampton Bridge Club Captain and was Chairman of Newcastle Bridge Club some years ago. Linda regularly represents the County at Dawes matches so is known to many within the County. Geoff Davies, the retiring Chairman, welcomed Linda and wished her well in her new role.

The meeting was followed by bridge playing for the Phoenix Trophy. Winners were Pat Poxon, the County Secretary, and Mike Beach.

Ladies' Championship Pairs

Men's and Ladies'  Championship Pairs - 8th May 2013

The ladies' pairs were played at Stafford on Wednesday 8th May. The winners were Pat Martin and Ann Sleightholme with joint second Pat Poxon & Gillian Allsop and Jenny Matthews & Anne Jones.

Unfortunately the men's pairs event had to be cancelled.

Congratulations

The Staffs Cup

The Staffs Cup was won by Paul Hackett's team (Paul, Dan Crofts, Ed Levy, Mike Goldsmith & Justin Hackett) beating Geoff Davies's team.

Mixed Pairs 

16 pairs took part in the mixed/flitch pairs played on 12th June 2013.  The winners were Jane Perrins & Tony Togneri with 66.07%, second were Anne Jones & John Seymour with 63.39% and Gillian Allsop & David Clarke with 57.74% came third narrowly beating the fourth and fifth pairs.

The Corwen Trophy

Three pairs from the Bearn Final represented the county at the Corwen earlier this month.   Roger Keane and David Beavon (from Wolverhampton Bridge Club) came 6th in a very strong field.   The other two pairs were Keith Shuttleworth & Brian Nicholls and Paul Cutler and David Moir.

2012/13 League

The League matches have been completed and winners were Paul Hackett's team, who were unbeaten over the season, with 8 wins out of 8 matches.  Geoff Davies's team came second with 6 wins.

Andrew Robson Masterclass
Andrew Robson Masterclass

Andrew Robson, renowned teacher, Times and Sunday Times bridge columnist, held a sell out Bridge Masterclass on Thursday 21st November 2013 at Stone. 

Participants were treated to several topics during the afternoon and evening sessions, Four Key Rules, Bidding Big Hands, Jacoby 2NT, Tricky Leads, Elimination and Throw-in.  Despite the large number of tables, 40 at each session, Andrew managed to keep an eye on everyone from his high vantage point and was on hand to give guidance wherever needed.   S&SCBA members were given a great day - thank you Andrew.

Stone Bridge Club hosted the interval buffet between the two sessions - many thanks are due to all those who laid the meal on there.

 

Bearn Final - Played on Sunday 7th April 2013,

The competition was played over two sessions, a Howell movement in the afternoon and a Mitchell movement in the evening. The results were then combined to give the overall winners:

1st Dan Crofts & John Sheard   (Wolverhampton)
2nd David Beavon & Roger Keane   (Wolverhampton)
3rd Brian Nicholls & Keith Shuttleworth   (Shrewsbury)
4th Paul Cutler & David Moir   (Wolverhampton)

The leading pairs qualify to represent the County in the Corwen on Saturday and Sunday, 1st & 2nd June 2013 at Daventry.

Four Pairs from the Final will be eligible to play in the Edgar Foster Cups in Solihull in September 2013. This is a 6-county invitation event.

Several members of the County did well over 4th - 6th January 2013, notably:
Swiss Teams Jane Stirton & Judi Stevenson, David Clarke & Celia Day
Championship Pairs Mike Cornes & Annette Lucas
Men's Pairs Dan Crofts & Andrew Thompson
Hayward Bowl Andrew Thompson & Dan Crofts, Nigel Wolfendale & Cathy Rowland

Shropshire Congress, 20th & 21st April 2013

The 20th Shropshire Congress - Results

Green Pointed Swiss Pairs
Held on Saturday, 20th April 2013

1st Degsy Williams & Grahame Weir 
2nd Peter Nicholds & Ruth Coubrough
3rd Ben Britton & Mike Ralph
Joint 4th Dan Crofts & Gary Hyett and Roger & Myra Twyman

Ranking list now amended to include .25GP for each draw

Green Pointed Swiss Teams 
  Held on Sunday, 21st April 2013

1st Liz Commins & David Stevenson , Dave & Jean Keen
2nd Grahame Weir & Mark Weeks , Paddy Murphy & John Hampson
3rd Sue & Nick Woodcock , Bill & Liz Wattleworth
4th Sue & Chris Taylor , Helen Wildsmith & Tim Chanter

Pictures courtesy of James Vickers

In the County Simultaneous Pairs played at clubs on August 20th the top two pairs were the same this year as last!!! First, Robin Adey & Geoff Davies, second Barry Marsh & Claude Wilkinson and third Sue Cope & Roy Edwards.  Congratulations to you all.

Five clubs took part this year, Eccleshall, Newport, Shrewsbury, Tettenhall and Wolverhampton, with a total of 38½ tables.  Last year there were four clubs and 27 tables.  Good to see the increased participation in this County event.

Roy Martin

It is with great regret that we report Roy died on 28th January. Roy had been poorly for some time and had been in hospital shortly before Christmas; but he returned to the bridge table in the New Year and had been playing recently at his beloved Newcastle Bridge Club.

Over the years Roy has made an outstanding contribution to bridge at both county and Club level. On the County front he had undertaken many roles. Until recently [it's now done under P2P] Roy had been the County's master points secretary. He was also the County's Bulletin editor [good old days] from the mid 80's for very many years. He himself also contributed a lot of articles for publication in the Bulletin. Many of these were highly amusing. Not least the pen names he gave to his team-mates,the Welsh Pedlar, the Headmaster, Captain Turf, the Blue Stocking, the Detective, Belapel and the Austrian Princess  with Roy himself going under the Muggins pseudonym. In recent times he had archived the majority of the bulletins. Thanks to him and our webmaster Ann Sleightholme they are now on our website under ''As we once were.'' A brilliant job indeed and well worth a read if you haven't already done so.

On the playing front Roy has been a frequent winner of the County's premier competitions with many successes in the Bearn[Pairs], Mens Pairs, County League and KO.

Roy has of course also been an amazing stalwart at Newcastle Bridge Club where over many years he has made an even greater contribution in helping to run the Club. He was also an EBU qualified teacher and held many teaching sessions at the Club. He was also Newcastle's County rep for many years.

Roy will be sadly missed by all who knew him. 

Midland Teams Challenge Bowl

The Midland Teams Challenge Bowl, an event for the counties of Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and ourselves, was played on Sunday 8th July. Two teams represented each County. Playing for Staffordshire and Shropshire were:

  • Robin Adey & Geoff Davies and John Day & Geoff Feltblower (event winners)
  • Anne Jones & John Seymour and Nicholas Thorne & Kath Adams

Many congratulations to the winners, Robin, Geoff D, John and Geoff F.  Sadly no one took a photograph of the winning team being presented with the trophy. However Anne, John, Nicholas and Kath played in the Northern Counties President's Cup competition, coming 6th out of 9 Counties, at Birkenhead the week before together with John, Annette, Mike and Ed where a very good picture was taken!

Midland Teams Challenge Bowl
AGM

DOUBLE CONGRATULATIONS TO JUDY MITCHELL

Congratulations to Judy on becoming the County's most recent grand Master. Very well done. Further congratulations go to Judy. This follows EBU recently accepting a joint recommendation from the County and Shrewsbury Bridge Club that Judy be nominated for the prestigious Dimmie Fleming award. This award is to recognise publicly those people who have made a significant contribution to bridge at Club and/or County level over many years, say 20+. It is marvellous news which fully reflects Judy's outstanding contribution. From County's perspective Judy has been a very active and enthusiastic Committee member for many years. Amongst her most valuable contributions have been, firstly, organisation of the County's annual congress and secondly as the League and Tournament secretary. She carries out these responsibilities most efficiently, almost single-handedly, and everything runs most smoothly. Without her enormous contribution, County bridge would be much less enjoyable for many members. Shrewsbury Bridge Club are equally thrilled with the news. She was their secretary from 1980 to 2004 and more or less ran the club, making life very easy for other Committee members. In 2010 Judy became Treasurer and again shouldered extra responsibility with the recent indisposition of the secretary. She has also found time to be the Club's county rep for many years. Judy has been a vital cog in the bridge world at both Club and county level for very many years. The award is very richly deserved. Judy could have received the award at the EBU's AGM in early October but, as her contribution has been at local level, she opted to receive the award at the recent County AGM on 2nd September. Geoff Davies, our Chairman, was delighted to present the certificate and offered Judy our warmest congratulations. Shrewsbury Bridge Club will be expressing their appreciation at their Club evening on Tuesday 11th September.

Following the AGM some attendees stayed on to play for the Phoenix Trophy. The Trophy was won by Paul Cutler and Geoff Davies with runners up Laurence Haynes and Jeff Jones.
Staffs Cup 2011/12

The final was played on May 15th. Paul Hackett, Dan Crofts, Ed Levy and John Parsons beat Kath Adam's team - Kath,Nick Thorne, John Seymour & Ann Jones. A mixture of the teams will represent the county in thePachabo cup: Ed Levey and John Parsons, and Kath's team. (Paul is notavailable).

Shropshire Congress - 21st/22nd April
Shropshire Congress - 21st/22nd April

The winners of the Swiss Pairs were David Stevenson & Liz Commins with Julian Merrill & Paul Roberts 2nd and David Strawbridge & Babs Matthews 3rd. 68 pairs took part in the event

27 teams entered the Swiss Teams event that was won by a team from Shrewsbury, Keith Shuttleworth, Brian Nicholls, Roger Bowles & John Waller with another local team joint 3rd being Sue Cope, Jon Downing, Gillian Allsop & Dave Clarke from Wolverhampton Bridge Club.

League Final Results 2011/12

The final league results are:

Division One: 1st Geoff Davies's team, runner-up is Paul Hackett's team.
Division Two: 1st is Jenny Matthews's team, runner-up is Tony Brian's team

Sue Anslow

The County is sad to hear of the recent death of Sue Anslow. Sue has been poorly for some time and for a few years has not been very active on the bridge scene.

For many years Sue was a County Committee member, including County Membership Secretary with responsibility for collecting County subs - trying to collect EBU/county subs from county members in the days when it was all done locally! She was a very supportive member of the committee and the County. Committee meetings were often held at her house! Fellow Committee members will remember her generous helpings of chocolate biscuits and home-made cake.

Sue enjoyed success at the bridge table including winning the County Mixed Pairs.

Before her illness Sue played regularly at Stafford, Chasetown and Wolverhampton. She also arranged regular bridge lessons in Penkridge and a number of her former pupils are now playing duplicate bridge.

Sue will be very fondly remembered by all who knew her.

9th May - Men’s Pairs and Ladies’ Pairs

Men's Pairs winners Robin Adey & Geoff Davies with joint 2nd placed Dan Crofts & Paul Hackett and Clifford Tayar & John Hartley.

Ladies' Pairs winners were Pat Poxon & Gillian Allsop with 2nd Jenny Mathews & Anne Jones and 3rd Shirley Elphick & Deirdre Newsome.

Winter Simulaneous Pairs
Congratulations to Geoff Davies & Geoff Feltbower on their win the County Winter Simultaneous Pairs played on January 30th. Runners up were Lawrence Haynes & Dan Crofts and third were Peggy Grocott & Albert Pankhurst.
Midland Counties Congress

Congratulations to S&SCBA members who did so well at the Midlands Counties Congress, held on January 5th, 6th and 7th 2012.

Noteably:

Anne Jones and John Seymour won the Championship Pairs A Final.
Dan Crofts (& Andrew Thompson) came 2nd in  Championship Pairs A Final ; also won the Men's Pairs; and with Lawrence Haynes came joint 2nd in the Championship Teams A Final.
Celia Day and Dave Clarke came 2nd in the Championship Pairs B Final and 2nd in the Mixed Pairs.

Click for photographs of the winners.

The winners of the Bearn Final, played at Stafford on April 1st, were Roy Martin & Peter Cartwright by a single point from Mike Cornes & Annette Lucas with Pat Poxon & Norman Jones in 3rd place.  Four pairs represented the County at the Corwen event for the region on the 26th & 27th of May, one pair won a prize coming 11th out of 110 pairs.

Garden Cities
Garden Cities

Shrewsbury's team of 8 were the winning team on March 3rd 2012 at Wolverhampton competing against Wolverhampton and Stafford.  Shrewsbury was represented by Judy Mitchell & James Vickers, Helen & Peter Lees, Keith Shuttleworth & Roger Bowles, David Small & John Waller, picture courtesy of David Drinkwater. Shrewsbury's team will go on to represent the County in the reginal finals to be held on Saturday 19th May 2012.

Andrew Robson's Masterclass 30th September 2011
Andrew Robson's Masterclass 30th September 2011Andrew Robson gave members a master class in "Signalling in Defence" and "Competitive Bidding Tactics" .  The event, largely organsied by Cath Adams, was greatly enjoyed by some 120 players at each of the two sessions.
Staffs Cup
Congratulations to Roy Martin's team for winning this year's Staffs Cup in the final against Paul Hackett's team.     Roy Martin's team will represent the County in the Pachabo Cup next month.
Shrewsbury Swiss Pairs

Jenny Matthews and Celia Day winners of the 2009 Shrewsbury Swiss Pairs

Shrewsbury Swiss Pairs