We had a very enjoyable Christmas Bridge Party on Monday 12th December, thanks largely to Bridget and Holly, who organised the catering. Many thanks also to John for directing, Liza for scoring and Jean, who kindly acted as host. Thanks also to those who stayed behind a little longer to clear up and to the numerous people who helped with washing up during the evening.

Members were also very generous with donations to “Oxford Homeless Pathways.” A cheque for £250 has been sent to OxHoP.  

Sandra Nicholson reports:  The team put forward by our club for entry into this year's National Inter-Club Knockout competition, has just (November 2016) won its first match, playing away against Cheltenham C. 

The opponents were a very pleasant team including Val and Ian Constable, who will be well known to some of you. Our team was made up of Krys Kazmierczak playing with John Deech, and myself playing with Robert Gasser.

In the first half we were fairly evenly matched, trading part scores backwards and forwards with only one game swing. Fortunately this was in our favour, leaving us just 4 IMPs ahead. However, during the second half we pulled away, conceding one game swing but winning another and getting the best of all the part score fights, to emerge eventually with a score of 66-33. 

Credit goes particularly to John, who pulled off a very thin 4H game on a 4-3 fit when the opponents were playing in 1NT (!). The most curious hand of the match was undoubtedly the very last board, where the contract at both tables was 2S - but in our room it was played by E/W, our opponents, going down 2; whereas in the other room it was played by N/S, also our opponents, going down 3.... Bridge can be a funny game sometimes!

A list of projects that your donations help can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/psvxkB6QDMK63pgHmP5RJF/who-you-help

The Oxford Junior Bridge Club continues to thrive. We followed, with great interest, the progress of our first pupil, Henry Rose (pictured), aged 11 years, who played in the England Under 16 team in Salsamaggiore Italy earlier in August. Full information about this competition is on the EBU website. 

Same venue, Summertown Church Hall, Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7EZ, on Sundays from 2.30 to 4.30 pm.  Term starts 25th September, ends 11th December with 2 weeks for half term. All levels welcome, beginner to experienced; drop in any week and learn this wonderful card game. For further information contact Holly Kilpatrick:   juniorbridgeoxford@gmail.com or phone 07753 672001. 

Annual Junior Bridge Competition at Oxford Bridge Club on Sunday 20th November to which all are welcome, 8-18 years; 3 sections, Mini Bridge, Novice Bidders and Experienced Bidders. 2-5pm. £3.00 entry fee, including tea and prizes!

Abingdon Bridge Club is holding a Cafe Bridge event on Thursday 29 September, in Abingdon. Cost is £60 per pair, to include lunch and tea/coffee. All profits will be donated to the charitable organisation Myeloma UK. 

For further details, please click on this box. 

Our Blue Pointed Swiss Pairs event, held jointly with OBC, went very well. We had 14 tables and raised somewhere around £450 for our chosen charity, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Claire MacDonagh laid on a magnificent tea, including a variety of delicious cakes kindly donated by members, and everyone seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed the day.

The overall winners were David Patterson and Andrea Smith. Carol Benzie and Aleks Lishkov were second, Carol Wadsworth and Irene Holland won the Ascenders prize and Rosemary Dorey and Ursula Bowler won the Non-expert prize.

The raffle produced £240, so many thanks to all those members who generously donated some excellent prizes, as well as to everyone who supported the event by playing and buying raffle tickets. Besides Claire and the cake bakers, special thanks also to Rob Dixon, who directed the event free of charge, aided by John Rowe; Steph Bliss for managing the entries and fees; Cliff Pavelin who, together with Herman de Louw from OBC, dealt all the boards; and the host pair Joanna Donkin and Hazel Hobbs.

Overall winners David Patterson and Andrea Smith

Rosemary Dorey and Ursula Bowler won the non-expert prize

Please click here to view photos from Holly's annual party for Wessex League players plus Junior Bridge volunteers. After a very cold and dull day the sun came out just before everyone arrived. 

The Wessex League season has now finished.

Congratulations to our A team who has finished a very respectable 4^th out of 8 teams in Division 2; our B Team has finished 7^th out of 8 in Division 3 and regrettably, will be demoted, and our C Team did very well indeed to finish 5^th out of 8 teams, in  Division 5.

Match reports and links to the league tables are available on the Wessex League page (see left-hand menu for a link). 

Holly took two teams of juniors to the Loughborough EBU Junior event yesterday and her team from the Dragon School came fourth out of 24 teams.  Some of them also go to the Sunday afternoon club. All but 4 of the teams were sixth formers from prestigious public and grammar schools. All of us involved with Junior Bridge are completely over the moon!  The second team came 12^th and it contains an eight year old and a 10 year old, Jacob and Zane. 

We are delighted to report that Oxford Junior Bridge Club pupil, Henry Rose, has been selected to play for England in the Under 15’s World Championships in Italy this year.  This is the most brilliant achievement, especially as he is still only 11 years old. 

Henry started bridge at the Dragon School Bridge Club when he was 8 years old and took to it like the proverbial duck to water.  He was the first pupil at the OJBC. In fact, for a whole week, he was the ONLY pupil.  He has worked really hard at the game and truly deserves this recognition.

We are very grateful to Richardsons Chartered Accountants of Thame, who have just given us enough packs of free bar-coded cards to change all our sets next time we need new cards. Special thanks are due to Simon Husband, a long-standing Oxfordshire bridge player and one of their Directors, for his role in this.

Richardsons specialise in services for small and medium-sized businesses and can also advise individuals on financial issues. Please see their website for further details.