Congratulations to the Blandy team (Sonia Blandy, Georgie Dalton, David Hale & Brian Johnson) on winning the Wiltshire County Knock-out, beating the Sloan team (Sam Sloan, Roy France, Martin Buck & Kevin Hughes) in the final. I am advised that it was 'all to play for' going into the fourth stanza, and more importantly that both teams enjoyed an excellent evening's bridge and hospitality.

I hope your experience has been similar. Next season's event is planned to start much earlier than previously (late spring) to avoid the fixture congestion through autumn and winter – watch the website closely for entry forms for this most enjoyable yet hotly contested event.

Richard Gwyer

Many congratulations to WCBA members Richard Samter and Norman Botton, winners of the Life Masters Pairs section of the EBU Ranked Masters Pairs, held at Birmingham on 28 February and 01 March.

Many congratulations to Ambrose Holmes-Mackie & Hugh Gross, winners of this year's final, held at Devizes Bowls Club on Sunday 22 February. Keith Williamson & Katharine Hodgson were in 2nd place, and Chris & Jan Dixon 3rd.

Click here to see full result

Congratulations to Tony Reed, Tessa Attwater, Paul Winstone, Roger Harris, David & Margaret Thackaberry, Emma Scarisbrick and Anne Hall, winners of the Teams of Eight event held at Devizes on Sunday 15 February.

Click here to see full results

Congratulations to Sonia Blandy and David Hale, winners of the WCBA Mixed Pairs competition held at Devizes Bowls Club on Sunday 25 January. Chris & Jan Dixon and Brian Johnson & Sue Hands were in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

Click here to see full results

The Wilts/Avon Green Pointed weekend at Bath University was more popular than ever this year, with the Teams event again being oversubscribed. It was described by Patrick Jordain in the national press as being the most popular event of that weekend.

Our thanks to Gayle Webb for organising it all so well, and to everyone else involved in its success.

A full house of 40 pairs took part in our first event of 2015, the Butler Pairs, held at Devizes on Sunday 11 January. Congratulations to winners Pat Davies and Taf Anthias,who finished an impressive 70 IMPS ahead of their nearest rivals, Richard Samter and Norman Botton. Diana King & Phil Green finished in 3rd place.

You can see the full result by clicking on the event in the Results section, below right.

Wiltshire's Dave Latchem played with Somerset team-mates Sheila Coda, Bill Rowe and Rodney Marks in the National Swiss Teams on 17/18 January. After losing the first three matches they thought they were only there for the beer but by the end of the first day were lying 6th after some large wins. On the Sunday they won 4 out of the 5 matches and finished equal first. They had not played the other team, so the tie was split by the number of wins. The other team had won 9 while the Latchem team had only won 8, so they lost out on first place. A tremendous achievement, nonetheless. Many congratulations.

Congratulations to Katharine Hodgson & Keith Williamson, winners of the Championship Pairs Qualifier held at Devizes on Sunday 30 November with nearly 63%. Pat Davies & Taf Anthias were in 2nd place, and Dave Latchem & Philip Howard 3rd. The first 14 pairs qualify for the Final, to be held in February.

You can see the full result by clicking on the event in the Results section, below right.

The Wilts Tolley team had a good Saturday but a poor Sunday at the Inter-county qualification event, winning only two matches out of the eight. But the wins were worthwhile, being against a seeded team, Gloucestershire, and Hants. Our outstanding pair were Taf Anthias and Pat Davies.

Roger Karn

Congratulations to Jo Seddon & Don Hodgson, winners of this year's Autumn Pairs, held in Devizes on Sunday 23 November with 64%, 5% clear of their nearest rivals. Ann & Robin Baker were in second place, just a whisker ahead of Jill Wyatt & Ray Elms in third place.

You can see the full result by clicking on the event in the Results section, below right.

Wiltshire Players Chris Dixon and Taf Anthias, together with teammates Sally Brock and Barry Myers, won their Gold Cup semi-final against Zia Mahmoud's team on Saturday 12 December, only to lose the final to Simon Cope's team on the Sunday.

We offer our congratulations and commiserations.

Congratulations to Rina McGarel-Groves & Peter Cruttwell, winners of the newly renamed Xmas Autumn Pairs held at Devizes on Sunday 13th December with 59.33%. In second place were Paul Winstone & Roger Harris on 57.14%, and Emma Scarisbrick & Julia Charlton were third with 56.78%. 

You can access the result from the bottom right corner of the Home page.

Congratulations to Katharine Hodgson & Keith Williamson, who won the Championship Pairs Qualifier held at Devizes on Sunday 29th November with 60.4%. Angela Gunning &Mike Trevanion were close behind in second place with 59.8%, and Roger Bendall & Roger Karn were third with 57.7%. The first 14 pairs qualify for a place in the Final.

You can access the result from the bottom right corner of the Home page.

With four new players in its team, Wiltshire won three of its eight matches in the inter-county Tollemache (against Merseyside, Hants and East Wales), finishing seventh of nine in its group. As per usual, we had been handily placed on the Saturday evening but failed to follow though on the Sunday.

Roger Karn

34 pairs fought it out on a chilly Sunday 12th October in the newly refurbished Springfield Leisure Centre (which was splendid except that the lofty windows kept auto-opening just as a reasonable room temperature was reached). Congratulations go to the winners, Ambrose Holmes-Mackie & James Green. David Birkinshaw & Steve Stafford and Christine & Richard Moore were in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

Before play started, tribute was paid to Esme Sidery, long-time Secretary of Corsham BC, who sadly died last week. Our thanks to Corsham BC for hosting the event and providing a splendid and abundant tea at half time.

You can see the full result by clicking on the event in the Results section, below right.

Our first Sunday event of the new season, the Mixed Teams, was keenly contested by 16 teams on Sunday 28 September in Devizes. The winners were James Dunlop, Valerie Austwick, Paul Keightley and Roger Karn. Many congratulations to them.

You can see the full result by clicking on the event in the Results section, below right.

Congratulations to Katharine Hodgson and Tony Olech, who won the Butler Pairs held at Devizes on 8th November with +89 IMPS. Chris Jones & Trevor Purches were in second place with +87 IMPS, and Hugh Gross & Ambrose Holmes-Mackie were third with +72 IMPS.

You can access the result from the bottom right corner of the Home page.

Congratulations to Frances Ind and Alan Perkins, who won the Open Pairs held at Devizes on 11th October with almost 5% to spare. Brian Johnson & Sue Hands were in second place, and Roy France & Sam Sloan third.

You can access the result from the bottom right corner of the Home page.

As we announced last month, Ambrose Holmes-Mackie and his partner Ankush Khandewal represented England in this event in July. Ambrose and Ankush didn't qualify for the Pairs Final, but achieved 70.33% in the first round of the Consolation Pairs. In that event they finished 16th out of 92, with a score of 56.38%.

Two other Wiltshire players, Bath BC members Will Roper and Mathew Jones, came 12th in the same event, scoring 58.11%.

In the National Final played at Solihull on Saturday, 14 June, the Wiltshire Team from Bath (Pat Davies, Chris Dixon, Roger Karn, Norman Bottom, James Dunlop, Hugh Gross, Valerie Austwick and Taf Anthias) came 7th of eight teams with 46 Victory Points.  Pat and Chris came 9th in the Butler Rankings.   Many congratulations to the team for a valiant effort against some tough opposition.   The final was won by a team from Coventry & North Warwickshire Bridge Club who successfully defended the Garden Cities Trophy, and claimed a fifth win in the last ten editions of the event. They won six out of seven matches to finish 15 VPs clear of Hurworth BC and Manchester BC, who tied in second place.

Congratulations to Chris Dixon, Jan Dixon, Ed Leatham and Bryan Cross, winners of the Mixed Teams held at Devizes on 27th September with a score of 129 VPs. Katharine Hodgson, Keith Williamson, Bob Bannister and Pam Merrell were in 2nd place with 116 VPs.

You can access the result from the bottom right corner of the Home page.

Click here to read the minutes of the 2014 AGM, held on 6th April.

Please note that next season's Sunday events will start at 1.00pm instead of 2.00pm, with the exception of the Corsham Pairs, which will retain the 2.00pm starting time.

Congratulations to the Williamson team (Katharine, Hodgson, Pat Davies, Valerie Austwick, Taf Anthias, Chris Dixon and Keith) on retaining their PL title. It was much closer this year – Latchem's 20-0 victory in the last round meant that Williamson had to defeat Ashton having been 15 IMPs down at half time. They held their nerve, recovering to win by 6 IMPs.

Richard Samter

Click on the Premier League panel, right, for the final results table.

Congratulations to the Bridge team (Keith Harris, Rita James, John Whittleton, Rose Rogers, Ann Hitchin and Stuart), who beat leaders Thackaberry to snatch victory in League 2 in the final match. The Baker team also won their match to end up in second place overall. A satisfactorily nail-biting ending to a splendid season of hard-fought matches. Well done to all concerned.

Chris Jones

Click on the League 2 panel, right, for the final results table.

Another successful League 3 season draws to a close. As always it's been full of tricky hands, uncertain finesses and bidding that's tested everyone's 'systems' to the limit. Congratulations to the Wilcox team (Tony Lucas, Ken Little, Tina Trivett, Carol Eggins, John Hoskins, Ian Drake, Rob Ellison and Ros) on a convincing win averaging over 14 VPs per match, and to the Lane team, who finished second.

Emma Scarisbrick

Click on the League 3 panel, right, for the final results table.

Congratulations go to the O'Donnell team, which won the Plate competition by beating the (Colin/Gayle) Webb team in a tense final. Once again, the Plate offered much excitement and also featured the closest match in the WCBA Knockouts this year, as the O'Donnell team won their semifinal (against the very strong Jones team) by just 1 IMP.

Captain Brian O'Donnell was unable to play, but his team of Syd and Richard Gwyer, Sue Phillips and Chris Baldock did him proud!

Hugh Gross

The Purches team – Susie Gall, Roger Bendall, Richard Moore and Trevor – have won the Wiltshire Knockout. Many congratulations to Trevor and his team. In a close final, team Purches won by 6 IMPS, 50-44. Down 17 in the first set (of 8 boards) they clawed back 2 IMPS in each of the next 2 sets and won on the last board with a game swing.

The runners-up were the Hodgson team, consisting of Keith Williamson, Bob Bannister, Alan White, Tony Olech and Katharine.

Hugh Gross