We are sorry to report that Tony Cowie passed away on Wednesday 19^th October 2016. Tony had been a member of Wigan Bridge Club for a long time and worked hard for the club. He will be sorely missed.

Funeral arrangements are posted on the notice board at the club.

We have posted some photographs that Bob Whittle kindly took at the recent 2016 Annual General Meeting.

Wigan Bridge Club was founded in 1936 and is celebrating its 80^th anniversary this year.

To commemorate the club’s longevity, Judith Peace, with assistance from many others, has produced an attractive book entitled A History of Wigan Bridge Club.

A free copy of this interesting and professionally published book is available for every club member.

If you haven’t got your copy yet, then please speak to either Judith Peace or Lynn Hayes who will rectify the situation.

Thank you to everyone who helped out at the recent Open Weekend. All the participants enjoyed their introduction to the club and to the game of bridge. The cakes that were made by several of the members went down very well and we hope to repeat a similar Open Day or Weekend next year. As for the participants, all but 2 that atteded have promised to come to the lessons which start this week. So watch out for some new faces and lets give them all a special Wigan Bridge Club Welcome!!

It was a very close finish at the top to this years final trophy event of the season as we saw Jean Rosser/John Gooch recording a score of 64.51% to narrowly push Lynn Hayes/Dave Rigby into 2nd place who recorded a score of 63.78%. Thank you to everone who turned up on the night and thank you to everybody who has participated in all off our trophy event this season. See you all next season.

Well done to Jean Rosser and Margaret Roberts who are this years winners of the Wednesday Afternoon Cup. They ended up with a Total Score of 687.31MP's  and beat Tony Cowie and Mike O' Leary into 2nd place who ended up with a total score of 566.58 MP's. Thank you to everyone who competed in this event and the next and final trophy event of the year is the Peter Lester Memorial Trophy a pairs event that will be held on Tuesday 20th September starting at 7.30pm.

Congtatulations to Clive Wood and Dave Rigby who are this years winners of the Bridgeman Trophy.

The penultimate trophy event of the year saw 15 pairs competing including several of our Novice/Newcomer members. In the end we saw a very close contest with just over 5% seperating the top 5 places and Dave and Clive claiming the top spot with a score of 60.48%;2nd  place went to Kath Yates and Jean Rosser with a score of 57.14%; 3rd place went to Joan Prescott and Margaret Wilkinson with a score of 56.25%. As always it was nice to see our novice players progressing and competing in these events and the best placed Novice pair went to Bill Poole and Dave Rielly who finished 7th with a score of 49.05%.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this event and the last trophy event of the year is the Peter Lester Cup a pairs event which will be held on Tuesday 20th September.

Congratulations to Eilleen Bryan/Pat Holleron who are this years winners of the Wednesday Evening Championship Pairs.

This is a competition run for our Non-Expert players based on our our main event, The Club Championship Pairs and with a similar format. Over the year we had many of Novice Pairs competing with and against many of our other non-expert pairs. In the end Eileen/Pat came out on top with a average score of 59.03%; 2nd place went to last years winners Marian Hardman/Yvonne Nicholson; and 3rd place went to went to Bill Poole and Dave Reilly who deserve a special mention as a pair new to bridge and have only just completed the beginners lesson this season, it is an excellent result and acheivement.

In all we had over 40 different combination of pairs competing in this event with 12 pairs managing to complete at least 5 rounds and registering an overall average percentage score. So thank you to everyone who competed and next year we hope to have a slightly different format to encourage more of our ''non experts'' and ''novice'' players to team up and compete with one another.

Congratulations to the Team of Lynn Hayes/Trevor Johnson/Dave Rigby/Des King who are the winners of this years Wild Trophy Multiple Team Event. It was all very close at the top as they ended with a final score of 108 VP's from a possible 180 VP's; runners up spot went to the team of Ilsa Farrimond/Sandra Gray/Di Seabrook/Stuart Ryding on 105 VP's; with Mary Finch/Clive Wood/Paul Mercer/Robert Plamer in 3rd place with 103 VP's.

This event is becoming especilly popular with our Novice Players as the format (Seeded Players all sitting N-S and having a random draw for team mates), gives every team a fair chance of winning the event. So with 9 teams in total we saw, the downstairs bursting at the seams with Novice and Experienced players all mingling together and enjoying the evening. We also had the opportunity to test our new scoring format which also was a great success and helped to make the ''end of evening'' scoring up process much easier to manage, thank you to Steve Fanning for staying behind to input the scores and to his wife Sharman for checking and correcting any mistakes. There was a little hiccup at the start when we had to draft in Stevo' Braddock and Barry Diggles to play together at short notice as the ''stand by pair' to make up the numbers so a big thank you to them and to everyone who participated on the night.

The next trophy event is the Bridgeman Trophy Pairs which will be held on Thursday 18th August kick off 7.30pm.

This years winners of the Championship Pairs are Mike Nicholson and Des King. They recorded an average percentage of 70.67% being their best 5 results from 10 rounds; 2nd was Mary Finch and Clive Wood with an avaergae of 63.01% and 3rd was Jean Rosser and Kath Yates with an average of 62.25%. Thank you to everyone who competed in this event.

Thursday 28th July is our next Trophy Event starting at 7.30pm.  

The Wild Trophy is a teams of 4 event where the format is to have our top pairs seeded and a random draw made for their team mates.

This enables all of those entering, experienced or novices alike, a chance to win a club trophy.

We will need to know in adance the number of teams entering and we require the name of you and your partner to be entered on the entry form currently found on the notice board at the bottom of the stairs. We also ask that at leat one person from each pair attends the draw which will take place at approx 7.15pm on the night.

Please Note: In the event of an odd pair entering then the last pair on the list will become the ''stand by'' pair

Wednesday 15th June saw the club open its doors and celebrate the 90th birthday of Joan Diggles and Joan Fisher. The club was full of family& friends and members old & new who came to celebrate the occasion.

There was many photographs taken on the day of which several have been posted on the club noticeboard and if you have any which you think are worthy of posting on our website please pass them on, otherwise you can view a small selection of pics taken on the day by following this link  http://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwoj/bw.cgi?club=wigan&pid=display_page28&sessid=29585684778

Congratulations to Mary Finch/David Rigby who are this years winners of the Mixed Pairs Trophy.

An excellent turn out of 16 member pairs saw Mary and David topping the field with a score of 63.99%; the runners up spot went to non-members Tony and Shiela Cordrey with a score of 63.65%; 3rd was Kath Yates and Azam Khan on 60.16%. Once again it was nice to see the field made up with a large proportion of our ''Novice Players'' and the best placed of these was Lynn Hayes who came 4th with a score of 58.97%. The club would like to thank everyone who competed on the night.

The next trophy event is the Wild Trophy (seeded teams) which will be held on Thursday 28th July.

Thank you to everyone who responded to the questionnaire regarding the Sunday Bridge Session.

The result of the survey now means that The Sunday Bridge Session will be moving from the afternoon to the evening with a new start time of 7.00pm, which seems to suit the majority.

The new start time will commence from the first Sunday in June, the 5th and will continue until October/November. After which we will re-assess the situation and if participants prefer to play bridge on a Sunday afternoon during the colder and darker months then we can revert back to a 12.30pm start.

Congratulations to Kath Yates and Beryl Duckworth who are this years winners of the Ladies Pairs Trophy. They finished in 1st place with an excellent score of 68.38%; 2nd place went to Di Seabrook and Judy Ryding who ended up with 58.50% who narrowly edged out Judith Peace and Betty Purcell into 3rd place on 58.11%.

Congratulations also go to Clive Wood and Des King who lifted the Mens Pairs Trophy. They took first place with a score of 73.75% 2nd place went to Steve Fanning and Tony Moorhouse on 54.17% and 3rd went to Azam Khan and Iqbal Ahmed on 53.75%.

Thank you to all the pairs who eneterd both of these events.

The Next Trophy Event is the Mixed Pairs which will be held on Thursday 2nd June starting at 7.30pm.

Many congratulations to Eileen Bryan and Pat Holleron who came out on top in this year's President's Cup with an impressive score of 62.00%; Runners-up spot went to Mike Nicholson and Iqbal Ahmed with 56.50% ; Third place went to Tony Moorhouse and Steve Fanning with 55.00%. Thank you to all those who attended on the night.

The next trophy event sees the Ladies Pairs and Mens Pairs which will be held on Tuesday 26th April 2016 commencing at 7.30pm. To help with organising this event, please put your names on the sheet in the club.

Saturday Closures

The club will be closed every Saturday evening until Easter.

Easter Closures

The next trophy event in the Wigan Bridge Club calendar is the President’s Cup which will take place on Thursday 24^th March 2016, starting at 7.30 pm.

It is a pairs competition that is open to all members of the club and will be played in the upstairs playing room.

You do not need to pre-enter but just turn up on the night with your partner!

The club are currently taking applications for a new steward or stewardess. If you are interested or you know of anyone who may be intested in this post, then copies of the job description are available from:

Margaret Wilkinson - Secretary, Wigan Bridge Club, 38 Bridgeman Terrace, Wigan WN1 1TT.

Tel No: 01257 423493.

Email: metw@hotmail.co.uk

 Closing date for applications is the 7th March 2016 and interviews of suitable candidates will be carried out shortly after this date.

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions about the use of Irene’s money. The upstairs kitchen was the most popular suggestion and so the committee are looking to implement this. If you have any expertise or contacts in this field will you please contact Judith Peace or Margaret Wilkinson.

Congratulations to the Team of Christine Marlow/Tony Moorhouse/Jim Dewey/David Rigby who won this year's Wigan and District Multiple Team event.

Out of  a strong field of 7 teams they were the runaway winners on 81 VP's only losing 1 of their 7 matches (which ironically was to the bottom placed side!!) runners up on 69 VP's was the team of Pat Holleron/Brenda Welsby/Jean Rosser/John Gooch; with 3rd place on 63 VP's going to the team of Joan Prescott/Margaret Wilkinson/Betty Purcell/Judith Peace. Thank you to all the participants who supported this event and the next trophy event is The Presidents Cup which is a pairs event and will be played on Thursday 24th March start time of 7.30pm.

We are sad to report the death of Barbara Melling a long standing club member who died on Saturday morning. We have no other details at this time but as soon as we hear of anything we will post the details on the notice board at the club.

This week the club reached a milestone target of a 100 members (to-date we now have 101 members registered with the club). This is a great achievement considering only 3 years ago we had less than 60 members and the trend at the time was going in the opposite direction. Since then we have seen several changes at the club; internal and external building upgrades; new faces introduced onto the committee; new sessions being introduced, seeing the club now opening its doors 7 days a week; plus some hard work and effort by several members firstly to attract new players into the club and then convert them to new members. We have also been helped by a new outlook and attitude to all of our new members and novice players and it is a credit to everyone that the club is now regarded as a 'very friendly and homely club' which is in complete contrast to a few years ago. But we cannot stop here as there is still a lot of work to be done. However the club is confident that if the current trend continues it will not be too long before we are welcoming our 200th member through our doors. Congratulations to all the members who have contributed and please keep up the good work.

Please note: If there are any members who would like to help with any aspect of work connected with the club then please contact one of our committee members. We are always grateful for any offers of assistance.

The next Trophy Event in the Wigan Bridge Club Calendar is the Wigan and District Teams which will be held on Tuesday 19th January commencing at 7.30pm. This event is a team of 4 event where each team will be drawn at random on the night from all the pairs entering (Please Note: This is different to the seeded teams event which is held later in the year). Anybody wishing to compete in this event will need to enter their name down as a pair in advance to enable us to know how many teams are competing. The entery list will placed on the upstairs notice board in due course. In the event of an odd number of pairs entering then the ''last pair'' listed will become ''the stand by'' pair and will not be entered into the draw. The draw will take place approx 10-15mins before the start time. The Current holders of this Trophy are Pat Holleron/Eileen Bryan/Jim Dewey/David Rigby.

(Please Note: This is a different event to the seeded teams which takes on a different draw format and is held later in the year).

Congratulations to Mike Nicholson and Des King who have won this years Wigan Reporter Cup with a score of 62.99%; runners up spot went to Sandra Gray and Gilbert Pierce with a score of 60.08%; 3rd was Jean Rosser and John Gooch with 58.06%. It was nice to see a number of our newer/novice members competing on the night and well done to Gordon and David who came just above half way with a very good score of 52.57%. Thank you to everyone who participated on the night and the next trophy event is not until the New Year now which is the Wigan and District teams scheduled to be held on Tuesday 19th January. 

Wigan Bridge Club is now closed over Christmas and will re-open again on Monday 4th January  2016.

The club would like to wish all of their members a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you all again in 2016.

Congratulations go to Wigan BC member Des King who won last weekends Lancashire Congress Green Pointed Swiss Pairs event.

Partnering Austin Barnes from Bolton they won 6 of their 7 matches amassing 118 VP's out of a total of 140. The pair ended up going into their final match having only dropped 7VP's and in the full knowledge that they had already won the event with over a match to spare. Perhaps a little complacency crept in as they lost their last match against the eventual runners up, Maureen McConkey and Bill Carr of Southport.Former Wigan members Paul and Hilda Williams ended up in 4th spot.

You can link to the full results and scores of the Lancashire Congress by clicking on this news item.

Please support your club and enter as many of our major trophy event as possible.

Full details of all of this seasons Trophy Events can be viewed by clicking on this link and opening in a seperate window.

Please Note; Anybody can enter our trophy events, but all cups and prizes can only be won by current Wigan BC members.

PLEASE ENTER ALL THE DATES IN YOUR DIARY WITH YOUR FAVOURITE PARTNER and see if you can come away with some siverware this season

It is with great sadness to report the death of Margaret Gleeson. Margaret passed away on Sunday evening in hospital after what was intended to be a routine hernia operation but nfortunately she developed septicemia. Margaret had been the Stewardess at the club since 1983 and was always on hand to serve tea/coffee or a drink of beer with a tale or two and a welcoming smile. She will be sadly missed by everyone at Wigan Bridge Club. The Funeral will be Midday on Friday 16th October at St Marys Church on Standishgate.

The Host/Stand By Rota for October & November is now available on the Website. Please follow this link for details.http://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwoj/bw.cgi?club=wigan&pid=display_page18&sessid=489662706883349

This year saw Wgan BC hold a new event for their beginners who have recently taken up the game or been through the lessons in the last 3 or 4 years.Held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month the event started back in January and has taken on a similar format to the normal club championship pairs. 

Congratulations to Yvonne Nicholson & Marian Hardmann who are our first ever winners of this event with an average score of 62.22%; 2nd was Sharman & Steve Fanning; 3rd was Lynn Hayes & Stevo Braddock; 4th was Margaret Hliday & Ray Emmanuel; 5th was Audrey Price & Ruth Blakeman; 6th was Win & Eric O' Neill. Thank you to 25 pairs who eneterd this tournament and the przes and trophy will be awarded at the AGM on 13th October.

Congratulations to Tony Moorhouse and Azam Khan who have won this years Peter Lester Trophy. Recording a score of 69.14% they were well ahead of John Gooch and Jean Rosser in 2nd place who scored 57.16%; 3rd place went to Bridget Gray and Eileen Bryan with 55.16%. The highest placed newcomers on the night were June Holland and Eddie Crews who recorded a very respectable score of 45.63%; thank you to everyone who entered this event. This was the last of our Main Trophy Events for the season so a big thank you to everyone who has supported all our events, anyone who has won an Event this season can pick up their Trophy and Prizes at the AGM which has been arranged for Tuesday 13th October.

This years Peter Lester Memorial Trophy will be held on Tusday the 8th September starting at 7.30pm. This is a pairs event and is open to all members of the club, you do not need to pre-enter but you will need a partner. So just turn up on the night as a pair and give yourself a chance to win the last trophy event of the year.

Congratulations to Mike Nicholson and Des King who are this years Bridgeman Trophy Winners. In a field of 12 other pairs they came top with a score of 62.50%; runners up spot went to Clive Wood and Tony Moorhouse on 60.00%; 3rd spot went to Jean Rosser and Kath Yates on 56.25%; & the highest placed Novice pair went to Stevo' Braddock and Gordon Summers who came 4th with 52.92%. Thank you to everone who turned up on the night and the final trophy event of the year is the Peter Lester Memorial Trophy, another Pairs event which will be held on Tuesday the 8th September statring at 7.30pm.

Congratulations to Mike Nicholson who won this years Manchester Congress Green Pointed Teams Event. This event attracts many players of National renown from all over the country and considering Mike was 'thrown into a makeshift team' of Marriane Farr (Lancashire), Raymond Semp (Manchester) and Alan Williams (Bristol) then it makes this win an excellent achievement indeed.

Congratulations to Jean Rosser and Kath Yates who have won the clubs Premier Trophy Event, The Championship Pairs. Starting back in October this event is contested once a month for 10 months with each pair averaging their best 5 scores. In the end, Jean and Kath recorded a winning score of 64.04%; 2nd was Mike Nicholson and Des King with a score of 62.34%; 3rd was Mary Finch and Clive Wood with a score of 58.64%. Thank you to all the pairs who competed in this competition & a full list of all the results can be found on the home page by following this link. The next major club event is the Bridgeman Trophy, a pairs event which will be held on Thursday 6th August starting at 7.30 pm.http://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwoj/bw.cgi?club=wigan&pid=display_home&sessid=641897939032179

Last Night we saw the annual Wild Trophy random team event. Excitement ensued from the start of the evening as we had ''The Draw'' for teams and for the first time ever we had a ''PRO-AM type format whereby the 6 more experienced pairs competing were to be drawn in a team with 6 of our Novice Pairs; who were a combination of pairs who had been taught within the last few years by either John Gooch or Des King. The final result saw the winning team of Lynn Hayes/Steve Fanning/Mike Nicholson/Des King with 4 wins and 1 draw amass a total of 72 vp's; the runners up spot went to the team of Steve Braddock/Gordon Summers/Margaret Wilkinson/Bob Whittle with 3 wins and 1 draw for a total of 63vp's; 3rd place went to Lesley Burton/John Sweeney/Margaret Roberts/Edna McHugh with 3 wins for a total of 57 vp's. A full set of the results can be found on the notice board and the results section on this website.

Thank you to all the teams who competed on the night and the next trophy competition will be the Bridgeman Trophy which is a pairs event to be held on Thursday 6th August commencing at 7.30pm.

Congratulations to Jean Rosser and Tony Moorhouse who are this years winners of the Mixed Pairs with a final score of 66.57%; 2nd was Kath Yates and Azam Khan with a score of 64.57%. Out of the 11 pairs who entered this event we saw no less than 7 of our 'Novice Members; highest placed of these was Judith and Stuart Riding who came fifth with a very creditable score of 55.71%.

Thank you to all the mixed pairs who made the effort to find a partner and compete in this event and the next event on the calander is the Wild Trophy. This is a Multiple Team Event, so please put your name down as a pair and the teams will be drawn on the night.

Congratulations go to Novice Pair of Stevo Braddock and Gordon Summers.

On Thursday 28th May, playing East-West they recorded a score of 61.88% to come top beating 5 other pairs which also included some of the clubs leading players. Both Steve and Gordon attend the clubs assisted play sessions (Monday afternoon and Wednesday evening) and and only recently decided to form a regular partnership and ''have a go against the big boys'' on Thursday evenings. .Even more remarkable is; Steve has only been playing bridge for just over 12 months and only completed the Wigan BC afternoon lessons last year, as for Gordon, he is actually still in the middle of completing this years daytime lessons!!

Also on the same night sitting East-West we saw another novice player Steve Fanning record a score of over 60% to come second behind Stevo and Gordon. Steve is another player who is in the middle of completing this years daytime lessons and also regularly attends the clubs assisted play sessions.

Well done to all 3 players and lets hope this will encourage more of our members competing in the assisted play sessions and help our Novice players progress.

After winning the Holburn Trophy,congratulations again go to the Wigan Pair of Mike Nicholson & Des King who representing Lancashire, were part of the winning team of 8 on Saturday 9th May to win The Garden Cities Regional Final. The Regional Final held in Bradford included a very strong Manchester Team who came 2nd, Yorkshire in 3rd, other counties competing included; Westmorland, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Mersyside and Cheshire. The Lancashire team of 8 also included 2 former Wigan BC members in Hilda and Paul Williams, plus Austin Barnes, Jeff Smith, Rod Greenhalgh & Stuart Norris. This team will now go on to compete against teams from Warwickshire, Cambridgeshire, Avon, Dorset, Kent, Surrey and Manchester in the Grand Final which will be held at Solihull on 13th June. We wish them all the best of luck for that one.

It appears sitting East/West on Monday is the day for registering an 80% score!! If scoring 80% in a session is not remarkable enough then Monday 27th April 2015 must go down as quite a unique day. Firstly in the afternoon session we saw Pat Holleron playing East/West and partnering Alan one of our Novice Beginners and scoring exactly 80% in a 15 board 3 table Mitchell Movement. Then later that evening it was the turn of another Novice Beginner Lynn Hayes who registered the same score of 80% sitting East/West in a 5 table Mitchell Movement partnering Des King........can anyone better these scorelines??

Congratulations go to the Wigan Pair of Mike Nicholson & Des King who won the Sakar Cup which was held at Wigan Bridge Club on Monday 13th April. The cup is a team of 4 event played on a KO basis from the local East Lancashire Bridge League. They were helped into the final by another Wigan member Clive Wood, who kindly stepped in at short notice to replace Mike Nicholson in the semi-final. The rest of the team was Mike Tomlinson (Kirkham) and Ewart Evans (Bolton). The team they beat, all from Bolton was Barbara Heaton, Irene Bowers, Win Sutherland and Paul Vose.

Congratulations to Ilsa Farrimond and Sandra Gray who are this years winers of the Ladies Pairs, they came top with 62.50%; 2nd place went to Margaret Roberts and Joan Jones with 62.10%. In the mens pairs congratulations go to David Hurst and Tony Cordery who came top with 58.66%; 2nd place went to Barry Diggles and Azam Khan with 50.13%. Well done to them and thank you to all of the participants who turned up on the night. The next trophy competition event now is not until Thursday June 4th, this is the mixed pairs event.....so come on guys and gals get paired up and have a go!!!

Wigan Bridge Club will commence their daytime Lessons for Intermediate Beginners on Tuesday morning starting at 10.00am until approx 12.30pm. Full details of costs and topics to be covered can be found on the ''stage 2 Lessons section'' Please click on this News Item to follow the link. 

Congratulations to Margaret Wilkinson and Des King who came out on top in this years Presidents Cup with 58.93%; Runners up spot went to Jim Dewey and David Rigby with 52.98% ; 3rd Place went to Judith Peace and Barbara Melling 52.38%. It was also pleasing to see two of our Novice players ''having a go'' Steve Braddock and Gordon Summers who did not disgrace themselves coming 5th overall with acreditable 48.21%. Thank you to all those who attended on the night. The next trophy event sees the Ladies Pairs and Mens Pairs which will be held on the same evening of Tuesday 14th April commencing at 7.30pm.

The Wigan Bridge Club is looking to raise a team(s) to play in next years Fylde Bridge League. As a new team we will automatically go into the 4th division, which is generally for new teams/Novice players/players of an average or less than average bridge experience looking to ''cut their teeth'' in teams bridge. We will soon be putting a list up in the club to see if we have enough members interested in playing. Look out for this list and please support the team if you are wanting to play.

Anyone wishing to enter this years Presidents Cup needs to act quickly. Scheduled to be played on Thursday 26th March there is still time for you and your partner to put your name on the list, although not imperative, to know the number of pairs competing in advance always helps the director to set the movement. However if you do decide to turn up on the night without entering please turn up in good time and you will still get a game. This is a Major Trophy Event for the Wigan Bridge Club so we askk all members to please come down and support it.

This years Sakar Cup Final is proposed to be held at the Wigan Bridge Club on Monday 13th April starting at 7.15pm and two of our members will be playing in the final; Mike Nicholson/Des King together with Ewart Evans (Bolton)/Mike Tomlinson (Kirkham). They will be playing against an all female team of Sue Whittam/Winifred Sutherland/Barbara Heaton/Irene Bowers (all Bolton) and the match is already being billed as the ''battle of the sexes''

The all female team already have the edge as they recently beat the all male team in a local league match. So we are sure that the men will be out for revenge and will be looking to redress the balance in the final. So this final match of the season has all the ingredients to be a tense and nail biting affair....................

........................any spectators wishing to join in the fun by watching the match will be very welcome and we are sure you will be treated to some excellent bridge.

The Wigan Pair of Mike Nicholson and Des King completed a fine weekend as they added the Holburn Trophy to go with their National Pairs Heat success. This is the second year rumnning that the pair have won this trophy which is a Teams of 8 competition played against other clubs within the county, rest of the team was Alan Whittam/Paul Evans; Stuart Norris/Rod Greenhalgh; Austin Barnes/Jeff Smith. The pair will now go on to represent Lancashire as part of a team of 8 in the Garden Cities Trophy Regional Final which will be played on Saturday 9th May 2015. Good Luck to them in that one.

Last night (Friday 6th Feb) saw this years National Pairs qualifying heat held at Bolton Bridge Club and it was the Wigan Pair of Mike Nicholson and Des King who came out on top of a strong field of local quaifiers with a score of 60.32%. They will now be heading off to Bradford once again on Sunday 15/2/15 to play in the Reginal Final stage and hoping to reach the overall National Final for the 3rd year running. Good luck to them in that one.

Congratulations go to the Team of Pat Holleron/Brenda Welsby and David Rigby/Jim Dewey who won last nights Wigan and District Teams Trophy. 6 teams competed on the night and it was pleasing to see a number of our Novice players entering the competition and doing remarkably well playing against the more exerienced players in the club; as Lynn Hayes partnering Clive Wood with Barbara Melling and Barry Diggles came 2nd on the night; and Dianna Seabrook/Mick Phillips teaming up with Kath Yates and Jean Rosser came in 3rd. Thank you to everyone who competed on the night and our next trophy event to book into your diaries is, The Presidents Cup, a pairs event which will be held on Thursday 26th March starting at 7.30pm.

The 1st round of our newest  event, ' The Novice Championship Pairs' for the Majorie Mcaffery Memorial Trophy, got underway last night and the early pace setters and leaders who came first was.... Nuala & Greg Durkin who registered a very respectable score of 65.28%; 2nd place went to Lynn Hayes and Steve Braddock on 57.78%; with Dianna Seabrook and Margaret Haliday in 3rd place on 56.94%. This event is free to enter and is open to non-members; it will mimic our premier club event, the Club Championship Pairs and is 9 rounds in total. This event will be held on the 3rd Wednesday in every month, with each competing pair registering their best 5 results. If you missed the first round, dont worry it is still early days yet and there are another 8 more rounds to go at. So get in touch with your partner and come along to the next round which will be held on 16th February.

Wigan Member Des King came third in EBU Year End Congress held in Blackburn on 30th January. In a strong field of 37 teams from various parts of the country, Des who partnered Stuart Norris and teamed up with fellow Lancashire players Austin Barnes and Rod Greenhalgh came narrowly close to winning the event. Lying in 2nd place coming into the final match of the day the team needed to beat the leaders and eventual winners from Yorkshire of David Waxman, Richard Pike, Gill Copeland and Steve Blackburn unfortunately they lost their match and were eventually relegated to 3rd place. Full results and details of the whole congress can be found on the EBU website by clicking on this article