Congratulations Michael and Abbey for 2nd in the Mixed Pairs Championship at the EBU 2026 Summer Meeting in Eastbourne!

Abbey welcomes ASBC Members to a sequel Master Class in Hand Evaluation taking place on Monday 28th September and again on Saturday 10th October. Abbey will provide an entertaining and informative mix of teaching, practical advice and exemplar hands. The usual facilities will be available to you - tea coffee and biscuits, and of course, the bar will be open at the end so you can chat to each other and to Abbey. £20pp for ASBC members and £25pp for non members. For non members that don't know Abbey, Abbey regularly plays for England and her style of teaching is relaxed, fun and the Abbey Smith Bridge Club has excellent accessible facilities in Buckinghamshire 8 miles from Milton Keynes. The ASBC is one of the fastest growing bridge clubs in England and is thriving with more than 250 members that play regularly. **This is a replacement date for one postponed earlier this summer, if you have already paid them still book using the form but don't transfer payment**

ABBEY’S LATEST INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE It's an odd feeling to be competing in a European Championship 27 years after the last one, but oddly even more exciting. The difference this time was that I was in a team with some of my very closest friends. The team that entered the trials was based around having a team who wanted to not only play bridge but enjoy spending time together. I believe that the reason we won the trials both weekends was not only that we played OK, but our spirit was fabulous! We were supportive to each other and not critical in any way. We had such an enjoyable two weekends and now we were able to take this into the Europeans. We had the opportunity to choose another pair and an NPC. Our main goal for this was to keep the team spirit and dynamic that we had during the trials. Maggie Knottenbelt and Ben Hadley-Pritchard fitted in so well in the team and Mike Hornung as the NPC was the best captain I have ever experienced. I have to say that I was more nervous this time than I ever was when I played when I was younger. This could have been an age thing, but I think it was actually because I wanted to play well for the team. I didn't want to let any of them down as I think so highly of them all. I definitely felt proud of how I played in the first half of the tournament. I had a little dip on the two-match day against Poland and Romania, which I will hopefully learn from for the World Championships, but thankfully was able to find a second wind.

Whenever I am asked to find a hand from a tournament I always find it difficult. The reason is because I believe actually to do well in tournaments, particularly of this length, is not about brilliant play, but about avoiding as many mistakes as possible and also being able to move on from any mistakes and not make more because of them. This is an underrated area of the game as well as being in a team that you feel supported and enjoy being in. The hand that I have selected was from a match against Croatia. I remember quite plainly playing the hand, which was 4H by East..

After the DA lead, it was clear from the spade switch that South need to get North on lead, to cash a 2nd diamond trick. I knew a loser could be thrown on the clubs, but throwing the spade was needed to avoid a trump promotion because once one round of trumps had been played and the Jack of hearts fell, now South had K9 sitting over QT. I won with the SA, played HA and then cashed 3 rounds of clubs throwing the spade. Now I played another trump and South was on lead so couldn't play a diamond and then a diamond would just be lost. It is actually safer to play the 4th club and throw the diamond, just in case, in the unlikely event that North had 4171 shape. One of the reasons I chose this hand was that the match hadn’t been going great before this board, and it was board 12 of a 16 board match which felt in my mind like a turning point. The next board we took 3C x for 500 and then they bid 7C which went off on Martin's great lead of a diamond. Those 3 boards were double swings in, which turned -16 into a +24 win.

In summary of the event, it was the most enjoyable international experience I have had and this is down to the team. I loved every minute. I think it's fair to say that, in the end we were a little bit disappointed to miss out on a medal, but the event has definitely confirmed that the team is far more capable than maybe even we thought and with the experience of a long event under our belts we are looking forward to hopefully performing well in the World Championships in Barbados in 2027.

Club Membership is due for the 2026-2027 year, and will remain at £30 for the year (September 2026 to end-August 2027). This includes membership to the Sports and Social Club as well as being able to play in all duplicates, attend lessons, seminars (at a reduced rate) and play for the Club. Could new members please complete a form on the web site, all existing members can pay in to the account that you use to pay for lessons and duplicates. All details, plus much more, in the August 2026 Newsletter that you can find in the Main Menu!

Term time lessons 2026

Beginner’s: 11am Friday (starting in October)

Improver 1-2: Monday 7pm

Improver 1-2: Tuesday 1.15pm

Improver 1-2: Thursday 1.15pm

Improver 3: Tuesday 11.30am

Improver 3: Wednesday 1.45pm

Improver 4: Wednesday 12 pm

Please book on to a lesson using the form, this will enable us to manage numbers and setting up tables and boards! Also please email abbeybridgelessons@hotmail.co.uk if you are interested in improving your bridge and are thinking about lessons, Abbey will be able to provide more information on which group will be the most suitable if you are new to Abbey Smith's teaching.

The Abbey Smith Bridge Club has risen by 9 places to 38 out of 50 in the EBU ranking of clubs by player sessions between March 2025 and March 2026. This is fantastic news and a real indicator as to how the club is growing. Thank you to all the players that made this possible by supporting the club year on year! You can look at the full rank list here EBU Top 50 Clubs by Players

The duplicate Weekly Winners at Abbey Smith Bridge Club W/c 14th September 2026

Congratulations go to:

Allen Duff and Rob Timpson (Monday)

N/S Ralph Holliday and Tracey Reimer (Wednesday)

E/W Avril Bates and Jo Raven (Wednesday)

Carol Harris and Pete Rowling (Thursday am)

Steve Thomas and Paul Miller (Thursday)

N/S Allen Duff and Phil Butler (Friday)

E/W Ralph Holliday and Richard Devas (Friday)