Competitions

The Christmas Bridge Drive was again a very successful and enjoyable evening.  In addition to congratulating the winners of the Gordon Grimley Trophy (see below) we must also congratulate the winners of the quiz - Andy Brown and Judith Smith.

Thanks are due to many people for the success of the evening - John Wilcox, for directing and devising the "silly" rules we played to; Pat Dunham, for organising the quiz; Mr Bridge, for providing the quiz prizes; Maggie Bennett for organising the raffle (proceeds of £125 were sent to St Helens Church); Colin Dobson for organising the drinks; Shirley White and Ann Potterton for organising plates and glasses for the buffet.

The winners of competitions since the last newsletter have been: 

Children in Need Sim Pairs                Winners - Andy Brown and Joan Benton   

Gordon GrimleyTrophy                      Winners - Bob Stokes and Ian Grudgings

                                                            Runners-up- Colin Dobson and Ann Potterton

Christmas Cup                                    Winner -Betty Vos

                                                            Runner-up- Nora Hunter

Jubilee Bowl                                    Winners- Laurence Hudson and Ian Woodward

RBL Cup                                             Winner- Claire Lewis

                                                            Runner- up - Stuart Rees

Since the last newsletter we have added a couple of events to the calendar - a simultaneous pairs event in February and the Cottage Shield for scratch pairs in May.  The scratch pairs event will be played on a Wednesday afternoon and the pairings will be drawn randomly on the day.

The remaining competitions for the year are as follows:

EBU Simultaneous Pairs                                                        Monday27 February

Captain's Cup (Handicapped, Pairs)                                       Thursday 8 March

 Cottage Shield (Scratch Pairs)                                                Wednesday 9 May

Charlie Hall Trophy (Individual)                                             Monday14 May

Kidney Research Simultaneous Pairs                                    Thursday12 July

The handicaps for the Captain's Cup will be calculated in a slightly different way from that used last year.  The handicap for any pair will be 50% less the average of each individual's score over the last 12 months in duplicate sessions.  Therefore, for a pair who have individual averages of 55% and 52% the average for the pair is 53.50% and the handicap is -3.50%.  An individual who has played one or no times during this period will be given a handicap of 0%. 

The Knockout Plate is now down to the quarter finals (see the website or club noticeboard for the latest position).

The leading scores in this season's Stanley Trophy to date are:

Pat Dunham                            33 points

Andy Brown                            27

Joan Benton                            24

Geoff Haywood                      24

Don James                             24

Shelagh Rumbelow                17

Ron Barker                             14

Margaret Shadrack                 13

Teams

The league results for the A team since the last newsletter have been:

                        Grantham                   lost 9-3

                        Golf                            lost10-2

                        CountyB                     lost8-4

                        Phoenix                      lost12-0

                        LoughboroughUni      lost 7-5

                        Kegworth                     won 9-3

                        BlabyB                       won 8-4

The A team is currently 6th in Division 2 of the Leicestershire Leagues.  11 members have so far played for the A team this season.

The league results for the B team since the last newsletter have been:

                        Bradgate C                  won9-3

                        Glenfield B                  lost 12-0                     

Loughborough B         lost8-4

County E                     won 7-5

County F                     drew6-6

Bradgate B                  drew6-6

Glenfield C                  won9-3

The B team is currently 3rd in Division 4 of the Leicestershire Leagues.  16 members have played for the B team this season, including 3 members who have made their debut in team bridge.  

County Matters

The LCBA introduced a Pairs League this season tha twas run monthly for five months.  There were 6 pairs in each Division and on each evening the pairs played 6 boards against each of four of the other pairs in their division.  All Divisions played the same boards and the top pair in Division 1 each evening gave a commentary on each of the boards that was published on the LCBA website.  Colin Dobson and Ann Potterton finished the Pairs League in 4th position in Division 4. 

Tuition

"Deal of the Week" has been re-introduced.  The idea is that the bidding and/or play on an interesting board played during the week will be analysed and the results shown on the website. There is often not enough time to take the details of an interesting board during a duplicate session and so this idea may prove difficult to implement regularly.  If you spot any suitable deals let me have the relevant information, ideally no later than early the next morning. 

Reflections From The Table

Two issues of Reflections From The Table have been emailed to members since the last newsletter. The subjects have been - It's a Funny Old Game (when to play high andwhen to play low in the third seat) and The Power of Length - and Shortages (make sure you count your points for length).  

Master Point Promotions

Since the last newsletter the following Master Point Promotions have been announced by the EBU:

            MalcolmDawson        Master

Margaret Shadrack     Master

Richard Shadrak         Master

Shelagh Rumbelow    District Master

Mike Coke                  Area Master

Sylvia Roberts            LocalMaster

Our congratulations go to all of the above.

As you will see from the website there is a large number of members who are gaining Master Points.  During the calendar year 2011 there were 64 Ashby Bridge Club members who earned Master Points.

Scorers and Directors

Over the last few months we have been increasing the number of scorers who are proficient in duplicate scoring with the scoring program that the club uses, in updating the results onto the club website and in updating the EBU website with the club scores.  The qualified scorers are Dean Benton, Colin Dobson, Pat Dunham, Bob Stokes and George Strang. 

In addition to increasing the number of scorers in the club we have taken steps to increase the number of members who can direct.  A series of director training sessions run by the EBU will commence in April at Willesley Park Golf Club.  We have seven members who are taking part in at least one of these sessions.  They are Dean Benton, Andy Brown, Malcolm Dawson, Colin Dobson, Pat Dunham (refresher training), Robert Missenden and Bob Stokes.

Miscellaneous

The Annual General Meeting of the club will be on Monday 16 July, followed by bridge.

There was another discussion about slow play at the recent committee meeting.  The committee will be suggesting to the directors that they may need, on occasions, to impose an average score on slow players rather than waiting for them to play the last hand on a board. 

A history of the club is currently being compiled.  Pat Dunham has produced the first draft and I have now edited this to produce the second draft.  I am consulting with longer-standing members regarding this document.  If you have any anecdotes that should be included please pass them on to me.  

In the last few weeks there have been a couple of very high scores at duplicate bridge which are worth mentioning.  Ron Barker and Frank Aldridge scored 75% last month and Andy Brown and Joan Benton scored 74.8% earlier this month.

George Strang