Congratulations ... |
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... to Tina Cottee & Sriram Chari, winners of the WCBA Championship Pairs Final held on Sunday 14 February.
Also to Susie Gall & Trevor Purches, winners of the Plate match that took place on the same day.
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Bath Uni progress in Portland Bowl |
Bath Uni have won their first Portland Bowl round by 148-48 against the Cardiff Uni second team. The team was Joe Clark, Sam Barnard, Dan Storer and Alex Nikodem-Wing. We wish them well in the 2nd round!
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Swan Trophy Mixed Pairs result |
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Congratulations to Taf Anthias and Pat Davies, winners of this year's Mixed Pairs Championship held on Thursday 17th October. They scored 62.5%, ahead of second-placed Marion Cowley & David Jacklin with 59.5%, and Alan Reid & Frances Ind, who came 3rd with 58.3%.
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Pepys Trophy Result |
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Congratulations to Pete van Praag & John Treble, winners of this year's Pepys Trophy, our annual Butler scoring competition, held at Bath BC on Tuesday 9th July. Pete & John scored +58 IMPS, just 2 IMPS ahead of runners-up Frances Ind & Jo Seddon.
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Gentle duplicate: the way forward |
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This morning (Thursday 4th July) I gave a short presentation to Gentle Duplicate players on stratification. I explained the gentle nature of the Thursday morning session and why stratification needed to be introduced to balance the playing field. I also clarified the arrow-switching procedure, as there was some confusion about how this should work.
At the end I asked everyone to vote so that the committee could assess if we were approaching this in the correct way. I asked the group to vote on both stratification and restricting the participation of more experienced players. The results of the vote are as follows: 78% like stratification and 87% do not want to restrict the numbers of more experienced players.
I felt that this was a useful and positive session, which was generally well received.
Christine MacFarlane
Click here to view a pdf version of the Powerpoint slides used in the presentation.
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Aveyard Trophy Result |
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Congratulations to Ken Littlewood & David Quine, winners of the Aveyard Trophy held at Bath BC on Wednesday 5th June 2019.
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Chairman's Trophy Result |
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Congratulations to Elaine Taylor, David Jacklin, Vic Holden & Prabir Nandi, winners of the Chairman's Trophy held at Bath BC on 30 May 2019.
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A miracle board |
Some boards are more miraculous than others. Click here to read on ...
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Wiltshire League 2 Result |
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Congratulations to the Loudoun team, comfortable winners of this year's WCBA League 2 with 134 VPs, ahead of Webb (107 VPs) and Gywer (102 VPs). The winning team consists of Marion Loudoun, Rose Rogers, Andrew Clarke, William Coley and John Maggs – and during the early part of the season included the late and much missed Maureen Mobley, who would have relished her team's victory.
The top two teams will play in League 1 next season.
Click here for the completed table on the EBU website.
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Wiltshire League 1 Result |
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Congratulations to the Williamson team – Keith Williamson, Taf Anthias, Valerie Austwick, Pat Davies, Katharine Hodgson and Roy France – on winning the 2018-19 WCBA League 1 with a final score of 122 VPs, an average of 13.56 / 20 per match.
Bizarrely, there was a three-way tie for second place (out of 10 teams): The Samter, Dunlop and Blandy teams all ended the season on 109 VPs, an average of 12.11 per match. Team van Praag finished 5th with 101 VPs.
Click here for the completed table on the EBU website.
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German visitors return to Bath |
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A group of 15 old friends from Braunschweig returned to Bath last week on a second Bridge twinning exchange. The previous visit was in 2016. The programme was pretty full and included:
Thursday: reception and game at Bath BC (top)
Friday: Mayor's reception and sightseeing
Saturday: Swiss Pairs at Bath University
Sunday: Anglo/German Swiss Teams at Bath University (below)
Monday: Game at Queen Square followed by a farewell drinks at the Gin Bar (below) and fish & chips.

We look forward to a return visit to Braunschweig in 2021.
Christine MacFarlane
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Paul & Marion made honorary life members |
At last week's AGM, Paul Cooper and Marion Loudoun were made honorary life members of Bath Bridge Club in recognition of the outstanding contributions they have made during their time on the committee. Paul stood down after 4 years as Chairman and Marion after 6 years as secretary. Both played key roles in the successful relocation of the Club from Twerton to Shaft Road, and under their guidance the club has flourished: in addition to our original three evening sessions, we now have two popular morning sessions, an evening education slot and a membership that has expanded to over 300.
Only two members have previously been made honorary life members: Jim Swan and Pat Davies.
Paul and Marion would like to thank you all for your generosity and support, and now look forward to focusing more on their bridge – and giving you a rotten score at their respective tables.
Chris Jones
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Wiltshire Mixed Teams Result |
Congratulations to Pat Davies and Keith Williamson, who won the WCBA Mixed Pairs at Devizes on Sunday 17 February.
In a field of 30 pairs, Pat and Keith scored 64.7%, ahead of Roger Karn & Christine Moore on 62.9% and Anne Rogan & Peter Webb on 59.8%.
Click here to see the full result
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Championship Pairs Finals – Result |
Bath BC took the honours in the WCBA Championship Pairs Finals, played in Devizes on Sunday 3rd February.
Congratulations to Taf Anthias & Pat Davies, who won with 60.68%, the tiniest margin ahead of Roger Karn & Stuart Bridge, in second place with 60.55%. Richard Moore & John Treble were in 3rd place with 55.41, and Ambrose Holmes-Mackie & James Green came 4th with 54.09%. Well done, everyone!
Click here to see the complete result
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Bath B pips Bath A in Garden Cities heat |
Many congratulations to Bath B - Valerie Austwick, James Dunlop, Susie Gall, Trevor Purches, Marianne Lewin, John Perry, Richard Moore and John Treble - who proved the club's selectors wrong by winning the Wiltshire heat of the national teams-of-8 Garden Cities competition. They beat Bath A by 1 VP after a scoring error was discovered.
We wish them luck in the South-west Regional Final on 27th April.
Richard Samter
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Bath BC Team wins Wiltshire KO final |
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That was always going to be the headline, as it was an all-Bath BC final. In the event, after a fiercely fought and very enjoyable contest, with the scores neck and neck all the way, the Jones team just edged it over the Bridge team by 9 IMPs.
Congratulations to the winning team (Pat Davies, James Dunlop, James Green, Ambrose Holmes-Mackie, Chris Jones & John Treble) and commiserations to the runners-up (Stuart Bridge, Susie Gall, Roger Karn & Trevor Purches).
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 Maureen Mobley
Members will be saddened to learn that Maureen Mobley, a club stalwart for over 50 years, died in her sleep at the weekend. Maureen's bridge heyday was playing the Vienna club system (brought to this country by refugees back in the 30s and still licensed by the EBU) with her great friend Trish Holland and together they won many events, including the Avon pairs and the Wiltshire-Avon Congress pairs. Central to the system was that all hands over 17 points were opened 1NT irrespective of shape: opponents could never cope with that aspect.
Members will fondly recall Maureen's habit of looking at their convention card – this was in wistful memory of the Vienna system and opponents' regular failure to study her convention card.
After Trish's death Maureen played with several partners and enjoyed club success on a regular basis - indeed her last club outing was the day before she died, partnering Angela Gunning.
Maureen was a widow and a retired teacher and leaves three sons to whom we extend our heartfelt condolences.
Roger Karn
Postscript
Maureen's family kindly timed her funeral so that bridge players could toddle off from the wake at Combe Grove direct to the club and that is exactly what a large number of us did. The sons gave heartfelt eulogies to their mother and a granddaughter baked a fitting cake, as you can all see (right). RK
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Swan Trophy Result |
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Congratulations to Diane Bishop & John Treble, winners of the Mixed Pairs for the 2018 Swan Trophy held at Bath BC on Thursday 18 October. John Perry & Marianne Lewin were in 2nd place, ahead of Angela Gunning & Keith Harris, who finished 3rd.
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WCBA Mixed Teams |
Teams of Bath BC members took 2nd and 3rd places at the WCBA Mixed Teams event held on Sunday 7 October at Devizes Bowls Club. Congratulations to Susie Gall, Trevor Purches, Richard Samter & Pat Davies, 2nd with 63 IMPs, and to Richard & Christine Moore, James Dunlop & Valerie Austwick, who were 3rd with 36 IMPs. The winners, with 89 IMPs, were Brian Johnson, Nigel Lewis, Sonia Blandy & David Hale.
Click here for the full result.
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Pepys Trophy result |
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Congratulations to Prabir Nandi and John Whiting, winners of the 2018 Pepys Trophy with +57.4 IMPs. There was a tie for second place between Pete van Praag & Sriram Chari and Elaine Taylor & Trevor Purches, with +46 IMPs.
To see the result, click here.
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Aveyard Trophy Result |
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Congratulations to Alan Treadway & Liz Roberts, winners of the 2018 Aveyard Trophy, held on Wednesday 6 June, with a score of 62.8% Alastair Spence & Mike Smith came second with 61.3% and Graeme Dalrymple & Barry Morris were in 3rd place with 60.3%.
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Chairman's Trophy |
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Congratulations to Prabir Nandi, Vic Holden, David Jacklin & Elaine Taylor, winners of the 2018 Chairman's Trophy teams event held on Thursday 31st May with +84 IMPs.
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Congratulations ... |
... to Pat Davies, who with partner Warner Solomon won the Swiss Pairs event at the Devon Congress, held in Torquay on 7-8 April.
Click here to see the full result.
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WCBA Chairman's Cup |
Congratulations to Paul Cooper & Richard Samter, who won the Wiltshire Chairman's Cup on Sunday 8 April with 57.2%. Valerie Austwick & James Dunlop were in 2nd place with 56.3%.
Click here for the full result.
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Wiltshire Mixed Teams Result |
Congratulations to James Green, Ambrose Holmes-Mackie, Pat Davies & Richard Samter, winners of this year's WCBA Mixed Teams event, held in Devizes on Sunday 11 March.
Click here to see the full result.
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Charity Challenge Sim Pairs |
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We had 13 full tables for last Thursday's Sim Pairs, and raised £161.50 for the RNLI from the extra table money and individual donations. Our thanks to all who took part.
Click here to access the hand notes provided by Ecats Bridge.
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Chairman's Shield |
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Congratulations to Marion Loudoun and Rose Rogers, who won the Chairman's Shield on Thursday 22 February following the AGM. Marion and Rose scored 60.5%, finishing just 0.03% ahead of Pat Davies & Taf Anthias in 2nd place and 0.29% above Roger Karn & Stuart Bridge in 3rd.
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WCBA Championship Pairs result |
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Congratulations to David Jacklin & Paul Cooper , who won the WCBA Championship Pairs Final held at Devizes on Sunday 18 Feb with 56.20%. Stuart Bridge & Roger Karn came second with 54.70% ahead of Brian Johnson & Sue Hands and Philip Howard & Bob McMurray in equal third place with 53.85%.
Click here to see the complete result.
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WCBA Mixed Pairs |
 Congratulations to Pat Davies, who with partner Keith Williamson won the WCBA Mixed Pairs, held at Devizes on Sunday 21 January. Pat and Keith scored 63%, ahead of Pete Webb and Anne Rogan with 58% and John Perry & Marianne Lewin with 57%.
Click here to see all the results.
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... and victory in the Seniors Teams |

... where she also won the Seniors Teams with teammates Taf Anthias, Richard Samter and Warner Solomon.
Again, many congratulations!
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Victory for Bath in the Garden Cities Qualifier |
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Congratulations to the Bath A team (James Green, Ambrose Holmes-Mackie, John Treble, Richard Moore, Susie Gall, Trevor Purches, Richard Samter and Pat Davies), winners of the Garden Cities Qualifier held at Devizes on Sunday 7th January with 128 VPs.
TrowBRIDGE came second with 91 VPs and Devizes third with 89 VPs.
The full results of both A and B qualifiers are available on the WCBA website – click here.
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Diamond Award for Pat Davies ... |

Many congratulations to Pat Davies, who has received a Diamond Award in recognition of her contribution to International Bridge.
She was presented with the award by EBU Chair Jeremy Dhondy at this year's EBU Seniors Congress in Reading ...
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WCBA Butler Pairs result |
 Congratulations to Pat Davies and Katharine Hodgson, winners of this year's WCBA Butler Pairs with +156 IMPs. In second place, with +144 IMPs, were Trevor Purches & Susie Gall.
To see the full result, click here.
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Swan Trophy Mixed Pairs Result |
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Congratulations to Frances Dewar & Grant Ferrie, winners of this year's Swan Trophy Mixed Pairs with 62.9%. In second place, just 0.8% behind the winners, were Elaine Taylor & Trevor Purches and Judy & Paul Yorke came third with 57.7%.
Table money from the Swan Trophy goes to Dorothy House (not to the British Heart Foundation, as stated in the advance publicity – apologies for the misinformation!) and they will receive the £206 raised at the event. Thanks to all who attended for their support.
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2017 West of England Congress |
Bath BC players put up a good showing at last week's West of England Congress Pairs event. Roger Bendall & Richard Moore were joint 3rd, while Keith Radmall & Barry Shephard finished 7th and Norman Botton & Richard Samter joint 8th.
In Sunday's Teams event, we didn't figure so prominently. Alexander Harding, whose team finished 26th, was our best-placed individual member and our top-ranked all-Bath-BC team, consisting of Stuart Bridge, Roger Karn, Trevor Purches & James Dunlop, finished joint 27th.
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Grenfell Sim Pairs raises £146 |
Thanks to all who played in the Grenfell Fire Appeal Sim Pairs on Thursday 10 August, which raised £146 over and above the normal table money for the appeal.
Congratulations to Pat Davies & Taf Anthias, who came first with 64% and are at the time of writing lying 8th nationally. To see the result, click here. (This will show the national result in pair order. To see the Bath result, you need to click on Club on the right of the screen and then choose Bath).
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Pepys Trophy |
 Congratulations to John Treble & Richard Moore, winners of this year's Pepys Trophy, which took place at the club on Tuesday 11 July.
The format for the competition is Duplicate Pairs with Butler Scoring, and the winning pair scored +51 IMPS. Keith Radmall & Gavin Bailey in came second with +33 and Anne Hitchin & Rose Rogers were in 3rd place with +20.
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Kidney Research Sim Pairs |
 Thanks to all who supported this nationwide event on Thursday 13 July. We raised just over £140 for Kidney Research UK.
Congratulations too to Diane Bishop and John Treble, who just beat Trevor Purches & Susie Gall to the top spot with 62.4%.
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Visit to Brunswick |
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Eleven bridge players from Bath went on a twinning exchange with Brunswick for four days. The players presented a Bath blue glass bowl, which was well received (above: Judy Spencer presenting bowl to Michael Seiffert, Chairman of Brunswick Bridge & Art Club).
Our group was graciously received by the Mayor in the Nieuw Rathaus (below) and were given a tour of the city. We played at two venues and used Bridgemates, very recently purchased for the twinning visit. There was a problem with scoring during the farewell game so the winner was decided by drawing lots; this was a practice that everyone approved of. The lucky winners were Andrew Clarke and Stephen Moss.

Christine MacFarlane
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Bath in top 50 |
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We're delighted to discover that Bath BC is now one of the top 50 EBU clubs. The 2017 table, which is based on the number of player sessions per year, lists us in 39th place, 18 places higher than we were in 2016 - a bigger jump than any other club in the table. This is clearly related to the new daytime sessions we've been able to add since our move to our new premises, but it also means that our traditional evening sessions are continuing to thrive.
Well done, everyone!
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Portland Bowl result |
This year's Portland Bowl has been won by Cambridge B. Bath University's James Green, Oscar Hui, Daniel Kelsall and Soozy Nesom finished in fourth place, having lost in the semifinal to Oxford A and in the 3rd place play-off to Cambridge A.
Commiserations on the loss, but congratulations on getting so far and our best wishes for next year's competition.
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Bath players 3rd in Stratified Sims |
Congratulations to Janet Anderson and Liz Doyle, who came 3rd out of 309 pairs in the recent EBU Stratified Sim Pairs with a national score of 68.9%. Five other Bath pairs were in the top 100.
Click here to see the results on the EBU website.
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Bath members win WCBA League 2 |
Congratulations to the Turner team (Richard Turner, Graeme Dalrymple, Jackie Miller, Heather Spalding, Jan Bailey, Steve Bailey) who have won League 2 with a score of 113 VPs, an average per match of just over 14/20.
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WCBA green-pointed weekend |
Congratulations to our very own Marion Loudoun, who took on the daunting task of organising this year's WCBA green-pointed weekend at Bath Uni and succeeded in delivering a smooth-running and very enjoyable event. Many thanks to her and all who gave of their time to ensure its success.
Bath's highest-ranking pair on Saturday were Ed Leatham & Nick Forrest, who came 8th= out of 120 pairs, with Roger Karn & Richard Moore 26th=.
In Sunday's teams, Ambrose Holmes-Mackie's team came 2nd out of 61 teams, followed by James Dunlop, Valerie Austwick, Susie Gall and Chris Jones in 8th= place.
There's a second green-pointed weekend's bridge coming up, this time hosted by the Avon CBA at UWE on 20-21 May. For more information click here.
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Well played!
Many congratulations to Bath BC member Ambrose Holmes-Mackie, who together with partner Shahzaad Natt has won the National section of the Ranked Masters Pairs. Ambrose and Shahzaad scored +138 IMPs, 75 IMPs ahead of the pair in 2nd place.
Also to Keith Harris & Stuart Bridge in coming 4th out of 99 in the Master Pairs.
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Garden Cities Qualifier Result |
 Congratulations to the Bath A team (James Green, Ambrose Holmes-Mackie, Valerie Austwick, James Dunlop, Trevor Purches, Chris Jones, Richard Samter & Andrew Parkes), winners of the Garden Cities Qualifier held at Devizes on Sunday, 8 January with 88 VPs.
Swindon came second with 79 VPs and Bath B (Richard Moore, Roger Bendall, Steve Elliott, Jan Dixon, Alan Reid, John Maggs, Roger Karn & Stuart Bridge) were in third place with 66 VPs. There were seven teams in all.
For the full result, click here.
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Congratulations to Bath BC members ...
Richard Samter and Taf Anthias, winners of the WCBA Championship Pairs final on Sunday 19th Feb with 64.5%
Pete van Praag, Davor Vukanovic, Terry Butler, Liz Butler, Steve Elliott and May Morgan-Jones, who have won the WCBA League 1 with a game in hand and thus secured promotion to the Premier League next season.
Richard Samter, Andrew Parkes, Roger Karn, Norman Botton, Roger Bendall and Richard Moore, who have reached the last 16 of the Gerald Faulkner Salver Seniors' event for the 2nd year running. This year they followed up convincing wins in the first two rounds with a close win over a seeded Bristol team, so are now seeded!
Valerie Austwick and James Dunlop, winners of the AGM Chairman's Cup on Tuesday 7th Feb with 60.5%, just 0.02% ahead of runners-up Pat Davies and Taf Anthias.
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2017 AGM |
The minutes of this year's AGM, which was held on Tuesday 7th February, are now available in the members' section of the website. The main highlights:
♦ A steward is to be appointed to relieve directors and other volunteers of extra duties that are proving burdensome: this will include closing up the premises after evening sessions, provision of refreshments and duplimating. This will entail a rise in table money of £1, which will come into effect from 1st May.
♦ Members also voted to amend Club rule 2.2, to simplify the procedure of applying for club membership. New members can now join immediately on payment of the annual membership fee, subject to the approval of the Committee.
♦ Pat Davies was unanimously voted a Life Member of Bath BC. Many congratulations to her and our thanks for her tireless service to the club over many years.
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Pat Davies wins Diamond award |
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Many congratulations to Pat Davies, who has been awarded the EBU's Diamond Award "in recognition of her great success in international bridge over many years".
The award is richly deserved – if you would like to know more about Pat's achievements as a bridge international, click here.
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WCBA Butler Pairs – Result |
 Congratulations to Maureen Mobley & John Maggs, winners of the Butler Pairs held at Devizes Bowls Club on Sunday 06 November with a Butler score of +64. Also to Chris Jones & James Dunlop in 2nd place and in 3rd place James Green & Hugh Gross with +59 and +55 respectively.
Click here to see the full result.
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Mixed Pairs Result |
 Congratulations to Hugh Gross and Anne Hitchin, who won the Mixed Pairs for the Swan Trophy on Tuesday 18 October. Chris Chatfield & Jane Portnall were in 2nd place, followed by Steve Elliott & May Morgan-Jones in 3rd.
£168 was raised on the night from table money and extra donations from players, and this will be as always donated to Dorothy House. Many thanks to all those who took part.
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 Men's Pairs winners
Congratulations to Ambrose Holmes-Mackie and Niall Igoe, who won the Men's Pairs event at the West of England Congress on Friday 30 September.
Congratulations also to Chris and Jan Dixon, winners of the Flitch Trophy in the Championship Pairs event on Saturday 1 October.
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News from Eastbourne |
 Our congratulations to James Green and Alex Lawton, winners of the Brighton Plate for being the top 'non-expert' pair in the Swiss Pairs at the EBU Summer Congress last weekend. James and Alex were the highest placed Bath BC pair, finishing equal 70th in a strong field of 269 pairs.
Congratulations too to James Dunlop, who finished first in the bridge element of last Monday's Bridge & Golf individual event at Eastbourne.
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Pepys Trophy - Result |
Congratulations to Sriram Chari and Andrew Clarke, winners of this year's Pepys Trophy (Butler Challenge) held on Thursday 14th July with +46. In second place were Liz & Terry Butler with +24 and Jane Portnall & Davor Vukinovac were 3rd with +22.
To see the full result, click on the event in the Results section, bottom right.
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Aveyard Trophy – Result |
 Ccongratulations to Janet Anderson & Liz Doyle, winners of a tightly contested Aveyard Trophy held on Wednesday 8th June with 61%. In second place, just 1% behind the winners, were Jackie & Alan Taylor, and Arnie Whitfield & David Burchell were 3rd with 59.5%.
The event raised more than £210 for the British Heart Foundation. Many thanks to all those who took part.
To see the full result, click on the event in the Results section, bottom right.
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So you made the big man cry! |
Dear all
I am genuinely overwhelmed by the lovely words and immense generosity of the gift that was ‘anonymously’ dropped off at the shop yesterday. We have just booked a week in Southern Italy in May so I shall use the money to buy us several splendid Italian feasts!
Moving the club has indeed required a lot of time and effort - and I am pleased and proud to have played my part in making it happen. But it really was a team effort and I am immensely grateful for all the hard work put in by both the Committee and the host of volunteers that make the club what it is.
Hopefully we are now nearly through the teething problem phase and can look forward to the exciting bit of our club development. We have new sessions starting in May and plans for more in the Autumn. Do come along and do spread the message to friends, family and bridge contacts so that these are well supported. And do tell us if you think there are gaps in the clubs bridge offering that might practically be addressed in the foreseeable future.
Once again many many thanks for your very kind words and extremely generous gift.
With very best wishes
Paul Cooper, 22 April 2016
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Click here for some even older archived news
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