For players who are members of the EBU and are 60 or over on 19 May 2025

To be played at SBBC on the 19th May 2025 at 10:30 am

For entry forms, rules and full information please click here.

Congratulations to Amersham A who beat Reading A 11-9 in their final match and won Division 1 of the league with an average of 16.8 VPs. They will be representing the county in the Garden Cities Regional Final on 10 May. Reading A were 2nd with 15.4 VPs and Burnham A were 3rd with 14.6 VPs. These 3 teams each lost only 1 match during the season – to one of the other 2 teams. The remaining 7 teams all averaged fewer than 10 VPs.

Although there are some matches still to be played we already know the winners in Division 2: Austenwood have won with an average of 14.2 VPs; Newbury A are close behind with 14.1 VPs.

 The Club teams final for the Committee Cup was held on Sunday 23rd March at Windsor. It was an all play all for 13 teams over 36 boards.

The winners were Ed Scerri & Gilly Cardiff with Nigel Wolfendale & Dick Davey from Amersham on 125 IMPs, second were Ian Robert & Sally Bride with Godfrey Vangeyzel & Carol Humphreys   on 73 IMPs.

B&B Jack High Friendly Pairs

The Berks & Bucks Jack High Friendly Pairs for the Finchampstead Plate was contested by 23 pairs this weekend.  The winners with 62.13% were Paul & Norma Lord, narrowly ahead of Tim Davies & Mary Nash on 62.03%. Congratulations to Paul and Norma Lord and thanks to all who took part. We hope you all enjoyed the event.

The final of the Waller Bowl competition was held on 16 February 2025 at Windsor.

There were 31 pairs entered from qualifying rounds held in clubs.

The winners were Sue & Graham Dickens with a  score of 61.93%.

Second were David Owen & Bob Holder with a score of 60.00%

and third were Bryn Smith & Malcolm Burch with a score of 58.91%.

Congrats to them and thanks to all 31 pairs for taking part. We hope you enjoyed the day.

The Jack High Friendly Pairs was held on Sunday 26th January at South Bucks BC

Thirty pairs took part and the winners were William Smyth & Angela Subramaniam  with a great score of 66.12%, second were Kumar Patel & Mike Rossiter with 60.07%. Well done indeed.

Thanks to all those played. We hope you enjoyed this event as the County are keen to encourage all levels of players to County events.

The committee is sad to hear of the recent death of Joyce Baldock in Basingstoke Hospital. Joyce was a former Berks & Bucks Committee member and Treasurer, and had continued to play until recently. She played in nearly all the county competitions, winning the Green Point Swiss Teams, the County Pairs and County Pairs Plate, and both the multiple teams and swiss teams versions of the Perkins Cup.

The County Pairs Championship Final was held on Sunday 19th January 2025 with 23 pairs competing in an all play all over 40 boards at Windsor.

The winners were Peter and Dee Lindon . Well done.

The top five pairs will be invited to represent the County in the EBU’s Corwen Trophy event, to be held 31st May/1st/2nne. The other four pairs are Mike Wenble and James Chapman, Marc Rivoira & Barry Read, Ed Scerri & Steve Eginton , Pat Dowdeswell & Mike Ribbins. Congratulations to all.

Congratulations to Stuart Burnett & Tony Truluck winners of the joint BBCBA/Hants & IoW Blue pointed Swiss pairs event held on the 27th November 2024.won overall. They take the (HIOW) Wessex Trophy.

Liz Senior & Mike Kinsey were 2nd and Tony Yip & Pak-Hin Lee were 3rd.

Jackie Davies & Rob Cliffe take 4th and take the (BBCBA) Denys Jenkins Trophy.   28 pairs took part.

We almost had a new world champion in the most unlikely of circumstances!
Ed Scerri was not selected for the England Senior team for what used to be called the Olympiad, in Buenos Aires,  He didn’t even play in the trials!
But when a medical problem prevented one of the team from playing at the last minute, he stepped into the breach to play with a regular partner of his, Malcolm Prior. Arranging last minute flights and accommodation.
But things, at first, did not go well.  Bad weather left one of the team’s pairs stranded in the UK, only arriving after the first day was completed and struggling to find form after that, as did all the pairs.  It got worse, two of the team were ill and Ed got mugged in the “Paris of South America”.  Unsurprisingly by the end of the round robin qualifier for the knockout stages they were well off the pace.
At this point, you might think that, like two of their team-mates, they would have given it a day, but not Ed and Malcolm.  They decided to play in the pairs event, lasting over nearly a week, in the same field as the open pairs, and with feed ins from the teams losing in the late Knockout stages of the teams. 
At this point their luck changed and they were never in doubt for qualifying, first for the semi-final round and then into the final of just 14 pairs.
In the two days of finals they were never out of the top places.  Although Ed also picked up his teammates’ virus on the last day, he headed into the final session of 14 boards with a comfortable lead.  
But, sadly, it seemed that  opponents could do no wrong and when the dust cleared he and Malcolm were agonizingly fewer than 4MPs (from a total of 650) behind the Canadian winners.
Nevertheless, it was a fantastic result - the only English medalists of the games and an outstanding achievement.  

Congratulations Ed!

Swiss Teams for the Richard Palmer Memorial Trophy

Congratulations to the winners of the teams event - Celia & Derek Oram with Peter & Dee Lindon. 18 teams competed on  Sunday at Windsor in the annual Green Pointed Congress. 

Swiss Pairs for the Anders Wallen Trophy

Congratulations to the winners of the pairs event - Bob Holder and David Owen. 60 pairs competed on  Saturday at Windsor in the annual Green Pointed Congress.  The trophy was presented by Eva Wallen.

The Friendly Pairs for the Tony Boothroyd plate  was held on Sunday 27th October at SBBC. 

23 pairs took part over 20 boards and the winners were Sarah Summerbell & Sheila Mason with a score of 63.06%. Second were Elaine & Ted Crump and third were  Norma & Paul Lord .

Thanks to all those played. We hope you enjoyed this event as the County are keen to encourage all levels of players to County events.

A team won by Bucks 60 - 2

B team won by Berks 54-52

Overall result was a tie, broken by net imps results, so Bucks won by 31 imps.

The following partnerships will represent B&BCBA in the Tollemache Qualifier on 9-10 November 2024 :-

Dick Davey (Captain) & Nigel Wolfendale

Dee & Peter Lindon

Steve Eginton & Bill Souster

Chris Mooney & Phil Thornton

Carole and Herb Mueller

Mike Perkins (standby)

We wish them good luck.

Winners of the Student League 2024: their team name is Beaconsfield Ladies and the picture shows (from left to right) Jo Barrett, Ingrid Hamilton (Captain) Sue Morgan and Debbie Raven. Deborah Holmes also played but is not in the picture as she was not at the end-of-season pairs event.

The other trophy visible on the table is the Bridge Plus trophy for the end-of-season pairs (open to everyone who played in either the Graduate or Student League) and this year it resulted in a triple tie! with three pairs all finishing on 60%. So the trophy is being shared between Sharon Christie & Jane Davis, Ingrid Hamilton & Debbie Raven, and Jane Barker & Karen Kelly (who won it the previous year - does being in a triple tie count as retaining your trophy?!).

The A team led until their last match (we sat out the last round, but sadly were overtaken by Sussex at the death and finished 2nd). All the pairs were plus on the cross imps analysis.  Click for A team results

Our B team also performed creditably finishing in mid table. We didn't field a team in the C division.  Click for B team results 

A team

Steve Eginton & Bill Souster

Bob Holder & David Owen (Captain)

Barry Read & Marc Rivoira

Simon Roberts & Stuart Townsend

B team

John Coleman & Marilyn Murtagh

David Corbett & Nigel Thompson

Giorgio Jeronimidis (Captain) & Iain Mackenzie

Heather Tan & Matthew Tan

The county teams of 4 KO championship will once again take place this season. This event is a Green point one and the winners  will represent the County in the Pachabo, entry for which  is paid for by the County.  Matches will be played on BBO, or any other suitable online platform agreed by the two captains. The playing regulations for online matches are the same as set out in the Rules and Guidance for Playing Brown Cup Matches Online. If both captains agree, matches may be played face-to-face.  Entries will be free and as BBO does not currently charge for setting up and playing matches there will be no charge to play. If the captains agree to play on RB they will have to contact Mike Ribbins to ask for the match to be set up.

If you are interested in entering this year please send me (p@ribbins.co.uk) the details of your team by the 9th of September.

The home team captain will be responsible for setting up the match on BBO/RB. For this season all matches will be 2 stanzas of 12 boards.

I hope you will be able to put a team together.

For teams who have won their county teams of Four Events.

B&B was represented by: Ed Scerri,Steve Eginton, Peter Lindon and Dee Lindon.

They did well to finish in the top half in a field of 29 county teams.

B&B had 5 pairs playing in this prestigious event.

Ed Scerri & Steve Eginton

David Owen & Bob Holder

Dee Lindon & Peter Lindon

Daisy Dillon& Hanna Tuus

John Coleman & Marilyn Murtagh

Congratulations to them all as they were all 50% plus, a great result for the county. Special congratulations to Ed and Steve who came 2nd with 59.37 % (75 pairs played).

The annual League of 8 has been completed for another season with 34 teams from 19 clubs playing. 
Congratulations to Amersham A for winning Division 1 and the Perkins Cup. They finished with the grand total of 155 VPs from their nine matches, well clear of Loddon Vale in second place with 121 VPs. 
Congratulations to the leading teams in the other three divisions:
Division 2 (10 teams): Burnham B 1st, Basingstoke A 2nd
Division 3 (9 teams): Phyllis Court A 1st, The Bridge School at Gerrards Cross A 2nd
Division 4 (5 teams): Newbury B 1st, Hazlemere 2nd 
We thank all those who played and all the team captains for organising their teams and arranging matches. We look forward to another successful season starting in September and would welcome any new teams from clubs. The League Secretary will be asking for entries as usual in June.  

Once again, the winner of the Brown Cup was not determined until the last round of matches when the team led by Mike Perkins (Ian Reissmann, John Howard, Peter Jackson, Jim Niblett)  scored an emphatic win over their closest rivals, the team of Ed Scerri, winners last year.

Congratulations also go the winners of the other divisions:

Division 2: Steve Lynch (Paul Dolphin, Paula Hopkinson, Colin Johns)

Division 3: Bruce Franklin (Mike O'Neill, Jennie Corfield, Mike Corfield)

Division 4: Andrew Ferguson (Mary Ferguson, Barbara Thomas, Neil Thomas)

One team fewer this season. However, still a good year with no problems and all matches played.

Dee Lindon’s team were the eventual winners with a slightly altered line up and will represent the county in the EBU’s Pachabo event. They played last year’s winners (Mike Perkins)  in the final.

Congratulations to Dee and her team and we wish them luck in the Pachabo.

Dee Lindon, Peter Lindon, Steve Eginton and Ed Scerri

EBED ( the EBU’s training arm ) are running a Club Directors training course at the Richmond Club during September and October. Anyone interested in attending the course can get full information regarding dates and costs from the EBED website, see https://www.ebedcio.org.uk/td-course-calendar

Congratulations and well done Karen Kelly and Jane Barker, winners of the End of Season Pairs event in the BBCBA Student League.

The EBU have published a new summary of Announcements and Alerts which became effective on 1st August 2024. The new summary table can be found and downloaded at the EBU website https://www.ebu.co.uk/laws-and-ethics/laws-ethics-publications#rules

The revised two-page summary document can be found at :-
https://www.ebu.co.uk/documents/laws-and-ethics/convention-cards/announcements-table.pdf