Improvers' Seminar |
Wednesday February 8th - Improvers' Seminar
Our next seminar will be on Wednesday February 8th: Victor Ridding's topic will be
"Play your cards right: how to play common card combinations"
Members and visitors all welcome: 7.30pm start.
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Junior Camrose & Peggy Bayer Cup |
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Mixed Pairs - Wednesday January 25th |
Congratulations to Julia Bannister and Gilbert Lee - winners of the centre's Mixed Pairs Competition - January 25th
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Special Events and Competitions |
February 8th Improvers’ Seminar – Victor
February 22nd Pivot Teams Competition
March 8th Improvers’ Seminar – Paul
March 22nd IMPed Pairs Competition
April 5th Seminar -Alec
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Bridge Lessons |
B&CHBC is starting a course of beginners' classes on Tuesday January 17th. Details are available from Ann at a.thornton143@live.com or 07855-069417 The centre looks forward to welcoming newcomers
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Merry Christmas |
 
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our players for your support of B&CHBC during 2022, and to thank our committee for their endeavours to make the centre the success that it is.
In addition to our main duplicates, our improvers’ sessions on Thursdays are proving to be popular and instructive, our Wednesday night specials are well under way, and, in the new year, we will be starting classes for beginners.
We hope that you will join us at Bramhall for bridge and a festive drink and mince pie in the coming week - Monday afternoon, Tuesday evening and Friday evening.
With all good wishes for an enjoyable Christmas and for good health and excellent bridge in 2023.
Alec and Steve
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Xmas Individual |
The Xmas Individual was a great success! It was great fun and an enjoyable evening where Ann Thornton at the end pulled the longest straw. The club individual xmas champ! A HUGE thanks to Alec who organised this event!

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Novembers Promotions |
Congratulations to our memberes who received promotion in November
Howard Rosemarine Premier Master
Gillian Butterworth 1 Star Master
Espen Gisvold Advanced Master
Ric Swindell Area Master
Fly Leung Club Master
Gilbert Lee Club Master
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Ben Franks |
The MCBA Ben Franks was held yesterday. The top 4 pairs -who qualify for the national Corwen competition in 2023 are all B&CHBC members

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NICKO |
The NICKO (national inter-club knock out) season kicked off to a good start with a win by Neil Thomas (Gillian McMullan, Irene Davies and Roger Hopton) over a strong team from Deva bridge club
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AGM 2022 |
B&CHBC's AGM was held 15th November and all reports can be found under the 'Documents' tab in the menu to the left.
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October’s Promotions |
Congratulations to our members who gained a promotion in October
4 Star Master: Keith Boulton
Local Master: David Cash & David Grimshaw
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Tollemache |
Congratulations to the Manchester team who played on Nov 12th and 13th and qualified for the final of the Tollemache inter-county teams event.
The team was (B&CHBC members in bold):
Alec Smalley - Michael Byrne
Alan Mould - Rodney Lighton
John Holland - John Hasset
Catherine Draper - Andrew Woodcock
Results can be viewed HERE
The final will be held 18th & 19th February Face to Face.
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CIN |

Following our SIM Pairs on Nov 7th and 8th, members and the Club have donated £530.50p to the ECATS Children in Need Appeal
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AGM |
Bramhall & Cheadle Hulme Bridge Centre
The Annual General Meeting
will be held on Tuesday November 15th 2022 at 6.30pm in the Rhodes Room at Bramhall Village Club
Agenda
1 Chair’s Report (Click to read report)
2 Treasurer’s Report
3 Election of Officers: Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Membership Secretary and Tournament Director. Nominations should be proposed and seconded and sent to the secretary (at chair@cheadlehulmebridgeclub.org) no later than Tuesday November 8th
4 Election of other Committee Members
5 Moving forward - plans for the coming months
6 Change of dates for financial year and AGM
7 Any other business
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NICKO |
The Centre has entered 4 teams in the National Inter-Club KnockOut competition. The closing date for entries has been extended until October 17th.
The teams are as follows:
Rodney Lighton, Tom Slater, Michael Byrne, John Holland, Gary Hyett & Alec Smalley
Peter Foster, John Roberts, John Currie & Royce Alexander
Neil Foster, Gillian McMullan, Irene Davies & Roger Hopton
Steve Mattinson, Rob Harris, Joyce White, Mike Parr, Ann Thornton & Julia Bannister

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Teams of 4 Competition |
Teams of 4 Competition evening
We had a good evening yesterday with 10 teams!
Congratulations to the winners:
Rob Harris & Steve Mattinson and Julia Bannister & Ross Worthington

Our next Wednesday special is November 9th : Improvers' Seminar, Victor Ridding on transfers

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September's Promotions |
National Master: Karen Jones
Club Master: Jon & Sally Middleton
Local Master: Gavin Callow
Congratulaions!
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Great Northern Swiss Pairs |
Congratulations to our chairman, Alec Smalley, and to member, Michael Byrne, on their triumph in the Great Northern Swiss Pairs competition held in Yorkshire over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of October. They amassed 155 Victory Points losing only 4 matches out of 12, to win by 2VPs in a strong field of 36 pairs.

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Victories in The Northern Bridge League |
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Bramhall & Cheadle Hulme
Bridge Centre
Wednesday October 12th: 7.30pm
PRO-AM
This is an opportunity for improvers/ intermediate players to play with experienced/expert players.
Come on your own and spend a fun evening with a new partner.
Tea/coffee or a glass of wine will be available from 7pm, to be followed by a duplicate.
(nb results will be uploaded to the centre and EBU, with master points but no NGS)
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Successful Improvers’ Seminar! |
Bramhall & Cheadle Hulme
Bridge Centre
Wednesday September 28th: 7.30pm
Improvers’ Seminar:
Strong Opening bids
Paul Beckwith will be giving a short talk on how to bid big hands.
This will be followed by play of 10-12 prepared hands that focus on the topic.
Supervision will be available during the play
Members and visitors all welcome.
£2.50 table money: tea and coffee provided
We look forward to seeing you on the 28th.
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News letter |
Our New Autumn Schedule. We are starting in a couple of weeks’ time with special events and competitions on Wednesday evenings – see schedule for the rest of 2022. These will cater for all our members to include Thursday afternoon improvers, intermediates and experts. Starting with a seminar from Paul Beckwith on "Strong Opening Hands" for intermediates/improvers.
Thursday Afternoon is proving popular with improving players: a short duplicate followed by discussion and review. This is open to members and visitors – all welcome.
Teams The league/cup and other match season is upon us. The club facilities are available most evenings – please contact us for more information if you would like to play your F2F matches at Bramhall. £2.50 for each home team member, £5 per home team visitor - away team are guests (free).
Friday Pairs is growing in popularity (5 tables last Friday) and we are running it as match pointed pairs – rather than teams’ scoring - as numbers increase. We have a host each week, so you may come on your own and be assured of a game, and we look forward to welcoming new players – especially improvers. It’s always an enjoyable and sociable evening.
New EBU Announcing/Alerting Directives – - link is ALERT
Membership. Almost all our members have now renewed, and we look forward to seeing you at Bramhall/on RealBridge during the year.
Thank You - Once again, thanks are due to our committee, volunteers and Thursday afternoon team all of whom contribute their time for the benefit of players and in making the centre a success.
Regards
Alec and Steve
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Conditions of Contest |
A new document - Conditions of Contest - was agreed at the committee meeting 16th August 2022. The document can be found under the 'Document' Tab to the left or by following this LINK
EBU's "BEST BEHAVIOUR AT BRIDGE" has also been uploaded to our 'Documents' section and can be found following this LINK
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New Announcing & Alerting Rules |
EBU has revised the announcing and alerting rules. They can be found HERE or by looking them up under the 'Documents' tab on the left
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NICKO Win! |
Congatulations!
Congratulations to the Cheadle Hulme A team who won the much delayed final of the 2020 NICKO at Coventry against a Young Chelsea team on 1st August.
The team was Michael Byrne, David Barton, Gary Hyett and John Holland with Raymond Semp and the late Michael Newman in earlier rounds. They won five of the six sets to win by over 40 IMPs and were never behind in the match. They had previously beaten teams from Chester, Basingstoke and Cheltenham and a strong Cambridge team in the semi-finals. This was the first win in this competition for David, a second for Michael and Gary and a third for John.

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Oliver Cowan Summer Congress |
Tom Slater and Alec Smalley played in the Oliver Cowan Summer Congress - July 9th and 10th - in Leeds - their first ever pairs competition! (pre-Covid they only played together in teams' events). They came 5th in the MP Pairs and won the Swiss Pairs - the field included a number of expert players from out of town. Congratulations!
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Higson Cup |

Steve Tearle, Ross Worthington, Steve Mattinson, Julia Bannister (C), Rob Harris, Joyce White, Mike Parr
Congratulations to The Sandbaggers, a team of Bramhall & Cheadle Hulme Bridge Centre members, who recently won the Higson Cup. The final was held at Altrincham Bridge Club on Sunday 19th June. In the early rounds, the Sandbaggers defeated The Four Dummies and Agamemnon to reach the seven teams' final and triumphed by a mere 3.08 Victory Points. The team is captained by Julia Bannister who partnered Ross Worthington with Steve Mattinson & Rob Harris. Steve Tearle, Mike Parr and Joyce White were in the team for earlier rounds but were unable to play in the final.
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Thursday afternoon - Supervised Duplicate |

Our first session on June 9th was attended by 25 players, both members and visitors, and included a short session of hand review after play. We have had positive feedback and plan to run this every week with organisation and supervision provided by a group of the centre's experienced players
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Supervised Duplicate |
Supervised Duplicate for Improving Players

We are pleased to announce our new Thursday afternoon bridge sessions: Supervised Duplicate for Improving Players.
The afternoon will include a short duplicate (about 2 hours), with duplimated boards, with advice available for bidding and play, from experienced players, followed by a review and discussion of some of the hands.
We have a team of experienced players who are contributing to the sessions and they look forward to running the afternoons, and providing advice and discussion.
We are starting on Thursday June 9th: 2.00-4.30pm. Table money £2.50 to include tea/coffee.
We hope that a number of our members will take advantage of these afternoons: please come with a partner or on your own. The sessions will be open to both members and visitors – if you have friends who might be interested.
Regards
Alec & Steve
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EBU Northern Easter Bridge Festival |
Congratulations to Alec Smalley who won both the Swiss Pairs, with Barbara Lewis; and the teams with Tom Slater, Jeff Smith and Rhona Goldenfield
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Michael "Houdini" Byrne |
Michael "Houdini" Byrne
England was knocked out in the quarter finals of Bermuda Bowls. Even so, they produced a lot of great bridge, and the first set of 16 boards is a list they, as David Bird said, should frame. The most spectacular hand was this one:
Dealer: East
Game all
North
♠ 109
♥ 86
♦ QJ1065
♣ J1053
West East
♠ AQ765 ♠ J4
♥ Q9 ♥ A10743
♦ K82 ♦ 943
♣ A87 ♣ Q42
South
♠ K832
♥ KJ52
♦ A7
♣ K96
West North East South
Dyke Zimmermann Byrne Piedra
pass 1♣
1♠ pass 1N pass
3N(!) all pass
The fist two bids are text book. Michael’s 1N is within the realm of reality, but Dyke’s 3N is taking us into Alec in Wonderland. When you bid as if you have stolen the pack, you need to play really well. The commentators said that perhaps Kieran knew how good a declarer his partner was which was why he stretched to this contract. But many would not have found a bid with Michael’s hand. They really were bidding the spots off the cards.
South led the ♥2 and dummy’s Queen won, North discarding the 8, and Houdini followed with the 4 from hand. There’s not an avalanche of top tricks for Michael, but both the Spade and the Heart suit can provide some tricks. At trick two Michael led a small Spade from dummy to his Jack, and South won with the King. South now continued with the Heart King and Houdini dropped the 10. Later when I praised Michael he said “It was fun. I knew he was going to fall for it”.
South now had been painted the picture of Michael having ♥ A104 and Zimmerman having ♥ 8763, so he continued with the Heart Jack - all Houdini needed! Michael won in hand, cashed his remaining Hearts and led a Diamond towards dummy’s King. South ducked and the King won. Ace, Queen and another Spade endplayed South to play away from K9. Houdini ending up with 9 tricks and 600. No other pair had been close to bidding game!
I won’t advocate their bidding, but Michaels play was stunning! Thanks for all you gave us!
In the replay the Swiss played in 1♠ for 6 tricks!
Espen Gisvold
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Club Champions |
EBU has just released their report of Club Champions (based on Master Points won) and our club champion was Howard Stubbings with 1344 Master Points in 2021. Congratulations! Full report HERE
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Online Duplicates |
Online Bridge - We plan to continuing with online bridge for members, with the club paying UMS to the EBU, and the hosting fees. Visitors are welcome to play, and if they plan to visit again they will be asked to pay a one-off fee of £20 for on-line membership of the club.
RealBridge - Monday evenings at 7.30pm. You do not need to register, just click on the appropriate link in the "Login RealBridge" on the right of our home page.
Results - The results are all on this website together with the ‘leader boards’ to be found under Competitions in the Menu.
TD's - Our TDs are all volunteers: Espen, Victor, Mary, Alec, Paul & Steve
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Privacy Notice |
All private information we hold on our members are gathered, stored used and safeguarded in acordance with GDPR rules as outlined in our Privacy Policy Document: Privacy Policy
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