As you might have imagined, the Club will be CLOSED on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. We know you'd all like to be playing bridge, but realistically you're likely to be tied up in those tedious family gatherings. 

So, this Tuesday 17th December was the last session of the year. By way of consolation, John provided mulled wine and mince pies for attendees. 

Our next session is on Tuesday 7th January 2025. Hasn't 2024 gone quickly?

Seasons Greetings to all Members and Guests. 

The Club ran ECATS SIM Pairs in aid of Children In Need on Tuesday, November 12th, 2024. All table money was donated to this important charity, and £ 160 was raised. 

Thanks to all who took part. Albert Kitchin and Theo Todman won locally, but Tim Connett and Steve Ensor pipped them nationally. 

The national results are here (be patient!) and the Analysis Booklet - prepared by Mark Horton - is here. 

There was a mix-up over the date of the SIMS for the above event. It was supposed to be 3rd September, not 17th September.

As a substitute, this week's event will be for charity. Sadly, not SIMS, however. 

The club will submit all table money to Cancer Research UK, and the EBU will submit their P2P fee. The Club will not 'match' contributions for this event but members are welcome to add extra contributions as they think appropriate. 

The Committee has just woken up to the fact that we normally have a Summer Party at this time of year. It actually seems to be a proper summer, so let's go for it!

So ... it's NEXT TUESDAY, 13th August! 

There will be no table money, and the Club will provide beer, wine, soft drinks, and food. 

Both members and non-members are welcome. 

Please arrive in good time to charge your plates and glasses so we can get a full session of bridge in as well!

Please arrive by 18:55 to ensure a prompt start to the AGM at 19:00 and therefore a prompt start to the bridge session at 19:30.

The Agenda is here. 

Follow This Link for the Minutes of the Committee Meeting on 20th February 2024. 

Due to a minor administrative hitch, last Tuesday's results have not yet wended their way to the EBU. Hopefully, they will find their way there next Tuesday! Apologies to those who care about such things. 

We no longer seem to trumpet these things - if we ever did - but the annual ladders reached their conclusions at the end of March and the final standings were:-

Individual Ladder:-

1. David Piper
2. Peter Oake
3. Graham Beeton

Partnerships Ladder:-

1. Colin Scott & Peter Oake
2. Maureen & George Vede
3. David Piper & Graham Beeton

Well done to the winners and to one and all for taking part!

Click on the 'Ladder' headings above for the full final standings, which are for the best 30 sessions. 

The ECATS Charity Challenge SIM Pairs raised funds for Cancer Research and Marie Curie. £5 / person with the Club matching all donations. A total of £270 was thereby raised. Congratulations to Linda Fleet and Jeanette Webb for winning the session, though Albert Kitchin and Theo Todman seem to have done best for the Club nationally. See Local Results and National Results.

There's a Commentary Booklet authored by Julian Pottage for your entertainment. Somewhat along the lines of 'project retrospect' on occasion. It also doesn't explain how to get to 7NTx - 6 on B8. 

March 2024 sees three especially significant sessions:-

1. 12th March: ECATS Charity Challenge SIM Pairs: raising funds for Cancer Research and Marie Curie. £5 / person. The Club will match all donations. See the box above. 
2. 19th & 26th March: Club Championship. This is a partnership event. While all are welcome to play, to qualify for a placing you must play with the same partner on both evenings, and both partners must be members of the Club. 

A date for your diary: Tuesday 4th June 2024 will be the Club AGM when various weighty matters will be discussed and voted on. Agenda and requests for items thereon to be issued in due course. 

Follow This Link for the Minutes of the Committee Meeting on 20th February 2024. 

The Ray Cornell Trophy: will take place at Barleylands on Sunday, 11th February 2024.  The Club has entered one team: Paul Mollison & Bernard Kaye and George & Maureen Vede. A second team would be welcome. 

The ECBA requires entries by February 8th, so please let Theo Todman know as soon as possible if you would like to represent the Club in this competition. 

The Ray Cornell Trophy: will take place at Barleylands on Sunday, 11th February 2024.  Clubs may enter any number of teams.  This event is two competitions in one.  First, the competition is a simple multi-teams of four  with the trophy going to the winners.  Second, clubs who enter at least 2 teams compete for the right to represent Essex in the Garden Cities Competition.  The winning club is the club whose designated A and B teams’ positions, when added together, has the lowest value; The exact number of boards to be played will depend on the number of teams but we expect to play somewhere between 40 and 48 boards.

Player eligibility rules which apply to any players in a club's designated A and B teams are here: Rules of eligibility for Cornell Trophy and Fletcher. Whilst there may be some room for some discretion for some players who have not been able to play at the club recently, the club should be able to justify their inclusion in the team to the EBU should the club qualify for the Garden Cities competition. See this link (https://www.ebu.co.uk/competitions/garden-cities) for the EBU's eligibility rules.

The ECBA requires entries by February 8th, so please let Theo Todman know as soon as possible if you would like to represent the Club in this competition. 

The Club Committee wishes all our members and guests a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year. 

The Club is open as usual during the Festive Period with the sole exception of Tuesday 26th December (Boxing Day) when the Club is shut. 

The Club Committee wishes all our members and guests a happy Christmas and a healthy, and prosperous New Year. 

The Billericay Mayflower BC Christmas Party will be held this year on Tuesday 12th December. 

All are welcome - and we would especially like to see past members. The event is free. There will be a hot and cold buffet with cakes and the wine / beer will be flowing all night.

The session will be hosted, so come along even if you have no partner. Even if you don't want to play, come along around 20:30 for a chat, when food will be served. 

We will start promptly at 19:30 but hope to finish not too long after 22:30.

The Club ran ECATS SIM Pairs in aid of Children In Need on Tuesday 7th November 2023. In all, £350 was raised for this important charity. Our thanks to all who played and contributed.  

Note that Andrew Robson went through the first 18 hands on Zoom at 10:30am on Wednesday morning. The interesting discussion is on YouTube: Follow this link! 

The Club is on the lookout for suitably qualified pairs to represent Billericay Mayflower in the ECBA Club Pairs Competition to be held on Sunday, 16th July 2023, 13:00 ( - approx 17:30) at Barleylands. Up to four pairs can be selected. 

There will be a cup and a prize of a set of 24 packs of playing cards for the club whose top two pairs have the highest combined score.

Players must not have been selected for the Essex A or B ECL squads in the last 5 years. C squad members are welcome.

Let the Club Captain (Theo Todman) know if you are interested. 

The renowned Mayflower Summer Party will be held on 30th May. All are very welcome. 

To get the evening off to a rip-roaring start we will be holding the AGM @ 7.00pm. 

The AGM Agenda is here, and last year's Minutes are here. 

The minutes of the AGM, held on Tuesday 30th May 2023, are here. 

The annual ladder competitions reached their conclusion for the previous Club Year at the end of March 2023, but no-one noticed! So, belated congratulations to ... 

Individual Ladder

1. Robert Elliott
2. John Sutcliffe
3. Peter Oake

Pairs Ladder

1. Peter Oake & Robert Elliott
2. John Sutcliffe & Robert Elliott
3. Steve Ensor & Tim Connett

Click on the headings for the tables. Peter Oake & Colin Scott deserve an honourable mention in the pairs, but just failed to qualify according to the '15 sessions' rule. 

The state of play in this Season's competitions can be seen from the Menu to the left (or follow this link). 

Wishing all our members a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.

Next club night is 3rd January 2023 .

The club will be open tomorrow, we'll be there early to switch on the heating. It may not be toasty but should be comfortable.

The Christmas Party  2022 will be on 20th December. There will be sufficient wine to make the most staid bidder go for 7NT with an ace missing! No need for a partner it's hosted!

We will also be providing snacks - sandwiches, sausage rolls, cakes etc. (vegetarian options available), sadly our pickled egg supplier is a bit bound up and unable to provide this delicacy.

All are welcome, members and non-members; we would especially love to see those people that have played at the club previously but haven't played recently.

The annual Herts and Essex green pointed Summer Congress takes place the weekend of 30/31st July. It will be a face to face event, if we are to carry on with events like these it needs your support. It is at the Wodson park Leisure Centre.  Where I hear you ask - you know Ware. That is just over half an hour from junction 28 of the M25 - you'd queue longer to get pictures of our venerable monarch on sticky paper. So no excuses then, come along and support your county!

Swiss Pairs, Saturday 30 July 2022, 12pm - Click here for Entry Form

Swiss Teams, Sunday 31 July 2022, 12pm - Click here for Entry Form

Entry Fees £52 per pair or £104 per team - click here for Payment Page

For Detailed Information click here

The Player of the Month is a new and unofficial competition borrowed from Mountnessing. It encourages attendance as well as success, in that scores for the calendar month are aggregated so those who don't attend every week are at a significant disadvantage! But it often leads to winners who aren't amongst the usual suspects. 

Recent competitions and winners are:-

1. July 2022: Graham Beeton and David Piper
2. June 2022: George & Maureen Vede
3. May 2022: Peter Oake
4. April 2022: Peter Oake
5. March 2022: Ashley Sawyer & Cath Fox
6. February 2022: Angela Fenton
7. January 2022: David Tennet & Theo Todman

The Club will be open tonight - 19th July

There are no longer any legal Covid restrictions. So, while the Club Committee will continue to monitor how this should affect the Club's policy, it has been decided that we should now relax our 'terms of play'. So:-

1. If you are diagnosed with, or show symptoms of, Covid or Flu, we would still expect you to stay away until you are recovered. 
2. Asymptomatic attendees may of course wear masks if they wish, but need not do so, nor take a Covid test unless circumstances suggest they should.
3. All should use hand sanitizer on entry to the Club.
4. Unvaccinated individuals may attend at their own risk. 

We hope these measures will continue to provide a safe environment for all our members. 

This event takes place on Sat 25 June, 2pm @ Barleylands. It will be a single session event at the bargain price of £10/pair and includes all the tea, coffee and biscuits you can eat or drink.

We have reduced the price to encourage people to attend as we believe face to face events such as this still have a future.

Who can forget the thrill of face to face bridge, walking into a room buzzing with excitement. Having a quick chat with all your old friends in person! You get the call bridgemates are live and you're orf! You won't get that sitting in front of your computer screen with the Archers omnibus playing in the background.         

The Entry Form is just a click away.

Mountnessing BC voted against the merger, the requirement obviously was for both clubs to agree. The merger will not happen.

Thanks to all who competed in the first session of the two-session Club Championship Pairs on 22nd March which doubled as support for the Ukrainian emergency. All table money was donated to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, and - including members' generous donations - a total of £200 was raised which doubled to £400 when donated via theBigGive. 

The ECBA is holding its annual AGM at Barleylands on Saturday 14th May, at 14:30, with a free session of duplicate bridge after the meeting. This AGM is important as the ECBA Committee is up for re-election, with our own John McCoy standing as the new Chairman and other Club members also standing for places on the ECBA Committee. For further information, see the ECBA Website. 

The Players of the Month for March 2022 were Cath Fox and Ashley Sawyer. Well done both!

Well done to our intrepid Scorer - Cath Fox - who, as of March 2022, has gained the EBU rank of National Master. 

The Club entered two teams of four in the above event, held online this year. Both teams performed very creditably, finishing in the top half, with our B-Team coming in ahead of the very strong Mid Essex A-Team. Well done Teams!

For the full results, see the ECBA Website, or click here!

The Club entered the EBU SIMS in support of the EBU Junior Squad. 

Well done to Dave Piper & Les Curtis for winning the Mayflower heat. They came 2nd nationally, ignoring robots, though in a disappointingly diminutive field. 

The National results and the booklet / hand analysis are available online here. 

Congratulations to June Brown who won the Ladies' section of the ECBA Gwen Herga on Saturday 15th January 2022, also to Cath Fox as runner-up, and to Ashley Sawyer, Brian Davies & Paul Mollison with won the Gentlemen's section. 

Also, well done to Ashley (him again!) who won the Blue-Pointed Swiss Pairs, jointly hosted on-line by the ECBA and Somerset CBA, on the previous Sunday and to Simon Moorman & Peter Oake who were runners-up. Other Club regulars did well in a large field. 

Follow the links for full details. 

The Club Committee has decided to spice things up a bit by supporting some EBU SIM Pairs events. This coming Tuesday sees the Winter SIM Pairs in memory of Peter Jordan, whom some members will remember from Overseas Congresses and other EBU Competitions. 

The cost is £5 including Club table money. 

Well done to Pat Johnson & Simon Moorman for winning the Mayflower heat. The National results and the booklet / hand analysis are available online here. 

The Club is now open for business and we look forward to welcoming you back for another year's bridge. 

Please note the rule below concerning masks. 

The Club is now closed until the 4th Jan.2022.

It is just left to wish all a very happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

Also a big thank you to all who have attended or given messages of support.

This has been cancelled due to the re-newed Covid outbreak. It will be re-arranged for safer Times.

The Christmas Party will be on the 21st December, wine and food provided. 

All are welcome - it will be hosted so just come along.

And the best thing is it's free!

Essex AGM and pairs competition has been cancelled.

For more information see ECBA website.

Playing eeny-meeny-miny-mo is as good a way as any to take a genuine guess for a Queen, but here's a small tip that will boost partner's confidence in you: don't say it out loud!

Congratulations to the team that represented Mayflower in the Fletcher trophy for coming a very creditable 3rd -

John McCoy and Marcia Levan-Harris

Catriona Lovett and Mike Harbour

Jon Ward and Alan Aylott

Cath Fox and June Brown

Thank you from the Ecatsbridge team

Click here

Well done to Marcia, who raised an incredible £779 for Breast Cancer Now through her recent raffle. 

Good Luck to our teams taking part in the Cornell Trophy on Sunday 16th Feb

♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ 

Catriona Lovett and Mike Harbour

George and Maureen Vede

Jon Ward and Alan Aylott

John McCoy and Marcia

The AGM will be held on the 19th May 2020.

Please forward proposals in writing to June by 31st March 2020.

Heather Hills Bridge club is planning to run a directors course in the Autumn. The venue will be Little Baddow village hall or Barleylands. Please contact June or John if you are interested in attending. Mayflower BC  will contribute 50% towards the cost.

Anyone interested in representing the club in the Cup for Clubs competition on  Sunday 27th October please contact Catriona. The Cup for Clubs is aimed at middle ranking club players . You must be a member of Mayflower bridge club to represent us.

The revised constitution can be viewed here. Many thanks to Peter Copsey and Graham Beeton - both have spent a great deal of time in reading and making sense of the original proposed document.

The constitution can only be authorised at the AGM, in the interim it is the document that the committee will use as guidance.

The club pairs took place over two weeks - 19/26 March. The pairs winner was Alaric Cundy &Chris Megahey with a sparkling 59.4 % over the two weeks - very well played chaps.

Coming in second and third respectively  David Tennet & Leon Lewis/Angela Fenton & Dorothy Cundy with very respectable percentages. Nearly half the field is in the County Squad so a true test against very good opposition. The full results can be seen here. 

Thanks to all who took part.

The pairs championship was won by Alan Aylott and Jon Ward - a true test over two weeks - well played sirs!

Marcia Levan - Harris/John McCoy and Graham Beeton/Ray Clarke were a very honourable 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Results - Click here

Well played to all who took part and many thanks for your participation.

Mayflower win Essex Club Pairs - both Pairs and Club titles!

The great and the good* of Essex bridge assembled and were sent packing with their tails between their legs as Mayflower vanquished all.

The team of Alan Aylott, Irene Bessell, John McCoy, George and Maureen Vede, Joan Wallace, Peter and Wendy Williamson won both the Club and Pairs titles.

A superb victory from Alan and John with and an excellent 5th from George and Maureen. The corks popped (well caps unscrewed) as the dust settled over Barleylands.

Very well done to all concerned.

* the Essex a and b Team players were excluded.

The  perimeter lights have been re-instated with super new LED lights giving a good level of lighting. The lamps in the pendant lights will also be changed shortly to LED which will give a further increase in light levels and a better colour match.

The AGM will take place in May with some exciting proposals,  - a Club Constitution, Hosting, Additional Committee members etc.

Full details to be published shortly.

John and Carol did a magnificent job in running the club taking the bulk of the work on their shoulders, going forward I would like to see the club more inclusive with members taking a more active role -  as is already the case many thanks. Ask not what the club can do for you but how can we take the club forward to secure it for the next generation!

John

A stunning performance by Mayflower Ladies at the Gwen Herga - the county ladies pairs competition. Nearly a whitewash with Marcia Levan-Harris and Ann Morgan winning narrowly from June Brown and Angela Fenton and Linda Fleet coming third with erstwhile member Coral Fallon. Congratulations to all - very well played against a strong field.

In the mens competition the John's Cosgrove and McCoy managed a highly creditable second place against a field largely populated by county players.

 Swiss Pairs Sunday 3^rd June - Cancelled

As of 29/05/18 plastic cups will no longer be provided for tea/coffee. There are cups available in the wall cupboard or bring your own favourite mug - no suggestions needed thank you.

Please don't forget to wash up and put away your cup and leave the kitchen tidy!

The great and good of Essex Bridge assembled for the Fletcher Trophy and were left trailing in the wake of our 'Magnificent 8': Alan Aylott and Jon Ward, Angela Fenton and June Brown, Catriona Lovett and Mike Harbour, George and Maureen Vede.

A stunning win by 21 VP's, to put that in context they scored 25% more VP's than the runners up.

Well done to the Magnificent 8.

Success at the Warboys Competition with Robert Eliot with A. Partner won the A - list comp and Jon Ward with A. Partner won the B/C list competition very well done chaps. With an honourable mention to Marcia Levan-Harris and John McCoy who netted a second place in the B/C list.

Excellent work from all concerned.

Graham Smith

Sadly we have lost another bridge member. Graham Smith passed away after a short illness, as you will remember he used to play with Mike Goodswen. Another player who will be fondly remembered both for his bridge and as a very fine gentleman. The funeral date for Graham is 6th February at Chelmsford crematorium at 11.30 am.

The New Year's party is booked for Tuesday Jan. 16th, put the date in your diary – a sumptuous spread with plenty of liquid refreshment. The 'do not miss' social event of the year.

The club will play on 19th Dec. and be closed 26th Dec. and re-open bright eyed and bushy tailed on 2nd Jan.

The EGM on 28th Nov. voted in John McCoy as the new Chairman.

John replaces the fondly remembered and sadly missed John Peacock. John P was the long time Chairman; under his stewardship the club has thrived and for that and all his many endeavours we give his memory a tip of the hat. Our gratitude John

 John Peacock RIP