Many of you will have noticed that the publication to the Club website of the imped pairs results from 16 May has been delayed.

This was as the result of an appeal against the BBO Director's determination of the result of board 19 following a rejected claim made by the declarer at one table. The procedure in such a case is less straightforward than in the face-to-face situation, and the Club is indebted to David Beever and David Owen who under the chairmanship of Graham Dickens considered the circumstances and the relevant EBU regulations and arrived at a fully-reasoned decision.

The original BBO result has been amended accordingly and the amended result uploaded to both the Club website and the EBU.

Our B team completed its programme a couple of weeks ago, and finished in third position in the Berks & Bucks Division 2, respectable but well out of contention.

Our A and Chiltern League teams both contrived to keep us all holding our breath until the final two matches in their respective leagues. 

Our Chiltern team went first on Wednesday 20th, starting the day with a 2VP lead over Newbury A, but a 2-18 deficit in the match against Newbury left Burnham as runners-up.

Could the A team do any better on Thursday evening? The situation here was slightly more complicated. Burnham's match was against the formidable New Amersham A, and the title would go to the team gaining 13 or more VPs. Whereas a closer result would leave Reading A at the top of the division. But it's congratulations to Charles Chisnall and his team, as they trounced their [did I say formidable] opponents 19-1.

Winning the B&B 1st Division is a tremendous achievement, but the three captains involved [Charles, Graham Dickens, Nigel Lancaster] would like to thank all those members who took part  in this season's matches: you made our jobs easy and very enjoyable.

We would love to see you next Monday evening, 21 March, at our Burnham imped pairs event, but you should be aware that the table money on this occasion will be £8 rather than £3.

The £5 supplement will be donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee's Ukrainian humanitarian appeal fund.

This is not the only opportunity to play bridge and support the Ukranian refugees at the same time. The counties of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex are combining to run a Swiss Pairs event on RealBridge on 2 April. All monies collected will also be donated to the DEC's fund. Neither the EBU, the counties, nor the event's TD's will be charging for their services. Visit the counties' websites for further information.

We had four pairs seeking to qualify for the final of the Chiltern Elimination Pairs in our 14 March event incorporating the appropriate heat, namely

• Adrian King & Graham Lytnch
• Eva Wallen & Evelyn Crossley
• John Coleman & Marilyn Murtagh
• Nigels Lancaster & Marlow

and all four pairs achieved the 50+% score required to qualify.

Well done gals and guys.

The B&B Committee Cup is an event competed for by club-entered teams-of-4.

In more normal times, these teams have qualified via a club teams-of-4 heat, but few clubs have been running teams-of-4 events in these Covid-dominated times.

Accordingly, for this year only, the County have asked clubs to simply nominate a maximum of three representative teams to play in the 1st May final in Windsor. If you would like to be considered by the Club, please notify the four members of your team to Nigel Lancaster. Alternatively, if you and a specified partner would like to take part but don't have team-mates, let me know and I'll do my best to suggest a suitable pair.

We have two teams registered:

       David Owen, Bob Holder, Michael Rawlins, Naomi Gibbs

       Eva Wallen, Evelyn Crossley, Nigel Lancaster, Nigel Marlow

so we have room for one further team.

Burnham has three teams playing in online teams-of-8 leagues.

Charles Chisnall is captaining our A-team playing in Division 1 of the Berks & Bucks league.

Graham Dickens is captaining our B-team playing in Division 2 of the Berks & Bucks league. 

Nigel Lancaster is captaining a team playing in the Chiltern League.

Fixtures and results will be published in the Club's Calendar of events.

We've added a league-of-8 item to appear within the Results section of the website menu, principally to make it easier for members to  find out how our teams are doing.

At the end of this l-of-8 item are links to each of the three league tables in which our respective teams play.

Our A team played away against Thame on Wednesday, and was pleased to secure a 17-3 win.

But surprise of the week was Friday evening's 14-6 defeat of bookies' favourite New Amersham A by Bourne End A, elevating Burnham to the top spot in the division for the first time in many years.

All three Burnham teams have opened their 2019-20 campaigns.

The A-team have played against both Ascot teams [B&B Divn 1], winning both matches. The B-team have also played two matches  [B&B Divn 2], losing their first to Loddon Vale but striking winning form against Maidenhead B. The C team has played one match [Chiltern League], beating Caversham Park.

All matches show in the website Calendar, and completed matches are included in the website presentation of results once results are uploaded.

Just a reminder: the Club plays in league-of-8 tournaments for the benefit of members. For any members who haven't already registered an interest in being involved, it's not too late: contact Club captain Nigel Lancaster.

Berks & Bucks run a simultaneous pairs week once a year, whereby clubs around the county can elect to operate their normal pairs event within the sim pairs structure. So, in addition to our regular duplicate event being scored as a normal Club event, our results have also been merged with other clubs running the sim pairs event. Results are on the EBU website (use the Sims tab).  There is a booklet available for download from the Berks and Bucks web site, in which one of the county's strongest players provides a commentary on how the hands could (should?) have been bid and played.

Our standard organisation for Monday evening is that we start play promptly at 7:30, play 26/27 boards, and finish at 10:45. In order for the Director to be able to start play at 7:30, the movement must have been entered into the computer, and boards[/movement cards] distributed, so he/she needs to know the number of participating pairs/teams by 7:25. If you know you won't arrive by 7:25, please notify either the Centre or your partner that you're on your way and your expected arrival time.

Club policy as validated by the recent members' vote is that 3-board sit-outs for pairs events are to be avoided and so, with a half-table, our standard movement will be based on 2-board rounds. Our Directors have been instructed that, once the movement for the evening has been selected, it should not be significantly changed to accommodate unnotified late arrivals, particularly where this might prejudice the prompt commencement of play.

The 29th annual team-of-24 match took place last evening [Thursday 15th August] between Ascot and Burnham.

Home advantage didn't prevail as our team of stalwarts regained the trophy. This is primarily a social event, very much enjoyed by all who take part. Still, coming home with the trophy adds a layer of icing to the cake.

The match details may be seen in the Results area on the right of this page.

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This year's AGM  and annual prize giving was held on June 10th.

The team completed its inaugural year in the Chiltern League with a 13-7 win away to Newbury A, leaving Burnham at the top of the division. Loddon Vale weren't able to manage the 20-0 victory needed in their final match to upset things [they lost 5-15].

Things have worked out pretty much as we'd hoped, providing opportunities for members who wouldn't otherwise have had the chance to represent the Club to take part. Some 15 members played for the team, with Colin Dale taking the role of administrative captain.

Thanks to all who've supported the Club in this venture: we hope that as many of you as possible will take part in the Chiltern Elimination Pairs heat at the Club on April 1st [see below].

Starting in January we're switching our pre-bridge seminars from the first Monday of the month to the third. This is teams evening: whilst some of our seminar topics are equally applicable to both pairs and teams events, it's teams-oriented topics that will take priority for the next few months.

The first seminar of the New Year is on 20 January, entitled Hidden Signals - revealed by Charles Chisnall. We'll be publishing further details in due course. Make a note in your diary now - this is one seminar you can't afford to miss.

Burnham members have already featured in the initial  Berks & Bucks CBA competitions of the 2018-2019 season:

• Heather & Matthew Tan won the Swiss Pairs for the Denys Jenkins trophy on 17th October 2018, with  David Owen & Bob Holder in joint 2nd place, Dick Davey & Paula Hopkinson in 4th place, and Liz Hayton & Angela Flintoft in 5th place
• David Owen & Bob Holder were placed second in the Mixed Swiss Teams for the Carole Mueller Trophy held at Windsor on Sunday 11th November, after finishing 1st equal with a Butler score of 74 - leading the field by a clear margin of 25, the final result being determined from the head-to-head boards. Evelyn Crossley & Eva Wallen finished in 4th place. 
• David Perkins & Phil Thornton playing with Carole & Herb Mueller were placed second in the Butler scored pairs for the Jarrett Cup held at Windsor on Sunday 2nd December.  As there was a 3-way tie for the 3rd place, this was awarded on the basis of the head-to-head tie-break results to Evelyn Crossley, David Owen, Bill  Godenzie & Charles Chisnall.
• Charles Chisnall, David Owen, Bill Godenzie & Evelyn Crossley won the Perkins Cup in the teams event played at Windsor on 17th February, with Nigel Wolfendale, Bob Holder, Dick Davey & Paula Hopkinson taking second place.

Forthcoming competitions are:

• The Senior Pairs for the Directors' Cup to be held at SBBC on 17th April 2019

We have twice weekly sessions of good standard Duplicate Bridge at the very attractive South Bucks Bridge Centre - a purpose-converted 16th Century barn in its own grounds, between Beaconsfield, Maidenhead and Slough 

Our main session is at 7.30 every Monday evening, when we play Pairs, except Teams of Four on the third Monday each month except when this is a bank holiday.  A host is available to play with anyone without a partner on Pairs evenings.

We use Bridgemates, for instant scoring, with current scores displayed on a large screen.  Hand records and results print-outs are available within a few minutes of the end of every session. 

Several teams from the Club compete in the Berks and Bucks League of 8, with the A team in the first division.  We also encourage less experienced players and hold monthly free seminars before the start of an evening session.