As many of you will know this year our supported charity is the MS Therapy Centre Lothian. This amazing charity helps to support people with MS, neurological conditions and other health conditions in a wide variety of ways.

They currently have several Trustee positions vacant. If you might be interested in donating your time and skills to help this very worthy cause please visit http://www.mstc-lothian.org.uk/trustees.html for more information.

Wednesday Evening Teams

The last Wednesday of each calendar month until June will be a teams’ competition. You can enter as a team of four players but you are welcome to come along as a pair as there will always be standby pair.

Wednesday Evening Standbys

As current Wednesday evening players know, the Board has been providing standby players to eliminate the half table sit out. Based on feedback from Club Members, we have decided to offer all Members the opportunity to act as the standby pair. There is a signup sheet on the notice board in the Club. There will always be a standby team for the teams event on the final Wednesday of the month.

Friday Night Social

The last Friday of each month will be a relaxed social event. We will be offering a free glass of wine (or a soft drink for the drivers!) to all attendees.

A very big congratulations to Elizabeth Peckham and Linda Delworth for winning the Pairs competition at the Mull Congress.

For section A results please click HERE.

For section B results please click HERE.

As this is a qualifying heat, qualifiers will be notified once results from all districts are known. For details of the final please see the SBU website.

For the final results please click HERE

A big congratulations to Derrick Pedan, Keith Youngs, Veronica Guy and Peter Moss for coming first in the Porteous Cup with 127 VPs.

In second place we have Catriona Gardiner, Linda Delworth, Neil Macpherson and Geoff Bailey with 89 VP's.

In third place we have David Kaye, Mike Baron, Irene Sime, Robert Gatliff and Jane Stephenson with 84 VP's.

We are very happy to annouce that several of our Club members have been selected to represent Scotland this year.

Derrick Peden is playing at the 2020 Senior home internationals in Camrose, Gormanston, Rep of Ireland on the 15th -17 May, making his debut with partner Jim Hay.

Liz McGowan is playing at the 2020 Lady Milne on the 17th - 19th April in Coventry and European Ladies Teams Championships in Funchal, Madeira on the 20th - 28th June. She is playing with Fiona McQuaker.

Derek Sanders is playing the 2020 European Open teams Championships in Madeira on the 17th -28th June. He is playing with Alex Adamson.

All these events are available to watch live via Bridgebase Online.

Our Charity for 2020 will be

"The Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre Lothian"

Mission Statement of the MS Centre: To deliver coordinated, holistic and person - centred support services and therapies to people living with MS and other neurological conditions assisting them in making informed decisions about their lives.

One of the Club’s members writes: I live with a progressive form of MS, diagnosed 26 years ago, and have attended the MS Therapy Centre for around 15 years. The Centre is a small local grassroots charity and the therapies provided offer me the chance to take some control in alleviating my symptoms and trying to manage a very unpredictable condition. The mutual peer support is also hugely beneficial, both with those living with MS as well as those with other long term conditions who also benefit from the therapies. Life would undoubtedly be a lot tougher without it.

The Christmas Raffle raised an amazing £524.13 for this very good cause. We will have a collection tin at the bar for the coming year and plan to have other fundraising events in 2020. 

The website can be found HERE

Members are kindly reminded to adhere to the speed limit when driving into the premises and respect the parking restrictions when using the car park.

There is additional parking available in Warriston Gardens (it is meter parking until 17:30 then free) and free parking in Ferry Road.

The space nearest the kitchen as a parking space for members who require a wheelchair to access the club.

To reserve the space please contact the Club Manager who will use a traffic-cone to reserve it. Andrew is very happy to give out his mobile number, please ask him in the club if you need it.  When not required the space will be available to all members.

A big congratulations to Maurice Brady, Sandra Watson, Judith Smeaton and Dorothy Middleton who won the Sutherland Quaich with 88 VP's. 

In second place we have Linda Delworth, Clemmie Davidson, Kate Maxwell and Nicola Gray with 81 VP's.

In third place we have Heather Braid, Mary Stewart, Billy Mcgee and Frances Kay with 79 VP's.

Congratulations to Carlton members Mike Baron and Veronica Guy who won the Melville Christmas Congress on Saturday 28th December.

Congratulations to the No Fearties, Andrew Macleod (captain), John Pottinger, Alec Brown, John Sneddon and Polly Purvis, who retained the Harrower trophy with a decisive 71 VPs.

In a closely fought battle for the places, Bumpy Hands (captain Frances Kay) were second, just ahead of the Muppets (captain Marilyn McDonagh) who were third.

Afternoon tournaments will start at 13:15.

Please be seated by 13:00. The director may not be able to accommodate you if you arrive late.

Please remember that the Tuesday Bronze tournament starts at 6:45pm and you should be seated by 6:30pm.

Please phone the Club if there are traffic problems.

Children in Need SIMS

The Children in Need Sims was very successful raising an amazing £259 for needy children.

The winners of the raffle are as follows:

1st place: Hazel Kerr winning two bottles of red wine.

2nd place: Irene Sime winning the bottle of Prosecco.

3rd place: Pamela Wright winning the cheese hamper.

We would like to thank Jane for organising the raffle and Elizabeth for running the tournament.

The results for todays sims will be uploaded on 15/11.

Parking

On the very day when we had a Joint Management meeting with Goldenacre Bowling Club, some Wednesday afternoon players appear to have parked in spaces designated for GBC members. You may not agree with the regulations, but GBC need these spaces for occasional meetings.

If we continue to ignore the signage, we will almost certainly lose all the spaces at the front. So PLEASE do not park in GBC spaces. It should be noted that the space on the right hand side of the entry door is also a GBC space.

Duncan Cursiter

Chair

• 

  Halloween 1
• 

  Halloween 2
• 

  Halloween 3
• 

  Halloween 4
• 

  Halloween 5

A selection of pictures from the Halloween Party.

A big congratulations to Sara Duncan and Tim Mckay for winning the Congress Pairs with a score of 64.33% and to Derrick Peden, Lucia Barrett, Veronica Guy & Rona Moss for winning the Congress Swiss Teams with a score of 61 VP.

The new Board had its first meeting on Thursday 15th of August and elected Duncan Cursiter as the new Chair of the Board.

Some early thoughts from the new Board

Six of last year’s Board have just ‘retired’. Along with the four members who are continuing they have worked hard, particularly over the last six rather difficult months. On top of that, the AGM did not prove to be plain sailing either. The whole club should be grateful to them for their efforts at getting us to the current position.

Edinburgh needs two fully functioning major bridge clubs which need not be completely similar. The Carlton Bridge Club has always had a friendly, welcoming atmosphere and the new Board is keen to try and increase the number of members, especially for the evening tournaments. This is probably the most challenging task and cannot be achieved overnight.

In addition the Board must attempt to

• • Encourage more students to attend classes.
  • Provide a pathway for improvers to practise what they have learnt in a non threatening atmosphere with advice and help.
  • Continue to develop Bronze tournaments, with a view to encouraging progression into full club tournaments.

All of this requires the help of club members. If you have views on how to help us achieve any or all of these aims, please let a Board member know your thoughts. With the assistance, cooperation and regular attendance of club members the Board is confident that the Carlton Bridge Club can continue to thrive.

Duncan Cursiter

Chair

The summer accumulator has finished. The final results are below.

For the full document please click here and for the abridged results please click here.

The top three results are as follows:

1^st Place: Bill Brown

(Best 8 Results: 53.45, 51.00, 62.50, 52.38, 54.63, 67.50, 49.74, 60.42)

= 56.45%

(Limit-Cap:     53.45, 49.00, 62.50, 50.38, 54.63, 67.50, 47.74, 60.42)

=445.62 / 8 = 55.70%

(Rank-H/Cap: 63.45, 59.00, 67.50, 60.38, 64.63, 77.50, 57.74, 70.42)

= 520.62/8    = (65.70%)

2^nd Place: Norman Stewart

(Best 8 Results: 52.5, 57.5, 53.7, 50.6, 52.0, 60.19, 55.0, 48.96 = 430.45)

= 53.81%

(Limit-Cap:     52.5, 57.5, 53.7, 50.6, 52.0, 60.19, 55.0, 46.96)

=428.45 / 8 = 53.56%

(Rank-H/Cap:  62.5, 67.5, 63.7, 60.6, 62.0, 70.19, 65.0, 56.96)

= 508.45/8    = (64.18%)

3^rd Place: Peter &Heather Braid

(Best 8 Results: 65.63, 66.07, 59.38, 62.5, 62.5, 59.04, 75.0, 69.79= 519.91)

= 64.99%

(Limit-Cap:     65.63, 66.07, 57.38, 60.5, 60.5, 57.04, 75.0, 69.79)

=511.91 /8= 63.99%

(Rank-H/Cap:  65.63, 66.07, 57.38, 60.5, 60.5, 57.04, 75.0, 69.79)

=511.91 /8= (63.99%)

NOTES:

1. Each Game result above 4 games with the same partner incurs a -2% Handicap. This after sorting into descending result order.
2. For each Game result, there is an additional Ranking handicap adjustment ranging from +5% to -5%

Cup Winners 2018/19                                                                                                  

Election Results

The results of the election where counted yesterday (13/8) and we are pleased to announce the following candidates have joined the board:

Maurice Brady. 

Duncan Cursiter 

Fiona Davies. 

Robert Gatliff.

Irene Sime. 

Jane Stephenson.

They join our returning board members:

Neil Macpherson

Marilyn McDonagh

John Pottinger

Eldrydd Robertson

We would like to thank all the candidates who stood. The new board has its first meeting on Thursday 15th August.

A big congratulations to Elizabeth Peckham, Alistair Rae, Irene Sime and Catriona Gardiner for winning the teams event at the Kelso Congress. 

Many congratulations to Alison Littleboy, Graham Dempsey, Clare Douglas and Maurice Franceschi who won the East District Bronze Challenge Teams on Saturday the 25th.

A very big congratulations to Linda Delworth, Jim Wilkinson, Elizabeth Peckham and Catriona Gardiner who won the Oban Congress Teams.

A very big congratulations to Dilys Gellatly and Bron MacWhinney who won the Oban Congress Pairs.

The Melville retained the Jim Davidson trophy with a convincing win in this year's encounter 

Among the prizes for best NS, EW for each club were 

John Hamilton and Fiona Lawson [Melville North-South]

Elizabeth Peckham and Geoff Bailey [Carlton East-West] - and in spite of the torrid start at the hands of John and Fiona

Carlton best N-S pair were Veronica Guy and Carolyn Peploe. 

A special mention for the Melville's best E-W  Robert Waugh and Marina Evans with an enormous plus score

There were plenty of big hands on the night and some tricky decisions. All good fun particularly if the majority of the big swings fell your way.

Well done to the Melville team

This seems to have been quite a close affair. In the first instance thanks to all who made the contest so interesting.

The full results can be accessed via the results calendar page.

After deliberation the official result is a tie

Congratulations to Kenny Hunter, Norman Cooper, Dilys Gellatly, Nicol Taylor and David Kaye, Irene Sime, Rosemary Steers and Jane Stephenson who all share first place.

The SBU are encouraging the teaching of mini bridge in primary schools. Many of the skills developed in playing bridge are included in the National Curriculum and other regions have found that schools are delighted to have our input. At present there are very few schools in Edinburgh participating and we would like to encourage more to take part. We need volunteers to go into schools, deliver the course, and support the pupils. At the end of the first course we hope to arrange a mini event for all participating schools. Eventually our schools will participate in the Scottish schools event.

You only need a little bridge experience and lots of enthusiasm. 

Please phone 0131 339 5189 if you are interested in becoming involved. If you have a preferred school then add these details.