♥ The 24th Annual Swiss Pairs were held on Real Bridge on Sunday 9 May 2021 at 11am.♥ 

The event was won by Rick Hanley and Mike Sherer, Jenny and David Price were second and and Helen Mason and David Mathews were third. The Ascenders Prize was won by Gillian Toogood and Barbara Biggin.

Well done to them all.

And a thankyou to Jacks Morcombe for directing the event.

♥  Clare have done the double ♥ 

Clare Red won the Abbeygate Plate and Clare Green has gone on to win the Abbeygate Shield, narrowly beating Ipswich and Kesgrave by 3 imps.

Well done to Andrew Moore and Tony Philpott, Jane Moore and Roz Bavin, Sarah and Nick Farr and Jenny and David Price.

Well done to the Clare Red team, Will and Angie Pavry, Joyce Wood with John Symons, David Goodliffe with John Hooper and Jan Havard Davis with Gerry Ford have

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ won♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

the Abbeygate Plate.

Clare Green is through to the final of the Abbeygate Shield.

♥  Clare has reached the semi-final of the Abbeygate Shield and the final of the Abbeygate Plate ♥ 

Well done to all.

The Clare Committee would like to wish all Clare members a very happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year.

As we have been unable to have our usual Christmas Party this year, the Committee decided that it would be appropriate to make a charitable donation on your behalf, and so the Club has sent £400.00 to the foodbank in Sudbury, in the hope that this will support those less fortunate than ourselves at this time of year.

https://stourvalleyvineyard.org/storehouse/

♥ ♥ ♥  Joyce Wood ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Joyce has recently made the decision to step down for Clare’s Committee.  Although it has saddened me to accept her resignation I completely understand the reasons she gave me.  Joyce has been a member of the Committee for several years in the role of Minuting Secretary which has been invaluable, and  I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for all her support for the Club.  I am sure that she will continue to contribute to the Club once we are all back together again.

Sarah Farr

♥ ♥ Well done to Jane and Andrew Moore.♥ ♥ 

♠ ♠ They were first nationally in the ECATS Sim Pairs for Children in Need on Wednesday, held by Bury St Edmunds Bridge Club.♠ ♠ 

Directing on BBO is different to directing at the club because you cannot play.

You are all so well behaved that, most of the time, we have nothing to do. So......

What do directors do? One of us does embroidery.

The Felixstowe Congress took place this week end, 3-4 October 2020.

Congratulations to Andrew Moore and Tony Philpott for coming second in the Pairs A final, Sarah and Nick Farr for coming third in the Pairs B final and Will and Angie Pavry, playing with Bim and Sam Wilson were 6th in the Swiss Teams. Well done to them all.

If you want more info, click on 'Suffolk News' in the left column.

Well done to everyone who entered.

♠♦♠♦♠ There are now more than 100 clubs and counties playing on BBO. for the full list click here.♠♦ ♠♦ ♠ 

Organised for the first time, the event attracted 80 players and given the response it will be repeated next year.

To see all the results click BAH.

It was a really SPARKLY party!

Many many thank you to those how made this party so nice and with such delicious food and so well organised!

Here are some ideas of people being sparkly:

From left to right: David Goodliffe, John Hooper, David Price and Nany Sudbury.

Left Sue Aldous and right Tony Aldous, he loves his waistcoats, doesn't he! But they are beautiful!

From left to right: Marion Dorey, Nany Sudbury, Gwendoline Clephane and Gillian Newland.

Not many of us know that our Chairwoman, Sarah Farr, is the Director of the Village Pantomime in Great Whelnetham and Nick Farr is one of the players. As Sarah points out, this is a wonderful thing, where a group of people come together to create something that is utterly unique. It takes us back to our childhood and hopefully introduces our children and grandchildren to something that they do not often meet in these days.

The picture represents the 'Killer Rabbit' (guess who!) from the last performance "Puss in Boots".

SENIOR PAIRS 2019

This year the event was staged at Ipswich&Kesgrave (9 1/2 tables), at Abbeygate (8 tables) and at Clare (5 tables).

The Senior Pairs was won by David & Jenny Price who just pipped Din Gudka & Cathy Rowland. Joan Watson & Patsi Barnes who were third won the Veterans' Trophy. To see all the scores click on RESULTS.

It's time for the SUMMER PARTY!

A summer party to remember: a glass of wine followed by delicious food, although the words hardly do justice to the perfect display produced by various members. The event attracted 46 people, among whom were our Belgian friends from Huy. A huge thank you to those who made this happen.

And some of Joyce's delicious short-bread:  

Of course that good bridge followed after such an enjoyable lunch:

AGM evening 2019

The event started with Sarah's agenda about the previous year and the presentation of the trophies. As promised, our chairman finished in time for the bridge session that followed.

The 2018 winners were:

Angie & Will Pavry won two trophies: the Beryl Dorey and the one for most slams bid and made.

Gerry Ford & Paddy Lockwood won the Club Charity Pairs for Huy Crystal Column Trophy.

Jenny & David Price won the Club Memorial Pairs for David Hume Trophy.

Cleopatra Hensby & Andrew Moore won the Club Cross-Imps for Norman Denny Trophy.

John Symons and his team - Patience and Philippa, Fred and Mo, Jenny and Peter, Robert and Derek - for Poslingford Plate.

Suffolk AGM Pairs

The Annual General Meeting of the Suffolk Contract Bridge Association was held yesterday, 19th May, followed by the AGM Pairs. A few members of our club took part and they did quite well:

Jan Havard-Davies & John Symons

came second

Angie & Will Pavry

came fourth

To see all the results click AGM. Also if you want to see who was successful in competitions during the year click on WINNERS.

Clare Swiss Pairs 2019

Many thanks to those who organised this succesful event in which 52 pairs took part.

The winners were Simon Stokes & Alison Lloyd with the runners up Jenny & David Price. Gerry Ford & Chris Hollingsworth qualified on third. The ascenders prize was won by Gill Newton and Audrey Tillett.

In the middle the winners Simon & Alison,

to the right David & Jenny

and to the left Chris & Gerry

To see all the results click PAIRS.

Well done everybody!

A comedy of errors at Clare

This comedy of errors came up last Monday at Clare - 27th May 2019:

It is about board 17: NS-Jill&Roger and EW-Andrew&Cleopatra:

The everyday auction went:

(1) 3 way multi – weak major, strong minor or 22/23 balanced

(2) OK – I’ll take my chances that ♠ are not 6-7-0-0

(3) Either 8 playing tricks in ♦ ’s or a good weak 2 in ♠ - this latter alternative may now be thought to be slightly less likely

(4) Ah – but I have at least 5 ♥  as well

(5) Who cares what you have Mr E we’ve probably got a slam on here

(6) Where are you partner? I must say I’d have bid 5♥ , if for no other reason than to test opponents’ responses after interference

(7) 3 of 5 key cards

(8) With strong opponents’ bidding I’m not yet prepared to sacrifice against game

(9) Gambling that her ♣ honours plus the K♠ being, maybe, on the right side (it was!) will produce 12 tricks

(10) As (6) substituting 6♥  for 5♥ 

(11) Believing the opponents can make slam and to avoid partner passing 6♥  with something like a 1-2-5-5 distribution and also having got, naughtily, a bit bored with events I now make my worst bid of the evening. Not to have given partner the opportunity of passing 6♥  if she thought that better than 6♠ was inexcusable

(12) I don’t think you’re going to make this

(13) Nor do I – I’m now giving false preference at the 7 level

(14) I don’t think you’re going to make this either

(15) I, too, don’t think I’m going to make this hence I refrain from redoubling.

We are now nearly out of time (never mind that we have another board to play before the move is in fact called).

South (thank you, thank you) led her singleton ♦  rather than cash seek to cash a ♣ honour. After all, holding a singleton there isn’t going to be a void as well is there?

Ruff the lead, advance the ♠Q and see this covered by the K, ruff it. I’ve won the lottery. Not a top to be proud of but, hey, ho – they all count.

Andrew Moore

Winter League 2018 / 2019

Clare Bridge Club has three teams for this event:

Division 2 South: from left to right:  David Price, Cleopatra Hensby, Rosemarie Mascall, Tony Philpott and Jenny Price.

Division 2 North: from left to right: Dave Allen, Derek Brinkley, Jan Havard-Davies and Adele Wayman.

Division 2 North: from left to right: Joyce Wood, John Symons, David Goodliffe, Jayne Hunnable and David Stedman - not in the picture.

Price's team was promoted to Division 1. To see overall results please click Div 2 South or Div 2 North .

CHRISTMAS PARTY 2018

First of all many thanks to those who so well organised this Christmas Party. The food was delicious and the bridge was fun and we hope that everybody enjoyed themselves.

We started with this: 

            the chef  

Do you recognize them?

     John Hooper                                                    Tony Aldous

The bridge winners were:

           Rosemarie - top                                Will - second                                         Jill - third

The top five had prizes! Lucky ones!

Well done everybody for organising and taking part in the event!

Jenny&David Price      Karen&Malcolm     Mike Sherer &          Bill Bethell&

   won the event        Pryor were second  Rick Hanley were        Sylvia Scott

                                                                      third               won the Ascenders prize

Well done to Kathy Rose, Penny Easting, Paddy Lockwood and Gerry Ford for winning the Non-expert Prize at the Felixstowe Congress.

Click FELIXSTOWE and scroll down the main page to see details about the event and all the results.

Sarah and Nick Farr are the winners of the Ringer Cup after finishing top of the Suffolk Mixed/Married Pairs at Lavenham.

The event attracted 12 1/2 tables ! To see all scores and boards played click MIXED

The "Bring a Friend" event turned out to be a very good one, 22 guests were here!

As you can see everyone enjoyed themselves. In the break we had refreshments, cakes and coffee and tea.

Visit to Huy, Belgium, 2018

Due to a long friendship, the Huy Espace Bridge Club invited again members of our club to visit them.

There is always lots of bridge and a lot of fun. The picture is a proof of these:

We have had some exciting celebrations in the last couple of month's, Elizabeth Godden's 90th birthday, Peter Stagg's 90th birthday and Will and Angie Pavry's 50th wedding anniversary. Congratulations to them all and all our good wishes.

The winners of the various Clare competitions during 2017/18.

Andrew & Jane Moore  added to their remarkable record in the Suffolk Senior Pairs when they won the title once again at Clare.

To see all the scores and boards played, please click on RESULTS.

For the first time, England's four junior bridge teams - U26; U26 Women; U21 & U16 - have all qualified for the 17th World Youth Team Championships which take place in China later this year.

There is just one problem. The EBU has to raise around £60,000 to cover the costs of getting the players to Suzhou in August, and is appealing for help from counties and clubs to make the unique achievement by the country's younger players become reality.

The club is going to support the juniors, in addition, players are being given the chance to buy a limited edition print of a mesmering bridge scene painted by Rui Paes which was among the works on show at the Stansfield club's art exhibiiton last year. Rui is an acclaimed painter, illustrator and muralist, whose works include illustrating Madonna's children's book which made the Top 10 New York Times Best Seller List.

The mounted prints of Dr Double - the sobriquet gained by Rui for his regular use of the double card! - measure 14½" x 11" and cost £25 (+p&p). The prints will be signed by the artist in a limited edition numbered 1 to 500. All the profits will go to funding the England teams. To order your copy please click on DR DOUBLE.

We were there, 2017, Jenny Price and Cleopatra Hensby. It was an interesting experience! 

Unfortunately we didn't win any prize.

The summer party, thoroughly enjoyed by all.

The Annual General Meeting of Clare Bridge Club will be held on Monday 15^th May 2017 at 7.00 pm and will be followed by an evening of duplicate bridge.

Nominations are invited for the Officers of the Club (Chair, Treasurer and Secretary).

Agenda

1. Apologies for absence:   
2. Approval of previous AGM minutes
3. Chairman’s report
4. Treasurer’s report 
5. Election of Officers and Committee:  Chairman: Sarah Farr; Treasurer: Will Pavry; Minuting Secretary: Joyce Wood; Club Captain: Jenny Price; David Goodliffe; John Hooper; John Symons; Kathy Rose
6. Appointment of auditor 
7. Presentation of trophies
8. AOB
9. Vote on continuation of Cross-Imps competition

Once again the Huy Espace Bridge Club have invited members of Clare Bridge Club to visit for the weekend of Saturday 24 June to Tuesday 27 June.  Their hospitality is always generous and it is usually a lovely event.

If you would like to be a part of the group going to Huy this year, please speak to Sarah.  We can take a group of up to about 14.  We are put up in private homes and so a little smattering of French is useful but not essential.  Likewise, you don’t need to have a partner, although it is helpful.  Generally we share cars as much as possible to reduce cost, and of course, there is lots of bridge!  We travel early on Saturday, usually playing bridge with lunch on the ferry, arriving at about 4 pm.  Everyone has dinner together on Saturday night.  On Sunday, the morning is free, but there is lunch followed by bridge in the afternoon, and generally bridge on Sunday evening.  On Monday we go sight-seeing, and on Monday night we have supper and play in the Club.  We travel home on Tuesday.

I strongly recommend the weekend, and hope that you will feel that you would like to participate.

Sarah

Sarah Farr

Chair, Clare Bridge Club

A fab summer party, with amazing food (Gerry can come and stay at our house at any time) and some great bridge.

The winners were Eugene and Bernadette and Angie and Will. 

A very successful AGM, sadly we lost Nick as our Chairman, who has been a great Chairman for the last 7 years. Adele, on behalf of the membership, presented Nick with a fab jug. Sarah will be replacing him as our new chairman. 

A great afternoon of bridge was enjoyed by everyone. Congratulations to all those who work so hard behind the scenes. 

David Brown and Antony Cusk were the winners, David Walker and John Pearson were second and Peter Ison and Jane Aylett  and Derek Oxbrow and Peter Somerfield were joint third.

The highest placed Clare pair were Chris Hollingsworth and Richard Evans, who were seventh.

Clare had a clean sweep in the Mens and Womens Pairs. Jane Moore and Elizabeth Tora won the Women's Pairs and David Price and Andrew Moore won the Men's Pairs. Adele Wayman and Jan Havard-Davies were second and Will Pavry, playing with Paul Rickard, was third. 

Well done !

Great afternoon for the Clare Swiss Pairs. We had 26 tables. Malcolm and Barbara directed.

It was won by Karen and Malcolm Pryor. Jenny and David Price came second, Giles Ip and Simon Budd came third and Tony Veran and Stuart Dunston came fourth.

Ken and Penny Riley won the ascenders prize.

Clare did well, in addition to David and Jenny, Jane and Andrew Moore came 5th and Cleopatra Hemsby and Allyn Bignell came 9th.

David played in the  Night of the Stars, Britain's premier charity pro-am bridge competition last Thursday. It raised over £50,000. Well done David.

In addition to the charity auction of the stars, there are some playing places available and Jenny and Rosemarie were lucky enough to play.

Amongst other great players, they played against Zia Mahmoud for two boards! 

On Sunday 19th April Clare Bridge Club held a celebation to mark Basil's 37 year tenure as President of the Club.

This was well attended by members of the club, who were delighted to see Basil. 

Basil was presented with a small token of gratitude by the committees.  This was followed by a champagne reception, followed by bridge (7 tables) and afternoon tea.  We played individual bridge which Cleopatra won with David Goodliffe coming second.

Clare swept the board with bridge trophies for the last season, winning more events than any other club in Suffolk.

Andrew and Jane Moore won the Married Pairs.

Jane Moore and Elizabeth Tora won the Womens Pairs.

David Price, Jane Moore, Jenny Price and Rosemarie Mascall won the Suffolk Championship Teams.

Clare won the Summer League Division 1 (for the second time in succession).

Congratulations to everyone involved, particularly to Jane who was involved in every one.

Congratulations to Jane and Elizabeth won the the Suffolk Women's Pairs title, ragaining the title they last won in 2011.  Winning by over 10% with a fantastic score of 70%.

Clare pairs did very well; taking 4 of the first 5 places; as Joyce & Stella were 3rd, Sue & Judy 4th and Cleo & Ezlizabeth 5th

In the Mens Pairs ..... David Price and Andrew Moore finished second behind David Morran and Julian Lang.

Congratulations to all.

JANE and Andrew came out top in the Seniors Pairs held at Clare .

Elizabeth and Jane deserve the bridge equivalent of a Lonsdale belt after winning the Suffolk Sims for the third successive year. The unique achievement came courtesy of a table topping 66% score last Monday. When the results were merged with the scores from players at eight other clubs in Suffolk who took part their 65.55% tally was more than 1% clear of their nearest rivals. 

£400 raised on charity night goes to 'Louby's Lifeline'

The bridge club's annual charity evening on Thursday raised £400 which will go to a special cause chosen by the winners on the night - Nick and Sarah.

'Louby's Lifeline' will benefit from all the table money from fourteen and a half tables, together with the takings from a well supported raffle.

Sarah explained:  "It is a charity raising funds for research into brain tumours, and we have an interest because Louby was a pupil at Edward’s school, and the school will also be sponsoring the charity for the next year."

MANY congratulations to David, Jenny, Sarah and Nick who won the  Suffolk Club Teams of Four championship on Sunday.

STANSFIELD NOBBLE... THEMSELVES!

A particularly enjoyable renewal of the twice a year local derby match against Stansfield last Wednesday saw Clare run out easy winners - despite being behind at half time.

The 12-a-side format in Stansfield village hall, with David directing, worked well and will be repeated when the two clubs play against each other next May.

With a six IMPs lead at the interval Stansfield must have fancied their chances, particularly as the visitors succumbed to the home team's dastardly plan during the interval and got stuck into 'refreshments' and some excellent nibbles prepared by Gerry.

However, it would appear the home side were the victims of their own hospitality and over indulged in the 'refreshments' stakes...because after the break it was one-way traffic as Clare build up an 80 IMPs lead.

The Clare side was: Angie and Will, Nick and Jan, Roy and Marion, Dave and Den, Paul and Chris, Ian and Nany.

Clare golfers maintain 100% record

CLARE'S golfers maintained their 100% record against other bridge clubs when they beat Bury St Edmunds for the second year running on Wednesday. 

   The usual format of 18 holes golf followed by 18 boards of bridge - with a scoring system which gives equal weighting to both disciplines - saw Clare win by just five points.

   The heroes of the morning golf were George and Peter who finished three up. Nick and Dave were one up; John and Malcom finished all square while Richard and David were one down.

  The bridge consisted, as usual, of two nine-board teams of four matches. Nick, Dave, George and Peter finished six down, while John, Malcolm, Richard and David were eight up.

A stunning 70% score by David and John catapaulted them to third spot in the nationwide leaderboard of the EBU Autumn Pairs.  The event attracted 1544 pairs from 81 clubs and the Clare pair were leading for much of the way.

Clare bridge club members won both the Suffolk Mens and Suffolk Ladies Pairs on Wednesday evening. David and Andrew joined forces to land the mens event while Jane and Elizabeth took the ladies title. 

And for good measure, Rui and Steve produced an excellent performance when partnering each other for only the third time to finish third in the men's pairs - the same position achieved by Margaret and Elizabeth in the ladies competition.

* Tony and Allyn finished third in the Ipswich Swiss Pairs at the weekend.

Ever tried blowing out 70 candles? Here's how you do it... 

Adele enjoyed a very special birthday recently - which just happened to coincide with club night at Clare.

   And the event was marked with a special celebration for a player who was not only a founder member of the club but continues to epitomise all that is best about Clare.

   A glass of fizz and a slice of delicious birthday cake, baked by Sarah, came after Adele showed plenty of puff to extinguish the vast number of candles on the cake.

Bunny celebrates special birthday

When Bunny Bowers walked into Clare bridge club recently and saw bottles of champagne and glasses on a table he thought someone was in for a pleasant surprise....not realising it was going to be him!

    However, members were not going to let a very special day in the life of the club's oldest member pass without celebration  - and that was ensured by a rendition of Happy Birthday together with a glass of bubbly and a wonderful 90th birthday cake.

   "It was all a big surprise to me," Bunny said. "I walked in and we normally sit quite close to the door. I saw these bottles standing on the table and thought 'someone is in for a surprise' - and it was me."

   Bunny started playing social bridge in the early 1960s. In the 1990s he began playing regularly and started coming to Clare. "I always enjoy coming to Clare; it is a very friendly club."

Can you help solve the mystery of the President's missing trophy?

In 2009 the President's Trophy was won by a team headed by...the club President.

   Unfortunately, the prized trophy, pictured right in the hands of Basil Ambrose at last year's annual meeting and prizegiving, has been temporarily mislaid.

   Nick Farr, the club chairman, explained: "I am trying to track down the President’s trophy as currently its whereabouts are unknown. The last recorded winner appears to be Basil Ambrose & Team but Basil hasn’t got the trophy. If anyone knows where the trophy is can they please let me know asap."