With 4 sessions to go Terry is running away with the all-sessions ladder but Chris Pope is leading the Monday ladder, Ron/Janice the Tuesday ladder and Stephanie Howard/Margaret Howe on Fridays.

See under NGS Ladders on the menu for details.

We will be holding the Chester Congress on BBO on the weekend of January 30th/31st. Apart from being online, it is to have similar format to past Congresses with Saturday being a two session pairs event, and Sunday being Swiss Teams. It is suitable for all members, an opportunity to win blue points, and entries are now open on the appropriate page under Competitions in the menu (or click here). As we aren't limited to the number of tables we can fit into the club, we are hoping for a larger entry than normal, both from within our club and outside. Please go ahead and enter.

Results are now in the results calendar for the Sim Pairs event on Tuesday 12 January. Commentary on the hands can be seen by clicking on this link (commentary on ebu website) and the current national results (which aren't final yet) can be seen here. The highest Deva players, who have our congratulations, are in the table below:

Three Deva teams enterred this year's National Inter-Club KnockOut (NICKO) tournment and the first round is in progress:

• Paddy Murphy, Matt Foster, Liz Commins and David Stevenson beat Altrincham A 86-36 and will now play Reading B in the 2nd round
• John Hampson, Laurence Stone, Chris Pope and Andrew Prothero beat Abbey-Smith C 136-22 and will now play Leverstock Green A
• Daniel Miller, Colin Humphrey, Bob Pitts and Barry Jones are playing their first round match on Monday 11th January

Congratulations to the two winning teams and good luck to the team playing on Monday. 

Congratulations to Laurence Stone and team (Laurence, Paul Roberts, John Hampson and Joan Marray) for winning the final against Brian Crawford's team (Brian, Peter Nickson, Haydn Roberts and Frank Salt).

Brian's team won the first staza by 12 IMPs but Team Stone fought back to wim the second stanza by 3 IMPs. With a 9 IMP lead Team Crawford were the favourites going into the final stanza but Team Stone won that stanza by 15 IMPs to take the trophy by an overall margin of 6 IMPs.

Well done to all in what was a close match played in good spirits!

Sheena Parker has kindly offered to be a contact for members looking for a partner to play in any of our BBO sessions. If you are without your usual partner, please contact her on 07968 504193. She will try to match people up on a first come first served basis.

The virtual bridge club will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and open as usual on New Year's Eve (Thursday Simple Systems) and New Years's Day (Friday Afternoon Pairs). The calendar on the website has been updated to reflect this.

Final 

Brian Crawford Vs Laurence Stone has been postponed

Third Place Play-off

Sheila Shea beat Julia Fletcher

The winner of John Cliffe Award was announced at Friday's AGM and the winner was Dave Stretch - congratulations Dave!

The award recognises success in club sessions over the year amongst members who are rated District Master or below. Further information on the award and on past recipients can he seen here.

Brian Crawford (1) v Julia Fletcher (4)

Brian and Co (Frank Salt, Haydn Roberts, Peter Nickson) staged a great comeback to thwart Julia's team (Roy Clifford, Jean Hand and Dave Armstrong)

12-17; 3-17; 44-0 Result 59 to 34

Laurence Stone (2) v Sheila Shea (3)

Laurence and Co (John Hampson, Joan Marray, Paul Roberts) also survived a close fought game against Sheila's team (Wyn Williams, Margaret Barnes, Ed Jones)

Sheila raced into an 11-0 lead but Laurence hit back to lead 21-11

He extended the lead with a 9-3 set and then lost the final six 0-10 

21-11; 9-3; 0-10 Result 30 to 24

The Final is due to be played on or around 18th November as is the Consolation

Congratulations to Roy Clifford, Mo Borley and Alan Sharples who finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Bob Graham final. See Results Calendar for details.