Both the Welsh Cup and the Cambria Cup finals will be played online this year, on the following dates:

Welsh Cup: Saturday 12th November, starting 11am

Cambria Cup: Sunday 13th November, starting 12noon

We wish all participating teams good luck.

East Wales came 17th out of 27 counties, scoring 255 VPs, with 260 being average. Unlike previous years, it was decided to follow an all play all format this time, which is almost certainly the fairest but also the toughest, with no easy draws. All the strong counties entered teams, so the standard was exceptionally high. Although the team had hoped to do better, being slightly below average was an acceptable result for a tiring weekend of high level bridge. Congratulations to all!

Registration will end at noon on Saturday 5th December!

SECOND PLACE IN LADY MILNE TROPHY

Two welsh teams competed this weekend for the Teltcher (seniors) and the Lady Milne (women) Trophies. We particularly want to congratulate the women's team for coming 2nd in the Lady Milne. The team existed of Maggie Pierce & Gilly Clench, Ceri Pierce & Mia Deschepper, Sarah Amos & Andrea Knox, except for Andrea all members of EWBA. The team was very competently supported and coached by captain Tony Disley, even though the occasional board pushed his blood pressure dangerously high. Thank you Tony!

A great result, well done!

It is with great sadness we let you know that Mike Hirst passed away on 28th October.

Wales has had many talented bridge players, but few have brought to the game the same adventurousness and all-round exuberance as characterises the approach of Mike Hirst.
Born in Yorkshire in 1936, Mike started his bridge career at the age of 11, having watched his parents playing the game with neighbours. Having taught himself from a book, his first competitive event at the age of 16, was in the Yorkshire Pairs Championship, and despite being shouted at for being late (by the infamous Harold Franklin), he came third.
His first job was with Woolworths as a trainee manager, but he soon switched to Beechams in South Wales (Penarth). He joined the local club and paired up with Bill Griffiths and Peggy Fletcher, his early mentors. Very soon he met Patrick Jourdain, with whom he entered his first Camrose trials, and was selected for his first Camrose against Northern Ireland. He had a successful playing career with Patrick until 1973, winning many major events with team-mates David Johnson and David McAndrew amongst others. Mike has represented Wales in the Camrose on 42 occasions, winning 13 of those matches – an achievement matched by few. He has also represented his country in a host of other international tournaments from the late 60s onwards, and has won the Welsh Cup twelve times. Even in his later years, when he played in few major events, he still maintained his fifth placed ranking of Welsh Premier Grand Masters. But Mike as well as being a metronomic Master Point accumulator as far as it is possible to imagine, he played bridge for the enjoyment and friendships forged at the table, which he cherished as much as his competitive success.
He married Ann, also a Welsh Lady international, and as well as playing bridge together, they shared a keen interest in golf – having owned an apartment on a golf course in the Canaries. Mike was also captain of both his local golf club and rugby club – a truly versatile man.

We will all miss this larger than life character.

[Some of the above content was sourced from a 2007 interview of Mike, published in the WBU Magazine. The full interview can be viewed at Mike Hirst full interview]

Funeral arrangements: Thornhill Crematorium, Cardiff - Wenallt Chapel, Thursday 19th November at 11:45. The funeral can be followed online on:

http://www.wesleymedia.co.uk/webcast-view

 Login / Order ID: 54562        Password: radpmjsm

The link will be available for a week after the funeral.

The second issue of the newsletter can now be downloaded here. Old issues can be found in the WBU Newsletter box on the left.

Promotions and relegations will not be finalised until the exact number of teams, including any new joiners, is known. Should there be 18 teams,it would make three divisions of six teams. New teams joining will start in division 3. In the case of an uneven split, division 2 would be the first to increase to 7 teams, then division 3 and finally division 1. 

Further info:

EWBA League Results Report 2019-2020

EWBA League Rules
 

For more information, please contact
Adrian Trickey
01446.793779
adriantrickey1@gmail.com

Fixtures for 2019/2020

Many thanks to Steve Webb for organising the Western League for many years!

The new Western League co-ordinator is now Richard Welsford (rtw76@sky.com), who will also organise the C Team.

The A Team will be selected by Mike Best (mikebest778@gmail.com) and the B Team by Jason He (hejason095@aol.com).

Western League Division 1
Western League Division 2
Western League Division 3