More than 40 players enjoyed an afternoon of fun but competitive bridge at Wesley Hall, Frome, on Saturday 14 March for the Somerset 9 High Pairs event. The 22 pairs were also treated a delicious tea. 

Frome Bridge Club is celebrating its first pair of Ace graded players. Club Chair Ray Nicholson and Committee member David Clayton reached the exalted English Bridge Union rank of Ace within a fortnight of each other in January. First to the post was David when a Monday night Club Pairs score of 76.3% with his bridge partner Richard King lifted his NGS (National Grading Scheme) rank over the Ace of Clubs threshold of 61%; two Mondays later it was Ray’s turn, playing with his regular bridge partner Margaret Donkin. This is the first time in the Club’s history to have two concurrent Ace level players, and their ranking means they are among the top 10 Bridge players in Somerset. David Alsford is the only other Frome player to have previously reached the rank of Ace. David Clayton and Ray both learnt to play bridge in their youth before stopping for many years and then taking it up again. Their key tip for all aspiring Ace level players is to play regularly, with a regular and reliable partner.

Congratulations to David Clayton's Frome team for coming top of 30 teams in the 7th and final round of the Somerset County League 2025-26 contest on Friday 6 February. David and his fellow Frome players Richard King, Paul Fine & Steve Douglas scored an impressive 70 IMPs (International Match Points), meaning they will be promoted to Division 2 of the League for the 2026-27 season; they'd previously earned promotion from Division 4 to Division 3 at the end of the 2024-25 season. Meanwhile, Ray Nicholson's team climbed to 3rd spot in Division 2, having been 7th last  year, whilst John Perry's team, also in Division 2, finished in 6th. This means Frome BC will likely have three teams competing in Division 2 next season, a first for the club. Well done all - onwards and upwards.

Five Frome teams took part in a friendly online (BBO) match against Chichester Bridge Club on Wednesday 4 March, with Frome BC winning by three to two. Congratulations to the winning teams:  Team D - John Perry, Veronica Kilroy, Simon Fallon & Sarah Miller - won by 34 IMPs;  Team A - Steve Douglas, Paul Fine, Hendrik Payne & Helen Millar - won by 19 IMPs while Team C - Stan Christie, David Brown, Melanie Pattinson & Malcolm Macdonald - won by 3 IMPs. Thanks to Margaret Donkin for organising the evening - we gather the next one might be on Real Bridge! 

The Monday night session on 23 March was run as a Handicap Pairs event, with handicaps applied to each pair at the start of the evening, based on the average of their two NGS ratings. To view the Handicap Pairs results (as opposed to actual results recorded with EBU), click on Monday night results in Results Calendar (LH column), and then Click for Handicap Results.