Congratulations to Fred Hotchen & Steve Preston who, after taking HIWCBA's fifth spot in the starting line up, won the Corwen trophy (full results here). Well done also to  Stuart Strachan & Eleanor Rice who finished third. Good luck again to Steves team next weekend in the Placabo Cup. Also season six of the HIWCBA online league is ready for the off - see county competitions for the current standings,  and dont forget to enter the Philip Graham Teams on the 20th June (here).

The 2020/21 league and knockout season is complete and all that remains of the one day event season is the Philip Graham Teams on 20th June (just before lockdown 4  starts  restrictions end - enter here now ). Season five of the online club league is also complete. Congratulations to all who competed in this strange year, especially to the following winners (The table has links to the full results but no pictures I'm afraid!):

Now is the time of year for qualifiers from county pairs , teams of four and teams of eight events to represent their counties in national competitions.

The national teams of 8 eight competition regional qualifier took place several weeks ago, before the HIWCBA Solent trophy competion had completed so Petersfield, as the 2019/20 champions, represented HIWCBA. The team of (Tim Smith & Gabriel Hearst, Owen Leigh & Mike Kinsey, Lilias Lamont & Andrew Doye, Richard Ray & Christine Ray ) tried hard but did not qualify for the national final (full results here).

This year five pairs (Andy Hughes / Jeremy Dhondy, Elenor Rice / Stuart Strachan, Jill Coady / Nick Browne, Guy Lawrenson / Michael Yeo, Fred Hotchen/Steve Preston) from the pottage final will represent HIWCBA in the Corwen this weekend (5/6th June). Good luck to them.

And the Winter League Division one teams of 4 champions (Steve Preston, Dave Huggett, Andy Hughes, Jeremy Dhondy, Jeremy Baker ) will represent HIWCBA in the Placabo Cup on 12th/13th June. Good luck to them. 

Reports on how the represntatives get on to follow, hopefully in a more timely manner than the garden cities announcement above.

There was a poor turnout for the Ranked (AGM) Pairs and AGM on 25th April, so much so that the AGM has been re-sheduled for the break in the Philip Graham Swiss Teams on Realbridge on 20th June (enter here now). But the event was enjoyed by those who entered and congratulations to the winners (full results here):
A Flight Winners = Graham Cup (AGM Pairs A Stratification) = David Lewis & Helen Kinloch 
B Flight Winners = Mark Carr Trophy (AGM Pairs B Stratification)  = Clare & Ian Fearon
C Flight Winners = Philbrick Trophy  (AGM Pairs C Stratification) = Christine & David Pine

The next weekend, the 2nd May saw a slightly better turnout for the final Virtual Romsey of the COVID Pandemic. Congratulations to the winners Derek Maggs & Joanne Norman (Full results here).

And, since that was the final Virtual Romsey of the COVID Pandemic, the winner of the Virtual Romsey Victor Ludorum, which only has a virtual trophy, is also known. Congratulations to the winners Janet Smith & John Gardner (Full results here).

Is that the end of Virtual Romsey, then? Not necessarily. As people realised that more Blue and Green Pointed events are accessible, as Summer has approached and as life returns to a new normal the numbers dwindled. The HIWCBA committee do, however, understand that Virtual Bridge is here to stay and the committee elected at the 20th June AGM will decide exactly how and when Virtual Romsey will continue. If you want to contribute to that decision, then why not become a committee member?

We have already, below, congratulated Winchester on winning the 2019/20 Basingstoke Cup final and now have a more detailed match report as follows:

This eight-a-side Restricted Inter-Club competition began in the Autumn of 2019, with the final scheduled for 26th April 2020.  We all know what happened next!,

 Teams of Eight were initially not easy to handle on the various on-line platforms: however RealBridge does provide facilities. So the 2019/20 final was contested between Winchester and Basingstoke on-line on Monday 19th April, almost one year late.  Winchester had positive swings on all the first seven boards and built up a lead of 44-0 IMPs.  Boards 8 to 18 were much more even with Titchfield clawing back 28, but Winchester lasted better over a long evening to make the final score 78-30. Winchester's success was in part due to Guy Malcolm & hugh Merry, biddy and making games that no-one else did.

 Board 19 

                                                                    S  4 2

                                                                    H  A J 9 3

                                                                    D  9 7 6 3 2

                                                                    C  A 4

                                S  K 6 3                                                        S  Q 7

                                H  K 10 8 7                                                   H  4 2

                                D  J 4                                                            D  K Q 10 8 5

                                C  J 7 6 2                                                      C  Q 10 8 5 

                                                                    S  A J 10 9 8 5

                                                                    H  Q 6 5

                                                                    D  A

                                                                    C  K 9 3

 At all tables South opened 1ª, North responded 1N and South bid 2ª. For pairs playing 4-card Majors it is now very difficult to find another bid on the North hand. Guy and Hugh were playing 5-card Majors, so South’s bid had guaranteed 6 Spades. This meant that North, with 2 Spades and a 7.5 loser hand, was worth an invitational 3ª. South now bid 4ª which was passed out.

 West led J¨ to South’s Ace and South played three rounds of Clubs ruffing the last in dummy. South then took the Spade finesse, won by West’s King and West returned a Club. South now played Aª, dropping East’s Queen and pulled the last trump. Declarer then led Q©, covered by the King and Ace, returned to hand with a Diamond ruff and finally finessed the 9© for two overtricks - game bid, twelve made!  

Sunday 18th April was VR36. Congratulations to the winners Judi Coady & Ian Lewis (full results here)
VR37 on Sunday 25th April will be 24 boards long, will award the  HIWCBA Ranked Pairs Cups and the HIWCBA AGM will be held at half time. Please attend this VR and the AGM - we need a quorate AGM . There are three ranked pairs cups (Graham Cup for the A Stratification, Mark Carr Trophy for the B Stratification, Philbrick Trophy for the C Stratification). Stratification boundaries will be fixed by the director on the day.

Information in support of the AGM, as also posted in an earlier post below, is as follows:  Chairman's and Treasurer's reports,  Minutes and Agenda  are available here : 2019 chairmans report, 2020 chairmans report, 2019 Accounts, auditors report 1, auditors report 2, treasurers notes, Draft Minutes 2019 AGM.doc, AGM Agenda.

Also, The short season of Teams of 8 competitions on Real Bridge is progressing well.

Congratulations to Winchester (Neil & Barabara Thomas, John Cornes & Richard Hawkes, Guy Malcolm & Hugh Merry, Ticker Berkin & Graham Stonier played in the final) winners of the 2019-20 Basingstoke Cup (Teams of 8 to a capped standard). They beat Titchfield in the final. The 2020-21 Basingstoke cup final is  planned for the 27th April on Realbridge.

Contrary to previously posted informatiion, the Solent Trophy, the winner of which qualifies for the National Garden Cities competition, is now a three way affair between Basingstoke, Newbury and Petersfield. Congratulations to Newbury (Stuart Strachan & Eleanor Rice, Charlotte & Steve Bedford, Susan Oliver &  Anne McMahon, Sula Turpin & Madeline Lawson) - winners of the first of the three matches (11-9).  The match was was so close that 3 different scoring methods gave three different results.  RealBridge doesn't actually score as Teams of Eight. It does easily produce a result as two separate Teams of Four Matches. That is what can be seen on the HIWCBA website. That shows Petersfield won by 3 IMPs (11-9). The Tollemache style scoring of adding all four X-IMPS can also be found by accessing the X-IMP tab. That shows Petersfield ahead by 4 IMPs . Don't quite follow the VP scale but I think that's a draw! (10-10) BUT The way HIWCBA  have always scored this competition is to add all four scores and use a modified IMP table. Using this method Newbury won by 4 IMPS!! (11-9) Whichever way you look at it it was definitely a game of two halves! Petersfield clinching the first half with gains on boards 3 & 12. But Newbury made good gains in the second half, particularly Eleanor & Stuart's slam on board 18.

Unlike the 2019/20 event, the 2020/21 HIWCBA pairs championship, for the Pottage Cup and the four HIWCBA places in the national ‘Corwen’ competition, was extremely close and with everyone playing the boards in the same order the final battles happened in real time. With 14 of the 15 3 board rounds complete the top five were “1.  Guy Lawrenson & Michael Yeo, 2. Nick Browne & Judi Coady, 3. Eleanor Rice & Stuart Strachan, 4. Graham Foster & Yvonne Moores, 5. Andy Hughes & Jeremy Dhondy.” But they wasn’t going to be the final positions. With one board to go Nick & Judi had the lead and  Andy & Jeremy had climbed to 2^nd place. The final board of the competition was a board where EW had 25 points and two balanced hands. Nick & Judi were NS defending 3NT and although they got 3NT one off that was only a 50% score. Andy & Jeremy were EW and knew what to do with 25 points and two balanced hands in a pairs competition – don’t go for battle glory be careful and win the war. They stayed in 2NT and 2NT+1 got them 71% of the match points. Not quite as good as the 93% for 3NT= but enough for them to win the competition. Congratulations then to the winners of the 2020/21 Pottage Cup : Jeremy Dhondy & Andy Hughes (full results here).  Second equal were Nick Browne & Judi Coady and Eleanor Rice & Stuart Strachan with Guy Lawrenson & Michael Yeo picking up the 4^th qualifying spot for the Corwen.

Virtual Romsey 35 occured in parallel with the Pottage Final and was won by Rosalind Reid & Phillip Runchman (full results here).

Congratulations to the winners of both competitions and all who took part.

The lure of the HIWCBA cups meant that 15 full tables turned out for Virtual Romsey 33 on 28th March. Congratulations to the overall winners, by quite some margin  (full details here): John Fairhurst & Margaret Blewett. 
Also congratulations to the winners of the four cups that were on offer:
John Fairhurst & Margaret Blewett winners of the Mixed Pairs (The top four pairs were all mixed pairs);  Barbara & Neil Thomas (5th) winners of the Married Pairs, unless any of the pairs above them are unexpectedly eligible (the Director doesnt think they are!), Dorothy Rivers & Helen Gault (6th) winners of the Ladies Pairs and Mike Kinsey & Mike Fithyan (8th) winners of the Mens Pairs.
The mens pairs was the one competition that was close with less than 2 match points separating the two Mikes from Tim Smith & Dave Willis. Neither pair thought that they had played well and neither pair thought that less than 53% would be enough for victory. Tim & Dave spent the second half recovering from a disasterous second quarter. The hand that thwarted a successful recovery was board 21. Both Tim& Dave and the two Mikes were east west in 4 hearts and the matchpoints went to the pair that made the most overtricks. Mike F got a diamond lead and, after taking out the trumps (the H finesse worked) looked for the extra trick. He played a  LOW club to the A and dropped the singleton Q. This was the correct play that many declarers didnt find. By doing this Mike F effectively won his pair the trophy because Dave got the lead of the singleton QC (well done David Barratt) and quite sensibly decided he couldnt afford to take the heart finesse even though it meant he didnt make the extra trick.

Congratulations to Mike Kinsey & Owen Leigh, winners of Virtual Romsey 32 on 21st March (full results here). Virtual Romsey 33 on 28th March is slightly longer and also awards the HIWCBA Mens, Ladies, Mixed and Married Pairs cups (open to all) - we hope to see you there.
Also, the HIWCBA Club Teams of 8 competitions - the Basingstoke Cup (to a capped standard) and Solent Trophy (qualifier for the Garden Cities national competition) are now in progress on Realbridge. The Solent trophy is being run as all play all between the four teams who have entered. The Basingstoke Cup is being run as a knockout - starting with the quarterfinals.

The Quarter-Finals of the 2021 Basingstoke Cup were played on RealBridge on 23rd March. RealBridge copes reasonably well with Teams-of-Eight, and there was only one glitch! Newcomers Bordon BC overcame seasoned campaigners Basingstoke X in a close match. In the other match Basingstoke Y stormed into an early lead against Petersfield RL when both their pairs bid (and made) slam on board 1. Petersfield fought back strongly in the second half to close the gap to 2 IMPS with one board to play. Appropriately board 16 was another slam. This time all four pairs bid it, sadly all four pairs were undone by the 4-0 spade split.

The online Hampshire Congress on 13^th & 14^th March was a great success, although playing Realbridge with BBO style self alerting seemed bizarre to almost all participants. Winners (see stories below) pictured above soon (hopefully)

Saturday was swiss pairs, with 80 pairs travelling to “Virtual Otterbourne” and the final result (click here to view details) was close. With ten minutes to go it was announced that it was ‘tight at the top’. What was happening? For the last round the top three matches  involved competitors from all along the South of England and were: John Dagnell & Andrew Bannock (Surrey) vs Jeremy Dhondy & Fred Hotchen (HIW) , Miles Cowling & Ron Davis (Dorset/Kent) vs Keith Bartlett & Chris Stevens (Dorset) and Warner Solomon & Ian Walsh (Devon) vs Celia Bishop & Vivienne Mably (Cornwall). John & Andrew had the slight advantage and after 4 of the 7 final boards they were 19-1 up against Jeremy & Fred. However Jeremy and Fred mounted a fine recovery to beat John & Andrew 11-9.  The recovery was completed when on the final board Andrew decided unwisely to leave John’s redouble of Freds double of 1nt in for a nice round -1000.  This meant Miles & Ron needed a 12-8 or better win against Keith & Chris and with 3 boards to play they were 13-7 up. This reduced to 12-8 over the final few boards but that was enough for victory – so well done to the victors Miles Cowling & Ron Davis with John Dagnell & Andrew Bannock 2nd. Surely Jeremy & Fred would be third? No – the ‘table 3’ match between the  Devon and Cornwall pairs was rather one sided with Warner Solomon & Ian Walsh winning 20-0 to rise to 3^rd place.

Winners of Saturday's Non expert ('Jack High') prize were Srimath Agalawatte & John Morris (Hertfordshire) in joint 15th place.

Sunday was Swiss Teams with 34 teams making the journey. Click here for full results. With one match to go it was the international Team Maggs (Derek Maggs (Singapore), Alan Sia (Singapore), Phil & Joanne Norman(Dorset)) who were in the lead and a 12-8 victory in the final round against Team Collins (Rhonda & Richard Collins (Wales), John Anthony Adams & Laszlo Kellner (Surrey)) was enough to get them the spoils. So congratulations to the victors Team Maggs. Why did we get visitors from afar? Well Derek & Phil are King Edward VI School, Southampton alumni ‘visiting home’.

As with the pairs, second place was tight. The 'Table 2' match was between Team Dhondy (Jeremy Dhondy & Steve Preston (HIW), Heather Dhondy (London) & Andy Hughes(HIW)) & Team Hyde (Richard Hyde & Alan Wilson(Dorset), Jeremy Baker & James Clark(HIW)) with Team Dhondy starting well. James Clark was, however, the only EW player in the competition to find the double to 4H on board 48. This allowed Team Hyde to recover to a 7-13 loss – leaving Teams Collins, Hyde & Dhondy tied in joint second place.

What about the Catherine Howell trophy for the best all HIW team? As can be seen above all HIW teams were in short supply near the top of the leaderboard, and  the trophy goes to Team Nixon (Charles Nixon & Macushla Stewart, Neil & Barbara Thomas) who were also the winners of Sunday's Non-expert ('Jack High') team prize.

Congratulations to all who took part and we hope to see you all again at next year’s congress.

The last Sunday of february saw a select few competing for the Virtual Romsey 31 honours. Congratulations to the victors : Gill weeks & Steven Martin (full results here).
Then the first sunday of March was Pottage Semi Final day (full results here). Congratulations to the victors (Steve Preston & Fred Hotchen) and all 16 pairs who have qualified for the Pottage Final on 11th April (details here).
Today, the 13th March, is the first day of the Hampshire congress and Sunday 14th March is also the 2020 HIWCBA AGM . HIWCBA hope to see many of you at both. Joining details for the AGM are:

Zoom Meeting   Time: Mar 14, 2021 03:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89480440313?pwd=bUxkYll5QzdzZTZXdlB4TEFweDlxUT09

Meeting ID: 894 8044 0313
Passcode: 718673

NOTICE OF AGM: The 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Contract Bridge Association will be held at 15:00 on Sunday March 14th 2021 using Zoom.

Your committee are beginning to think about the future of HIWCBA in the new bridge landscape that will follow LockDown. This will be discussed at the 2021 HIWCBA AGM. But first we need to formalise our existing position. You may realise the 2020 AGM was postponed due to covid last April. So we intend to catch up by holding what we anticipate will be an entirely 'technical' meeting during the Green Point Weekend. Chairman's and Treasurer's reports, 2019 Minutes and Agenda  are available here : 2019 chairmans report, 2020 chairmans report, 2019 Accounts, auditors report 1, auditors report 2, treasurers notes, Draft Minutes 2019 AGM.doc, AGM 2020 Agenda. Details of how to join the meeting will be added to this article closer to the date. And don't forget to enter the Green Point events that are on the same weekend.

The Rest Of The HIWCBA Season (including date of 2021 AGM): Following the Green Point Weekend and 2020 AGM the HIWCBA seaon will continue as a series of Virtual Romsey events up until the final HIWCBA season Teams event - the Philip Graham Teams on Sunday 16th May. But two of the virtual romseys will be special (extended to 24 boards), and one of them, on 11th April will run alongside the Pottage Final. The special Virtual Romseys are:

• Sunday 28th March. This virtual Romsey will double up as the HIWCBA Mens pairs, Mixed Pairs & Ladies Pairs Event.
• Sunday 25th April. This will be the 2021 HIWCBA AGM and the Virtual Romsey on this date will be extended to award the HIWCBA Ranked Pairs Trophies that are 'normally' competed for on the day of the AGM

Old Blood Going, New Blood Needed:  During lockdown, the HIWCBA Chairman, Andy Hughes, has used the opportunity presented to move (like the best of British Rugby), from England to Wales and, with the 'new normal' approaching he has decided that, whilst he intends to keep HIW as his county of primary allegiance, it would be inappropriate for him to  continue as chairman. So he has tendered his resignation which has been accepted by the committee. This leaves the committe a bit short staffed. Would you like to help keep your favorite pastime (Bridge that is) alive in HIW ? Then please apply to join the committee by using the website's contact us service. Thank you all in advance for volunteering.

The result of the Valentine Teams is unchanged. Congratulations to the winning team :: Steve Preston & Andy Hughes, Nick Craik & David Huggett.

Its Sunday 21st Feb and the Valentine Teams result still says subject to appeal, but its well past time for a host of congratulations (keep reading there is lots to be said):

Virtual Romsey 30 (for full results click here), Virtual Romsey 29  (for full results click here) and 2021 HIW raids on Virtual Dorset Saturday Pairs: Rather belated congratulations to Derek Maggs & Phil Norman on winning Virtual Romey 29. Then right up to date, congratulations to Peter Lang & Mike Burley on winning Virtual Romsey 30; Virtual Romsey 30 doubled up as the final qualifying heat for the Pottage Cup. Would all Pottage qualifiers please remember to turn up to the semi-final on 7th March. The Virtual Romsey Victor Ludorum (click here for current standings) will probably run until the anniversary of Virtual Romsey 1 in May; Unless someone like Adrian Fontes really gets his skates on, Janet Smith & John Gardner are well set to win it.  Janet & John are Dorset raiders on HIW, so what about 2021 HIW raids on virtual Dorset that warrant congratulations - none have yet been mentioned? On 20th February the HIW Webmaster (Tim Smith) and Dorset Webmaster (Mark Hooper) were EW and were only beaten by the robots Mark employed to fill the half table. On 6th February Eleanor Rice & Madeline Lawson were successful raiders; On 23rd January Mike Fithyan & Adrian Fontes were successful EW; On 16th January Karen Dewar & Adrian Fontes were successful EW; On 9th January Dorothy Rivers & Helen Gault were successful NS.

Valentine Teams (14th Feb) Until BBO catches up, the Realbridge platform has become the platform of choice for tournaments involving multiple teams, the only downside being that it is as if each table is in its own room; In practice for most events this results in a sometimes less formal atmosphere when compared to a single room with all tables in it. So it was that HIWCBA went to Realbridge on 14th Feb. This wasnt blue pointed so the numbers remained in line with a typical Romsey event; There was no reason for people to parachute in virtually from afar. The event was run professionally by the director, Mike Kinsey, who has had to resort to that rarely used backstop - the EBU referee - before a final result can be declared. Provisional results (click here) say that congratulations are due to Steve Preston & Andy Hughes, Nick Craik & David Huggett who finished ahead of the second place team of Bob McRobert & Fred Hotchen, Geoff Oldfield & Peter Crouch, but the Referee's decision could reverse those positions.

IBM Cup (8th to 12th Feb) The results are now finalised. For full results click here.  Congratulations to the winners Anne Richardson & Ian Ralph (Island (IOW) Bridge Club, England) who scored over 70%. Second were John Wilson & Roger Johnson ( Petersfield, England). Congratulations also to all who entered; It looks like more than £400 has been raised for Hampshire Air Ambulance. Also thank you to ECATs Bridge  (Promoting Real Bridge in a Virtual World) for running the event.

HIW Online League Season 4:  Congratulations to Badger Farm (Jeremy Baker, Nick Craik,Jeremy Dhondy,Fred Hotchen,Dave Huggett,Andy Hughes, Steve Preston)  winners of Season 4 of the HIW online league. They have now won 3 seasons out of 4. In head to head matches, Badger Farm were only beaten by Petersfield L (Stuart Burnett,James Clark, Andrew Doye, Lilias Lamont, Stephen Lee & Tony Truluck) who finished second. The winners of division 2 were Titchfield J (Antony Blunt, Michael Gwilliam, Dick Heasman, Roger Johnson, John Wilson), who bounced back after being relegated in Season 3. Second in division 2 were Badger Farm F (Clare Fearon, Ian Fearon, Alan Hickson & Jill Hickson). Season 5 is about to get underway. The number of teams have increased so that there are now 3 Divisions.

Delayed 2019/20 HIWCBA Competitions : Its February 2021 and yet there have been no congratulations given to 2019/20 league & knockout winners. Well, thats because some were late completing. We now have:

The fiirst weekend of February saw the Lady Milne Trial that selects the ladies that will represent England in the Ladies Home Internationals. A HIWCBA/Dorset pair of juniors (Charlotte Bedford & Lucy Norman) competed and finished in the top half. Very well done to them.

Finally :

(1) HIWCBA may run Solent (Open) & BasingstokeCup (To a capped standard)  2020/21 HIWCBA Club Teams Of 8 competitions after all - on realbridge. Are you interested in taking part? Then please contact us / Mike KInsey.

(2) HIWCBA League & Knockout competitors:: Realbridge is available for HIWCBA league and knockout matches - contact Mike Kinsey for details.

Firstly belated congratulations to Phil Downham & Mahmood Nurmohamed  (pictured above left in Real Romsey) - winners of Virtual Romsey 28 on the 10th January (full results here). The next Virtual Romsey is 24th january - enter now. 
And then.... a brilliant turnout for the Candlesticks Pairs on Sunday 17th January. We would never have fitted 33 tables into Crosfield Hall. Especially nice to 'see' new faces. HIWCBA hope all our visitors enjoyed the event and will come back for more. The director thinks it was an 'interesting' afternoon for all: BBO has a unique take on Swiss! So apologies to all those who had re-matches. And it keeps the detailed scoring to itself until the very end!. As the event progressed many of the usual suspects started appearing at the top tables. Finally Miles Cowling & Ron Davis (Pictured above right - Miles in Real Romsey) prevailed. Tony Truluck & Mike Fithyan and Andy Hughes & Steve Preston (2020 holders) were helped by big wins in the last two rounds and finished in the minor places.  Rosemary Jackson & Joan Mossop 'travelled' all the way from Cumbria to finish 4th and take the Non-Expert prize. Neil & Barbara Thomas, who earlier threatened to take up residency at Table 1, were runners up in the Non-expert category. Full resuts here

Happy New Year to you all from HIWCBA.
Looking back to before christmas, Virtual Romsey 26 was held on december 20th Congratulations to the winners Angela Clark & Rob Paton (full results here) - pictured in one of the articles below when also winning Virtual Romsey 24.
Looking back to the first HIWCBA event of 2021 (Virtual Romsey 27 on 3rd January), congratulations to the winners Ian Lewis and Judi Coady (full results here).

Now looking forward to future virtual events -  the next two sundays feature Virtual Romsey 28 on 10th January and the blue pointed Candlestick pairs on the 17th January (click entry links higher up this page to enter). And maybe you could enter featured neighbouring county events as well!

Finally, and perhaps more importantly, you can enter the Pottage Cup - the - HIWCBA County Pairs Championship which will qualify HIWCBA members to enter this years Corwen Trophy (if it is held) - details here. Many of you have already entered but if not there is still the Basingstoke heat on the 11th January and the second Virtiual Romsey Heat on 21st February.

The first HIWCBA charity simultaeneous of the season - the Chidwick Cup occured online at the end of November. Congratulations to the winners : Andy Fry & Phil Brown ( Basingstoke, England ) (full results here) A slightly reduced turn- out but over £250 was still raised for the Hampshire Air Ambulance

Congratulations to John Wilson & Roger Johnson winners of Virtual Romsey 25 on the 6th December.(full results here)

On the 13th December HIWCBA moved from BBO to Realbridge for the HIWCBA Xmas competitiion - the Yuletide Teams. We hope you all had a merry time - almost face to face! Congratulations to the winners Andy Hughes & Fred Hotchen, Peter Crouch & Geoff Oldfield (full results here)Yo Ho Ho. 

There is the final Virtual Romsey before Xmas this afternoon - the 20th December. Lets hope for more festive cheer.

There was no Virtual Romsey on Sunday 29th November. Instead  two teams of 8 represented HIWCBA in the Metropolitan Cup and other teams of 4 visited Virtual Dorset. The HIWCBA Metropolitan Cup A division team (John Dakin & James Clark, Adrian Fontes & Karen Dewar, Gabriel Hearst & Tim Smith, Stuart Strachan & Eleanor Rice) acquited themselves well finishing a respectable 3rd against tough opposition (full results here) - congratulations to them. The HIWCBA team in the C Division (Madeline Lawson & Mahmood Nurmohamed, Steve Martin & Gill Weeks, Ann McMahon & Sula Turpin, Michael Yeo & Stevie Parker) also seemed to enjoy themselves and managed to win/draw 3 of their 7 matches (congratulations) but their final position was less than ideal (full results here). The Dorset Weymouth and Hardwick Cup competition (full results here) was won by a Dorset team with members who regularly visit Virtual Romsey (Jon Holland & Hugh Kevill-Davies, Philip Norman & David Willis -  Congratulations to them) and also well done to all HIWCBA members who made the journey to Virtual Dorset although the results may have not quite been what they had hoped for.

Congratulations to Angela Clark (pictured above with Father Christmas - dont forget to enter the Yuletide Teams on the 13th december) and Rob Paton winners of Virtual Romsey 24 on 22nd November - full results here. Also well done, but commiserations, to the HIWCBA Tollemache team (Jeremy Dhondy/Andy Hughes, Peter Crouch/Geoff Oldfield, Dave Huggett/Steve Preston, Jeremy Baker/Fred Hotchen, Lilias Lamont/Andrew Doye) who finished 9th in the Tollemache Qualifier with only the top 8 teams qualifying for the final - full results here.

Congratulations to Phil Downham & Adrian Fontes (pictured above in real romsey) on following up their Bloxsom Teams success with victory at Virtual Romsey 23. Full results here.

The committee has selected the following 5 pairs to ‘send’ a team to the 2020-2021 Tollemache inter-county teams of 8 Championship: Jeremy Dhondy/Andy Hughes, Peter Crouch/Geoff Oldfield, Dave Huggett/Steve Preston, Jeremy Baker/Fred Hotchen, Lilias Lamont/Andrew Doye.  (The committee may, at its discretion, add either another pair or up to 2 additional players to make up the permitted 12 team members.) The EBU is running the qualifying event online on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd November. Good luck to the team this weekend. Each pairs convention card is accessible by clicking here.

HIWCBA has been invited to send up to three Teams-of-Eight to the Metropolitan Cup.
This is a stratified event restricted to the Home Counties.
It will be played on BBO on the 29th November. The following two teams have been chosen. Good luck.
For Division A John Dakin & James Clark, Adrian Fontes & Karen Dewar, Gabriel Hearst & Tim Smith, Stuart Strachan & Eleanor Rice
Reserve pair  Madeline Lawson and Mahmood Nurmohamed.
For Division C Madeline Lawson & Mahmood Nurmohamed, Steve Martin & Gill Weeks, Ann McMahon & Sula Turpin, Michael Yeo & Stevie Parker
Reserve Pair Rick Assad & Jenny Ashby

Congratulations to Mahmood Nurmohamed & Jane Davis  (Pictured above in real romsey) on their Virtual Romsey 22 triumph on 1st November (full results here)

8th November saw the running of the third in the HIWCBA 20/21 season of annual one day events - the blue pointed Bloxsom Swiss Teams (full results here). This event, like the Candover Swiss Teams earlier in the year,  ran exactly to time and without any apparent issue.  Also, moving online has once again attracted more teams than the previous equivalent HIWCBA face to face event, although face to face bridge is still  missed. Congratulations to the winners Adrian Fontes & Karen Dewar, Phil Downham & Julian Sykes (pictured above winning the 2019 yuletide event in real romsey - perhaps christmas has come early this year). Their last round victory took them above Dorset raiders Tim Dunsby & Mike McMorran Janet Smith & John Gardner who finished second. Congratulations also to Eileen Barratt & Nicola John Foster & David Barratt on winning the non expert prize, to the directors for doing such a fine job, and to those from afar for 'travelling' to the  HIWCBA event.

The last event played F2F by HIWCBA was the 2020 Pottage Final.
We are launching the 2021 Pottage Pairs Championship as an on-line event.
A number of Clubs will be running heats, see below.
However we are aware that a number of Clubs are not operating on-line.
So we will run two extra heats at Virtual Romsey, on December 6th 2020 and 21st February 2021,

     Petersfield Wednesday 18th November 2020

     Basingstoke  Monday 11th January 2121

     Lymington   tbd

To enter any of these heats please contact the relevant Club or HIWCBA.
The semi-final will be played on 7th March 2021 and the final on 11th April 2021

Congratulations to Bill Gardner & Peter Griffin (Kent & Sussex) winners of the Petersfield Bridge Club Swiss Pairs on Saturday 23rd October. Full list of prize winners here & full results here. Then on sunday 24th October, congratulations to Dave Willis & Lesley Lewis (pictured above in Real Romsey) winners of Virtual Romsey 21. Full Results here.
Coming up is the HIWCBA Bloxsom Swiss Teams on 8th November (enter here).

Congratulations to two pairs on tying in first place at Virtual Romsey 20 on Sunday 18th October. One pair are HIWCBA regulars Mike Burley & Peter Lang the other pair are Dorste / Wiltshore Raiders Royd Laidlow & Catherine Lynn. However, in both cases your webmaster has no access to pictures of the pair in real romsey or elsewhere. If gifted one then the webmaster will post it.
Next weekend sees HIWCBA events on both days - the Petersfield Blue Point Swiss Pairs on Saturday 24th & the next Virtual Romsey on Sunday 25th (as well as the virtual EBU autumn congress). We hope to see see you at at least one of those events. You can also now enter the HIWCBA Bloxsom Swiss Teams coming up in mid November.

Lots happened in the first two weeks of October that give rise to congratulations from HIWCBA.
Wessex Swiss Pairs
The two weeks ended with the second event of the 2020/21 HIWCBA online event season (running in parallel with the Virtual Romsey events) - the Wessex Swiss Pairs. Congraulations to all who turned up online - there were two more tables than turned up to the equivalent 2019/20 face to face event - and special congratulations to the winners Mahmood Nurmohamed & Jane Davis. Full results here. The winners had a pretty solid set; and scored well in the final matches. Also congratulations to the  raiders from Wiltshire, Richard Turner and David Alsford, who took the non-expert prize and were riding very high until the last two rounds.
Season 3 of HIWCBA Leagues
At about the same time, the third season of HIWCBA online inter club leagues completed. In online division 1 it was a return to season 1 with Badger Farm (Jeremy Baker, Nick Craik,Jeremy Dhondy,Fred Hotchen,Dave Huggett,Andy Hughes, Steve Preston) well ahead in first place and Sussex (Peter Burns, Lindsay Geddes, Philip Hunt, Yves Lebrec, Andrew Morris, Chris Phillips, David Telfer)(formally Chichester) in second place. Congratulations to both. Unlike season 1, however, Badger Farm did fail one hurdle losing their last match 8-12  (2-7 in imps) to Petersfield L who finished 3rd. In online division 2 the winners were Basingstoke P (Abha Patel, Marjorie Rowledge, Barbara Thomas, Neil Thomas) with Lymington Lions (Andrew Bingley, Tony Elliott, Paul Londesborough, John Taylor) second and also promoted. Congraulations to them. The fourth season of the leagues has its schedule drawn and is almost underway.
HIWCBA Heat Of National Handicapped Pairs
On Sunday 4th October the regular Virtual Romsey event became longer and morphed into the HIWCBA heat of the National Handicapped Pairs. 16 pairs entered the HIWCBA heat. Charles Nixon & Macushla Stewart  were the top HIWCBA heat pair both locally before handicap and nationally after handicap. They were 8th nationally. Pauline Davis & Steve Davis rose from 3rd place unhandicapped locally to become the 2nd placed HIWCBA pair (33rd nationally) after handicaps were applied nationally. Congratulations to both pairs and all who entered. Full handicapped and non handicapped results here.
HIWCBA & Dorset raid On West Of England Congress
Also on the 4th October a joint Kent, Dorset & HIWCBA team (Ron Davis & Miles Cowling, Steve Preston & David Huggett), travelled virtually to the West Of England Congress and won the Green Point Swiss teams. Congratulations to them.
HIWCBA raid on Virtual Dorset
Finally, on 3rd October, Ted Purvey & Charlie Patrick mounted a successful Isle Of Wight raid on virtual Dorset. Congratulations to them.

Congratualtions to Clare & Ian Fearon (pictured above in Real Romsey / Virtual Romsey 16) winners of Virtual Romsey 19 on 27th September (full results here).
There are two HIWCBA approved events in October on weekends when there will be  no Virtual Romsey on the Sunday. These are the HIWCBA Heat of the National Heat of the National Handicap Pairs on Sunday 4th October (enter here), and the Blue Pointed Wessex Swiss Pairs on Sunday 11th October (enter here). There is also the Blue Pointed Petersfield Swiss Pairs, run by Petersfield Bridge Club, on Saturday 24th October (enter here) and on that day there will be no Virtual Dorset - Virtual Romsey will still take place on Sunday 25th.

Sunday 20th September saw what some had feared was impossible - an online Swiss Teams event (The Candover Swiss Teams) of the length of a face to face event running perfectly to time without becoming an intense isolated bridge experience that challenges your concentration. In this case the intensity that sometimes  haunts online bridge was lessened by playing at a scheduled 6 boards an hour that gave participants time to refresh and chat (at home or online) between rounds.It was also good to be able to see the current positions at the end of each round online on this website. Extreme congratulations to Mark Hooper, Robin Wright and Mike Kinsey for achieving this. HIWCBA will now schedule in their complete 2020/21 pairs and teams county fixture list as well as continuing to run virtual romsey in between. Full details coming soon. Congratulations to the overall winners (Full results here) Andy Hughes & Jeremy Dhondy, Fred Hotchen & Jeremy Baker (pictured above 4,2,3,1 in Real Romsey) and also to Martin Bevan, Keith Terrell, Neil & Barbara Thomas winners of the b flight/non expert catagory.
Next weekend you have plenty of choice: Join us again on sunday for the next virtual romsey, join Dorset on saturday for the next virtual dorset, or maybe play in surrey's  green point weekend events, or (not much further afield especially in the virtual world) the west of england online bridge congress.

From June 2016 webmaster policy is to highlight names of primary HIWCBA members with public NGS grades & report on their notable achievements in HIWCBA events, national events & neighbouring county events, in addition to reporting HIWCBA  events & major HIWCBA club events & news.