Lancashire Contract Bridge Association
Release 2.19r
LCBA as a Charity

Lancashire Contract Bridge Association is a membership charity (Registration No 1207575).  It provides and enables playing, learning and competing opportunities for players at all levels and works closely with players, clubs, volunteers and officials to help grow the game.

LCBA raises money through various events and competitions and through donations.  All funds are spent on furthering the charity’s purposes. Following on from our registration, we have now established our new bank account and LCBA has commenced trading as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).  Any BACS payments should be made to the following:

Beneficiary: Lancashire Contract Bridge Association (Type as much as you can)
Bank: Lloyds
Sort Code: 30-54-66
Account: 10848260

Our constitution can be found by clicking Constitution of LCBA CIO.pdf

Lancashire has a bridge club in most major towns, with many having a host system to ensure visitors can get a game. Contact details, club times, beginners, intermediate classes are on the Clubs page though you should check before attending a new club. This website has details of forthcoming competitions and results. Membership of an affiliated Lancashire club  entitles you to play in Lancashire competitions, be eligible for Lancashire County Teams, and attend all Lancashire Council Meetings. Lancashire CBA has a data protection policy ref LCBA Privacy Notice.pdf

Pls contact the WebMaster jasmith@nildram.co.uk for any omissions, corrections for the site.

Results
LOP Open
LOP Open
LCBA Mixed Pairs
Scorer: Oliver Cowan
Calendar
Mon 22nd December 2025
LOP Open
7pm
Fri 26th December 2025
LOP/OCBC/FOBC Open
7pm
Sat 27th December 2025
LOP/OCBC/FOBC Open
7pm
Bulletin
Southport Bridge Club Competition open to visitors. Click Event details for more information.
 

MANCHESTER CONGRESS 2026

3rd & 4th January 2026

Airport Hotel Manchester, Altrincham Road, Wilmslow SK9 4LR

Tournament Director: Jim Edwards

Back face to face and once again organised by Oliver Cowan on behalf of and in partnership with the MCBA, at the Airport Hotel Manchester – Hotel and Spa.  This venue provides an excellent, friendly setting for this congress and has free parking for players with easy access to the local town centre with lots of nice restaurant and bar options for after bridge finishes each evening.

Saturday 3rd January – Championship Pairs (11:00-18:00)

Sunday 4th January – Swiss Teams (11:00-18:00)

Entry fees per £30 per player for 1 day or £55 if playing 2 days and the entry fee includes tea/coffee/biscuits/sweets throughout. There will also be a prize fund.

Players can order lunch/sandwiches each day on arrival to be served in the break. If you bring your own food, this must NOT be consumed in public areas of the hotel.

Also on Sunday 4th January 14:00-17:30 will be the Kevin Comrie Cup restricted to players no higher than a 9 NGS, with an entry fee of £15 per player.

Recent Updates
Bulletin
21st Dec 2025 23:27 GMT
Home Page
21st Dec 2025 23:19 GMT
LOTL - Lancs Online Teams
21st Dec 2025 10:53 GMT
Welcome to LCBA Charity Reg No 1207575
LCBA Calendar 2026

EVENT

DATE

VENUE

Additional Info

9High Corwen Qualifier

Jan-Mar 2026

Online via LOP

Highest qualifying pairs in the quarterly ladder

Club Teams of 8 - Garden Cities Qual

Sun 15 Feb 2026

Bolton BC

Clubs enter here via LCBA website

Championship Teams - Pachabo qual

Sun 15 Mar 2026

Online

Teams enter method tba

 Lancs v Essex Match  Sat 21 May 11pm   Realbridge   County Selection

Madeline Berney Swiss Pairs

Sun 03 May 2026

Brierfield BC

Pairs enter via LCBA website

WEEKLY EVENTS
Monday  LOP Open 7pm (BBO)
Friday LOP/OCBC/FOBC Open 7pm (BBO)
Saturday LOP/OCBC/FOBC Open 7pm (BBO)

MULTI-SESSION EVENTS
Lancashire Online Pairs (LOP), Weekly 7pm BBO

Lancashire Online Teams League (LOTL), 2 fixtures a month, 7pm on a Thursday on BBO
LCBA Summer League, 5/6 matches May to September. 7pm at the home club.

LCBA ONLINE IMPROVERS' LESSONS

LCBA THROUGH THE FRENDLY ONLINE BRIDGE CLUB

 ONLINE IMPROVERS' LESSONS

THURSDAYS AT 9AM FROM 8TH JANUARY

30 MINUTE ZOOM POWERPOINT PRESENTATION THEN PLAY SOME SUPERVISED HANDS ON REALBRIDGE TO PRACTICE WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED!

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CLICK HERE AND TO REGISTER, PLEASE EMAIL OLIVER AT OCbridgecomps@gmail.com

DIMMIE FLEMING AWARD PRESENTED TO JOHN BREARLEY

 

DIMMIE FLEMING AWARD PRESENTED TO LCBA SECRETARY JOHN BREARLEY

The LCBA secretary John Brearley was presented with the EBU’s Dimmie Fleming award during the LCBA Mixed Pairs at St Anne's BC.  This award was in recognition of John's outstanding contribution to bridge in Lancashire over the last 30+ years, including spells as Chairman (twice) and most recently LCBA Secretary.  You can find the citation associated with the award by clicking HERE.

Changes to LOP from 5 Jan 2026

Changes to LOP from 5 January 2026

Providing a match-point pairs session each week is an important part of LCBA’s service to its members.  Since 2022 this has been delivered through LOP and anyone who has played regularly will be aware of a significant reduction in table numbers over the past three years.  In July 2022 we averaged 11.3 tables, in July 2025 we only managed 8.5, a near 30% reduction.  In recent sessions we have had as few as 7 tables.  LOP is also an important part of LCBA’s income stream, enabling us to invest in education and development, whilst still keeping the county UMS fee at only 2p.

We have therefore decided from 5th January 2026, to join our Monday LOP session with Oliver Cowan Bridge Club’s Monday session.  This should ensure a regular double figure attendance and protect the session’s long-term future.

This will have the following impact on players:

1) The session on BBO will have LOP in its name, so you can still search for LOP;

2) The number of boards will increase from 18 to 20;

3) The table money will be the current OCBC level of 4.25BBO$;

4) The start time will be 7:15pm.

Andrew Petrie – Chairman LCBA Competitions’ Working Group (WG3)

Lancashire Congress 15/16 Nov 2025

The Lancashire Congress was held at Bolholt Hotel, Bury on 15-16 Nov 2025.  Full results can be found at Oliver Cowan Site

Winners of the Pairs were Alec Smalley/ Barbara Lewis, with S Berson/F Conquest & S Davies/A Jarvis 2nd=, J Smith/J Pye 3rd. The Consolation Final was won by D Barton/R Goldenfield.
This was also the qualifier for the EBU Corwen. The leading Lancs pairs who qualify were J Smith/J Pye, S Bentley/M Blake and B Loveridge/N Sutcliffe.

The teams was won by Paul & Catherine Fegarty, Jamie & Liam. Second was M Taylor/Justin Hackett, O.Cowan & D Lilleycroft, 3rd R Goldenfield & D Barton, J Smith & J Pye.

NEBA CONGRESS SUCCESS FOR LCBA TOURNAMENT SECRETARY

Congratulations to our Tournament Secretary Oliver Cowan who, with his partner Bev Godfrey came second in the NEBA Congress Pairs and together with Liz Reese and Bohdan Hydna won the Congress Teams.

Organising LCBA Competitions

LCBA COMPETITIONS

Currently Oliver Cowan undertakes the role of Tournament Secretary on a voluntary basis, and he will continue to do so next year.  Currently he is significantly assisted in this by a number of other volunteers who run various events themselves (LOP, LOTL, LCBA Tof8, LCBA Tof4, LCBA Sim Pairs) and help Oliver to run others.  Due to resignations and other calls on volunteer resources for 2026 we are well short of the number of volunteers required to do this work.  We could of course cancel some competitions and struggle on with others but in order to provide a long term solution, that isn’t dependent on hard-to-come-by volunteers, we have decided, initially on a trial basis, to contract with Oliver’s company (OCBE Ltd) to take on the administration of many of our competitions in 2026.  If this proves satisfactory to both parties, then we will have managed to secure the LCBA Competitions’ programme for the next few years.

Andrew Petrie – LCBA Chairman

LCBA Relaxed Pairs Sun 12 Oct 2025

An LCBA Relaxed Pairs event funded by LCBA was held by Oliver Cowan at St Annes BC on Sunday 12 October 2025. Entries were full with 16 tables and there was a lovely atmosphere at this event which was intended for learners and non expert players. Congratulations to the NS winners Linda Hitchen & Deb Fairweather and EW winners Susan Kirk & Alan Taylor.  2nd NS Robert & Margaret Sloss, 2nd EW Shirley Saunders & Nicola Holding.

Cumbria/Westmoreland GP Weekend 20/21 Sep 25

The Cumbria/ Westmorland annual GP weekend took place at Kendal BC on 20-21 Sep 2025.  Congratulations to J & A Wilkins who won the teams with C Owen/N Cockerill. Second were J Smith & J Pye with D Barton & R Goldenfield. In the pairs, J Smith & J Pye were 2nd. Full results at Cumbria Westmorland GP Event

Forthcoming 2026 Nearby Events
Manchester Congress Jan 3,4 Airport Inn
Chester Congress Jan 24/25 Deva BC
EBU Spring Congress Feb 6-8 Harrogate
E Wales Bridge Weekend Feb 7-8 Newport
Manchester GP Swiss Pairs Feb 28 Altrincham
Portland Pairs Mar 29 RealBridge
Leeds Swiss Pairs May 17 Leeds
John Armstrong Swiss Pairs May 17 Deva BC
NBL 1 Jul 11 RealBridge
Manchester GP Swiss Teams Jul 26 Altrincham
Llandudno Swiss Pairs Aug 1-2 Llandudno
NBL 2 Aug 15 RealBridge
NBL 3 Sep 12 RealBridge
Isle of Man Congress Sep 11-13 Douglas
Cumbria/West Congress Sep 19-20 Kendal BC
Nottingham GP Swiss Pairs Sep 20 Spondon
Gt Northern Pairs Oct 3-4 Leeds
NBL 4 Oct 17 RealBridge
Chester Bowl Oct 18 Deva BC
Lancs Festival of bridge? Nov 13-15? Bury?
LOTL Results Sep - Dec 2025

The season Sep - Dec 2025 is now complete. Final placings can be seen via the links below.

Congratulations to the winners:

Division 1 Winners

J Smith, M Farr, R Greenhalgh, M Nicholson

Division 1 Runners Up

A & V Petrie, B Alston, C Mitchell, J Dhondy, K Dewar

Division 2 Winners

L Hitchen, D Fairweather, S Monks, V Openshaw

Division 2 Runners Up

P Vose, J Dootson, K Wood, D Thomson, B Heaton, I Bowers, B Fitzmaurice, W Sutherland

Div1               Div2

LOTL 3rd Season Sep - Dec 2025

The 3rd LOTL season 2025 is scheduled to start on 4th September 2025.

There are 2 divisions. Division 1 has 9 teams and Division 2 has 8 teams.

The fixture list can be accessed via the links below.

Div 1                  Div 2

LCBA Summer League Teams of Eight 2025

The LCBA Summer League for club Teams of Eight 2025 season is now well underway. You can view the league tables through the MyEBU section of your EBU Account or click on the links below.

Div1        Div2        Div3