It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of George McConkey, former President of Southport Bridge Club, who died on 9th February 2026.

George was an exceptional bridge player, mentor and ambassador for the game. Always a tough but fair opponent, and a forthright yet supportive partner, he was generous with his time and guidance to others.

Before becoming President, George served as Manager of the Club, where he oversaw a period of significant growth and helped to establish SBC as one of the most successful clubs in England. Over several decades he represented SBC and Lancashire County with great distinction, especially when partnering his wife Maureen.

George’s wisdom about the game, and knowledge of the history of SBC was unsurpassed. He will be greatly missed by all who had the pleasure of playing with him, learning from him and knowing him. Condolences to his family.

Further details regarding funeral arrangements will be shared in due course.

WEEKLY EVENTS
LOP/OCPC/FOBC Monday, Friday, Saturday 7pm (BBO)

MULTI-SESSION EVENTS
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.

Contact LCBA Tourny Secretary, Oliver Cowan at ocbridgecomps@gmail.com for further details

The annual Chester Congress event at Deva Bridge Club took place on 24-25th January.  The pairs was run as a Swiss Event on Saturday.  Well done to Bob Loveridge & Nick Sutcliffe who won the Event ahead of Boris Ewart & Tracy Sherman.  In the Swiss Teams on Sunday John Holland, Jackie Pye, Alan Mould and John Hassett won by a large margin ahead of Rhona Goldenfield, Kath Nelson, David Barton and Jeff Smith.  Results are here.

LCBA THROUGH THE FRENDLY ONLINE BRIDGE CLUB

 ONLINE IMPROVERS' LESSONS

THURSDAYS AT 9AM FROM 8^TH 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 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 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 5^th 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)