| Coronavirus |
Over the past few days it has become clear that many bridge clubs in Leicestershire have suspended their activities due to the possible impact of the coronavirus. I am writing to let you know what is happening at county level.
LCBA has suspended its competitions until further notice. This means in practice that we will not be holding the Gimson Trophy for pairs, the Mercury Trophy for students, the Yates Cup, the Hyman Crammer Trophy and the Joyce Cup. We will not hold the final round of the Stanley Trophy and will determine the winners on the basis of the rounds that have been played so far. We hope to be able to play the final two rounds of the Pairs League in the autumn. In addition, we think it unlikely that the teams of 8 league can be completed. That means that we cannot hold the Samani knock-out, because the handicapping depends on final league position. And there is little point in holding the League Forum if we cannot complete the league, quite apart from the implications of holding meetings. We think it unlikely that we will be able to go ahead with the AGM in June, and plan to keep the matter under review with the intention of holding it later in the year if possible. I am sorry to be the bearer of such bad news, but I am sure you will appreciate that the bridge playing population is by and large of an age at which the government has advised self-isolation, and we must take that advice seriously. I will of course update you as and when the position changes. You are welcome to forward this letter to your members to keep them in the picture.
In the meantime your members may be interested in an email I received from the EBU about online bridge:
“In the current circumstances, many of our members who would ordinarily not consider playing online bridge are thinking that it might currently be the best thing on offer to fill their time at home. With this in mind we have written an article on the website giving some information about the options, as well as a further article about the EBU games we are going to run on Bridgebase Online, starting this evening.
We do hope this information will help you find an online game that suits you, but we all need to remember that there will be many people playing (and directing) online for the first time, so we will need to be a bit patient while everyone finds their feet.”
You can find the EBU website at: https://www.ebu.co.uk/
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions about this letter. I shall be missing my regular games of bridge so I understand how your members will feel. But the most important thing is that everyone keeps safe.
Yours sincerely
Dave Pollard
General Secretary
17th March 2020
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| Josephs Bowl and Butterworth-Langley |
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| Leicestershire Cup and Leicestershire Cup Plate |
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The Leicestershire Cup and Plate are now at the Final Stage. The Cup final is Teams Rees vs Krantz and the Plate final Teams Wright vs Thompson. Results and the draws for the Cup and Plate can be found in the links below (Updated 25th March 2020)
The Leicestershire Cup Final is Team Rees vs Team Krantz
The Leicestershire Plate was won by Team Wright (Anne & Steve Wright, Jenny Grant and Bharat Thakrar). Runners up were Team Thompson (John Thompson, Len Kvietkauskas, Alan Lord, John Myles and David Pettit).
Leicestershire Cup results and drawLink to Leicestershire Cup draw
Leicestershire Cup Plate results and drawLink to plate draw
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| Leicestershire Green Point Event 7th March |
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A good entry of 34 pairs enjoyed the event. We owe thanks to the directing team of John Wilcox, Steve Wright and Bill Barclay (the event ran very smoothly) ; the administration team of Robert Northage and Judy Hill; and Kate Boulter and her catering team (excellent food).
The top 7 pairs were dominated by Leicestershire players, well done:
- 1. Frank Littlewood & David Musson
- 2. Mary Johnson & Bob Parker
- 3= Peter Halford & Andy Mackriell
- 3= Sandy Davies & Roman Gembicki
- 5. Dick & Lucy Pathan
- 6. Robert Northage & Ken Smith
- 7. Carolyn Fisher & Pat Watson
John & Tim Glover finished 10th and Lyn Hilton & Irene Krantz 11th.
Full resultsLink to results page.
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| Buckby & Olga Cups |
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The Buckby Cup and Olga Cup were played on 26th Feb and were competed by 15 and 9 pairs respectively.
Well done to the top 3 pairs in the Buckby Cup:
- 1. Ian Bruce & Simon Stokes
- 2. John Glover & Bharat Thakrar
- 3. Peter Halford & Andy Mackriell
and in the Olga Cup:
- 1. Lyn Hilton & Irene Krantz
- 2= Val Scott & Pam Smith
- 2= Marjorie Gilbertson & Judy Hill
The non-expert prize winners in the Olga Cup were Althea Bandy & Linda Lord
Bucky Cup Full resultsLink to Buckby Cup results page.
Olga Cup Full resultsLink to Olga Cup results page.
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| Wilde Cup |
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Congratulations to Team Carol Hulse (Linda Dunwoodie, Joy Hobbs and Jennie Rea) who were winners of the Wilde Cup on 12th February 2020. The event is an imp scoring teams of four event for less experienced players and we were delighted to see 10 teams enter. Runners up were Team Chris Biggs (Chris Hornerand, Jane Smith and Martin Stone). The same hands were played in both the Stanley Trophy and the Wilde Cup so those competing in the Wilde Cup can see how they compared with the scores in the Stanley Trophy.
Wilde Cup Full resultsLink to Wilde Cup results page.
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| Ben Norton selected for England |
We are delighted to hear that Ben Norton has been selected to play for England with Mike Bell in the European Championships in June. They finished 3rd in the final trial (having qualified through two previous events) so they were not guaranteed a place in the 6 man squad but the selectors went ahead and selected them as the 3rd pair. Congratulations.
Link to EBU European Open Trial ResultsLink to EBU results
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| Executive committee minutes |
The latest committee meeting minutes 2nd December 2019 are now posted under LCBA Information > minutes.
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| Tollemache Qualifier 2019/2020 |
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The Tollemache Cup qualifier 2019 was held at the Staverton Estate Hotel, Daventry on 16/17th November.
The Leicestershire team was Paul Bowyer, Ian Bruce, Colin Dean, Duncan Happer, Ben Norton, Jim Mason, Simon Stokes and Nick Stevens with Dick Pathan (npc).
There were 4 groups of 9 counties in each, from which the top two would qualify for the final.
Leicestershire were drawn into a group with Cambs & Hunts (last years winners), Wiltshire, Devon, Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire , Channel Islands and the North East.
Devon were the winners of our group on 117 VPs, with Cambs & Hunts 2nd with 104 VPs. After a poor start on Saturday Leicestershire recovered well to finish in 3rd place with 95 VPs.
The qualifiers from the other groups were:
- Manchester with 116 VPs and Middlesex 102 VPs
- Kent with 108 VPs and Surrey 106 VPs
- Berks & Bucks with 115 VPs and Gloucestershire 99 VPs
Tollemache Group B table.Link to Group B table
Tollemache results.Link to Tollemache results
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| Midland Counties League - 13 consecutive wins for first team |
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The sixth and penultimate 2019/2020 Midland Counties match was on 23rd Feb. We played Derbyshire (Home) and the results were :
| First team (Dawes) |
Won 14-6 (+57 imps) |
| Second team (Porter) |
Won 15-5 (+76 imps) |
| Third team (Markham) |
Lost 8-12 (-35 imps) |
More detailed scores can be found through the results section. For fixtures, results, table and archive information refer to the Midland Counties League Link to Midland Counties League page page (in Competitions / League menu). The Dawes team are now one win away from completing two consecutive seasons with 7 wins out of 7. Well done.
Our closest rivals in the Dawes are Gloucestershire and they beat Warwickshire 18-2 to go 2 VPs ahead of Leicestershire with the two teams playing each other in the final match. Should be a great match with Leicestershire needing an 11-9 win! Good luck.
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| Magnificent win in Inter-County League Finals |
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This is a one-day teams of eight event open to the champion counties of each division of the five Regional Inter-County teams of eight events:
- The Northern Bridge League
- The Midland Counties League
- The Eastern Counties League
- The Western League (South West counties)
- The Metropolitan Cup (South Eastern counties)
The final was played on Sun 16th June and Leicestershire qualified for this competition by winning the 1st division of the Midland Counties League (Dawes).
Leicestershire won the competition, playing against teams from Manchester, Cambs & Hunts, Middlesex and Devon.
The team representing Leicestershire was Duncan Happer & Ben Norton, Ian Bruce & Simon Stokes, Colin Dean & Nick Stevens and Jim Mason & Dick Pathan.
Leicestershire last won the Dawes in the 2006/2007 season, when they also went on to win the inaugural National Inter-County league finals in that year.
More info, including photo and full results can be found via Ian Mitchell (of the EBU) on his web site (click here).Link to Inter-County results page
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| The Dawes Trophy returns to LCBA |
Our County 1st team squad were presented with the Dawes Trophy at the AGM. A great achievement winning all seven matches in the process. Well done.
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| AGM photo gallery 2019 |
The LCBA Annual General Meeting photo gallery (click here) Link to AGM photos is now available. Guest of Honour was Robert Missenden on Ashby Bridge Club's 50th year. When the gallery is loaded click play to go through the slideshow.
Pat Beasley stands down as General Secretary after five years, but stays on the committee as Membership Secretary.
Henry Cooklin retired from the Committee after 31 years as Treasurer.
Thank you Pat and Henry.
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