Eight teams of four played in the qualifier, which consisted of an all play all movement of 7 rounds of three boards.  Each board was scored with imps, and imps result of each of the seven matches then converted to Victory Points.  Winners of the qualifier were the team of Mike Llewellyn, Megan Williams, Keith Steward and Brigid Hughes, and they will be awarded the D. and A. Brown Trophy at the AGM.

After a lunch break two separate finals were played, each of four tables.  Again each final was an all play all, this time with three matches, each of seven boards, every match being Victory-pointed.  Winners of the prestigious Championship Teams final were the Lincoln based team of Cos Corry, Michael Stafford, Bill Crymble and Colin Ryan, and they will be awarded the Dutton Challenge Cup at the AGM.  The consolation final was also won by a Lincoln based team, this time consisting of Maurice Lynn, Tina Page, Alan Millington and John Hill, and they will be awarded the Turner Brumpton Trophy.

An excellent day of bridge was enjoyed by all.  Many thanks to Rodney for scoring, and for dealing with the technology and difficulties of two simultaneous events - quite a difficult task!  The next event (on 27th April at 11.30) is a similar format only it is for pairs rather than teams.  We look forward to a good entry!

This is a competition for county clubs, who select a team of eight from their membership.  We had an excellent field of six teams, from five different clubs.  The winning club has the honour of representing the county in the Regional Finals in May.  The twelve-table movement proved a little more difficult to set up than had been appreciated, and many apologies on my part for the delay at the start; your patience was much appreciated!

All proceeded smoothly once we got going, and all players enjoyed 5 rounds of 6 boards, with every team playing every other team.  The imps on each round were totalled, and converted to a Victory Point score.  The eventual winners with 77 VPs were Louth, followed in second place by Heighington A. After the results were first published, some scoring mistakes were discovered. These were corrected and the re-calculated version is now on this website. There were no significant changes to the team results, but the cross IMPS placings were effected.

Well done to all teams, and I hope that all enjoyed the occasion.  Louth will thus represent the county in the regional final.

Many thanks to Rodney for his immense hard work on the movement and scoring!

Mark Wardell

Ten pairs contested the final, playing a full Howell movement.  The top three pairs have the opportunity to represent Lincolnshire in the Corwen Trophy (essentially the national pairs final, played over a weekend). Winners of the Bainton Trophy were Mike Llewellyn and Keith Stewart, closely followed by Pat Lucas and Derek Crumpton in second and Rob Fabian and Brian Chamberlain in third place on a split tie.

Well done to the successful pairs, and good luck to all of them in the Corwen.  Many thanks to Rodney for his diligent scoring (and giving up his Sunday!)

Sunday's event attracted a good field of 17 pairs.  This enabled us to play a full Howell, with each pair playing every other pair.  Winners of the Ladies' event were Mo Parsons and Debbie Burton (for the third year running!).  The Men's event was won (for the second year running) by Alan Millington and Graham Marshall. Congratulation to both pairs.  Many thanks to Rodney for his hard work with the scoring - all went very smoothly. 

We had a good turnout of 18 pairs for the Bainton Semi-Final playing a standard Mitchell of 9 x 3-board rounds. The event ran smoothly and was enjoyed by all. The honours go to Megan Williams & Ed Harris with a convincing victory, followed by Richard Tupper & Peter Sharman. The top 10 pairs go on to the Final, which will be an "all-play-all" movement of 36 boards and for which all pairs will receive green Masterpoints.  

A select but strong field of 11 pairs contested the annual Mixed Pairs event on a wet and windy November afternoon.  A 6 table Howell movement ensured that all played all, and all had a one-round sit-out.  The event ran extremely smoothly, and all enjoyed an afternoon of competitive and fun bridge.  The clear winners, with an impressive 62.97% were Glyn Jackson and Rodney Mitchell, with Mike Llewellyn and Megan Williams second.  The winning pair will be awarded the Hannam Challenge Cup at the AGM

Congratulations to the winners, and to all who battled through the rain and wind to take part!  Many thanks to scorer Rodney Mitchell and director Mark Wardell

The Charles Heward Trophy (Restricted Teams of Four) was held at Dunholme VH on Sunday 10th November. Five teams had entered, one from Scunthorpe BC, one from Heighington BC and three from Louth DBC.  All pairs played 28 boards from the 35 in play in four 7 board teams matches. Congratulations go to the winning Scunthorpe team of Catherine Caldow, Paul Readhead, Joan Tong & Jeremy Wong who finished well ahead of the second placed Louth team. The restricted teams consisted of a team captain of any Masterpoint rank, and three players of rank below Master (less than 5,000 points). It was very encouraging to see a good number of players making their first appearance at a county event. Everything ran smoothly and comments from the newcomers were all very positive about the venue and event format. Thanks to Mark Wardell for directing and to Cathy Platt for organising drinks and biscuits.

The Northern Bridge League had the final session of the year on the 19th Oct. It was a tough year for the Lincolnshire team. Holidays, ill health and other priorities ruled out regular players more than in previous years. It proved hard to find replacements, and we had to put out teams that were just not competitive in this league. The final league table was:

One bright spot in the final session was a sparkling performance from Brian Smith and Jackie Pfister to finish in third place in the cross IMPS table. Sadly, the rest of us could not match this.

Full league tables etc. are at the NBL Website

Detailed results are at: Cumbria County Duplicate Association

We had a good turn-out of 14 pairs.  Half of the pairs were seeded, and each seeded pair was randomly teamed up with a non-seeded pair to form seven teams of four. We thus enjoyed a multiple teams of four event, with every team playing six five-board matches.  Many congratulations to the winning team of Mike Llewellyn / Megan Williams and Maurice Lynn / Jennifer Knowler.  A convincing win, scoring 97 Victory Points out of a total of 120.  All went smoothly, with no problems.  An enjoyable afternoon's bridge!

Many thanks to Rodney Mitchell for scoring the event.

12 pairs entered and enjoyed a six table Mitchell movement.  The NS pairs and EW pairs formed two separate fields, and the event was scored as a teams event.  Within each field all six pairs had the same imaginary expert team mates (the eponymous "Ghost Pairs"), and the event was scored using IMPs.

Excellent performances from Mo Parsons and Debbie Burton (1st NS) and from Alan Millington and John Hill (1st EW); congratulations to both pairs.

Needless to say, the "Ghost Pairs" turned in a spectacular score-card!

Many thanks to Rodney for giving up his Sunday to come and score for us.  Everything went extremely smoothly.

Mark

We enjoyed a good turnout of 19 pairs for this National Pairs.  The event at Dunholme was part of a national simultaneous pairs event run by the EBU, with final results being handicapped according to each pair's average NGS.  Roy Brixton as director ensured that the event ran very smoothly, finishing about 4:10pm.  A 28 board 3/4 Howell movement was played, with no problems encountered. 

Local results and National results (click on "EBU Sims") can be seen on the LCBA website. Special congratulations to Mo Parsons / Keith Stewart, Mike James / Pauline Lee and Maurice Lynn / Jennifer Knowler who finished in the top 10 nationally, being placed 5th, 7th and 8th respectively.

Many thanks to Roy and Rodney for directing and scoring.

24 members attended the Annual General Meeting of the LCBA held on 7th July 2024.  This was followed by a 6 table  "free to enter" pairs event, starting  at about 3pm. A hesitation Mitchell movement of seven x three board rounds was set. The honours go to Mark Wardell and Jackie Pfister, closely followed by Edward Harris and Rodney Mitchell.  A fun afternoon of bridge made a fine ending to this annual event.

The leagues give Lincolnshire players the opportunity to experience some teams bridge.  The difference in scoring between teams events and standard pairs events can be stark - making your contract becomes important, with over-tricks largely irrelevant. With an excellent entry of fourteen teams of four we were able to split into two divisions.  Within a division each team played one 24 board match against every other team.  All matches were played on BBO, which everyone found very easy to use.  The final results can now be seen on the website (under "competitions").  Well done to all who took part, much fun having been had by all.  Particular congratulations to the winners of each division.

The Division 1 winners were "Rueful Rabbits", comprising Rodney Mitchell, Edward Harris, Brian Smith, Andy King and Chris Barnard.

Triumphant in Division 2 were "Four Tops", with players Louise Lewis, Patricia Donaldson, Barbara Pearce, Susan Keast and Bill Keast

The Veterans' Pairs for the Margaret Balch Cup was held at Dunholme on Sunday 23rd June. A field of 14 pairs played a Hesitation Mitchell movement of 9 x 3 board rounds. In first place overall and clear winners were Alison & Andrew Howarth. Well Done! Runners up, Maureen Parsons & Keith Stewart  2nd and Mark Wardell & Jacqueline Pfister 3rd. A great fun afternoon of bridge enjoyed by all.

County Knockout Teams - Lincoln Gold Plate 2024
Many congratulations go to the Boston Stumpers team of Richard Tupper, Peter Sharman, Janet Sharman and Lesley Parker for their success in the Lincoln Gold Plate. The team were victorious over opponents Forlorn Hope in the final, and will be presented with the Barbara Maplethorpe Trophy at the AGM. My thanks to all of the teams that took part in the Knock-out teams, and well done to all for making the events such a great success overall. Mark Wardell

The Swiss Pairs for the Gilbert Fry Memorial Cup was held at Dunholme VH on Sunday 19th May. Fourteen pairs had entered and played six 5-board rounds. Congratulations to overall winners Alison & Andrew Howarth, closely followed by Ed Harris & Kiat Huang.  A smoothly run event enjoyed by all.

A team from Louth Duplicate Bridge Club represented Lincolnshire in the regional finals of the Garden Cities held in Stamford on the 11th May 2024.  The players involved were Rodney Mitchell, Glyn Jackson, Kiat Huang, Mike Waters, Mark Wardell, Jackie Pfister, Mary Jo Mangion and Janice Troughton.   The team played 9 matches, each against another county, winning four of them.  A very pleasing result, and a great day out! Mark Wardell. 

Results can be seen here 

This is the county's premier knockout competition for teams of four. The final was played on 29th April 2024 between the Rueful Rabbits and Alford. The match was extremely close throughout: Alford eventually managed to win by just 1 imp, with the result in doubt until the last few cards of the last board. Congratulations to both teams.   The Lincoln Gold Bowl will be presented to the Alford team of Jackie Pfister, Mark Wardell, Aaron Hutton and Kiat Huang.  They also qualify to represent the county in the national finals, playing for the Pachabo Cup.

The 9-High Pairs was held at Dunholme on Sunday 28th April. Ten pairs had entered but sadly two pairs had to withdraw before the start. The remaining eight pairs played 28 boards in a full Howell movement. The hands were played out in a relaxed atmosphere.  Tea, coffee, biscuits and cake were enjoyed during the interval.  Our congratulations to Sally Hippisley & Louise Mitcham, who came out top for the second year.  A pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. 

The Third County SIM Pairs of the 23/24 season took place on Monday 25th March. Five affiliated clubs provided a total of 67 pairs of all ranks and grades. A very successful result, with the honours going to Ethel (Chris) Taylor & Catherine Caldow from Scunthorpe BC, closely followed by Chris Heames & Ian Clarke from Spalding DBC and Rodney Mitchell & Glyn Jackson from Louth DBC. (Sadly, Heighington BC used the wrong board set and cannot be included).

The annual County Championship Pairs event was run on Sunday 18th February.  A healthy turnout of 12 tables participated in the qualifying event, for the Ernest Harrison Trophy. The top 10 pairs then competed in the Championship Pairs Final for the Arthur Wilson trophy, awarded to the overall winners. The remainder of the field played in the Championship Pairs Consolation Final, for the Bell trophy. An enjoyable day was had by all. We did experience a problem with the scoring system, and many thanks to all the players for their patience and understanding while we attempted to resolve the problem. Apologies for the fact that the results were a little delayed. Many thanks to Roy for his tremendous hard work at processing the results as quickly as he did. Congratulations to the various winners, who were as follows:

Arthur Wilson Trophy (for the Championship Pairs final):      Mo Parsons and Debbie Burton
Bell Trophy (for the Championship Pairs Consolation final):  Aaron Hutton and Kiat Huang
Ernest Harrison Trophy (for the qualifier):                              Rodney Mitchell and Mike Waters (beat Alison and Andrew Howarth on a split tie)
Margaret Briggs Trophy (highest pair both below Master):    Jeremy Wong and Helen Clapham
Lucy Osborne Trophy (highest senior pair):                           Alison & Andrew Howarth