| LINCOLNSHIRE CONTRACT BRIDGE ASSOCIATION |
 Welcome to the Lincolnshire Contract Bridge Association web site.
The Association was founded in 1946. Its aims are to promote and further bridge in Lincolnshire, to organise competitions in the County and to participate in matches with other counties.
Lincolnshire Bridge Clubs
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| BAINTON TROPHY |
Bainton Trophy
The Bainton Trophy final was played at The City of Lincoln BC on Sunday 16th February. The winners were Mike Llewellyn & Megan Williams closely pressed by Mo Parsons & Maurice Ladlow. 39 boards were played in a 6½ table Full Howell movement carefully arranged over 9 tables so that 3 sitters could be accommodated. Our thanks go to Stuart Knox who ably directed the event and produced instant results.
The next LCBA open event is the Swiss Pairs, to be held at Dunholme Village Hall on Saturday 14th March.
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| BAINTON TROPHY SEMI-FINAL |
Bainton Trophy Semi-Final
The Bainton Trophy Semi-final was held at Dunholme on 2nd February. The 29 pairs who had qualified in their Club heats played a simple 30 board Mitchell movement with an arrow switch on the last two rounds. The winning pair was Andy Lewis & Roy Brixton closely followed by Simon & Joanne Hill. The top 14 available pairs will play in the final at City of Lincoln BC on 16th February. A great afternoon of bridge for all.
Thanks to all those who supported this event, to our Director, Helen Barr and our Competitions Secretary Glynn Elwick for producing another very enjoyable afternoon of bridge, and to Gloria for producing a very appetising buffet lunch.
The next open event will be the County Swiss Pairs on SATURDAY 14th March at 11:30am at Dunholme Village Hall
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| MEN'S & LADIES' PAIRS |
| Men's & Ladies' Pairs |
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The Men's & Ladies' Pairs event was held at Dunholme on the 19th January. Twelve Men's Pairs and five Ladies' Pairs combined in a single event of 81/2 tables playing a 32 board hesitation Bowman. Winners of the Men's Pairs were our Competition Secretary, Glynn Elwick partnered by Pete Stackhouse on 61.22%, hotly pursued by Andy Lewis & Roy Brixton on 60.71%. Clear winners of the Ladies' Pairs were our Secretary Sue Barraclough ably partnered by Brigid Hughes on 54.34%. It was another great afternoon of bridge enjoyed by all.
Thanks to all those who supported this event, to our Director, Stuart Knox and our Competitions Secretary Glynn Elwick for producing another very enjoyable afternoon of bridge, and to Gloria for producing a very appetising buffet lunch. Special thanks also to Stuart Knox for his perseverence in setting up our bridgemate service for the first time. No more paper travellers!
The next few events are somewhat restricted. The Premier League on 26th January is by invitation only, the Bainton Semi-final on 2nd February is for qualifying pairs from the Club heats and The Bainton Final 16th February is for the winning semi-finalists. The next open event is the County Swiss Pairs Championship on 14th March at Dunholme. Scunthorpe Bridge Club is also hosting a National Masters Pairs competition on 1st March, open to players below the rank of Regional Master.
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| All Comers Pairs |
| January All Comers Pairs |
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The first County event of 2020, the January All Comers Pairs was held at Dunholme on the 5th. Thirteen experienced players together with thirteen less experienced players produced a tightly fought 32 board contest, the eventual victors being our President, Adrian Underwood, partnered by David Minnis, and with close runners up Margaret McLeod and Hazel Shipley. It was a great afternoon of bridge enjoyed by all.
Thanks to all those who supported this event, to our Director and Competitions Secretary Glynn Elwick for producing another very enjoyable afternoon of bridge, and to Gloria for producing a very appetising buffet lunch.
The next event is the Men's and Ladies' Pairs at Dunholme at 12:00 on 19th January, closely followed by the Bainton Trophy semi-final on 2nd February
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| Garden Cities Qualifier |
The County heat of the Garden Cities Qualifier event was held at Scunthorpe BC on Sunday December 8th. The event is a teams of Eight competition where the players represent their Clubs. Only three of the Affiliated Clubs in the County provided a team which is a truly disappointing response from our Clubs. Scunthorpe provided three teams and Louth Duplicate and Heighington provided a team each. None of the other Clubs raised a team. Each team played four matches of eight boards each match so that meant 32 boards in total. The event was well directed by Stuart Knox and was played in a very friendly atmosphere. After all the dust had settled and the results had been collected and checked it was confirmed that Scunthorpe (Llewellyn) had won the heat with a score of 60 VP's and runners-up Louth Duplicate scored 52 VP's. This means that Scunthorpe have won the County heat for the first time in several years. They now go forward to represent the County at the Regional Final at Bradford BC in April next year. The Scunthorpe team comprised Stuart Knox & Keith Stewart, Pete Stackhouse & Glynn Elwick, Mike Llewellyn & Megan Williams, Andy Lewis & Roy Brixton. Well done to all.
The next event will be the All Comers Pairs at 12:00 on 5th January at Dunholme.
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| ALL COMERS PAIRS |
Eleven pairs turned out for the All Comers Duplicate Pairs at Dunholme Village Hall yesterday ( November 24th ). Everybody had a very enjoyable time during the duplicate session directed by Stuart Knox. Not only did Stuart Direct the event but, partnered by Jeremy Wong, they won the event in considerable style scoring an impressive 67%. To make it a good session for Scunthorpe BC, runners-up were Andrew & Louise Lewis who scored 58.83%. Gloria Elwick provided an excellent selection of refreshments for the half-time interval. Many players look forward more to the interval than to the bridge! Thank you, Gloria.
Next event Garden Cities Heat, Sunday December 8th at SCUNTHORPE BRIDGE CLUB starting at 12.00. Teams of Eight. Please let Glyn know about your Club's participation asap. Players must have been a member of their Club for at least three months. Players please note that refreshments will be limited to sausage rolls/mince pies/tea and coffee.
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| RANDOM SEEDED TEAMS |
The Random Seeded Teams was held at Dunholme Village Hall on 3rd November 2019. 22 pairs had entered, making up 11 teams of seeded and unseeded pairs, randomly selected by our director, Helen. Another exceptionally good turnout, and a great fun event. We played ten 3 board rounds with a mid session refreshment break. Congratulations go to the winning team of seeded pair Mark Wardell & Mark Wain and unseeded pair Zubair Ahmed & Brenda Louise Bassford, closely pursued by the team of seeded pair Kiat Huang & Rodney Mitchell with unseeded pair Helen Bailey & Jeff Jeffery.
Thanks to all those who supported this event, to our director Helen Barr and our Competitions Secretary Glynn Elwick for producing another very enjoyable afternoon of bridge, and to Gloria for producing a very appetising buffet lunch.
The next event is the All Comers Pairs at Dunholme at 12 noon on Sunday 24th November, followed by the Garden Cities Qualifier at Scunthorpe BC on Sunday 8th December
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| GHOST PAIRS |
The Ghost Pairs was held at Dunholme Village Hall on 13th October 2019. 24 pairs had entered. A great opening event for the season with an exceptionally good turnout, which, it is hoped, will be repeated. We played twelve 3 board rounds in a Mitchell share and relay movement, with a half hour refreshment break. Congratulations to N/S winners Mark Wardell & Kiat Huang, closely pursued by Andy Lewis & Roy Brixton, and E/W winners Ron Wall and Edward Harris, with John Gaunt & Debbie Burton not far behind.
Thanks to all those who supported this event, particularly to our director Stuart Knox, who spent much time sorting out and correcting all the results except one, to our Competitions Secretary Glynn Elwick for producing another very enjoyable afternoon of bridge, and to Gloria for producing a very appetising buffet lunch.
The next event is the Random Seeded Teams at Dunholme at 12 noon on 3rd November.
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| Inter County Bridge |
* Northern Bridge League: 1 x Team of 8: 12th October 2019 at Bolton BC
The Lincolnshire team converged on Bolton from multiple directions and all arrived in good time. The Bolton club is in a quirky old building but the main room provided excellent playing conditions and the half time food provided was equally good. Our bridge was not so good, and the team finished in last place on the day, but we won against two teams and scored 52 VPs which was our second best result of the series and a big improvement over the 23 VPs of the previous event. In the cross IMPS pairs rankings, Aaron and Rodney were placed 3rd , and John and Paul 5th which was pleasing result in a very strong field. The overall result of the league was a win for Manchester, with Yorkshire second. Lincolnshire finished last, but not by a large margin. We had one fantastic performance on the second weekend, but this was not enough to counterbalance the other three results. (Thanks to Rodney Mitchell for this contribution). Full results, analysis and hands are on:
* Northern Bridge League: 1 x Team of 8: 17th August 2019 – at Brierfield (Burnley)
The four pairs who travelled more in hope than expectation to Brierfield near Burnley to represent Lincolnshire in the second round of the Northern Bridge League on Saturday 17th August found the lengthy journey to be more than worthwhile as we emerged triumphant at the end of the day! Lying third at half time, we kept up the good work and knew by the end we had done well, but even so to be declared the winners to the general amazement of all concerned (not least ourselves!) was a very pleasant surprise. Against strong teams from Yorkshire, Manchester and Lancashire we won four out of six matches, only losing the other two narrowly, for a VP total of 75 out of 120, a comfortable 8 VPs clear of second place. We were also way ahead on imps. There were solid performances all round, but especially from the scratch partnership of Kiat Huang and Andy Lewis who were top of the cross-imp ranking list out of all 28 pairs, a magnificent achievement, congratulations! Their highlight was being one of only three pairs out of twelve to bid and make the grand slam on board 5 of session 2. After two rounds Lincolnshire have now moved up to fifth in the cumulative table, let's aim for another strong performance in the next round at Bradford in September. (Thanks to Mike Llewellyn for this contribution)
* Northern Bridge League: 1 x Team of 8: 13th July 2019 – at Sheffield BC
Lincolnshire joined the 'big boys' after a few years absence- many familiar faces, a few years older! and nice to see Graham Jepson again, as match held at his bridge club in Sheffield. The general standard was higher than last week (John Holland and Brian Senior were there) but one noticeable feature is the pressure exerted by high risk, high pressure bids. On one hand a 2 Heart opening ("both majors, less than opening strength") was a 4-4 shape 6 count!! One of the main difficulties in our county is the relative inexperience against such tactics and in high pressure situations against strong opposition, which can only be rectified by playing and practicing. Obviously we made quite a few mistakes collectively, but as in tennis there are 'forced' and 'unforced' errors! Despite our drubbings by Yorkshire it was an enjoyable day, winning 2 and losing 2 of our other 4 matches but two 0-20 hammerings, and thanks to Kiat for his enthusiasm and organisation in setting things up for our participating in the event. (Thanks to Brian Smith for this contribution)
* Midland Counties Challenge Bowl: 2 x Teams of 4: 7th July 2019 - Spondon
With two teams (Brian Smith & Ron Wall, Maureen Parsons & Maurice Ladlow, Kiat Huang & Aaron Hutton, Nick Hunter & Ruby Schnalke) we represented Lincolnshire in the Midlands Counties Bowl in Spondon on Sunday the 7th July. After the first half we were hopeful for more having been situated at 2nd and 4th position. But in the second half we lost another position and ended up 3rd and 5th in the ranking. An acceptable result of 16 playing teams from 10 counties. (Thanks to Ruby for this contribution)
Follow this link for the full results
* President's Cup: 1 x Team of 10: 29th-30th June 2019 – at Bradford BC
A team from Lincolnshire accepted an invitation to represent the County, for the first time in many years, at the President' Cup weekend, held in Bradford at the end of June. The President's Cup is a teams of eight event played for by, mainly, Northern Counties. Competing in this event was the first step in a new County initiative, led by Glynn Elwick and Kiat Huang, to build a bigger Lincolnshire squad that can participate in more representative events and, ultimately, help us all play better bridge. It was a high standard event but the team fought hard coming 8th out of 9 Counties. Our team was welcomed warmly by the other Counties and it proved a very pleasant competition. We hope attendance at the President's Cup will become an annual fixture. Even more important was a spirit of togetherness amongst the six pairs who took part. Many thanks to Kiat especially for ensuring all the arrangements and helping to build a sociable environment in which to play. (Thanks to Chris Phillips for this contribution)
The following pairs represented the County in the 1st of the 4 fixtures in the Northern Bridge League A Division.
Brian Smith & Ron Wall, Kiat Huang & Aaron Hutton, Nick Hunter & Ruby Schnalke, Paul Wokes & John Brocklehurst
The followiing pairs represented the County in the 2nd of the 4 fixtures at Brierfield on 17th August.
Malcolm Hammond & Mike Waters, Keith Stewart & Andrew Green, Kiat Huang & Andrew Lewis, Mike Llewellyn & Glynn Elwick
The following pairs represented the County in the 3rd of the 4 fixtures in the Northern Bridge League A Division.
Kiat Huang & Andrew Lewis, Nick Hunter & Ruby Schnalke, Paul Wokes & John Brocklehurst, Rodney Mitchell & Aaron Hutton
The followiing pairs represented the County in the 4th of the 4 fixtures at Brierfield on 17th August.
Rodney Mitchell & Aaron Hutton, Nick Hunter & Ruby Schnalke, Paul Wokes & John Brocklehurst, Jeff Jeffery & David Pettengell
We would encourage all County players who are interested in these, or other, competitions to make themselves known to Glynn and Kiat. Through continued participation we can put our County on the bridge map and, hopefully, start to contend. Selection for the teams are open to all and already we have been in touch with more than 30 of the most experienced and in-form players in the county. Additionally, if you and your partner wish to be considered please contact either Glynn or Kiat who will add you both to our availability checker (so you can show for which events you are available). We are also interested in growing opportunities to represent the county at all levels of ability from improvers up to advanced players and this could take the form of inter- or intra-county events between clubs or representative teams.
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* Northern Bridge League: 1 x Team of 8: 12th October 2019 at Bolton BC
The Lincolnshire team converged on Bolton from multiple directions and all arrived in good time. The Bolton club is in a quirky old building but the main room provided excellent playing conditions and the half time food provided was equally good. Our bridge was not so good, and the team finished in last place on the day, but we won against two teams and scored 52 VPs which was our second best result of the series and a big improvement over the 23 VPs of the previous event. ..........
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| Lincs Gold & Lincs League |
Lincs Gold Cup
The Lincs Gold Cup is the main County teams competition and is a knockout event and is played for Green Points. The draw for this event has been made by your webmaster. The home team (first named) provides refreshments for the away team. The home team captain should initiate the match with the away team captain. The preliminary round is 24 boards (or 32 by agreement of captains). The semi-final is 32 boards (or 40 by agreement of captains). The final is 40 boards (or 48 by agreement of captains). The preliminary round and the semi-finals should be played before the end of this year. The winning team can go forward and represent the County in the Pachabo Cup later in the season. The Draw is:
Preliminary Round: Wardell v Parsons
Semi-finals: Wardell or Parsons v Smith and Elwick v Lewis
Final: Wardell or Parsons or Smith v Elwick or Lewis
Lincs League
We have five teams for the league so each team will play one match against the other teams, two at home and two away. Matches of 24 boards are to be played in two stanzas, 12 against one pair and 12 against the other pair. The result in IMPs to be converted to VPs. Results (and the team members who played in each match) to be sent to Glynn after each match. The home team (first named) provides refreshments for the away team. The home team captain should initiate the match with the away team captain. The matches may be played in any order and must be completed by Easter 2020. Please try to get two played by the end of this year to relieve pressure later. The fixtures are:
Elwick v Lewis Elwick v Parsons
Smith v Elwick Wardell v Elwick
Lewis v Parsons Lewis v Smith
Wardell v Lewis Parsons v Smith
Parsons v Wardell Smith v Wardell
Teams for the Gold Cup and the League are identical as follows:
Mark Wardell (Captain, 01507 480515, m.s.wardell@open.ac.uk), Kiat Huang, Nick Hunter, Ruby Schnalke
Brian Smith (Captain, 01472 505239, briangsmith14@gmail.com), Ron Wall, Rodney Mitchell, Edward Harris & Alan Brown
Maureen Parsons (Captain, 01526 342047, m.parsons870@btinternet.com), Maurice Ladlow, Debbie Burton, John Gaunt & Dennis Mellor
Glynn Elwick (Captain, 01652 654872, glynglo@gmail.com), Mike Llewellyn, Pete Stackhouse, Phil Harland, Stuart Knox & Keith Stewart
Andrew Lewis (Captain, 01724 488871, lewis2906@hotmail.co.uk), Roy Brixton, Margaret McLeod, David Raddish, Simon Hill & Joanne Hill
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Lincs Gold Cup
The Lincs Gold Cup is the main County teams competition and is a knockout event and is played for Green Points. The draw for this event has been made by your webmaster. The home team (first named) provides refreshments for the away team. ..........
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| Local Primary School wins at Stamford Inter-School Tournament |
Cathy Platt reports a wonderful result at the Stamford Inter-School Bridge tournament run on Friday 21st June 2019, where Ellison-Boulters CofE Primary School , located 5 miles from Lincoln, won 1st Prize! (N/S Main Bridge Category)
Cathy was bouncing with delight and says: "There were 100 children taking part in this event from 12 different schools, mostly in the south of the county, plus Peterborough area. This school Ellison-Boulters is in a village called Scothern, 4 miles NE of Lincoln. They have 30 minute lunchtime sessions weekly. Just think what Lincolnshire kids could do with a structured programme of after school clubs?"
Lincolnshire county player and U26 England squad member, Aaron Hutton, assisted at the event with his team-mate Kripa Panchagnula recollecting: "It was a wonderful event, with 7 tables of bridge and many more tables of minibridge. It was great to help ensure the event ran smoothly and I enjoyed watching the children try to decide how to bid and how to play their contract. The children had a break half-way through, in which they were excitedly comparing their results trying to work out who had more plus scores. The event also allowed the helpers and Alan Shillitoe to spot potential talent which they can try to push forward, some of which I heard have been invited to U16 training sessions. My personal favourite moment was when I saw a young girl finesse the T with KJ96 opposite Q8, which worked out perfectly on the hand."
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Cathy Platt reports a wonderful result at the Stamford Inter-School Bridge tournament run on Friday 21st June 2019, where Ellison-Boulters CofE Primary School , located 5 miles from Lincoln, won 1st Prize! (N/S Main Bridge Category)
Cathy was bouncing with delight and says: "There were 100 children taking part in this event from 12 different schools, mostly in the south of the county, plus Peterborough area. This school Ellison-Boulters is in a village called Scothern, 4 miles NE of Lincoln. They have 30 minute lunchtime sessions weekly. ..........
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| AGM & Herbert Trophy Pairs |
The Association's AGM was held at Dunholme on Sunday 2nd June. Turn out was good with more than 30 members attending. The Officers' reports were generally good, attendance at the County events was stable or improving and plans are afoot for the County to participate in Northern and Midland League events once more. We also look forward to our Vice-Chair's report following his visit to the EBU meeting at the Chelsea Bridge Club in May. Paul Wokes has stepped down as Secretary and we give him our thanks for all his years of service to the County. He will be replaced by Sue Barraclough. All other officers and committee members remain as last year. Following the AGM, 16 pairs fought for the Bill & Eileen Herbert Trophy. Congratulations to the winners, Maureen Parsons & Maurice Ladlow, closely pursued by Chris Phillips & Alan Millington.
Thanks to all those who supported this event, and to our Competitions Secretary Glynn Elwick for producing another very enjoyable afternoon of bridge.
The events for next year will be published as soon as the Committee has approved them.
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