| 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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| EBU Seniors Congress Swiss Pairs |
Lincolnshire's Graham Marshall from the Louth Duplicate/Central/Alford clubs recorded the very strong result of 4th in the annual EBU Seniors Congress Swiss Pairs in Eastbourne at the weekend, with his partner James Bond. This is a tremendous result, earning them 2.13 green points, but Graham also performed exceptionally well in the Swiss Teams on the Sunday coming 4th with James in the X-IMPs ranking of all pairs, in a very strong field, pulling their team of four up to mid-way in the field. A magnificent set of results!
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| Tollemache Qualifier November 2019 |
We would like to get started on selecting a Tolle team for 2019 a bit earlier this year. The main reason is so that we can get accommodation booked in good time and that would mean that we can stay at the hotel venue. So, if you would like to be considered for selection for the 2019 team then throw your hat into the ring and let me know that you are interested. Hopefully we can get the side sorted out in the next two or three months.The event takes place on November 16/17th at the De Vere Hotel, Staverton, Daventry. Glynn
Player's availability for inter-county fixtures and tournaments are recorded in our squad tracker "Lincolnshire CBA Representative Teams: Player Availability" which you can click to access. All players in the squad have write access. And if you'd like to join the squad (all levels welcome!) please contact Glynn or Kiat.
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| Inter County Bridge |
* 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)
* 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)
The next event is
* Northern Bridge League: 1 x Team of 8: 2nd of 4 Saturdays, July-Oct 2019 - Yorks/Lancs
The following pairs represented the County in the 1st of the 4 fixtures in the Northern Bridge League A Division. Details here.
Brian Smith & Ron Wall, Kiat Huang & Aaron Hutton, Nick Hunter & Ruby Schnalke, Paul Wokes & John Brocklehurst
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.
Details for the above competitions can be found on the EBU & Inter County Event Calendar under menu item EBU Information.
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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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| 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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