It’s that time of the year again when your annual membership subscription to The Manchester Bridge Club becomes due. The committee have decided to reward our lovely, loyal members that pay their subs in a timely manner with a £10 discount! Yep, that’s right, you read it correctly. Subs paid after 31st December will remain the same as last year at £50 per person but only £40 if paid before 1st January 2023. You can pay by cash or card at any f2f session or by online banking with the reference of your name followed by the word subs.

The Manchester Bridge Club Bank details are –

Nat West

Sort Code 01-02-02   

Account Number  21867577

I am sure that many of you will remember Ben who taught a fair few of us until his untimely death in July 2015.

Ben was a gifted teacher with an easy laugh and the loveable knack of making students feel instantly at ease. In short, he made learning fun!

Not only was Ben a talented bridge player, he was also a renowned and skilled juggler. He was instrumental is developing the 'Juggler's Club' bidding system which is still used by several players in the County and elsewhere.

His mother, Pru Jupe, has recently donated a trophy in her son's memory which will be contested annually at The Manchester Bridge Club

The trophy will be awarded by Ben's mother to the pair in 1st place at our duplicate on

Wednesday 12th July at 7:15pm

Cheese & biscuits as well as normal refreshments will be available.

Members £4/Non Members £6

Numbers will be limited to 14 tables. To ensure your place please register using the form below

The Manchester Bridge Club is organising a charity Bridge Duplicate event on BBO on Thursday April 13th at 2pm

The cost to enter will be £10 per player and all the table money collected will be donated to St Ann's Hospice

If you want to play in this then please use the form below to enter your details, and send your £10 entry money to:

        Account Name:   Ann Wood

        Sortcode:           16 14 20

        Account No:       10129124

Do not worry if you do not have a partner for this event, a host is available and partners will be found!

Any queries, please contact Ann Wood margaretannwood55@gmail.com or phone 07980 529 080

The Manchester Bridge Club is supporting the Charity Breast Cancer Now this August

A big THANK YOU to all those that supported our Afternoon Cream Tea on Tuesday August 22nd.  You raised an amazing £650 for the charity

Please use the form below to book your place in this year's Santa Claus Pairs Event to be held on Sunday 17th December

The entry fee this year will be £15 for member and £20 for non members.

We are not collecting money in advance, it creates a lot of unneccessary admin, and will collect money on the day - cash, card and online account are all acceptable

If you know that you have a playing partner for this event, please provide their details on the form - you may either pay for both people or each person may pay separately

If you don't have a pre-arranged partner don't worry, you can still register - we will endeavour to organise a partner for you but not guaranteed.

Registration is now closed.

"HOP ALONG" TO OUR THURSDAY NIGHTS 

It's a popular 18 board event, 6 x 3 boards on IntoBridge in the usual fun format. We start at 7.15pm so we should be finished by 9.30pm.

It's been organised so that those of you who are working during the day have an evening session to join in with so please, everyone, continue to support this.

See you on Thursday nights at 7.10pm for a 7.15pm start!! 

Our IntoBridge Swiss pairs is a true Swiss movement and guaranteed to be a friendly and competitive evening!

Josh Clarke, who used to teach and help out at our club before work meant he had to move away from Manchester, got married this week at Brentford Catholic Cathedral in Essex.  We still keep in touch with Josh via online Bridge. David Debbage went to Josh's wedding. We wish Josh and his wife, Anita, all the best for the future.

Tom and Helen are pleased to announce the safe arrival of their first child Hannah Marie on September 9th.

One of our members recently received an email purporting to be from the late Sam Herman and inviting them to open the attached file (..... do you remember the people in the attached photo....)

So this is a reminder to not open links or attachments in unexpected or unsolicited emails

The club will not send emails with links or attachments, instead we will invite you to go to the home page of the club's website where the relevant information will be available 

After nearly two years of outstanding commitment to the Club in her capacity as Bridge Officer, Anne Naylor has decided to step back from her role and reduce her time spent at the Club generally so she can indulge in other interests and spend more time with her family.

The Committee wishes to thank Anne for all she has done to help the Club and our members. She will be missed, having been a regular playing member for many years and fixture at the Club almost every day we are open. She did much work behind the scenes, which was essential to the efficient management of the Club.   

We wish her well.

We are sorry to report the death of Sid Travers on Sunday 26th November at the age of 92. 

Sid was a member of our Club for almost 50 years had competed in the Manchester area for over 70 years, winning his first county trophy, the Manchester Teams, in 1955 and his final one, the Mixed Pairs with Eve Lighthill, in 2007. 

In between he won the league once, the Higson Cup twice, two further wins in the Mixed Pairs with Eve and a win in the Manchester Pairs again with Eve.  Nationally, he won the Life Master Pairs with Tracy Sherman in 2000. 

Sid represented Manchester in many county matches especially in the Northern League and won a National B title in 2010.  He was a regular competitor at both our Club and Altrincham Bridge Club. 

He was a graduate of Manchester University and was a solicitor by profession.

Our condolences to his widow Marice, sons Harry and Max and family.

Our Chairman, Paul Murray and fellow TMBC member, Andrew Woodcock enjoyed a convincing win in the Bedfordshire Green Point Swiss Pairs event recently.A huge field of 82 pairs entered the competition, which was played on the RealBridge platform and also coincided with Paul's birthday!  Well done Paul and Andrew!

Why not come along to Paul’s supervised duplicate sessions for Beginners and Improvers on Monday at 1pm and Tuesday evening at 7pm and Wednesday morning at 10.30am? A short lesson and discussion on a key bridge topic is followed by supervised play at the table.

Meanwhile, TMBC members figured prominently at the recent Great Northern Swiss Pairs, which was held on 1st-2nd October at Leeds. All TMBC participants finished in the top half of the 37 pair field.

Congratulations to Michael Byrne and Alec Smalley who won in a very tight finish.  Rodney Lighton and Tom Dessain were 3rd, Justin Hackett & Martin Taylor 5th, Rhona Goldenfield & Tracy Sherman 7th and Jackie Pye & John Holland 8th. Jeff Morris & David Sarabowski finished joint 16th. 

Michael becomes the first person to have won the event with four different partners - Alex Morris, Andrew Woodcock and Kieran Dyke.  John Holland has also won the event four times previously with three different partners.

Manchester Bridge Club team wins the Bernard Goldenfield Trophy

at the Manchester Congress Green Point Teams event

TMBC members Andrew Woodcock, Catherine Draper, Paul Murray & David Debbage led throughout to win the Teams event by almost 7 VPs with a round to spare on Sunday.

Whilst David, Andrew and Catherine have won at the Congress many times, this was Paul’s first win in his home county – and he’s still buzzing! Congratulations!! TMBC members also in Teams competition who showed well were - Peter Grauer (2nd), John Hassett & Jeff Morris (9th), Irene Davies & Karen Reissmann (10th).

In the Championship Pairs on Saturday, 38 pairs competed. TMBC members Irene Davies & Alan Mould finished 2nd, Andrew Woodcock & David Debbage (4th), David Sarabowski & Tom Dessain (6th), Paul Hackett & Paul Murray (9th) and Justin Hackett & Martin Taylor (11th). David & Andrew were the top Men’s Pair.

It’s nice to see Manchester Bridge Club members performing well and winning in top County Bridge events. Well done to all!

Why not come along to Paul’s supervised sessions on Monday & Wednesday afternoon at 1pm. Each session includes a short lesson followed by a supervised duplicate of around 15 boards.

The Manchester Bridge Club is supporting the charity duplicate jointly organised by Manchester County Bridge Association and Larkhill Bridge Club.  The event is a social duplicate and any-one can enter.  You don't have to be a member of the EBU.  The duplicate will take place on Sunday 11th June and will start at 2pm.  There will be a break for cake and refreshments at half time and a prize for the winning pair.  The duplicate will take place at the Larkhill Centre, on Thorley Lane, Timperley WA15 7A.  The entry fee is £10 and all profits will go to the Trussell Trust - the largest food bank provider in the UK.  We hope to be able to donate £5 per player if sufficient people enter.  There will also be a raffle for a prize which is being donated by Manchester County Bridge Association.  There is a public car park close to the venue.  If you would like to enter please go to https://www.bridgewebs.com/manchesterevents/ or email Susan Triggs via grasan30@gmail.com

Congratulations to long standing Club members Eve Lighthill & David Sarabowski on qualifying for the National Pairs Final

Eve and David came second of 47 pairs with a score of 62.47% in the Northern Regional Qualifiers held on Sunday March 26th on Real Bridge.

The National Final was held over the weekend of April 15/16th. David & Eve finished down the field but should be proud that they qualified for the final so convincingly.

On Wednesday 19th the Club welcomed Jon Thoresen, an International player from Scandinavia, but who has lived in the UK for many years. Jon won the Portland Pairs in 2018 playing with Helen Erichsen, in a field of 284 pairs.

It was a good night at the Club, as more familiar faces drift back to face-o-face bridge. Hopefully we will have more evenings where attendance meets or exceeds 7 tables we had on Wednesday. It was fitting that Jon and Jeff Morris won the duplicate in the NS section with Peter Grauer and Phillip Taylor winning the EW section.         

The Manchester Bridge Club contingent with tournament organiser Dave Debbage.

This was the first Fuengirola International Bridge Tournament, taking part over three days with players from near and far: Spain, France, UK, Scandinavia, Canada, Morocco and Israel

Andy Brocklehurst and Jeff Morris got off to a great start winning the opening session with 68.5% and followed it with another good session to qualify in third place for the final. 

Sadly the final was a great disappointment with Jeff and Andy, and Dave Debbage and his partner John Sansom, all performing below par. But a week of sunshine and trips out to Malaga and Marbella have helped make this a most enjoyable bridge holiday for all concerned

The Manchester Bridge Club AGM took place on Wednesday and 35 people attended – which was an excellent turnout. Paul Murray gave an extensive and informative report on the past 12 months events. This was followed by a comprehensive explanation of the Club’s Accounts for 2022. Paul used our TV monitors to support and provide  visibility of  the key points in  his report and of the Accounts. Many members commented on the quality and range and depth of the information provided. The current Committee were elected unopposed and Frank Eade was also unopposed in being elected to the Committee to fill the role of Treasurer. A lavish cheese selection was provided and there was a seamless transition from the AGM to competitive Bridge. A great deal of work was done by the Committee to make the AGM a success and we are delighted that so many of you rewarded that effort by coming to the meeting – thank you.

The Chairman’s report can be found in the Members Only section where you will also find a copy of the  2022 Accounts.                     

On Wednesday and Thursday  Susan Triggs laid on a sumptuous spread to celebrate the end of the beginners' courses for our last intake. A number of the Club's regular players also came along to help with the celebrations and to sit in and support the beginners as they played a number of hands of Bridge. To top off the occasion Susan provided prizes for the best performers and we were delighted that John Holland came along to present the prizes on Wednesday with  Paul Murray doing the same on Thursday. We wish all of our beginners all the very best and hope they will continue to enjoy playing Bridge at the Club for many years to come. A few are already considering stepping up to our supervised class on Monday afternoon so please welcome them. Good luck to you all.     

                                                    .  

The final of the County knock out competition for Teams of Four, the Goldstone Trophy was held on Thursday 11th May at Manchester Bridge Club. 

Congratulations to John Hassett's team (Jeff Morris, Catherine Draper, Andrew Woodcock) who beat Michael Byrne's team (John Holland, Alan Mould, Gary Hyett, Rodney Lighton). 

The Hassett team led by 38 IMPs going into the last eight boards and were comfortably placed until Mould and Holland shot a thin grand slam using a sophisticated slam bidding method (Exclusion Blackwood). Despite losing 17imps on that hand the Hassett team hung on to win by 10imps and they thus qualify to represent Manchester in the national EBU Pachabo Cup in June.

The Pachabo Final was played  was subsequently played on RealBridge June 10-11th.  The Manchester team of Catherine Draper, Andrew Woodcock, Jeff Morris and John Hassett (who qualified as Manchester County's representatives by winning the Goldstone) finished third behind Gloucester and Suffolk.  During the last few rounds the lead changed between these three teams many times.  However, in the last match Gloucester beat Yorkshire heavily, while Manchester lost narrowly to Cornwall and so had to be satisfied with third place.

Manchester have a very good recent record in this competition, with Manchester Bridge Club providing many of the participants over the years - as was the case this year. In the last nine years, Manchester have won four times, placed second three times and have finished third and fifth on the other two occasions.

Today Eve Lighthill and her husband Rodney celebrate their Diamond ( 60th ) Wedding Anniversary. Many congratulations to you both. Eve was in her usual place on Wednesday evening so the Club were delighted to be able to present her with a bouquet of flowers to celebrate the occasion. Eve met Rodney when she was just 18 and in the good old fashioned tradition of the times was introduced to Rodney by one of her friends at a dance in North Manchester.

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By winning the Gazette Cup in February, Manchester Bridge Club qualified to represent Manchester County in the National Teams of 8 Garden Cities competition.

The Garden Cities Regional qualifiers took place on Saturday May 13th at Bradford Bridge Club with six 8-player teams from the North East (Darlington BC), Lancashire (Preston BC), Nottinghamshire (Notts BC), Merseyside/Cheshire, (Deva BC), Yorkshire (Leeds BC) and Manchester (Manchester Bridge Club) competing for two places in the national final to be held at Coventry BC on Saturday June 17th.

Manchester Bridge Club finished second to Leeds BC and have therefore qualified for the final for the second year in succession.

Congratulations to our Team of 8 -

Andrew Woodcock & Catherine Draper and John Hassett & Rhona Goldenfield

David Sarabowski & Tom Dessain and Paul Murray & Paul Hackett

John & Rhona finished top of the X-IMPs with Catherine & Andrew coming third.

The Garden Cities National Final duly took place at Coventry Bridge Club on Saturday June 17th. 

The MBC team finished third of 8 finalists after a long day of travelling and 7 rounds of 7 boards of very competitive bridge.

Due to illness, prior engagements and holidays we had to make changes to the team for the final which was 

Paul Murray & Catherine Draper and John Hassett & Rhona Goldenfield

David Sarabowski & Tom Dessain and Edward Levy & Mike Goldsmith 

Thanks to all the players who represented the Club at the County qualifier (Gazette Cup), the Regional Qualifiers and the Final.

We will try again next year!!

Larkhill Bridge Club & Manchester County Bridge Association ran a Charity event on Sunday 11th June to support the Trussell Trust (the major foodbank provider in the UK).  The Manchester Bridge Club also supported the event and our members played in the duplicate.  The Charity Duplicate raised £700 for the Trussell Trust which exceeded all expectations.  We are very grateful to every-one who supported this Charity Duplicate.

1976 - 2015

Congratulations to Eddie Thornton Chan & Gilbert Lee who won this event with a fantastic score of 68.18%.

Barbara Hackett & Martin Taylor were second with a score of 65% with David Sarabowski & Eve Lighthill finishing third with 61.46%.

At the start of the evening Ben's parents said a few words about their son and presented the magnificent Juggler's Club Trophy in memory of him to The Manchester Bridge Club. The trophy will be competed for annually in July. The competition attracted a field of 11.5 tables who enjoyed TMBC hospitality, delicious cheese and crackers as well as the usual tea, coffee and biscuits.

Thanks to the MBC committee and all volunteers and helpers who helped make this inaugural event so successful. Photos will follow in due course.

We are sure that many of you will remember Ben Beever, who was a popular member of the Club and taught many of us until his untimely death in July 2015.

Ben was a gifted teacher with an easy laugh and the loveable knack of making students feel instantly at ease. In short, he made learning bridge fun!

Not only was Ben a talented bridge player, he was also a renowned and skilled juggler! He was instrumental in developing the 'Juggler's Club' bidding system which is still used by several players in the County and elsewhere. 

His mother, Pru Jupe, has recently donated a trophy in her son's memory which will be contested annually at The Manchester Bridge Club

The trophy will be awarded by Ben's mother to the pair finishing in 1^st place at our duplicate on

Wednesday July 12th at 7:15pm

Cheese & biscuits as well as normal refreshments will be available.

Members £4/Non Members £6

Numbers will be restricted to 14 tables with priority given to registered players

 Please Register Here For This Event

• 

  23 Prus Presentation
• 

  23 The Jugglers
• 

  23BB Prizegiving
• 

  23Full Room

The inaugural Juggler's Club Trophy tournament commemorating the life of Ben Beever took place on Wednesday July 12th..

Ben taught many people to play bridge at Manchester Bridge Club and a lot of his former pupils were present in the packed room for this event.

Before play started, Ben's parents both talked about his life and the loss they felt at his tragically early death in 2015.

Ben was instrumental in the creation of the Jugglers Club bidding system and two pairs were using it in the competition.

Appropriately, one of these pairs was the winner! Congratulations to Eddie Thornton-Chan and Gilbert Lee.

They will retain the trophy for a year and we all look forward to another keenly contested competition next year.

Congratulations to Paul Hackett’s team on reaching the final of The Hubert Phillips national competition. The team consisted of Martin Taylor plus Paul, Barbara, Jason and Justin Hackett where they lost narrowly in the final to former Manchester Club players Ollie Burgess plus Mike and Sarah Bell.

On Tuesday afternoon The Manchester Bridge Club threw open its doors to host an afternoon of Bridge to help raise money for The Breast Cancer Now Charity.

 The entries had poured in and ultimately, we were able to host 12 and a half tables. Anne Naylor and Ann Wood provided the added attraction of an afternoon tea with scones, David Sarabowski did his usual magnificent job of managing the event, Dave and Vera set out the bunting and the rest of Committee provided help with coffee, setting up and taking down – a great team effort. Their efforts were well rewarded with so many people making generous donations to the Charity which, with the Club donating all the table money, raised the magnificent sum of £660 which will be further supplemented by gift aid.  

It was heartening to see many so stalwarts of the Club turn out and contribute to a very relaxed afternoon with Chris and Tammy Lam winning N/S with a magnificent result of 75% , whilst Paul Murray and David Sarabowski topped the E/W table with  66% -  but well done everyone for your generosity. Hope to see lots of you again soon.        

Eddie Thornton-Chan is offering to host some seminars on the Juggler’s Club system:

The success of the recent Ben Beever Jugglers’ Club competition, with the winning pair using the Jugglers’ Club (JC) System, has made me wonder if there are any players out there who would like to know more about the system.

Why would anyone want to learn the system?  Well, mainly because it is great fun to play!  (and the basic system is not difficult!)

JC has a wide array of weak opening bids and overcalls.  This means you can open/compete on 80% to 90% of hands, which is a lot of fun.  These weak bids can also cause the opponents to have genuine dilemmas – I told you it was fun.

Playing JC makes every hand potentially interesting: apart from competing on weak and moderate hands, there are ways to make slam enquiries safely below game level, when the bridge gods (eventually) give you better cards!

JC has a reputation for being complicated.  This is at least partly because its practitioners are compelled by the Laws of Bridge to flourish an alert card whenever a bid does not strictly accord with its meaning under mainstream systems.  Like most systems, however, JC can be played at a basic level, with any number of gadgets added on to taste.  The important bit is that both partners are using the same add-ons!

So, if you want to spend less of the auction putting PASS cards on the table, and more of it brandishing an ALERT card, just text Eddie on 07976 271360. Or email him via ewctc@yahoo.co.uk

When I know who may be interested, I’ll let you know the next arrangements.

We are very sad to announce the death of long standing Manchester Bridge Club member, Tricia Blum on Friday 8^th September 2023. Tricia died peacefully at a hospice after a short illness surrounded by her family. 

Tricia and her husband moved to their home to Bowdon around 10 years ago and Tricia was a regular member of both Manchester and Altrincham Bridge Club. She was much loved and respected and, pre Covid, played regularly at Manchester BC, particularly on Monday evenings.

In 2019 she was the joint winner of the Tony Wood Memorial Trophy and the Cheadle Royal Cup as well as being a member of the team winning the Ruia Cup in the same year. She several times represented Manchester BC in the Northern Bridge League . Tricia's contribution to the club and in encouraging others to enjoy the game has had a lasting influence.

She leaves her 3 children and several grandchildren. Those of us lucky to have known her will remember her fondly and she will be greatly missed.

Tricia's funeral will be on Monday September 18th at 12 noon at Altrincham Crematorium, Whitehouse Lane, Dunham Massey, WA14 5RH and afterwards at The Swan with Two Nicks, Park Lane, Little Bollington, WA14 4TJ

In our club's first post-Covid quarterly competition, and in a fiercely contested tournament, Dave Fernley scraped home to win the Geoff Nuttall Memorial Trophy.

In the post event press conference, Dave thanked the 8 different partners that he played with in the competition saying 'It shows that you can win and be successful even while playing as a Host, and should encourage anyone wanting their 30 seconds of fame and glory to come along on Monday evenings. You never know, the hand of fate might be on your shoulder'

The Tony Wood Memorial Trophy competition starts on Monday 2nd October, so come along and play. Cheese and biscuits will be available 

Our regular Tuesday afternoon session on November 7th will be a Simultaneous Pairs event in aid of Children in Need

This means that you will be playing the same hands at the same time as people at other clubs throughout the country. All of the results will be merged together so

that you can see where you finished compared to everyone that plays in the competition

All table money, and any additional donations, will go to the Children in Need charity

As usual on a Tuesday, our team of bakers will be providing delicious home made cakes

Our Tuesday session was poorly attended with only 3½ tables, but we raised £56 pounds for this charity 

Altogether, 1466 pairs at 101 club's in 3 countries played these hands and you can see the merged results here, on the ECats website

The club doors will creak open once again on Tuesday 31st October for a Hallowe'en themed bridge afternoon, commencing at 1:30pm, for the usual price.

Will you be winning tricks, or will you be eating treats prepared by our fangtastic team of bakers? Prepare your psychic bids and come along for what promises to be a great afternoon.

Feel free to dress for the occasion, it all adds to the fun. Prizes of blood-red wine are on offer for the best costumes

If you don't have a partner, come along anyway, a ghostly host will be available!

• 

  Halloween or Easter?
• 

  Ghosts and witches hang out
• 

  Witchfinder General
• 

  Witch card?
• 

  Please take this seriously
• 

  Prize winners
• 

  The costumes

Our Tuesday afternoon Bridge with Cake was enlivened by people getting into the Hallowe'en mood in an array of different costumes

First prize for a creative costume went to Vera for her witchy outfit, note the different coloured boots

Ann Wood, this year's judge, was either unable or unwilling to separate second and third places so Frank and Maria got a bottle of wine each, and Ann Morris came in fourth place

I have to say it was a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon, with a great cake selection as per usual, and we even managed to play some bidge

On behalf of Manchester County Bridge Association, The Manchester Bridge Club is proud to once again host the annual Ben Franks Trophy.  

This is a two session event on Sunday December 3rd starting at 11am, finishing late afternoon/early evening. Generous prizes are on offer! 

The top four Manchester-based pairs at the end of the competition will qualify to represent Manchester in the national EBU Corwen Trophy event on June 1st & 2nd 2024. 

If you want to take part in this event, please go to the registration page on the Manchester County Bridge Association's website by clicking here

We are delighted to announce that singing for us at Santa Claus pairs will be The Cheshire A Cappella Choir. They will be singing for around 30 minutes immediately prior to the start of the Duplicate so please all come by 1.15 pm if you want to enjoy their performance.  One of Susan Trigg's beginners group, Sara, is a member of the Group so please come and show your support for this amazing group of singers. If you could come ready to make a donation to their charity that would be much appreciated.       The Charity they will be raising money for is Toiletry Bank.https://www.bntoiletrybank.org/

Cheshire A Cappella is a group of women of all ages and walks of life with one thing in common - they love to sing! They are strictly an amateur chorus; most of them have never had singing lessons and many of them can't read music, but they work together in a supportive environment to achieve the best they can and have loads of fun along the way. . 

They will also be singing at Lyme Park on December 2nd  John Lewis on December 8th and 13th at 6pm. so we are privileged they have found time to include us in their schedule.  

SANTA CLAUS PAIRS

SUNDAY 17th DECEMBER

Arrive before 1.30pm if you want to enjoy the A Capella singers grab your mince pie, a cup of mulled wine and a good seat !  . Bridge will start promptly at 2pm start (6-7pm finish)

This is a two session pairs event with prizes for the best pairs (and the less fortunate!)

NOW ALSO FEATURING THE CHESHIRE A CAPPELLA CHOIR

see below

The undoubted highlight between sessions is

TMBC'S SPECIAL CHRISTMAS BUFFET with Festive drink

Free coffee and tea available throughout

Entry fee £15 for members and £20 for non members

Numbers for this event are limited and all entries must be pre-registered.

Registration is now closed for this event.

Please register early using this form to secure your place

This will also assist our volunteer catering team, who are making and preparing the buffet, and ensure minimal waste. Thank you.

On 28th December, a Manchester team of

Andrew Brocklehurst & David Debbage,

Joy & Irving Blakey,

Raymond Semp & Gary Hyett,

David Sarabowski & Paul Murray,

Rhona Goldenfield & John Hassett,

Pearl Fielding & Mike Hart

will play a friendly (but no doubt competitive!) team of twelve match against Norway on RealBridge. 

The Norway team includes many international players, some of whom played in the World Championships held in Marrakech, Morocco earlier this year as well as Norway’s most promising youngster, aged 15, who achieved 2^nd place in the Norwegian Pairs two years ago, aged 13 years!

Norway team (so far!)
Jan Mikkelsen - Arve Farstad
Erik Rynning - Øyvind Ludvigsen
Kåre Bogø - Ranja Sivertsvik
Torild Heskje - Gunn Tove Vist
Thor Erik Hoftaniska - Nicolai Heiberg-Evenstad

There are no fewer that 7 Manchester Bridge Club members playing in this event and we wish them and the whole Manchester team luck.

It looks like they’ll need it!

A promotional video for the event is available here  (https://www.bridgewebs.com/manchesterevents/) 
and you can watch / kibitz on RealBridge.

Many thanks to Espen Gisvold for organising the Manchester end of this event.

What a fantastic afternoon and evening we enjoyed on Sunday 17^th December with our Annual Santa Claus Pairs.

12 tables playing,

11 ladies singing ,

10 prizes given,

9 (savoury) dishes eaten, 

8 TD call outs ,

7 Glühwein’s warming ,

6 different cheeses,

5 playing Ann(e)s,

4 table chocs,

3 hearty cheers ,

2 Eades a partnering

and a Cat on a Gingerbread House

The A Capella group opened up the afternoon with some wonderful singing  - and thank you all for your generous donations. Jeff Smith  and David Sarabowski, ably supported by Fiona Goode, then got the Bridge smoothly underway and managed the whole event with great professionalism.

Half time saw 50 hungry punters make an orderly queue to savour the delights of our home grown chefs ( Dave and Vera,  Ann and Mike , Anne Naylor, Enid, Frank Eade, Ray Ashleigh, and Lesley Richards) who provided a range of dishes worthy of Master Chef. Seconds were the order of the day for many and the person who went for 3rds shall remain nameless !

The second half was a somewhat complicated movement which occasioned a degree of musical chairs until David manged to settle everyone down or was it the Gluhwein kicking in.

The event concluded with the prize giving, with the top placed pair being Karen Reissmann and Irene Davies – well done both.

It was a joy to see so many of our recently graduated beginners making their mark too in a strong field of experienced players. Well done to all of them.

There was stiff competition for best Santa Jumper where Linda Williams headed a very strong field and John Commons (with slightly less glitter) carried off the men’s title.              

Thanks you all for coming and enjoy the rest of the Festive Season and hope to see you ALL returning on Wednesday 3^rd January for our Evening Pairs – and remember about Monday evenings!!

David Baskin passed away recently after a long battle with cancer. David was instrumental in bringing Jeff Morris to Manchester to run the Central Bridge Club, which led to Jeff's 45 year career in bridge club management and the Manchester Bridge Club we have today.

David represented England twice in the Maccabi Games, and was known as an excellent bridge teacher. He also won our Santa Claus Pairs event twice in the 1990s.

Jeff Morris writes

It was because of David that I came to Manchester.  He was close friends with Peter Ader who owned the Central Bridge Club and was looking for someone to run the club after Paul Hackett left.  David asked me if I would be interested and that resulted in a 45 year career in bridge club management.

The funeral will be on Friday 29th December at 11.30 at Altrincham Crematorium.

Sincere condolences to Vesta, his wife for over 50 years, and his children Rachel and Daniel

The trip will now take place on Sunday September 17th, leaving at 11am from the club.

We have decided on a Sunday event and Sunday overnight stay as hotel rates are MUCH less expensive on Sunday evenings.

The Club have reached an agreement with Lytham St Annes Bridge Club to play a duplicate at their club (with their members) on Sunday September 17th at 2pm – approximately 5pm. Tea, coffee, biscuits and cake will be available.

We have arranged a package deal with a hotel on the St Annes seafront to provide Dinner, Bed & Breakfast for £100-120 (negotiations are still in progress to reduce this rate). A limited number of single, double and twin rooms are available.

We will return to the hotel after the bridge to enjoy dinner and drinks together.

In order to minimise costs, we propose that some members drive to Lytham and take 2-3 passengers with them rather than hiring a coach / mini-bus (we can review this if necessary depending upon numbers)

If you wish to attend, please complete the attached form. Please sign up quickly as we can only hold hotel rooms for a few days

OUR NEXT BEGINNERS BRIDGE COURSES WILL BEGIN ON TUESDAY 26th SEPTEMBER 2023 AT 7.15pm  and WEDNESDAY 27th SEPTEMBER 2023 AT 10.30am.

The course content is the same for each of the courses and both will last for 12 weeks and cover the basics of play  and bidding .  We teach the 5 card major, strong No Trump and short club system.  We also cover basic defensive tactics. We produce a power point presentation for each lesson and have plenty of hand outs, quizes and prepared hands to help you to learn.  We also run many supervised and supported sessions to help you continue to learn and improve once the course is over.

The most important thing though is that the classes will be friendly and sociable.  Bridge can be a complicated game and will stretch your mind, but we aim to make bridge fun to learn and hope you will quickly come to love the game as much as we do.

The course will cost £72 payable in advance 

TUTORS ARE: SUSAN TRIGGS & ANNE NAYLOR

Interested?  Find out more by emailing Susan on grasan30@gmail.com. 

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About The Manchester Bridge Club

The Manchester Bridge Club is without doubt one of the leading and most famous bridge clubs in the country. Players from the club have won almost every National competition (some several times!) and many players have gone on to achieve success at international level.

It’s contribution to bridge is not just limited to the top players. Over its entire existence The Manchester Bridge Club has concentrated on teaching the game to as wide an audience as possible. The club has taught thousands of players to learn to play including many young people who have been introduced to bridge through the Club’s involvement in teaching in Schools and Universities.

The Manchester Bridge Club has also been a leading promoter of the game, hosting events including visiting Polish, Chinese, Swedish and Welsh international teams and entertaining famous keen players such as film star Omar Sharif, cricketer Farokh Engineer and Norwegian footballer, Martin Andresen.

In 2002 the Club was one of the principle inspirations behind the first ever Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship held just prior to the Commonwealth Games. Its huge success brought with it aspirations to create something even bigger… a Bridge tournament  setting Europe against America on similar lines to its golf equivalent, the famous Ryder Cup In 2006 the first such tournament was held in Ireland at the same time as the Ryder Cup and with the support of famous American investor Warren Buffett. It became known as the Warren Buffett Cup and in 2008 The Manchester Bridge Club member, Paul Hackett, captained Europe to victory in Louisville, Kentucky.

Players from the Club have earned a host of international honours culminating  with a Gold and four Silver medals in the World Bridge Championships held as part of the World Mind Sports Olympiad in Beijing 2008, two Gold Medals in the Seniors World Bridge Championships held in Sao Paulo in 2009 and two more Seniors Golds in the World Transnationals in Philadelphia 2010.