The Club AGM will be held on Wednesday March 13th commencing at 18.30. The AGM is for members only but everyone is welcome to come along at 19.30 to enjoy cheese and biscuits and a free Duplicate Bridge afterwards. A copy of the Accounts is available to view - look at TMBC Accounts within the Members Only Area on the Menu on the left of this page. Nomination and Proxy voting forms will be sent out shortly and If you think you can find some time to help support the Club in any way please let us know.      

Archive 2024

On Tuesday 16th April Manchester Bridge Club's team beat Bramhall by 20 IMPs in the National Inter Club Knockout . TMBC was represented by Martin Taylor playing with Justin Hackett and Jason Hackett playing with Paul Hackett. The Bramhall team consisted of Michael Byrne, John Holland, Alec Smalley and Tom Slater.  

Enid Noronha is once again opening her garden to the public on Saturday 8th June from11.30 to 16.00. Her garden is at 35 Ellesmere Road Eccles M30 9FE - admission £6 - with all proceeds going to support the National Garden Scheme.( NGS ). NGS then distribute the money raised to various charities including Marie Curie, MacMillan Cancer Support, Hospice UK and many others. 

Enid's garden is a peaceful cottage garden with deep herbaceous borders of shrubs , perennials, and a plethora of Roses. Arched pergolas with scented climbers frame pathways to the rear of the garden housing a small orchard.

Tea and cakes and plants are all available to purchase and all the money raised goes to the NGS. . 

The Manchester Bridge Club is hosting a charity Bridge Duplicate event on Thursday June 13th. Everyone is welcome. . 

Doors open at 1.00pm  to enable a prompt start at 1.30pm.

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

There will be tea/coffee and homemade cakes 

Any queries please contact Ann Wood on 07980 529080

Thank you for supporting this worthwhile charity    

To help with catering please enter your name below and also your partner's name (if you have one)

The 56th European Teams Bridge Championships took place in Herning, Denmark last week, June 29th & 30th. All four English teams qualified for the 2025 World Teams Championships.

Manchester Bridge Club members played major roles in the Championships -

Michael Byrne was part of the English Mixed team while John Holland and Alan Mould were part of the Seniors team finishing top of the Butler rankings of all competing Senior pairs from all countries. Also congratulations to Paul Hackett who was non playing captain of the English Senior team while Catherine Draper played in the Women's Pairs. .

In the Ladies matches, Barbara Hackett was part of the Germany Ladies team that won the A final and the Gold medal having previously also been part of the victorious German Ladies team that won the first ever European Online Women's Teams Championship on Real Bridge in June.

Well done to all of them. 

On Sunday we held our traditional Manchester Bridge Club Santa Claus Pairs.

As usual, the SCP attracted a large field (62 players this year) including several of the very best players in the country. Under Jeff Smith's expert direction we played 2 sessions of 18 Boards with the final result coming down to the very last hand as Stuart Shalom and Daniel Kelsall were pipped at the post by David Sarabowski and Eve Lighthill in the tightest of finishes.   

The Committee had a busy morning setting up the rooms, laying out the tables with Xmas crackers and chocolates and setting up a mince pies and mulled wine station - and all this before the caterers arrived at the half way point to set out an excellent buffet. 

As usual there was a best Santa jumper prize - won by Lesley Richards in a high quality field - and lots of festive raffle prizes.

In summary, over 6 hours of play, a good time was had by all in a seasonal and festive atmosphere. 

Happy Christmas everyone! Hope to see you all at the Club in 2025! 

The sale of Christmas Puddings and knitted chocolate novelty items has raised a fantastic £850 towards Pancreatic Cancer UK

So thank you to everyone who bought something and a huge thank you to Ann Wood for all of her work in providing these unique festive treats

Swiss Pairs FREE for the next 5 weeks starting Thursday November 21st at 7.15   !!

Thursday evening online Swiss Pairs on Intobridge at 7:15pm

Come and join us every week!

Click on  Intobridge.com to register your account  and come and join us to play 

the following youtube videos explain:

     The IntoBridge platform, how to register and available controls

     How to register for an IntoBridge game, how to join a game, and how to use the partnership desk

Registration is straightforward, but does involve receiving an email with a confirmation link to activate your account.

If you have any problems please contact Dave Fernley on 07388 398 919

Once you have registered you can invite your partner using his/her user name or join the Partnership Desk to signify you are looking for a partner.

An IntoBridge host will play with you if cannot find one via the Partnership Desk

Imagine if you will - and sadly you will have to as I failed to take photos – a packed Bridge Club on Thursday afternoon to help raise money for St Ann’s Hospice.

The event was arranged by Ann Wood and organized with great support from Anne Naylor. All their hard work paid off with 48 people attending with players coming from many different Bridge Clubs.

Ann used her contacts and powers of persuasion to arrange for a table of magnificent homemade cakes  to be laid on. Contributors included Dee Connolly and Enid Noronha from TMBC plus Sheila Salden, Moyra Cryer and Margaret Lewis who are friends and colleagues of Ann's in the Hazel Grove Inner Wheel Club - as well as Ann herself!

David Sarabowski agreed to be TD for the first half of the afternoon as he had commitments later in the day but yet another technical glitch ( see the Secretary’s Newsletter ) meant he volunteered to stay for the duration of the session to resolve the issue – which he did . Many thanks David.

The experience level of the players ranged from expert to beginners, some playing competitively for the first time. We played 20 Boards and it was poignant that Anne Naylor and Jan Lancaster should finish in a very well  earned and deserved first place.

Ann Wood presented them both with a bottle of wine and added a special vote of thanks to Anne who then immediately just carried on with the business of reporting the results and record keeping, with Jan helping with the clearing and washing up.  Many others did their bit too to help clear the mugs and plates etc – 3 dishwashers worth !  

The event raised £550 with the £480 table money being donated by the Club and the balance coming from additional donations.     

 Many thanks to everyone for your support.   

St Ann's Hospice help people from across Greater Manchester who are over the age of 18 and affected by life-limiting illnesses and support their loved ones and carers too 

On Thursday we held the first of the 5 weeks of free Swiss Pairs. We had 6 tables , no robots and just one host. Some people played for the first time in Swiss Pairs and a number of the regulars returned to the fold.. We played 18 Boards and were done and dusted in just over 2 hours and all from the comfort of our own homes. If you played this week and enjoyed it please come back and if you were otherwise engaged please give it a go next week.      

The relaxed Thursday evening duplicate continues to be well supported with 6 tables playing on the 1st August despite  competition from the Olympics and in particular Andy Murray! Thanks to  Fiona Goode who acted as TD and Jenny and Pam and others who continue to help with and support this event . Its very much a Bridge night for the people by the people. Hope to see more of you next time.  

FESTIVAL OF BRIDGE

This event is now closed. 16 tables is a great response - Thank you very much!!!!!!

Please DO NOT show up on the day without an existing entry as we are already at capacity given available resources... Thanks again - Paul

During the week beginning 9^th September 2024 The English Bridge Union in partnership with Cancer Research UK together with clubs, counties and players from all over England and Scotland will join together to put on events to raise the profile of the game of bridge in the community and demonstrate that bridge can play a part in raising funds for one of the UK's most important charities.

The Manchester Bridge Club are pleased to be participating and we look forward to welcoming you to our F2F duplicate on Tuesday 10^th September at 1.15 pm. There will be a cream tea with scones, cream and strawberry jam. Entry fee is £10 and all the proceeds will be donated to Cancer Research UK.  

We are hoping  a large number of you will come so to help us prepare the room and catering  please complete the form below and include your partner's name if you already have one please  

On Tuesday 10th September we were delighted to have 28 pairs playing in our Festival of Bridge event to raise money for Cancer Research UK (not to mention 4 rubber bridge players and our excellent non-playing TD David Sarabowski).

At the time of writing we will have raised £560 for this very worthy cause with some promised donations still to come from those unable to attend.  Many thanks to all of you.

The planning for the event was a tour de force by the Club team with not only a lot of furniture to be moved, refreshments to be set out in two rooms, last minute movements to be designed etc and the recruitment of a parking attendant.  Lots of people were needed to make all this happen but our bank of Committee and other volunteers pulled it off admirably.

Credits go to:

David Sarabowski and David Fernley - technical design

Jeff Morris and Susan Triggs - refreshments

Anne Naylor and Frances Nagel - cash management

Almost everyone else - cleaning up

Great team work.

In the actual bridge itself Frank and Maria Eade came top closely followed by Irene Davies and Karen Reissmann.  Well done to them but also well done to a band of less experienced players who acquitted themselves really well.  Thank you all for your support.

The next date in Michael Byrne’s popular seminar series will be at The Manchester Bridge Club on Friday 20th December  between 1:30pm and 4pm.

^{The topic will be: "Slam Bidding Exclusion Key Card Blackwood "}

An exciting Christmas convention to help us bid hands with voids more accurately. A great way to welcome the festive season by making some exciting grand and small slams, and having fun at the same time by learning a new convention that will help improve your partnership bidding.

Exclusion key card blackwood is fun and for everyone, and you can learn all about it at Michael's Seminar

Please help us to print the correct number of handouts by completing  the form below if you intend to come to this seminar.

The Manchester Bridge Club and Michael Byrne are holding a series of seminars.
Each seminar will consist of a talk, with notes, and then the playing of 8 hands to illustrate the topic
The hands are then discussed, with hand records, at the end of the session.

The cost of the seminar will be £10 for Manchester Bridge Club members and £12 for non-members
Tea, coffee, biscuits and Michael’s famous home-made brownies will be available

We are delighted to announce that the 2^nd Ben Beever Memorial Trophy tournament will be held on Sunday July 7^th  at 2pm at Manchester Bridge Club.

I am sure that many of you will remember Ben Beever 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 also instrumental is developing the 'Juggler's Club' bidding system which is still used by several players in the County and elsewhere.

Last year , Ben’s  mother, Pru Jupe, donated a trophy in her son's memory to be contested annually at The Manchester Bridge Club. She hopes to be able to present the trophy again this year.

The first tournament was a tremendous success and attracted a large, good quality field. Eddie Thornton-Cham came 1st with Gilbert Lee, ironically playing the “Juggler’s Club’ system which Ben played such an important role in developing.

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

MBC Members £4/Non MBC Members £6

Please sign up to attend so that we can plan our catering and room set up in advance    

Nicholas Greer's final seminar for this year is on Friday 13th December starting at 10.30am. The topic will be: Placing the Cards (What can we work out about the unseen hands? How can we use that to improve our chances? Might my partner have the cards we need to beat the contract?)

We are currently arranging further seminars to take place next year on Friday mornings, Sunday afternoons and possibly also on a Thursday evening to enable more of our members to benefit from Nicholas' expertise.

These seminars are open to all and cost £8 for members and £10 for non members.

Please sign up for the seminar on Friday 13th December by using the online form below

Move "mouse" over thumbnail to change

On Sunday 7th July TMBC welcomed 44 players to take part in the 2nd playing of the Juggler's Cup Trophy in memory of Ben Beever. 

A high quality turnout, with the lead changing hands many times, finally resulted in a win for Raymond Semp and John Hassett.  Congratulations to both of them.

Once again Ben's parents were present to award the trophy and thank the Club for continuing to honour Ben's memory.  Ben's mum Pru asked how many people remembered Ben and was visibly moved when a sea of hands were lifted.  John Hassett remembered playing five-a-side football with Ben and wryly commented that Ben had been a better juggler with his hands than he was with his feet!

Anne Naylor with great support from Committee members and many others worked very hard to set up and manage the event.  There was an extensive and sumptuous buffet, with Fiona Goode managing the play with aplomb.

Thank you for all your support.

Nicholas Greer has run three seminars for The Manchester Bridge Club on bidding strong hands.

His fourth seminar will take place on Tuesday 9th July and will be on Roman Key Card Blackwood and will include some basic information on cue bidding.

The lessons are aimed at members currently playing in supervised play and supervised duplicate sessions but are also suitable for improvers wanting some revision on these topics.  All members of the club and also non-members are welcome to come to these seminars.

The seminars will start at 7.15pm and end at around 9.15 pm. 

The cost of the seminar is £8.00 for members and £10 for non members.  All members of the club and also non-members are welcome to join these classes.

Each seminar will start with a 30 minute presentation followed by playing 8 set hands based on the lesson.  Handouts will be available on both the lesson and the example boards.

Nicholas is an excellent bridge teacher and an expert player.

We are planning to run more seminars over the summer on card play, defence and bidding.  If you have any suggestions for other topics please email me – Susan Triggs – at grasan30@gmail.com

Please complete the online form if you will be attending this seminar.

Please complete the online form below if you are coming to this final Summer School seminar on 29th August

You might be interested to read this article from the Guernsey Press featuring Paul Hackett at the recent Guernsey Bridge Congress 

Last Saturday Enid Noronha opened her garden to the public - along with 2 others nearby. In total the 3 gardens hosted over 300 visitors and raised £2700. Well done Enid, who incidentally also found time to bake one of the many excellent cakes at the St Ann's Hospice fundraiser in which she and partner Tean finished in 7th place out of 24 pairs. A multi talented member who just happens to also be President of her local Rotary Club. 

Would you like to learn to play bridge?

We are currently setting up our new courses for beginners.

If you are interested in joining the above course or would like to learn at a different time or day, please fill in the form below and we'll get in touch to make arrangements for you to start lessons to learn to play this fascinating game.

Tammy and Chris enjoy a brief moment of having a perfect score......

Sadly it was not to last, but second place is still very respectable

Jeff Morris is in Spain, pictured here with Dave Debbage and James Smith at the Fuengirola International Bridge Tournament being held in nearby Benelmadena

Jeff and James successfully qualified for the consolation event, finishing in the top half of the field. Dave and his partner John Sansom finished second in the Consolation, winning 400 euros!

Stuart Shalom and Barbara Easterbrook were also at the event and did very well to qualify for the 14 pair final.

Jeff originally met James when he used to play bridge at the club during his spare time whilst performing at the Royal Exchange. He has since become best known for his starring role as special advisor Glenn Cullen in The Thick of It and as Lord Gadolfin in Yorgen Lanthimos's Oscar winning The Favourite.He is also Chairman of the London Metropolitan Bridge Association and Chairman of The Monday Club - a bridge club in South London

The Club AGM on Wednesday 13th March was a special night in many ways. 51 people turned up and all bar one stayed for the free duplicate that followed.

Our Club Chairman, Paul Murray gave a comprehensive review of the Club’s progress over the past 12 months showcasing in particular the success of our teaching programme. He gave a thorough analysis of the Club’s financial position – the full accounts are available to view on our web site in the Members Only section along with all the slides from Paul’s presentation.

Mike Wood, David Fernley and Paul were unanimously re-elected as Officers of the Club leaving a number of positions as yet unfilled. The Committee though can continue to rely on the support and expertise of Susan Triggs, Frank Eade, Anne Naylor and Jeff Morris.

Paul reached out to the room to approach any Committee member if they thought they could help in any way with the smooth running of the Club, particularly in the area of IT.

Further, with respect to the weekly bridge schedule, Paul announced the introduction from April 4th of a new monthly Thursday evening duplicate, targeted at Improving players. This will be open to all but has been set up at the particular request of the Monday afternoon supervised play participants. If the session proves successful it is hoped that this may become a fortnightly or even weekly event.

After the AGM formalities, there was an evening of highly competitive bridge featuring some first-time partnerships and an encouragingly high number of comparatively less experienced players - many of whom performed exceptionally well. This is very encouraging for the Club as we look to transition the success of our teaching and supervised play sessions to well attended Club duplicate sessions. Last but not least, throughout there was an exceptional cheese and crackers buffet to round off a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

We hope to see more of you returning to regular bridge at The Manchester Bridge Club and we thank you for your support.

The Cantor Cup for Beginners and Novice players was held by Manchester County Bridge Association at Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday 25th February.  The event was successful with all players enjoying playing in a friendly environment.  Nicholas Greer did an excellent job directing the event and thanks to Anne Naylor for supporting the event on behalf of our club.  Cheese and biscuits were provided at half time and enjoyed by the competitors.

First prize was won by Angela Petrouis and Prakash Mehtal, with June Ellicott and Sue Holden in second place and Anne Humphries and Sarah O'Neill were third.  Meg Warner/Eddie Clift and Pam Williams/Joanne Finn won spot prizes.  

The County Bridge Association wish to thank the Cantor Family for their generosity in sponsoring this annual event.

The Tollemache is the English Bridge Union's premier county event. After a qualifier in November, involving all English counties, the top eight teams play all play each other over a weekend in February.

Manchester (County) won this event for  the first time last year after almost 40 years of trying.

In this year's event Manchester have retained the trophy with John Holland and Alan Mould outstanding but well supported by Alec Smalley, Tom Slater ,Jeff Morris ,John Hassett, Nicholas Greer and Phil Taylor. Great credit goes to Nicholas and Philip who sustained great pressure in their first ever Tollemache. Rhona Goldenfield, as reserve, also played an important role in encouraging the team against formidable opposition to finish the event beating six of the other seven teams and having a winning draw against the seventh team

Six of the team are current Manchester Bridge Club members and Phil was a member until recently. Alec and Tom are members of Bramhall & Cheadle BC
Well done to all!

Congratulations to David Debbage - the Winner of the Mutton Cup - the World's best international individual bridge tournament!

In a field of 65 players, including many internationals from as far afield as Brazil, Ireland, Australia, Spain and Scandinavia, Dave won in a tight finish from fellow Manchester Bridge Club member, Paul Hackett, whilst our Chairman, Paul Murray managed to finish in the top half of the field - just! Also, John Parsons played in his first Mutton Cup and finished in the top half of the field.

This was the sixth holding of the Mutton Cup, which is  open to ALL players and takes place every August in Madrid. It is an ijndividaul format so each player plays two boards with ALL the other competitors playing under a common system. Played over three consecutive days from 5pm - 10pm and organised and founded by MBC member, Jason Hackett, it combines the sights and atmosphere of Madrid with Jason's two passions - bridge and excellent food & drink. It is a lot of fun!!

In the first five Mutton Cup events, this is the third time a Manchester Bridge Club member has won with John Hassett and Justin Hackett being the winners in 2021 and 2023 respectively.

If you are interested in playing in next year's event, please contact Jason or Paul Murray - I guarantee you will enjoy it.

On Monday 9th December the Club welcomed Shirley Leak back to the Club as we celebrated the occasion of her 100th Birthday.  There was food , cake and candles and bunting to celebrate. Shirley told an amusing anecdote about getting into Wimbledon with an out of date ticket and then all 30 attendees gave her a rousing chorus of " Happy Birthday ". 

Old friends of Shirley,  David and Josephiine, also popped in to add their very best wishes to this remarkable lady.   

The Club is sad today to learn of the passing of Denis Robson.

Denis was a member of Manchester Bridge Club and the Central Bridge Club since the beginning of the 1960s and played an important part of the early development of our Club. 

He was an accountant in partnership with multiple Club champion, Bernard Goldenfield at Cooper Lancaster. He and Bernard were also one of the North West's leading bridge partnerships.

Denis was actively involved in the business world and was Chairman of Thwaites Brewery, Byrom PLC (who were responsible for ticketing for the Ryder Cup and other large sporting events) and Shire Inns.

He also became Chairman of the EBU and played a key role in the 1st Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship, which was held in Manchester during the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and the Buffett Cup - a high profile bridge event held in tandem with the Ryder Cup pitting Europe's top bridge players against America in a bi-annual event.

Denis played for England in the Camrose and was a Gold Cup finalist amongst many other successes. 

Denis' wife Val pre-deceased him and we send our sympathies to their three children.

We are sad to report the passing of Bhimshankar Ruia on November 12th aged 88 years.

Bhim was a long standing member of Manchester Bridge Club and the sponsor of the Club's Team of Eight competition - The Ruia Cup. He was still playing at the Bridge Club until very recently.

The photo shows Bhim (on the right) and his brother Govind with Omar Sharif at the Nat West Trophy bridge tournament held in Manchester in 1981. 

Bhim sadly passed away on Tuesday 12th November 2024. He had recently been diagnosed with leukaemia and the last time I saw him was  purely by chance at Wythenshawe Hospital. Remarkably cheerful, he said he wouldn't be playing for a while. Latterly, he had been coming along to Manchester Bridge Club's Tuesday afternoon duplicate sessions, happily playing with whoever was short of a partner. Before COVID he was a regular rubber bridge player, an occasional duplicate player and a league team player with Paul Hackett as his partner.

He loved his bridge and was always caring and supportive of his partner whatever their standard. 

His greatest achievements at the bridge table were with his older brother Govind, who passed away suddenly in 1986 aged only 54. Bhim and Govind were a serious partnership playing Precision Club and were able to compete successfully against United Kingdom's top players. In 1984, their team were knocked out in the quarter finals of the Gold Cup, the United Kingdom's most prestigious teams event. The following year they did even better, reaching the final, just losing to the No1 seeds by a tiny margin in a gruelling match of 64 boards.

Without Govind top level bridge never had the same appeal for Bhim. He was happy to play in club duplicates and at his golf club (Dunham) and in the two events that carried his family name - the Ruia Cup teams at Manchester Bridge Club and the annual friendly (but highly competitive!) golf club match, Dunham vs Whitefield. He took great pleasure in becoming Captain of Dunham Golf Club and indulging in his other great love -watching cricket.

In later life, Bhim founded a Charity which made generous donations to many worthy causes. 

His funeral will take place at Southern Cemetery at 11.00am Saturday 23rd November 2024. Bhim was a lovely guy and will be greatly missed.

Sincere condolences to all his family, who I am sure know how much the bridge community will miss him. 

Jeff Morris

Starting on Monday July 3rd at 7.15pm competitive Monday evening bridge returns to the Club.

The first competition will be the Geoff Nuttall Memorial Trophy, which will run for 13 consecutive weeks, from Monday 3rd July to 25th September. 

It is an individual contest, so you can play with different partners on each Monday you play. 

Each competitor's best 7 scores during the quarter will be averaged to determine the winner. Minimum number of games to qualify is 7 .

Cheese & crackers as well as the usual tea, coffee and biscuits will be available

Please come along and support the Club and enjoy a pleasant summer evening of bridge

Attendance on Monday evenings is slowly improving with 4 tables on Monday Sept 11th. Please come along and support the Club!