Deal of the Week
Chester Bowl
In the Chester Bowl at Deva on Sunday 15th October several Manchester pairs competed, the only success was for Tony Hodgson and Eddie Thornton-Chan who finished second in the consolation event. Results are on the Deva Club site.
Northern Bridge League Final Match - Manchester Win Division C
The final set of matches (of four) took place on RealBridge on Saturday 14th October. In the A division Manchester finished fourth on the day but held on to second place overall behind Yorkshire. The team was Gary Hyett/Raymond Semp, John Roberts/Peter Foster, Alec Smalley/Barbara Lewis and Jeff Morris/Stuart Shalom. John and Peter were the best pair on cross imps.
In the B division Manchester finished a close second on the day but overall were seventh. The team was Stephen Ward/Roger Hopton, Eddie Thornton-Chan/Tony Hodgson, Phillip Taylor/Josh Clarke and Irene Davies/Karen Reissmann. Stephen and Roger were best pair on cross imps.
The C division had a dramatic finish as Yorkshire and Manchester overhauled Lancashire by one VP to tie at the top of the division. I believe that Manchester win the tie break by beating Yorkshire 42-38 over their individual matches across the four dates. The team was Richard Acaster/Gilbert Fletcher, Sally Leigh/Judith Dunkerley, Gordon Bickley/Ann Farquhar and Ann Thornton/Karen Jones. Richard & Gilbert and Sally & Judith did well on cross imps.
Detailed results for the fourth match are on the Cumbria web site.
Thanks to all players who turned out for Manchester this season.
Premier League
The EBU's Premier League continued with its second weekend of three on 14th-15th October. Michael Byrne playing in the Knottenbelt team remains in third position, John Holland and Alan Mould in the Senior team have dropped one place to seventh. In the second division Andrew Woodcock and John Hassett in the Hackett team have moved up from seventh to third. Results are on the EBU web site.
Herbert Potts
We are sorry to hear that Herbert Potts died on 11th October. He was a regular player at clubs in South Manchester and frequently turned out for the county in NBL and other matches playing with Sylvia Massey. There is a short obituary on the Bramhall and Cheadle Hulme club web site.
Ben Franks
The Ben Franks Trophy, Manchester's premier pairs event will be held on Sunday 3rd December starting at 11 am at Manchester Bridge Club. This will be a two session event with a break for lunch. The competition qualifies the top four pairs to play in the Corwen Trophy. The Corwen Trophy is the annual county representative event run by the EBU for pairs from all over England to be held June 1st-2nd 2024.
Please join us for a great event. Many different pairs have won this over the years and everyone has a good time.
Gold Cup Finals
The final stages of the Gold Cup took place on the weekend of 7-8th October in London. John Holland and Alan Mould played for the Penfold team in a semi-final match against Janet de Botton's team. Michael Byrne on the Knottenbelt team played against Alexander Allfrey's team in the semi-finals. Both teams with Manchester players lost.
League and Higson Cup 2023-24
Paul Beckwith has done the draw for round 1 of the Higson Cup, click here to view. Royce Alexander has set up the league divisions, they are on the EBU web site, there are links to them on the league page. The Higson Cup and Plate will be default face to face with an option to play knock out matches online if both captains agree. The Goldstone will be default online up until the final which will be default face to face. The league will be default online with an option to play face to face if both captains agree.
Great Northern Swiss Pairs
48 pairs competed at Leeds on the weekend of 30th Sept to 1st October, top Manchester pair were Martin Taylor and Justin Hackett who finished fourth.
Results are on the EBU web site.
Goldstone
23 teams have entered the Goldstone this year, the draw and timetable is on the Goldstone page.
The winners of this event go on to represent Manchester in the EBU Pachabo Trophy next June.
Cumbria GP Weekend
Manchester players did well in the Cumbria/Westmorland Green Point Swiss events on 23-24th September at Kendal. In the Swiss teams on Saturday John Holland, Jackie Pye, Jeff Smith and Rhona Goldenfield finished second. In the Swiss Pairs on Sunday John Holland won with Jackie Pye, Alec Smalley and Tom Slater were third and Fly Leung and Ann Thornton were seventh. Results are on the Cumbria web site.
MCBA/Ashton Charity Event
A single session pairs event in aid of Willow Wood hospice care on Sunday 29th October. Click here for more details, entry form on the Manchester Events site.
Manchester Congress Date for your Diary
The MCBA congress will be held on January 6th and 7th 2024 at the Cresta Court Hotel in Altrincham. Please keep the weekend free!