Cricket fanatic and bridge superstar Zia Mahmood was the guest speaker at the 2025 Bridge Society dinner at Lord’s on 20^th November. In his speech to a packed Committee Dining Room, Zia dipped into his vast library of bridge wisdom and extraordinary anecdotes and patiently answered the many questions from the audience. Bridge with machine guns? It certainly focuses the mind. Zia also presented trophies to this year’s winners, including Beverly Black (pictured), who won the Rubber Bridge Tournament in partnership with Irene Fine

Click here for more photos of prize winners with Zia.

The Lord's Teams competition will take place on 22nd March 2026 in the Members' Bar. The event is open to MCC Members and Candidates who can enter as a pair or as individuals. Teams of four will be created by a draw, ensuring that each team has one of the strong pairs and one of the even stronger pairs. More news on how to enter in the new year.

Beverly Black & Irene Fine comfortably beat David Soanes & Trevor Southam in the final of the 2025 Rubber Bridge competition. Bridge legend Zia Mahmood is presenting the Brian Silverstone trophy to the winners at the Bridge Society's annual dinner on 20th November. The plate competition for those finishing third or fourth in their leagues was won by Geoff Lane & Pralab Barua, beating Ronnie Bourne & Hilary Nesbitt. Thanks to all who took part and congratulations to the winners. You can see all the results of the competition here.  

Perhaps a bit bewitched with all the excitement, perhaps a bit jet lagged, the MCC suffered a reversal of fortunes against the host team on their home turf. The MCC ultimately lost by some 70 imps, but those that have enjoyed the luxurious ambiance of the University Club will raise a glass to those that took part.

The team of Alan Bannatyne, Johnny Baker, Richard Bayley, and Jane Bryden-Brown (henceforth to be known as "The Bees") clinched the 2025 Mixed Swiss Teams tournament by the tightest of margins in the Long Room at Lord's on 5th October. After six matches of seven boards, they ended up with 79.62 VPs, beating Russell Tenzer, Gary Diamond, Trevor Morris, and Vanessa Clarke by just over one VP. They in turn pipped the third placed team by less than half a VP. As always, a very special day of bridge for all 25 teams, admirably run by Jonathan Lillycrop and Victor Lesk. We look forward to seeing even more of you at next year's event. Click here to see the full results.

Fixtures are being added day by day. Now is the time for you to register your interest to adorn yourself with your club tie and take on the opposition. You can do this by either using the menu option or by clicking here.

Am MCC team won the prestigious Ross Cope Memorial Cup at the RAC on 27th March, coming top of 16 teams in the Swiss Teams event. The MCC team were Lester Pereira/Nigel Clayton and Russell Tenzer/Gary Diamond. Team MCC were first or second all evening, finally winning on the last round. Commiserations to Geoff Lane and Pralab Barua, whose team were runners-up. See here for full details.

The Lord's Teams competition for the Peter Donovan Trophy took place on 23 March, with seven teams of four playing 42 board. The event was expertly directed by Victor Lesk. The lead fluctuated during the day, with the team of Harvey Laurance, Richard Samuel, David Alterman and Bill Coles triumphing in the end with +24 IMPs, while the second placed team were on +8 IMPs. Congratulations to Alan Ballantyne and Sonel Mehta, who were the best performing pair.

The committee have had many representations as to the format of the master point trophy. At present the best scores up to a maximum of 6 are taken for any pairing. This allows pairs to keep playing until they have had 6 maximum scores. From the 1^st October 2024 we are going to tweak this a bit. For the 2024/25 season, only the first six scores with any other member/candidate will count. This hopefully means that there will be many more different pairings and make the competition a bit more exciting.

MCC Members or Candidates for membership can sign up to receive emails about Bridge Society activities from the Club and from committee members organising events. You can access the form here

For those of you who enjoy playing Bridge on line Dominic Flint is keen to reach out to those interested in representing the club. Currently he is on the hunt for opposition near and far with games against Hurlingham, the North of England and on the other side of the Atlantic. To register your interest complete the form