The famous road show arrives on the 14^th December when the pre-eminent columnist of The Times will conduct two of his legendary seminars in the Long Room at Lord's. Along with a light lunch, there will be an opportunity to bid for a variety of items in an auction. All profits from the event will go to the MCC Foundation.

Bookings are now open to all and tickets may be purchased online here. You will need to open an account on the Lord's ticketing website, unless you are a Member or already have an account. If you have any difficulty buying your tickets, please contact Club Services at 020 7432 1010.

Bookings will close at the end of November so be sure to book in good time.

The MCC Mixed Swiss Teams on 25th October was won by the team of Nigel Clayton, Irene Fine, Suzanne Obrart, and Saleem Sachak, well ahead of the pack with 93 victory points. The next two teams were tied on 81 points and the four of Georgie and Jane Bryden-Brown, Alan Bannatyne, and Richard Bayley were declared second having won more rounds. A week earlier, Nigel had been on the MCC team that won the Roehampton Swiss Teams event -- a great double.

With the sun shining over the ground through the windows of the Long Room, it was a special day at Lords, admirably run by directors Rob Sassoon and William Clennell. We look forward to seeing you all at next year's event. Click here to see full results.

Assuming the Law or the International Bridge calendar doesn’t get in the way this year’s guest speaker at the annual dinner will be Patrick Lawrence KC.  For those of you that spectate at the RAC when the Lederer takes place, he needs no introduction. Along with his son, Oliver, he is a core member of the Periculo team alongside Andrew Robson and Alexander Allfrey. Tickets can be purchased through the club website or by clicking on the link here. This may require you to enter your MCC Login credentials.

The final of the 2026 MCC Rubber Bridge tournament will see past champions Russell Tenzer and Gary Diamond take on David Hill and Anthony de Freitas, who George Meyer and Wendy Spencer beat Steve Bisphame and David Cock by 2250 points. The second semi-final will feature David Hill and Anthony de Freitas against George Meyer and Wendy Spencer by 2940 points in the semi-final. The winners will (eventually) get their hands on Brian Silverstone trophy but perhaps not in time for the Bridge Society dinner on 19th November. Click here to see the full results of the tournament to date.

The MCC team of Nigel Clayton, Gary Diamond, Alan Balantyne and Norman Agran (pictured) beat 25 other teams to win the Roehampton Swiss Teams event on 18th October, a week ahead of our own Swiss Teams event at Lord's. 

Although seemingly one sided, the Ximp scoring method is volatility on steroids. With a team of 16, the end margin can be quartered to provide some comparison to the more usual head-to-head method. Nevertheless, this was an emphatic victory for the members from the home of cricket. The last time this was attempted was in the dark days of covid at it is very much hoped that this will become a more regular fixture. A picture of the opposing captains is shown here from the final day of the Pakistani test much this Summer.

75% of the MCC team were made up from members that live too far away to play on the face-to-face sessions at Lords on Tuesday nights, so there is clearly still some appetite for on-line bridge 

MCC, captained by Trevor Southam played their return match against the University Club of New York on Friday 26th September. As a result of a fixture conjestion situation, the bridge and dinner took place in the Mall room at the RAC. Clearly home advantage came to the assistance of the MCC, and last year's defeat was avenged with an 83-0 Imps victory for MCC. The excellent dinner was enjoyed by all with much chat and laughter. 

The 2025/2026 Season has now ended with a comfortable win against the RAC at Woodcote Park. With 14 wins and only 4 losses, this has been one of the most successful years for the club's representative teams. Several fixtures have already been arranged for the 2026/2027 season. Applications to play can be made online here.

International matches: 

25th September 2026: Home match vs University Club, New York. This is meant to be a "home" match but due to cricket related constraints, we will be hosting the match at the Mount Room at the RAC Pall Mall. This is a self-paid event and the cost  is likely to be in the region of £100 per head, including drinks and dinner. We propose 2.30 for a 3.00 pm start.

Selection preference will be considered for those who are likely to apply for the AWAY game in September 2027: please indicate your intenetions in your application. This away trip will include, apart from the match vs. The University Club where we enjoyed excellent hospitality and a great time in 2025, a match against the very interesting Metropolitan Club in Washington).

The full list of regular domestic matches can be found here.

Nigel Parmenter is the reason we have a flourishing Bridge Society at Lords today. He was not only the Founder member but worked ceaselessly to build a vibrant Bridge Group since 1992.

Amongst his many passions, cricket and bridge fell very high on the list and when he spotted a notice from Roger Knight asking members to come forward to help set up other activities at the MCC to encourage members to use the pavilion more, Nigel never looked back. This was manna from heaven for Nigel, the great organiser, and the MCC Bridge Society came into existence under Nigel’s able leadership and dedicated effort.

Though he stopped playing regularly at the club, members who had the privilege of knowing him remained in very close touch and regularly enjoyed his hospitality in Cluny and Fife where he had set up residence. Apart from his wide-ranging interests in music and theatre, politics and sports, his intellect and ability to engage with kindness, courtesy, politeness and gentleness left an endless stream of friends and admirers.

It is with the deepest regret and sadness that we have to inform that on 1st July, Nigel fell unwell and was admitted to hospital in Bristol. His situation deteriorated and he finally succumbed to his illness on the 7th July, He died very peacefully with his daughter Vanessa by his side.  He will be deeply missed.

Expanding the reach of our overseas matches, MCC sent a team of eight to Brussels to take on the Royal Golf Club of Belgium. The bright April sunshine lit up the spectacular surroundings of the course and the hospitality of our hosts was just as splendid. After the bridge, there were cocktails on the lawn, a birthday was celebrated, and a fine dinner followed. The least that could be done by the MCC team (captain and organiser Pralab Barua, Trevor Southam, Dominic Flint, Pamela Reiss, Gary Diamond, Paul Filer, Simon Alterman, and Malgosia Alterman) was to lose narrowly to our generous hosts.

We look forward to returning to Brussels next year, perhaps for a golf and bridge event, and to seeing the Belgian golfers at Lord's too.

On Monday 19^th May 2026 MCC played in the prestigious Centenary Cup at the RAC, a team of eight competition. Our team was Russell Tenzer (Capt)/Gary Diamond, Lester Pereira/Nigel Clayton, John Pemberton/Simon Alterman, Pralab Barua/Geoff Lane. MCC won convincingly with 151 IMPS, the second-placed team had 68. MCC came first and second in their teams of 4 and were in 3 of the top 4 positions in the pairs X-imps.

We were told that apart from the RAC, no other team RAC had won the tournament more than once until MCC, who have now won this competition twice. With thanks to our friends at the RAC for putting on a lovely evening.

The Peter Donovan Lord’s Trophy competition took place on 22nd March -- a very successful day of 42 boards, excellently directed by Victor Lesk.

The winners --  not known until the very last hand -- were Richard Cumming-Bruce, Bruce Blair, Pralab Barua and David Hudd, who won with 46 IMPS. In second place with 36 IMPS were Norman Agran, Jonathan Hoffman, Ronnie Bourne and Malcolm Green. Richard Cumming-Buce and Bruce Blair convincingly won the top pair competition. They managed to bid 4 slams, while no other pair bid more than one.

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.

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