The annual county pairs championship (and qualifier for the Corwen competition) will follow the same format as this year with an early evening start and playing 36-39 boards in a Howell movement with a mid session interval.

Friday 12th January 2024, start time 17.30 – online via BBO.

BB$8 per person entry – pay on the day but pre-registration to play is essential using the form below.

Please support your county and enter this competition. The event will run as a single long session with a 30-40 min mid-session break. It will operate on an all-play-all basis (Howell movement) of 36-39 boards using standard pairs scoring. As always, green points will be awarded to the top half of the field. The top three eligible pairs also get the chance to represent the county in the national pairs championship in May.

To register to play please complete the form below. Please note that entries will close at 22.00 on Wednesday 10th Jan as we need some time to set up this event on BBO.

For any queries please contact Chris Raymond - drcjr56@gmail.com or 0151 334 5206.

The final round of this year’s Northern Bridge League competition took place on Saturday 14^th October. Unfortunately, we did not perform particularly very well overall on the day with the A, B & C teams coming 5/6, 5/8 & 6/8 respectively. On Cross IMPs the B team pair of Steve Downes & Richard Davies came 3^rd overall and there was also a strong performance by Chris Pope & Simon Edwards playing in the A team.

Looking at the cumulative results for the competition, the A team were 5th out of 6 & the B/C teams were both 6 from 8. Full details of the results for all rounds are available at:-

wwwhttp://www.manchesterbridge.org.uk/NBL/index.html

Thank to all who took part and especially the members of the county committee who agreed to take on the thankless task of acting as team manager for each round. Hopefully we can improve on our scores in next year’s competition. Details of this will be sent out to all involved as soon as they become available.

Calling all club players (and ambitious pupils):

• Would you like to improve your results?
• Are you and your partner(s) willing to develop your system?
• Can you get to the Deva Bridge Club (Christleton, near Chester) on Friday evenings?

Starting on Friday 13th October, Philip Waring will be running a series of advanced bridge workshops aimed at helping anyone who wants to improve their system/results.

His Autumn 2023 schedule (click here) runs from now until Christmas ending with a revision/play session followed by a Christmas social event.

Details:

• Each workshop costs £5 per person
• Open to all
• 7 pm start
• No need to book
• No partner needed (although it is important to go in step with your partner(s) when developing your system).

For further information please contact Philip Waring (pdwaring@aol.com).

Updated information for the 2023-24 season can now bee found under the relevant menu entry.

As many of you are aware the Merseyside Bridge League folded a few years ago because of a big fall in teams participating; a great shame as the league had been in existence for over 70 years. At the time of ceasing operations, the league had a healthy bank balance and as I was their Auditor, the League’s treasurer, Roger Arnold, asked me if I would take on the task of dealing with these funds.
I contacted the captains of all the teams who had played in the season leading up to the closing of the league and asked for their preferences. The overwhelming opinion was that the money should go to charity and the majority selected Claire House Children’s Hospice to be the recipient.
As Roger and I were co-signatories on the MBL account I thought this would be an easy task, but HSBC proved to be very difficult to work with. During the last couple of years I have sent numerous letter and emails, made many phone calls and even (once Covid restrictions permitted) visited my local branch to ask for their help. Their excuse was that they had lost some of the paperwork for the league covering the last 20 years, hence the delay.
I am pleased to say that we have now been able to send the League’s final account balance of £4774.96 to the Hospice. We have been sent a thank you letter from one of the parents of a child who had spent time at the Hospice and I will publish that in full in the October County bulletin (have a hankie ready when you read it).
Thank you to all of the League members for making this possible. You are wonderful Apologies for it taking so long but I am pleased it is all now sorted out.
BOB PITTS