The Northants pairs championship, the Eden Cup will be held at Kettering bridge club on Sunday 29th March.
This is the qualifier for the Corwen, with the top 3 eligible pairs qualifying.
Click here for details.

To enter simply add your details here

It is also the qualifier for the 9 - high Corwen. Partnerships with both players having an NGS of 9 or below on Jan 1st this year are eligible and again 3 pairs may qualify.

If you are unsure as to your eligibility email billchadwick33@icloud.com

The Corwen will take place in Nottingham on the weekend of 30-31 May.

The 9 High Corwen will be on-line on the 30th May.

After a late withdrawal, eight teams of four competed for the Kettering Cup on Sunday 15th.

Congratulations to the Towcester team of Derek Wright, Jean Raven, Lynne and Chris Button who finished well clear of the field.

L to R: James Spencer, Angela Abbott, Helen Skelton, Paul Collins, Doreen Simpson, Jane Reeve, Martin Brayshaw, Gill Webb

Congratulations to the Stamford B team who won the Lakeland on 15 February 2026 and qualified for the Garden Cities Regional Final.

The result:

Stamford B, 56 VPs
Kettering, 55
Stamford A, 49
Northampton, 35
Bourne, 5

Trevor Thrower has decided to stand down as county selector now the current season is over. This was Trevor's second spell in the hot seat, beginning when he took over from Mike Trask in 2018. He has done a tremendous job: organising, encouraging, communicating and leading by example.

Trevor will continue on the committee as match secretary, calendar secretary, director, EBU shareholder and Stamford BC rep so we will still keep him busy!

The good news is that county Vice Chairman, Rob Miller, has agreed to take over as selector. 

Rob writes: I am keen to widen the pool of available players. If you are interested in paying for the county and don't already do so, please contact me at robmbridge@aol.com

He adds: county matches are friendly, played online on Sunday afternoons and there are only six a year. You can play as many or as few as you wish. The first match of the new season is in June.

Thank you, Trevor and good luck Rob. 

The ECL season concluded with two matches in a fortninght.

First up were Norfolk on Jan 18th. The A team won 11-9, the B team won 14- 6 but the C team lost 5-15.

Two weeks later on 1st Feb we played Hertfordshire and all 3 sides lost. 9-11,6-14 and 3-17 respectively.

The final tables may be seen here.

My thanks to all those players who represented the county over the season. I hope you enjoyed doing so.

Sunday Nov 30th saw Northants take on Suffolk in the ECL. The A team won 13-7, the B team drew 10-10 but the C team lost 3-17. 

The standout pair were Tim Durdin and Chris Wormleighton who topped the cross imps table and led the A team to victory.

Full results may be seen here.

Are you a bridge teacher or would like to become one? If so this new initiative may be for you. Nicky Bainbridge will host the first of these get togethers on Thu Dec 11th at 10 am. She proposes to share ideas, guidance and tips. Nicky is a very experienced teacher and a trustee of EBED.

The link to the meeting on Zoom is below.

Topic: Northants Bridge Teachers Get Together
Time: Dec 11, 2025 10:00 AM London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81655617363
Meeting ID: 816 5561 7363
Join instructions
https://us02web.zoom.us/meetings/81655617363/invitations?signature=fF4Sc3RW-BVRMsdxUXhZUL3-Mp-jMQgvt_wzsnBoOiw

The weekend of the 8/9th November saw Northants compete in the Tollemache qualifier on RealBridge. We were drawn in the 'green' section with 14 other teams including several big hitters: London, Surrey, Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire amongst others. Over the weekend the team of eight plays 7 board matches against each of the other teams - an exhausting 98 boards in total. Luckily, with a team of twelve only one pair played them all. There were some highlights; in particular a 19-1 thrashing of the runaway winners, Surrey, and a narrower victory over old rivals Cambridgeshire. However with only 6 wins out of 14 we were never in contention and finished 13th.

Thanks to all the players and, in particular, to NPC Trevor Thrower who kept us all in order. 

Full results may be seen here.

Rob Miller's analysis of a hand that went very badly for us is attached. It contains an important lesson for some of us! Read it here.

Sunday 5th October saw Northants take on Cambs and Hunts in the ECL on RealBridge. Well done to the B team who won their match 14-6. The A and C teams slipped to defeats 5-15 and 7-13 respectively. 

Full results may be seen here.

Following the county simultaneous played earlier this month, NCBA was able to donate £750 to the Northants and Warwicks Air Ambulance. Thank you to all our members who played in the event and who generously contributed to this impressive total. 

You can see the receipt from the Air Ambulance here.

Well done to all 58 pairs across 5 clubs who participated in the County Sims on Monday 8th Sept. Special congratulations to the winners, Stamford BC pair Paul Double and John Prior, who both received a bottle of wine from the chairman.

Full results and Rob Miller's excellent commentary on the hands may be found here.

The total raised for our local air ambulance will be posted here as soon as it is known.

It's time to make up a team and enter the Broke Cup. 

The Broke Cup, named after Philip Broke who was a founding member of NCBA, is the county's green pointed knockout competition for teams of four.

The Betts Bowl is the associated plate competition for first round losers.

Matches are played over 32 boards and are face to face or, if both teams agree, online.

Details and how to enter may be read here

On Sunday 13th July, Northants took on Essex in the Eastern Counties League. I think brevity may be the best way to report as all 3 teams lost. The A team 6-14, B team 5-15 and the C team 4-16. 

Alan was a member of the Northants team in this year's Pachabo Cup. Click here to read about how he and the team fared.

The EBU Pachabo Cup for inter county teams of four took place on the weekend of 14th / 15th June.Northants are represented by the winners of the Broke Cup but unfortunately two of that team were unavailable. Luckily substitutes were keen to play and we fielded 6 pairs: Alan Bamford / Graham Dolby, Gerry Kingston / Frank Isack, Doreen Simpson / David Banks. For most of the players it was the first time they had played in such strong company and, although they enjoyed the experience, they  finished close to the bottom of the rankings. Full results can be seen here.

At the end on May the EBU held the Corwen and Nine High Corwen trophies, both online.

Northants fielded two pairs in each.

In the main event Ufuk Cotuk / Mark Tilley and Chris Wormleighton / Tim Durdin were our representatives. They acquitted themselves well, both pairs finishing just below half way. The full results may be seen here.

In the Nine High Corwen Jim and Nicky Bainbridge did brilliantly finishing 4th with 57.36%. Our other pair, Carrie Hart and Catherine Holt, also did well finishing in the top half of the field. Full results are here.

On Saturday 17th May, 22 pairs ignored the FA Cup Final to compete in the Northants Green Pointed Swiss Pairs. It was a well run, friendly event. Northampton BC is a top venue so playing conditions were excellent. Thanks to Ross Stacey for his hosting of the event and to Nicky and Jim Bainbridge who, once again, were director and scorer respectively.

The event was won for the second year running by Dan Baines and Robert Miller with Paul Cutler and Colin Draper in second place and John Blakesley and Malcolm Orr-Ewing third.

Full results may be seen here.

Rob has written some thoughts on the event and his analysis of an interesting hand. I have added a second hand where there were some 'unusual' developments. Click here to read.