The Inter Club Leagues for teams of four have now reached their conclusion.

Congratulations to Kettering A, Bourne A and Stamford D who are the winners of divisions 1,2 and 3 respectively. 

Final tables and all results may be seen here.

Thank you to Gary Upton for his organisation of these leagues.

Congratulations to Mark Tilley and Ufuk Cotuk who won the Eden Cup on Sunday 6th April and are the 2025 county pairs champions. They finished 5.65% ahead of the second placed pairs - an enormous winning margin.

Congratulations also to Robin Griffiths / Andrew Bisson and Tim Durdin / Chris Wormleighton who finished in equal second place.

These three pairs have qualified to represent Northants in the Corwen Trophy. Good luck!

The event also served as a qualifier for the 9 High Corwen. Well done to Carrie Hart / Catherine Holt, Nick & Jim Bainbridge and John Prior / Paul Double who made the cut.

Full results can be seen here.

Special thanks to Mark Tilley for organising and directing.

Northants CBA Green Pointed Swiss Pairs is on Sat 17th May at Northampton BC starting at 13:00. Full details and an entry form may be found here.

Cambs and Hunts CBA are holding a blue pointed Swiss Pairs on the 27th April starting at 11:00. Details are  here

Congratulations to the Bamford Team (Alan, Graham Flew, Doreen Simpson and Helen Skelton) from Stamford BC who are the winners of this year's Broke Cup and qualify to represent Northants in the Pachabo cup in June. They beat another Stamford team Kingston (Gerry, Graham Froggett, John Prior and Paul Double) in a tightly fought 32 board final. 

The Northants CBA AGM will take place on Zoom on Wednesday 16th April starting at 18:00. Members who wish to attend should email the county secretary, Tim Durdin for a link. We would be delighted to hear from any member who wishes to join the committee either as an officer or to represent their club.

Our last match of the season saw Northants take on Norfolk. The A team won 15-5 but the B and C teams both lost. The final league positions are 2nd, 3rd and 6th. The full results can be seen here and the final league tables here. Many thanks to all players who have done battle over the season. Particular thanks to Trevor Thrower our team selector and director.

The 2025 Eden Cup, the county pairs championship and Corwen qualifier will be held on Sunday 6th April on RealBridge.
The top 3 pairs will qualify for the Corwen on RealBridge on 31 May and 1 June.
See full details here, including how to enter.

Since we have had to cancel the qualifier for the 9-High Corwen, the Eden Cup will now also act as the qualifier for that event.
The highest finishing 3 pairs where both players are ranked 9 or below for NGS will qualify for the 9-High Corwen on 31 May, also on RealBridge.

The victorious Stamford team L to R Ben Gibson, (Maggie Jones photobombing!), Graham Flew, Alan Bamford, Trevor Thrower, Mark Tilley, Ruby Schnalke, Don McFarlane, Nick Hunter.

The victorious Northampton team: Kevin Fogarty, Marna Johanson, Mel Viljoen and Mike Penny

Results from today, 16 February 2025:

Lakeland

1. Stamford 26
Trevor Thrower, Ben Gibson, Ruby Schnalke, Nick Hunter, Alan Bamford, Graham Flew, Don McFarlane, Mark Tilley
2. Kettering 21
Tim Durdin, Chris Wormleighton, Rob Miller, John Walshaw, Simon Few, Graham Dolby, Maggie Jones, Mark Hodgson)
3. Northampton 13
Ross Stacey, Trevor Wray, Andy Heslop, Geoff Bennett, David Smith, Ian Chacksfield, Malcolm Orr-Ewing, John Blakesley

Stamford qualify for the Garden Cities regional Final.

Lakeland Hand Records.pdf

Kettering Trophy

1. Northampton (Kevin Fogarty, Marna Johanson, Mike Penny, Mel Viljoen) +41 
2. Stamford (Mick Coogan, Peter Bower, Paul Double, John Prior) + 40
3. Towcester (Derek Wright, Jean Raven, Louise, Tom) +26
4. Stamford (Stephen Hunt, Stuart Sharp, David Ogg, Bob Ambrose) -15
5. Kettering (Stuart Kirkpatrick, Brett Kingsnorth, Patricia Stokes, Andrew Tempest) -28
6. Stamford (Maggie Knight, Nicky Keir, Anne Jackson, Graham Camp) -33
7. Kettering (David Bailey, Jenny Hall, Viv Journeaux, Terry Journeaux) -51

.

Congratulations to the Chadwick team (Bill, Don McFarlane, Tim Durdin, Trevor Thrower) who are the 2025 Betts Bowl winners beating the Jones team (Marlene, David Banks, Joan Gibson, Ben Gibson) in a very close final by 61 - 55.

The EBU has introduced a new event for 2025 - the 9 High Corwen.

Click here to read all about this national competition for those whose NGS is 9 or below and the associated county qualifier.

Update 28 Feb: We have had to cancel the qualifier due to lack of interest.
 

On Sunday 2nd Feb Northants played Bedfordshire in the Eastern Counties League. The A team drew 10-10 having been 38 IMPs up at half time! The B team won 16-4  and the C team lost 7-13.

Full results may be found here.

Our final match of the season, against Norfolk, is on March 16th.

On Sunday 12th Jan Northants played Suffolk in the Eastern Counties League. The A team won 17-3, the B team lost 7-13 and the C team won 11-9.

Full results can be found here

The Lakeland and Kettering Trophies will be up for grabs on Sunday the 16th Feb. All details can be seen here.

The news of the untimely death of Marcus on Boxing Day came as a terrible shock and was received with great sadness. All at NCBA send their condolences to his aunt, Jill. Tributes have been pouring in. It's clear that Marcus was much loved, widely admired and respected.   

This from Chris Wiggins: 'I’ve played bridge with Marcus, on and off, for twenty years and a more agreeable partner would be hard to find.  He was a very good player but never showed irritation at his partner’s errors and was always highly ethical. We always had a good humoured e-mail post mortem. "after a slight hiccup last night" he says euphemistically, " can we have this written in stone?" Marcus had a remarkable memory; only he could cope with the comprehensive bidding systems he liked to devise'

Bill Simpson adds: 'If we had a good game he would say "Well done, Bill" but if we struggled he would say '"Thanks for your company" '

Chris Heames commented on how Marcus helped him develop his game, a sentiment shared by all of those lucky enough to partner him. Chris adds ' He was always fun to play with or against - a true ambassador of the game'

Marcus had a wicked sense of humour. On one occasion as I proudly put down the dummy he quipped - "Thank you partner. Very nice, but where is the hand you held during the auction?"

Marcus was very curious and so read and researched widely. He could hold his own on most any topic and seldom forgot even the smallest detail.

We have lost a great friend and a wonderful player. He will be greatly missed.

At the EBU AGM Trevor receives his 2024 Dimmie Fleming Award from EBU Chairman, Adrian Darnell.  Congratulations, Trevor and thank you for all you do for bridge in the county.

On Sunday 24th November Northants took on a powerful Cambs and Hunts team in the ECL. The A team (7-13) and C team (5-15) both lost but the stars of the show were the B team who ran out 18-2 winners. 

Well done to Robin Griffiths, Andrew Bisson, Andy Heslop, Richard Tickle, Jane Reeve, Paul Collins, Ross Stacey and John Josephs.

Congratulations to junior Harriet Cork who made her debut for the county playing with Trevor Thrower and recording a very good cross IMPS score. Is this the partnership with the widest age gap in the history of Northants bridge?

Full results can be found here

Tim Durdin was part of the Northants team in the Tollemache qualifier. He played all 104 boards over the weekend with 3 different partners. The X Imps of +0.59, +0.48 and +0.46 for the 3 partnerships were the three best of the Northants pairs! Tim's was a very successful weekend. Click here to read about some of his exploits on day one.

The weekend of Nov 9th and 10th saw a Northants team do battle in the Tollemache qualifier. Drawn in the green group, we played 13 matches each of 8 boards against other county teams. Saturday was a disappointment  - we were 13th of 14 teams at the end of the day. On Sunday things improved markedly. Over the 6 matches we were 2nd of 14. Combining the two days results saw us finish 10th. You can see the full results here.

The EBU has 'warmly accepted' NCBA's nomination of Trevor Thrower for a 2024 Dimmie Fleming Award, Congratulations, Trevor.

Trevor will receive his award at the EBU's AGM at the end of November

The intent of the Dimmie Fleming award is to publicly recognise those people who do not hold an official (i.e. EBU) office, but have, for a long time - usually over 15 years – worked hard for bridge in administration at County level.

Trevor has served NCBA for over 30 years in a variety of roles. He has been chairman and is currently team selector, director of home matches in the ECL, calendar secretary and EBU shareholder. Trevor is also central to the smooth running of Stamford BC where he is senior director, IT guru, teacher and mentor. He also plays a little bridge and is quite good at it!

A richly deserved award for someone generous with his time and who is happy to share his expertise in support of bridge in the county.

***** UPDATE *****

The total raised for Cancer Research is £1200. Well done to all involved. 

Many thanks to all 214 Northants and Lincs players from 8 clubs who competed in the County SIMS on 9th Sep as part of 'Bridge - It's a Big Deal'

The results may be found on the ECats Bridge website. Click here to see them.

Congratulations to the winners Brian Philips and Rob Close of the Heart of England Club who finished with 65.68%.

Close behind on 65.64% were Jim Samworth and Kathy Moss of Wellingborough BC.

Third were Chris Wormleighton and Dan Baines of Kettering BC. 

To read Rob Miller's commentary on the hands click  Northants 2024 Sims Commentary.pdf

Rob (left) and Brian (right) receive some fizz in recognition of their first place finish.

County Vice Chairman and Northants stalwart, Rob Miller, was recently promoted to the EBU's highest rank of Premier Grand Master. To achieve this rank requires a huge total of 1500 green points. Rob gained his first green points whilst still a teenager and has been amassing them ever since. Congratulations, Rob. 

Sunday 1st Sept saw Northants take on Essex in the Eastern Counties League. It was a good afternoon for Northants with all three teams recording victories. The C team did particularly well in beating the hitherto undefeated Essex C team. It was great to see a debutant pair doing well and enjoying the match. Results may be seen here.

It is time to enter this year's Broke Cup. The closing date for entries is September 8th. 

Matches will be played face-to-face unless both teams agree to play online.

Click here for details.

Congratulations to Northampton pair Rob Miller and Dan Baines who finished 1st= in the Scarborough Swiss Pairs. The full results can be seen here.

Rob and Dan were victorious in a field of 82 which contained some top players. Well done!  

They kindly agreed to write up a couple of hands of interest. You can read their report here.

The Corwen Trophy, the inter county pairs championship of England, took place on the weekend of June 15th & 16th at Stone, Staffs. Two pairs represented Northants. John Blakesley / Malcolm Orr-Ewing are the county champions after their victory in the Eden Cup and Don McFarlane / Mark Tilley who also qualified. A late date change by the EBU meant that our third pair, Rob Miller and Dan Baines, could not play. In a very strong field, Don and Mark competed well and were rewarded with a top half finish. John and Malcolm improved after a shaky start but couldn't escape the bottom third. Click here to read about two interesting hands where both our pairs scored well. Click here to see the full results.

The Pachabo Cup is an inter county competition for teams of 4. Northants are represented by the winners of the Broke Cup who, this year, were Bill Chadwick, Don McFarlane, Tim Durdin and Trevor Thrower. They were joined by Mark and Kieran Tilley allowing pairs to have a break. Each team played 3 board matches against each of the other 28 teams spread over 4 sessions os Sat/Sun 7th/8th June. the scoring system is unique to the Pachabo - a hybrid of IMPs converted to VPs and point a board.

After a miserable 1st day, Northants were propping up the field. 29th out of 29. However, things picked up on Sunday and we finished 18th. Full results may be found here.