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Joe Patrick passed away peacefully on 28 October 2025. He played for many years at Nailsea Bridge Club, where he was previously Chairman. Past successes saw him reach the EBU's Masterpoint rank of Grandmaster. His funeral will be 11am on Thursday 20 November at Kingston Seymour church.

Jean passed away peacefully on 11th December 2025 at the age of 92.

A Somerset bridge player for over 50 years, Jean was an accomplished county and club director. In life and at the table she had a warm, welcoming personality with a touch of her northern heritage, especially when making decisions.

Not only did she play bridge and maintain a busy family life but she looked after her husband Roy for many years after he had a stroke. In her later years she became a bit of an adventurist, doing thrill-seeking activities whilst she was able.

Jean will be sorely missed by all the people whose lives were touched by her, just a very lovely person.

A Christmas Bridge Break is available at the Webbington Hotel for four nights from 23rd December. See advert for details.

FULLY BOOKED, WAITING LIST ONLY

Andrew Robson Day will be 18th February 2026 registration at 9.30am.

Held at Victoria Sports and Social Club, Street (changes of venue for 2026)

This will be a fun and informative day and is suitable for players of all standards.

You do not need a partner!

Topics will include responder's rebid, the nuts and bolts of the uncontested auction, overcalling, and when not to bid to the level of the fit.

The cost is £35 for the day to include teas and coffees. We have also arranged for a famous Somerset bridge ‘tea’ to be available during the lunch break for a cost of £7.50. Alternatively, you are welcome to bring your own lunch or head down into Street.

Please email Sheree Pavey (scbasec17@yahoo.com) to book your place and “tea” if required. Please put AR as a reference and provide the names of ALL your group.

The qualifiers for the final are named in this list of Coda Cup Qualifiers (follow link). There are 50 pairs and they basically the top three pairs from each club event but taking into account the merged results, duplicates and some anomalies. The final will be played on Realbridge on Friday 25th April at 7.00pm. If you are on the list of qualifiers and would like to play in the final please enter your names here so we can assess numbers. The Realbridge link for the event will be available from that item in the main menu.

A total of £2415 has been raised for Young Carers Development Trust (www.ycdt.org.uk). Many thanks to all who contributed.

Congratulations to the winners:

Swiss Pairs: John Coleman & Mike Huggins

Swiss Teams: Venetia, Sally, Sam & Harry Anoyrkatis

The 2025 Michael Coda Cup was contested from Monday 24th to Friday 28th February. This year, like last year, each club will ran its own session on its usual evening from a prescribed set of boards, and the results from clubs taking part each night have been combined. So it is effectively a mini-simultaneous pairs each day that week, enabling players to play at more than one club during the week. Winning pairs qualify for a final on Realbridge to be held on 25th April (more details soon).

This year's charity to benefit from Somerset's Michael Coda Cup, chosen by the SCBA Committee on behalf of the late Sheila Coda, is the Young Carers Development Trust (www.ycdt.org.uk), a charity that tackles the lack of opportunity experienced by many young carers in the West of England due to their caring responsibilities.

We have 18 clubs participating this year -
Monday - Frome, Coxley, Crewkerne, Langport
Tuesday - Burnham, Cossington, Minehead
Wednesday - Backwell, Clevedon & Portishead, Cheddar & Wedmore
Thursday - Nailsea, Castle Cary, Wells City, Wemdon, Street
Friday - Clevedon & Portishead, Taunton, Winscombe

Chew Valley Bridge Club closed at the end of 2024. The Committee reluctantly decided that with numbers dropping over a long period the club was no longer viable.

The Annual General Meeting of SCBA will held at Woolavington on Sunday 11th May, followed by bridge (pairs). Please register your intention to attend here so we can assess numbers. The County is still running without a Chairman but would very much like to find one: please consider standing for this. More information is available in confidence from any Committee member or this website.

EBED will run a four-part teacher training course in Swindon in March. Full details are here. The EBU will provide for one member from each affiliated club to attend the course for free. The cost of further delegates from Somerset clubs may be recovered from the County depending on circumstances.

English Bridge Education and Development hope to run a half-day meeting of bridge teachers in Swindon on 9th March 2025. Anyone available to support such an event should contact Clive Turner. Details of a recent successful similar meeting are here.

Draw made 20 November 2024

Semi-finals

Wigmore/Letts beat Cummings

Lanham beat Simcox

Final

Lanham beat Wigmore/Letts

Details are here

When Tony became Vice-Chair of the EBU he dedicated his time to promoting Bridge nationally. The Festival of Bridge was his idea, which he developed in a very short space of time.

During the festival week an amazing 300 events took place around the country. Linking it with the charity Cancer Research UK was a positive way of supporting a good cause within the event framework. Initially a target of £10,000 was talked about and this was uprated to possibly £60,000 as momentum grew. At the EBU Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 27 November a glowing tribute was paid to Tony when the staggering amount of £130,000 was presented to Cancer Research UK by EBU Chairman Adrian Darnell.

We in Somerset were fully aware of Tony's drive, his work ethic and his enthusiastic approach. He is sorely missed.

****BOOKINGS ARE NOW CLOSED****

This will be on Wednesday 12th February 2025 at Crispin Hall, Street (registration 9.30).

This will be a fun and informative day run by the UK's pre-eminent bridge educator and is suitable for players of all standards. You do NOT need a partner to attend.

There will be a break of an hour and a quarter, which will allow time for lunch, either in the Crispin cafe or elsewhere in Street.

The price is £32 per person and will include tea, coffee and biscuits throughout the day.

Please email Sheree Pavey (scbasec17@yahoo.com) to book your place, and please pay online to SCBA 30-98-45 03080007 with the reference 'AR (Your surname)'

Looking forward to seeing you on the day and, with Christmas on the horizon, this would make a perfect gift!

Simon Brooke

EBED will run a new training course for Club Tournament Directors at Oake Village Hall, Taunton TA4 1JA, in January.

Day 0 (How to run a club duplicate), Sunday 19/01/2025
Day 1 (Book rulings), Sunday 02/02/2025
Day 2 (Book and judgement rulings), Sunday 16/02/2025
Day 3 (Assessment), Sunday 09/03/2025

Trainer: Jeremy Child. Price £72 per session for EBU members (£80 for non-EBU).

More details on content here. Book through an EBU club or via My EBU here.