Welcome to Staffordshire and Shropshire Contract Bridge Association (S&SCBA). The area covered by the Association ranges from the Welsh border in the West to Burton on Trent in the East, Newcastle under Lyme in the North to Ludlow in the South. Our objectives are to promote duplicate bridge in the counties, to encourage inter-club, etc., competitions and to employ the funds in the best interests of the game.

The County has teams of eight entered in the Midland League (Dawes, Porter and Markham) and annually enters a team in the EBU Tollemache competition. The Midlands league covers Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire in addition to ourselves. The County also participates in the Edgar Foster Cups and Midland Teams Challenge Bowl, events for the six counties of Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and ourselves.

During the winter months teams of four league matches for County members are held on the second Wednesday of the month, and there is also a team of four knock-out competition.  Inter Club Sim Pairs are run regularly, and, various pairs competition events are held annually.

County clubs affiliated to the EBU are Border, Chasetown, Eccleshall, Nantwich, Newcastle, Newport, Oswestry, Stafford, Tettenhall,  Wolverhampton and Wrekin.  Wolverhampton Bridge Club became the playing headquarters of S&SCBA in December 2013.

The 8 High No Fears event was a great success with 45 teams from 10 counties taking part,  The title "Midlands" might have been stretched a little!  Staffs & Shrops were at the northern limit but one county has a boundary on the south coast! The full results can be seen by clicking here.  Sadly only one Staffs & Shrops team entered, those players will need to pass the word on as to how enjoyable the event was to encourage more to enter next time. A great afternoon's bridge, friendly faces, best behaviour at bridge observed by all and not a mile added to wear and tear on anyone's car.

Not only was it an interesting experience playing Swiss Teams but also to gain experience of Realbridge.  Realbridge is rapidly becoming a popular platform. The results appeared after each 5 board round and teams were taken back to their home table for a team chat before going on for the next round.  Both Swiss Teams and Realbridge were certainly a new experience for the players in the Staffs & Shrops team and, from chat at the table, most of the other players too.  The Realbridge taster sessions were very helpful to get used to the system, most weeks there are a few times to give Realbridge a try however you must register at least 3 hours in advance that you wish to play in the 8 board taster, you may "turn up to play" with or without a partner.  Newcastle has set up Sunday evening sessions to which they invite others to join in, click for the link to their website.

Never played bridge on-line - and intimidated by what's involved? Don't be! Some clubs have set up on-line bridge groups.  Two main platforms, BBO (Bridge Base Online) and BCL (Bridge Club Live), both offer social and competitive games.  BBO offers the facility to set up a virtual bridge club. Lessons are available from Andrew Robson and Mr Bridge,  Watch over the shoulder of the experts, youtube videos, pick and possibly question, your expert in real time with Zoom.

Oswestry and Border Bridge Clubs have set up a very successful BBO virtual clubs getting 9 or more tables twice a week.   Wolverhampton and Stafford have set up BCL groups.  Stafford is running a league competition with 9 teams of 4 taking part.  Bridge is alive and well in the Staffs and Shrops area.  The unaffiliated Monday Bridge Club in the Shrewsbury area has also set up a virtual club.