It is with sadness that we report the death of David West, chairman of Newport Bridge Club, died aged 71 on the 6th of October peacefully at home after a short illness. David had become a member of the Newport Bridge club  when he and his wife Lesley moved to the area in 1984. He started playing bridge as a young boy at  secondary school and never lost his enthusiasm for the game. His work took him to Rumania, Northern Ireland and America and he continued with his bridge where ever he was based.  He was an active member of the club serving on the committee for many years and acting as competition secretary. He led and encouraged others to take part in competitions in SSCBA. He took the directors course and encouraged and enabled others to teach bridge. He was also also a leading light at our many social events. He will be greatly missed.

Lesley has asked that should anyone wish to make a donation in David’s memory, it should be made to the Severn Hospice (www.severnhospice.org.uk) as they provided wonderful at-home caring during Dave’s last days.

David's funeral will be held on 28th October at Chapel - Telford at 3:30 p.m. and there will be a live webcast on https://www.obitus.com/ that can be joined with the username Zehe2433 and password 235305.

Staffs & Shrops Online League 2020/21

Nine captains have registered with Paul, they have been sent full instructions. Please read carefully!  Click the link here for the time table, round 1 to be played by November 29th.

No Fears Online Bridge Club has re-started at 2 p.m. on Thursday afternoons on 15th October (for those who would not normally have played in major County Events)

For Guidance on Bridge Base Online see below.  To play in this virtual club you will need to register with John Withers giving your BBO alias, EBU number if you have one and contact details.  John needs a little time to register you as a member of the club so please contact him with at least 24 hours notice.

It is open to all – no need to be a member of the EBU or an affiliated club.

AN INVITATION TO ALL MEMBERS of S&SCBA TO PLAY BRIDGE IN A FRIENDLY CLUB ATMOSPHERE ON LINE

Wednesdays

Evenings 7 p.m. Regular Bridge (started on June 10th)

SSCBA has set up a virtual “Club” with the help of the EBU and Bridge Base Online (BBO), holding sessions on Wednesday evenings (a traditional County night). Our first SSCBA Club on line session was on  Wednesday, 10th June 2020, at 7 p.m. A second session, No Fears, in the afternoons started on July 8th but has had to be abandonned due to lack of support following the game on August the 5th.   Those that have taken part in the No Fears events have all enjoyed the sessions, just not enough players.  If there is demand a second attempt to run No Fears could be made in the Autumn.

The winners of the twentieth Staffs and Shrops online game on 21st October were Tony Leech and Linda Curtis (NS) with 58%, and Judy Mitchell and James Vickers (EW) with 62%. The full results can be found here, and a report of some interesting hands here. 

The winners of the nineteenth Staffs and Shrops online game on 14th October were Tony Leech and Linda Curtis (NS) with 70%, and Peter Cartwright and Joanne McLaughlan (EW) with 60%. The full results can be found here. A report of some interesting hands can be found here. 

Many thanks are due to Judy Mitchell, John Withers and James Vickers and others for the considerable amount of work they have put in to setting the virtual club up. Feedback from one of the players "Most important is thanks for getting this going. I'm certain it is absolutely the right thing to do for local bridge in the lockdown. Keep up the good work."

Congratulations to the winners of the opening session NS Keith Shuttleworth & Brian Nicholls and EW Paul Cutler & Martin Aherne. 

Here are links to the documents which will help you to start playing with BBO:

How to create your BBO account (despite what it says in these instructions we do want you to put your real full name here, and we would like to you give a summary of your system under ‘Other’. This would have to be altered if you play a different system with another partner.)

• Starting to Play
• Guidelines for Play
• Alerting
• Profile, System etc
• Money into BBO Account
• How to Play at the Club (on the day)

When you are ready to join the on-line virtual Club you should register with the Membership Secretary, John Withers, on jwithersx@gmail.com, giving: 

• your name,
• your user name,
• EBU number if you have one,
• contact telephone and email address.
• which section you wish to play in Staffs & Shrops Online Bridge Club or the NoFears Online Bridge Club

Only those who have registered will be able to play at the Club, and we need to know which group you wish to play in.

If you have any questions or need any help, please get in touch with one of these listed below:
Judy Mitchell – mitchellmj@btinternet.com  01743 235374
John Withers - jwithersx@gmail.com  01384 271089
James Vickers  - J.Vickers@wlv.ac.uk 
Paul Cutler – paulcutlersscba@yahoo.co.uk  07939 977499
Pam Booth Jones – pamelaboothjones@gmail.com  01952 222421

Judy Mitchell
S&SCBA Secretary.

01743 235374

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.