An E.G.M.

of the
Staffordshire & Shropshire Contract Bridge Association

was held at 5 p.m.on ZOOM

Tuesday 8th October 2024.

The proposals put forward at the AGM were ratified, click here for EGM Notice.

Congratulations to SSCBA members Dave Debbage,and  Paul Hackett for their success in the Mutton Cup event idirected by Jonathan Lillycrop. Players from some 15 countries took part in the competition played 22nd-24th August 2024 in Madrid.

Congratulations to Worcestershire A (Stewart Fishburne, Mike Willoughby, Joyce and Chris Taylor) who won the event, scoring a total of +81 IMPs over 49 boards. Staffsshrops B (James Vickers, Keith Shuttleworth, Martin Church, Mike McCartney) were runners-up with +31 IMPs. The full results can be found here. 

Paul & David with a pair from Worcestershire retained the Worcestershire league in the 2023/24 season.  Heavily disguised as "Noble Rot" the results can be seen here. Many congratulations both

Move "mouse" over thumbnail to change

This event was played at Stafford Bridge club at the county showground with 7 tables and players from far and wide within the county.  The winners were Anne Seymour & Geoffrey Neal with Terry Maltby & Liz Clarke second and Alan Codling & Ann Sleightholme third, congratulations all.  David Drinkwater directed a very friendly event which is sadly the end of the near 50 year spell at the showground.  Stafford bridge club is moving to the Hayling Dene centre in June as the lease at the showground premises comes to an end.  Hopefully the competition will be played at Hayling Dene next year..  Pictures by David Drinkwater show SSCBA chair,, Pam Booth Jones presenting the prizes to the winners and runners up. 

This green pointed teams of four event was played on Sunday 21st April at Newcastle bridge club, five teams took part and the winners were John Hartley & Geoff Neal,  Kath Adams,& Anne Seymour.  

The event was played over two 24 board sessions, click for session 1, session 2 and combined results.

Many thanks to James Vickers for directing and to Tracy Aherne for all the refreshments.  

Best placed SSCBA member in the national final played on 13th/14th April 2024  on RealBridge was Jason Hackett coming 14th.  County Captain, Paul Cutler and his partner Martin Aherne came not far behind 19th. 

Several SSCBA members took part in the regional finals played on Sunday 24th March.  Jason Hackett was top  in the Midlands regional finals just ahead of regular Wednesday evening players, Tony Spiers and John Sanders.  When combined with the results from all regions the positions are reversed with Tony and John in first place  and Jason and partner in second place. The top 50 pairs, who will be entitled to play the National Pairs Final on RealBridge on 13th - 14th April 2024 also include SSCBA captain Paul Cutler and his partner Martin Aherne.  Very many congratulations to you all

Several  SSCBA members took part in the the EBU Combined Premier Life, Life, National and Regional Masters Pairs competition was played  on RealBridge,  A total of 101-102 boards over two days, Saturday 24th and  Sunday 25th February,  Robin Adey &  Dave Nelson had an overall average score of  +0.39 in the Life Master section,  Lis Bingham & Tony Togneri 4th in the National Master section with +0.10  and Flo Baldwin 4th in the Regional Master section.

The 2023 Chester Bowl was held at Deva Bridge Club in Christleton, CH3 7AS near Chester, on Sunday 15th October.
SSCBA member Keith Shuttleworth, who after qualifying in third, won the final playing with Seb Jones from Merseyside and Cheshire.

Many thanks to all those who took the trouble to vote following the email sent through the website on 10th September.  Voting has now closed. The result:  an overwhelming vote for John Hartley to be the next  SSCBA Treasurer.

 If you have unsubscribed to receiving email from the website and wish to resubscribe then click here for information on how to resubscribe to receive email from this website.. If you have no email address on the system click here for help on how to set one up.

County Simultaneous Pairs heats were held f2f in four clubs on Wednesday, 16th August: Eccleshall, Newcastle, Wolverhampton and Wrekin,.  A total of 21½ tables, up 2 tables from this time last year.   

Winners were County Captain Paul Cutler and his partner Martin Aherne playing at Newcastle, second Nick & Frank Cheadle playing at Eccleshall and third Ronnie & Jan Bhageerutty playing at Wrekin.  Click here for the overall results.

The commentary on this hand showed EW likely to end in 4♥ but that 7♣ or even 7NT could make.  On the day no one bid a slam, 9 ended up in game in hearts and one pair made all thirteen tricks in clubs but only bid game.  Highest score went to those that bid at least game in NT making 11 tricks

The commentary on this hand showed EW likely to end in 4♥ but that 7♣ or even 7NT could make.  On the day no one bid a slam, 9 ended up in game in hearts and one pair made all thirteen tricks in clubs but only bid game.  Highest score went to those that bid at least game in NT making 11 tricks

The final round of the SSCBA league was completed spot on time on Thursday 11th May 2023 with Paul's team of Paul, David, Geoff and Anne the winners, second Jo's team, Jo, Peter, Tony and Lis who were only just ahead of James' team, James, Keith, Martin  and Mike.  Would you believe it no substitutes played in these three teams all season! Not quite true, in one match, Mike McGarry subbed for Mike McCartney  in one match, The results were close, only 20 VP between 1st and 3rd. Well done all.  Any chance of photo ops for any or all of these teams?  For full results click here.

The Championship Multiple Teams of Four was played on Sunday 23rd April at Newcastle Bridge Club  This competition replaced the Staffs Cup knock out teams competition of previous years.  The event was played in two 20 board sessions with 5 teams taking part

This competition is the qualifying event to select a team to represent the County at the Pachabo Cup to be held on 10th/11th June 2023 - on RealBridge
Prizes:  Winning or 2nd Team (or a mix of the two) has free entry to the Pachabo. (Extra green points to the winner of a head-to-head match between the leading two teams.)

Many thanks are due to Neil Morley for directing and to Tracy Aherne for providing the refreshments at the interval.

We played our final Midland Counties Online League (Dawes) match of the 2022-23 season on Sunday, 12th March, against Leicestershire. All three teams won, the division 1 team by 13-7 VPs, division 2 by 20-0 VPs, division 3 by 19-1 VPs. Those results should see the Staffshrops teams finish around mid-table in the second and third divisions, and the first team should at least not finish bottom. Thanks and well done for all who played. The final scoring tables are yet to be updated, but can be found at EBU Results | Midland Counties League 2022-23 Division 1. The full results of the day's matches with player lists and travellers can be found at Midland Counties Congress, Warwickshire CBA (bridgewebs.com). 

Two Staffs & Shrops pairs took part in the event on 25th March, with Penny Grocott & Frances Bradley winning the competition, click here for the results. Overall county winners were Nottinghamshire with pairs coming 2nd, 3rd and 6th. The session was again followed by Q & A on some of the hands led by Ben Norton, a leading young international. 

Three Staffs and Shrops pairs took part in the event on the 28th January, best placed were Ken Davies and Steve Lister coming 4th.  Click here for the results  Overall county winners were Oxfordshire with pairs coming 1st, 5th and 7th. The No Fears have been aimed at pairs with an average NGS grade of 9 or lower.  

Liz Bingham, playing with a partner from Surrey, was the best placed SSCBA player coming 2nd in the region and 18th overall. Martin Church & Michael McCartney coming 5th in the region and 26th overall also qualify to play in the final. Martin and Michael won the SSCBA Championship Pairs played recently at Newcastle, see Pam's picture of them with the report on the news page.  Jason Hackett, playing with a partner from Worcestershire, was the best placed SSCBA player in the finals played on 15th/16th April.  Eleven other SSCBA players took part in the regional finals but did not make the top 50 who qualified to compete in the national finals on 15th/16th April. 

Winners with their cups 5th March 2023

The championship pairs, a green-pointed event, was played on Sunday 5th March 2023 at Newcastle Bridge Club.  Two Howell sessions were played with 22 boards in each. The result was so tight it was not until the final board that was scored that the winners, Michael McCartney & Martin Church, were decided coming just ahead of Warren Perks & Michael Goodall. Third and fourth places also very close, Tony Togneri & Kevin Goode were third just ahead of John Hartley & Kath Adams.  The top pairs are eligible to play in the Corwen Tropy event on 3rd - 4th June.  Well done all. 

So many thank you's, first to the pair who stood in at the very last minute, to Neil Morley aided by John Whitelock for directing, to Pam for the picture, to Rita for looking after everyone, to Martin and Tracy for providing the great refreshments at the interval and to Judy for all the organisation beforehand to ensure the event ran so smoothly on the day.   

Three Staffs and Shrops pairs took part in the event on the 28th January, best placed were Ken Davies and Steve Lister coming 4th.  Click here for the results  Overall county winners were Oxfordshire with pairs coming 1st, 5th and 7th.. The session was followed by Q & A on some of the hands led by Ben Norton, a leading young international.  The next one of these No Fears events is likely to be played at the end of March. The No Fears have been aimed at pairs with an average NGS grade of 9 or lower.  

Thee competitions are hosted on RealBridge so that you get to see and talk to your partner and the opposition – it is as close to face-to-face as we can get. If you haven’t played on RealBridge yet, you can log on to RealBridge and play some practice games.  Free taster RealBridge sessions are held once a week, mainly on Sunday evenings (these have to be booked at least 2 hours in advance).  Click here to test your camera on RealBridge.

Originally it was planned to hold this on a Monday in January but eventually, after consultation with the clubs, a Wednesday was chosen, 25th January. There were 20½ tables playing at Eccleshall, Newcastle, Wrekin and Wolverhampton.  The winners were Nick Cheadle & Libby Dale playing at Eccleshall, Pam Booth-Jones (SSCBA charman) & Margaret Tomkinson playing at Wrekin came second just ahead of Tony Togneri & David Owen in third place playing at Newcastle.  A commentary is available here.  Congratulations all.

As of 3rd August 2022 this website has moved on to release 2.19q, click here to see "what is new".  The most noticeable change is to the way the results may be viewed with an option to view in the "classic" style or the "2022" style.    There are other features introduced in release 2.19p - should we make use of them on this site?

Six pairs from SSCBA took part in this enjoyable event organised by the Midland Counties Congress played on 26th November 2022.   Overall the winning county was Worcestershire with Staffs & Shropshire coming second just ahead of Gloucestershire (click for the results).  Frances Bradley & Peggy Grocott, Newcastle members, were the best placed SSCBA pair coming 4th overall.  Next of these events is planned for Saturday January 28th, don't miss out on playing in this fun event if your NGS permits, see the poster for the last event for general information.

This Award, in memory of Tony Priday, was instituted in 2015 and is usually given to individuals for an outstanding contribution to bridge and enhancing the game in all its aspects. For 2022 however, it was decided to give it to the EBU membership “for supporting the game, the EBU and each other during the COVID pandemic.

A full list of award winners can be seen by clicking here.

A team from Staffs and Shrops competed in the Tollemache Qualifier, the EBU's inter-county teams-of-eight tournament, on 12-13th November. They were Paul Cutler and David Beavon, Paul Hackett and Dave Debbage, Toni Tognieri and Elisabeth Bingham, James Vickers and Keith Shuttleworth (Saturday only), Martin Aherne and Steven Smith (Sunday only). They finished 10th in their group of fourteen teams, winning five and drawing one of their thirteen matches. Thanks to all who took part in what is always a tough competition. 

Paul Hackett played in the Rand Cup earning a Bronze medal as part of the Penforld team in the seniors section, see.16th World Bridge Series Wrocław, Poland 19 August – 3 September 2022 (results) and the EBU report.

Nearer home SSCBA members John Hartley and Robin Adey came 8th in the Bedfordshire green pointed Swiss Pairs played on Saturday 3rd September 2022 with 92 VPs.  Paul Cutler and Colin Draper not far behind them.

Very well done all.

19½ tables at 3 clubs, Eccleshall, Newport and Stafford took part.  Overall winners were Paul Barnet & Ruth Timmis playing at Eccleshall with Paul Cutler & Martin Aherne at Stafford second and Anne Seymour & Geoff Davies also at Stafford third (result corrected 15:37 18/08/22). Fourth equal Peter Cartwright & Joanne Mclauchian with Nick Weaver & Anne Hidderley both playing at Eccleshall.  Many thanks to John Withers for collating  the scores and for John Weston, Joan Kershaw and Terry Maltby for the organisation at the partaking clubs.  The  next SSCBA sim pairs on Monday 30^th January, time to put the date in your diary.

Regional event - Midland Counties Challenge Bowl 10th July 2022 (click for results)

The county sent two teams to play in the above event, hosted by Worcs, (on realbridge). Ten teams played, our teams were 4th and 6th. Paul Cutler, David Beavon : John Sanders, Irene Jan-du-Chene were 4th with a score of +30 imps James Vickers, Keith Shuttleworth : Martin Church, Mike McCartney were 6th with a score of zero.  The winners were Warwickshire whose teams came 1st and 2nd.

National event - Pachabo Cup 11th/12th June 2022 (click for results)

the S&S team participated in the Pachabo, one team of 4 from each county. We finished 12th out of 24, a story of two days, 20th after Saturday, joint 5th best score on Sunday lifted us up to 12th. Team was James Vickers, Martin Church : David Beavon, Paul Cutler.  

National event - Corwen Trophy 28th/29th May 2022 (click for results)

Following the championship pairs three pairs went on to represent the County at the Corwen Trophy on 28th & 29th May 2022, our leading pair was David Beavon and Paul Cutler who came fourth in a field of 78 pairs. Many Congratulations to David and Paul.

SSCBA Championship Pairs 8th May 2022 (click for results)

12 pairs took part, all the top three pairs are regular Dawes/MCOL team players. The winners were the SSCBA chair, Pamela Booth-Jones & Sue Yardley, with Tony Togneri & Elisabeth Bingham coming second and David Beavon & county captain Paul Cutler coming third.   A very enjoyable afternoon at the bridge table.

Pam Booth-Jones and Sue Yardley are not available to play in the Corwen on 28th and 29th May. Therefore the next four places are all involved in the Corwen: Tony Togneri & Elisabeth Bingham,  Paul Cutler & Dave Beavon, Celia Day & Claire Marsh together with James Vickers & Martin Church who have agreed to be the stand-by pair.

The Edgar Foster Cups (Gloucestershire) and the Midland Counties Bowl (host Worcestershire) dates not confirmed yet.

Staffs and Shrops players took part in a number of sessions to raise money for the Ukraine appeal funds:

• Nantwich on 11th April
• Stafford took part in the ECATs sim pairs each day during the week 11-15th April with a first place in Thursday session
• Stone on March 22nd
• the two big Kent, Surrey and Sussex eventson April 2nd, (Green-Pointed Swiss Pairs  and 9(NGS)-High Pairs,) 
• The Thursday Club Cambridge April 8th event 

Through these events Staffs and Shrops players raised over £1,600.

Sadly this normally very popular event has had to be cancelled due to lack of support in 2022, players still lack confidence for face to face bridge.  Don't miss out on a No Fear event though, there is the online RealBridge 9-High No Fear Pairs on March 26th

SSCBA member Paul Hackett is one of Brian Senior's team who have retained the Gerard Faulkner Salver (as reported on January 4th 2022 by the EBU). The full team: Brian Senior (Captain), Tony Forrester, Paul Hackett, Sandra Penfold and Norman Selway. 

Jason Hacket was a member of the winning team at the Midlands Counties Congress, played on BBO, on 9th January.  Many Congratulations Paul and Jason.  Several SSCBA members took part in the Congress Friday and Saturday sessions.

Two teams entered the 9-High event  on Saturday 29th January 2022.  Staffs1, Newcastle players came second overall, Congratulations Neville, Viv, Tracy and Neil.  Staffs 2, made up of Stafford players, came 6th.  What a shame there wasn't a third SSCBA team to enter the county ranking.

The next of these events is the 6-high 9-high Swiss Pairs competition on Saturday 26th March, see https://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwop/bw.cgi?club=midlandcc&pid=display_page28,.  What about finding a partner now?  You can check your ranking click here and search for your name.to see if you qualify to take part. NB on 3rd March the decision was made to  change to a 9-high Swiss Pairs event rather than the originally planned 6-high Swiss teams.

The event that was due to be held at the end of January at clubs is unable to go ahead in the present situation.  The committee will look at this again in the summer, when perhaps there will be more confidence in face to face bridge around the county!

The SSCBA team that took part were: Paul Cutler, David Beavon, James Vickers, Keith Shuttleworth, Mike Amos, Paul Hackett, David Debbage, Jason Hackett, Diego Brenner. The event was played on RealBridge and the results can be seen here, RealBridge or Bridgewebs style options.  A good picture of some of the team in the winning Crockfords team played 4th-5th September can be seen on the SSCBA "News page"

At the regular Wednesday evening session 18 Staffs and Shrops pairs took part in the EBU Autumn Sim pairs on 13th October 2021.  As at 10:50 a.m. 14/10/21 best placed SSCBA pair were Tony Spiers and John Sanders, playing EW being 8^th out 133 pairs, Sue Maxwell and Michael McCartney playing NS not far behind, there may be more results yet to come. Congratulations Tony & John and Sue & Michael. EBU links here for the session full results, club results and commentary in addition to the usual SSCBA Wednesday results for the session. A commentary on hand 19 can be found here. 

Finally, September 2021, Covid restrictions have eased enough to allow Pamela Booth-Jones, the SSCBA Chairman, to present John Withers in person with the the prestigious Dimmie Fleming Award which John was awarded in 2020 for services to bridge. Read more from the original notice in 2020.

16 teams took part in this most enjoyable event, sadly only two teams from Staffs and Shrops, best placed of which were Viv Milne's team coming 4th with 62 VP.  The winning team, the Sheppard team from Oxforshire, scored 75 VP over the 5 rounds. Oxfordshire and Avon were well represented, 6 teams from Oxfordshire!  A  discussion of interesting hands followed on after the event itself took place on zoom.   The organiser was able to bring up the hands, scores and bidding as the hand selected was discussed, at the start players were encouraged to make a note of suitable hands to talk over at this zoom meeting. Those that entered will be able to see the scores here.

The next Midlands 9 high event takes place 29th January 2022 and there will be 6 high events 27th November and 29th March.

In addition the Malvern Congress is holding 9 high pairs event on Friday 29th October 2021.

2020/21 Season Winners

Firstly congratulations to James Vickers' team for the 2020/21 season victory just pipping Paul Cutler's team to the post with 127 to 122 VP when the competition finally completed.  

2021/22 Season

10 teams have entered the league this year making a single division with 9 rounds to be played between now and mid May 2022. The time table can be found here

Several SSCBA clubs have already reopened.  Best place for the latest information are the clubs' own websites.  Each club is making their own arrangements/restrictions.  In general bringing your own glass and drinks is the order of the day and keeping the club informed of when you wish to play.

SSCBA is very sad to hear the news of the death of John Day on Tuesday 13th July 2021.

John made an enormous contribution, not only at his beloved Newcastle BC but also at County level. Please click here for some memories sent by those he played with over the years. 

For the funeral arrangements please see the Newcastle site.

Our thoughts go out to Frances, their two daughters and grandchildren at this very difficult time.

The Midland Counties Congress Working Party Group ran a third in their series of No Fear Swiss Teams events on Saturday 19th June 2021.  This time 15 teams took part, including one from SSCBA, the winners were from Warwickshire.  If you took part in any of the No Fear events. 8High in January, 9High in March and now 6High the organisers would be pleased to get feedback so that they can build on the good points and reduce the not such good points.  Please send your comments to Paul Cutler.

Bridging Academia, Policy and Practice Online Conference: Monday 28 June – Thursday 1 July 2021 Free international conference for academics, bridge players, teachers & administrators Join Bridge: A MindSport for All (BAMSA) – a global network – and share best practice Case studies from: Australia, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Madeira, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, South Pacific, UK, USA More than 60 presenters and panelists from 20 countries

• ·       Day 1:  Bridge as a Mindsport
• ·       Day 2:  Digital Bridge: Opportunities and Challenges
• ·       Day 3:  Healthy Ageing, Intergenerationality and Gender
• ·       Day 4:  Education, Development and Marketing

For more information or to register for any of the sessions go to: https://bridgemindsport.org/bridging-academia-policy-practice-conference/

Bridge: A MindSport for All (BAMSA) | Prof. Samantha Punch Faculty of Social Sciences, Colin Bell Building, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA  Email:​ bamsa@stir.ac.uk 

The 27th Shropshire Congress On Line via B.B.O.

Green Pointed Swiss Pairs Saturday, 24th April 2021 

There were 56 tables at this first online Shropshire Congress with many from SSCBA taking part, a record number of entries including a standby pair. 

Best placed of the regular Wednesday evening SSCBA players were Brian Nicholls and Keith Shuttleworth coming 11th out of 112 pairs.   Very well done all.

Green Pointed Swiss Teams Sunday, 25th April 2021

34 teams for the Swiss Teams.  Another record?

Congratulations to the SSCBA regular players James Vickers, Keith Shuttleworth, Martin Church and Mike McCartney for their joint second-place.

We surely do not want to thank covid restrictions for anything, but due to them we have experienced record numbers for both the Swiss Pairs and Swiss Teams.    To think that, back in 2019, we cancelled the teams event for 2020 because uptake was so poor! Obviously, with face-to-face bridge out of the question, on-line bridge involving no travel and no hotel bills has proved very popular in bringing players to our event from all over the country.

My thanks go to Sarah Amos and her team for organising the whole event and to everyone who entered to make it such a success. Will the future of the Shropshire Congress lie on line?
Judy Mitchell (Congress Secretary)

Another wonderful success story, 54 teams took part this time including 3 from SSCBA.  Best placed SSCBA was Viv Milne's team from Newcastle who came 5th.  Many congratulations.  Click here to see the results.  

Midlands Counties Congress (who put on the event)  will welcome feedback - via SSCBA coordinator, Paul Cutler - on this event and the option for future events of this nature.

• the format you prefer (pairs, teams, etc)?
• does the day and time work out OK?
• how often such events should happen?
• anything else you can think of .....

This is clearly a project worth encouraging so please pass comments to Paul so that the event builds on the positives and corrects any negatives.  Many players now introduced to RealBridge, another positive spin off from the event.

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.

18 pairs took part this year, 16 pairs last year, good to see numbers holding up in the on-line world. The competition, previously known as the Bearn, was played over 14 three board rounds on Sunday 7th March.

The winners were James Vickers and Martin Church with a score of 59.4%, runners-up Linda Davies and Judy Clowes with 57.9%. The results can be found here.  Many Congratulations.

This competition is the qualifying event to select players to represent the County at the Corwen Trophy to be held on 5^th & 6^th June 2021. Venue: Milton Keynes or on-line.

If Corwen Trophy is to be held in Milton Keynes you would be responsible for travel and accommodation costs. 

Well placed pairs in the Championship Pairs may be invited to take part in the Edgar Foster Cups in September.

Many thanks are due to Judy Mitchel for her organisation and to the director, Eddie, for ensuring the smooth running of the event.

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.

Two success stories from the recent EBU ranked Masters pairs event played on February 27th and 28th.  Tony Togneri (Newcastle) playing with Elisabeth Bingham (Surrey) won the Regional Masters Pairs and Richard Woodward and Terry Alexander who in the Masters pairs came 15th out of 266 pairs with a score of 59.76%.  Well done all.

When you meet your opponents you can set up the BBO chat manager to enable you to greet them with your basic system, see links to videos on how to used  chat Manager, Using Chat Manager in BBO - Bing video, Chat manager on you tube.  For example "Hello both, Jill and Susan here, we play Beni, wkNT, stayman, transfer, wk Majors, RKCB".  In addition to using the "chat" please use the alert BBO facility, for example to show strength of 1NT bid and any conventional bids, even Stayman and Transfers.

Many congratulations to the division 7 EBU lockdown league winners, Tony Leech (captain),  Pamela Booth-Jones (chairman of SSCBA), Linda Curtis (past chairman of SSCBA) and Sue Yardley.  14 teams took part in the division, the results were very tight at the top.  Click here for the full division 7 results.  A very popular event with 9 divisions.

Many Congratulations to John Withers who has been awarded the prestigious Dimmie Fleming Award in 2020 for services to bridge. The awards are made specifically to publicly recognise those who have worked hard promoting bridge locally at County level. 

John has been a tireless supporter of the county for more than 20 years. Initially he was Membership Secretary for the County, trying to keep club lists up to date and collecting county subs from everyone – before the age of computerisation (we forget how much work that involved).

He also worked very hard on statistics relating to the introduction of P2P: who would benefit, who would lose out and at what level the county should pitch the county subscription.  Initially, Staffs and Shropshire county elected to collect from individuals via clubs in the first instance: and then John calculated how much should be added to the P2P to the EBU and, again, which clubs would lose out with the change.  His work enabled the county to diffuse any potential issues that would certainly have arisen without his work on this topic.

He was usually the representative of Wolverhampton Bridge Club at county committee meetings and a major player in the administration of that Club.

In addition, he was at the forefront of ‘computer’ scoring for the county and his club (Wolverhampton Bridge Club) and for coping with sending results to the EBU.  If there was any sort of computer problem (including sorting out problems with bridge scoring systems from other clubs) – John was your man. 

More recently he was at the forefront of starting up the county on-line bridge clubs, liaising with the TD for them and taking on the role of Membership Secretary for the two new on-line clubs. 

Over the years he has represented the County at various EBU national meetings, always ready to stand in for another representative in his/her absence.

Always a person willing to take on any task or problem.  John is a classic example of an unsung hero, and thoroughly deserves the nomination.

Staffs & Shrops Contract Bridge Association

AGENDA for the  ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

to be held on Sunday, 27th  September 2020 at 5 p.m. on ZOOM*

1. Apologies.
2. Minutes of the A.G.M. held on 1st September 2019. 
3. Matters arising.  
4. Chairman’s Report.
5. Treasurer’s Report.
6. Competition Secretary’s Report.
7. Shropshire Congress Secretary’s Report.
8. Webmaster/Membership Secretary’s Report.
9. Captain’s Report.
10. Proposal from Paul Cutler, seconded by Pam Booth Jones, that the word “Duplicate” be removed from the Constitution as recommended by the Midlands Counties Working Group (see **note below).   A copy of the Constitution can be found on the County’s website.
11. Election of Officers (no nominations as yet).            
12. Any Other Business.

*ZOOM    Jane Sheehan, our Treasurer, is willing to host the meeting, and if you want to attend you must provide her with your e-mail address so she can send the electronic invitation details.   She will also give you her mobile phone number in case you are having difficulties.  By having these e-mail addresses she will also send you copies of the Accounts.  Please note the time, a different time was indicated on an email.

So, beforehand you will need to download Zoom onto a suitable laptop or phone which has microphone/sound/speaker facilities so that you can hear and be heard (and video if you want to see people or be seen).

This is her email address : jane_sheehan_13@hotmail.com.   (There is an underline between her names and the number!).    When you email her, please include me in the mail shot, because I shall need to know who will be attending, and I shall also want to send you copies of the other Reports for the AGM.

** Note:  At a meeting of the MCWG it was agreed that the EBU and individual counties should be there representing all bridge players and that the word “duplicate” should be deleted from counties’ constitutions.

N.B.  Reports will be emailed to those who let me know that they will be attending the meeting.

J. Mitchell, 

S&SCBA Hon. Secretary

01743 235374;  

mitchellmj@btinternet.com

10/9/20.

STAFFS & SHROPS ONLINE BRIDGE CLUB   entered Simultaneous Pairs in aid of E.B.E.D,which raises funds for EBED, . on Wednesday, 9th September 2020.  This was very well attended with 14 tables.  At the time of writing, 10:30 the following morning, results are in for 116 pairs with possibly more to come,  Claire Marsh and Celia Day, winners EW at SSCBA, came third in the overall results, winners NS at SSCBA event.  Next best placed SSCBA players in the overall results were were Jolanta Coggle and Michael Lucas coming 12th, 2nd EW at SSCBA.  NS winners at SSCBA were James and Judy coming 17th overall.  A very good evening with 24 boards played, more than the usual number, feedback on the number of boards welcome, just right or too many?

Peter Jones, member of Newcastle bridge club, won the Second Mutton cup satellite thus gaining entry to the final in Madrid August 13th - !5th August.  Peter being able to take part will be confirmed when the inbound quarantine from Spain to the U.K. is lifted (expected to be this week)

The EBU organised an online seminar by Suffolk County Bridge Association, on The Virtual Club and their experiences in developing this resource within their County

I watched the seminar this is what I “took away” from the presentation.

Lockdown has universally changed the bridge world, now “the only game in town “ is online.

Playing bridge sitting opposite your opponents, in clubs, is unlikely to resume before September and maybe as far away as the New Year.

There is a growing number of Counties and local bridge clubs that are organising online Tournaments, in which players pay table money to compete with people they played/socialised with prior to March 23^rd. The organisers receive 50 – 70 % of the table.

The organisers of Tournaments must have access to a qualified host/director to run the competition, practical experience recommends that initially two directors are needed to ensure the smooth running of the event.

Sixty percent of players in Suffolk on now playing online.

I urge members of SSCBA committee to watch the recording of the meeting, available via the EBU’s website, It runs for an hour. If the committee is then interested in pursuing/promoting the introduction of a Virtual Club/s within the County, it could quickly determine if any local clubs are organising or playing in online Tournaments and what is needed to “Marshall” or train directors.

Move "mouse" over thumbnail to change

No Fear Pairs - Thursday 27th February 2020. This day time event took place at Wolverhampton Bridge Club with a delicious light lunch included. One player came from as far as Manchester to take part. 30 boards were played using a Mitchell movement.  North South winners were Janet Bradley & Christine Hartley, East West winners were Brian McLaughlan & Isobel Rees with a special prize for Michael & Hilary Sedgley as the best scoring runners up.  Congratulations to you all. A very enjoyable day and thanks are due to those who provided the lunch, the organisers, the scorer and to Jeff Jones for directing.  

Move "mouse" over thumbnail to change

Championship Pairs - Played Sunday 8th March 2020

This all play all green pointed event was played at the County HQ, Wolverhampton Bridge Club on Sunday 8th March in two sessions with a total of 45 boards.  The winners were Paul Hackett & David Debbage with Kath Adams & John Hartley second and James Vickers & Martin Church third.  These first three pairs have qualified to play in the national event for the Corwen Trophy on 30th and 31st May 2020 at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, Milton Keynes,  MK7 6BZ.  

Four Pairs from this event will be invited to represent the County in the Edgar Foster Cups to be held on 20th September 2020, this year hosted by Staffs and Shropshire.

Many thanks are due to James Vickers for directing and scoring, Jeff Jones for the organisation and Tracy Aherne for the catering.

The Congress has to be cancelled in line with EBU and other directives regarding Coronavirus. Judy Mitchell will be contacting those who have entered and sent money so that she can refund them..

County members will also be sorry to learn about Harold who passed away on 15th March. He was 91 which by coincidence was the same age as Marion.

Harold first joined Newcastle Bridge Club in the 60’s and became a regular Tuesday and Thursday nighter until recently when his long illness made it difficult to attend. Over the years Harold has also been a member of the Club Committee in various roles.

Harold was a very good player who enjoyed considerable success at Newcastle. He was also selected to play for the County in Dawes matches, the Teams league with neighbouring Midlands Counties. Harold also enjoyed success at weekend EBU congresses.

Harold’s service with family members took place during the Coronavirus situation. If a Memorial Service is held, details will appear later on County website. 

County Simultaneous Pairs - Played at clubs on Monday 27th January 2020

6 clubs took part in this event, results in from all 6 with a total of 39 tables as of Tuesday 28th January just short of midnight, thanks to John Withers burning the midnight oil.  First are Linda & Paul Laughlin (playing at Stafford, pictured), with Robert Hunt & Cyril Walker (Oswestry) second by a short head from Mike Sherriff  & Robin Adey (Stafford) who were themselves a short head from Val Prentice & Jill Bird (Nantwich) now fourth after the 6th club's results included.   Slight increase in the numbers taking part this year, 35 tables last year.  Many thanks to John Withers and Jeff Jones for all the work they put in to make the event so successful. Next SSCBA sim pairs is Wednesday 12th August 2020.

Congratulations to Kevin Goode and Peter Cartwright, and Helen and Peter Lees, who finished second and third in the Edgar Foster Cups on Sunday 22nd September 2019. Sadly, it wasn't quite enough to bring home the trophy, which was lost on a tie-break to Warwickshire. Full results can be seen here. .

Staffs and Shrops finished 5th of 9 in group D of this national event played in Daventry over the weekend 16th/17th November.  SSCBA had 4 wins & 4 defeats. Wins against:

• Berks and Bucks, the eventual winners, their only defeat
• Norfolk,
• Warwickshire,
• Northants.

Team :  Paul Hackett  & David Debbage, Jason Hackett  & Adrian Kenworthy, David Beavon & James Vickers, Geoff Davies & Paul Cutler.
 

The AGM was held on Sunday, 1st September 2019. An EGM was held in order to ratify the Proposal by the Committee that the current rate of the county fee paid via P2P should remain at 6p per session per player, which was agreed nem con but without a quorum at the Annual General Meeting held on Sunday 1st September 2019.  The motion was passed at the EGM.

European Championship Jason and Justin Hackett were in the winning team in Turkey at the European Championship Open Teams competition representing England.  The event started 15th June 2019 in Istanbul.

Spring Foursomes

Jason and Justin Hacket were in the winning Scharpiro Spring Foursomes team, played 3rd - 7th May 2019

National Swiss Teams

On May 12th 2019 Dave Debbage and Paul Hackett finished second in the National Swiss Teams with team mates Croz Croswall and John Sansom.  

Buffett Cup

The Hackett family much involved in the European team taking part in the Buffett Cup April 2019 in China, in the southern coastal city of Haikou, capital of Hainan Province. Paul was captain and Jason and Justin both in the team. The final result was down to the last board with Europe finally losing to the USA and China coming third.

The County Mixed Pairs took place at Wolverhampton Bridge Club on Thursday 13th June 2019.  The winners were John Withers & Judy Mitchell, with Roger & Elaine Taylor second and Dan Crofts & Celia Day coming third.  Congratulations all.

Trying to attract a younger demographic to the game of bridge, the Students’ Union at Staffordshire University are offering their current students 4 taster sessions.  These will be held from 4-6pm on Wednesday March 27th, April 3rd, May 1st and 8th.  Newcastle-under-Lyme Bridge Club members have kindly offered to come to the university to deliver sessions to the students.  It is hoped that students are inspired and may set up a bridge club at the university but let’s not get ahead of ourselves as firstly, we need to entice the students to try the game.  If you know of any Staffordshire University students or staff please encourage them to go along.  A report will follow these events.

The winners of the Swiss Pairs are Giles and Gabriel Ip from Norfolk, narrowly beating Sandra Nicholson & Krys Kazmierczak in second, with Eddie Lucioni & John Dakin in third.

There joint winners for the Swiss Teams:

Giles & Gabriel Ip, John Dakin & Eddie Lucioni (who received the trophy) and Sheila Shea, Edward Jones, Wyn Williams and Margaret Barnes. In third were Andrew Thompson, Tom Fisken, Dan Crofts, Ollie Burgess.
  
Very sadly, because of the diminishing numbers entering the Swiss Teams over recent years, and particularly this year, there will no Swiss Teams next year.   We hope that there will be a one-day Swiss Pairs on Saturday 25th April 2020.
 

The SSCBA Championship Pairs, previously the Bearn, were played at Woverhampton Bridge Club on Sunday 17th March. The winners were Mike Cornes & Annette Lucas with Barbara Hackett & Dan Crofts second and Keith Shuttleworth & Brian Nicholls third. Apologies no photographer on hand, archive picture used from an Edgar Foster cup event!  The top players may go on to compete for the Corwen Trophy, a national event, on 1st/2nd June in Daventry.  The SSCBA team for the Edgar Foster Cups are also chosen from the results of this competiton which is to be played in Warwickshire this year, date yet TBA.

Paul Hackett playing in the Norwegian team won the open teams event in the Southeast Asia Bridge Federation Championships, Manila, Philippines 1st December 2018. Paul was also in the winning team at the Seniors Trials, 15th - 16th December 2018, which took place at West Midlands Bridge Club.

Jason Hackett playing with Richard Bowdery won the Oviedo tournament on 23rd November 2018 

Many congratulations all.

Move "mouse" over thumbnail to change

The winners of the Shrewsbury Open Swiss Pairs were Michelle Davies & Jolanta Coggle with Patricia & Henry Ramsay second and the non-expert prize going to Linda and David Glasscock.  A most enjoyable afternoon with entries from a wide area, the tea lived up to its billing, "superb" and the prize giving on time, even a few minutes ahead of schedule!  Many thanks are due to Judy and the Shrewsbury club for hosting and organising the event and to James for directing.

Lawrence Haynes playing with Trevor Thrower won the West of England Congress Swiss Pairs played on 29th September 2018. 

Move "mouse" over thumbnail to change

12½ tables took part this year in this popular event at Wolverhampton. The results were:

*Won prize for highest scoring losing %

Many thanks are due to Jeff, for organising, Alma for scoring and Linda and her team for the wonderful lunch

Five clubs took part, Chasetown, Newcastle, Oswestry, Stafford and Wolverhampton with a total of 35 tables. The results are now confirmed as:

A very close result at the top!

The SSCBA Summer Sim Pairs were played at 5 clubs, a total of 38½ tables, on Wednesday 15th August 2018.  The final results are now complete.   The winners were Pam Booth-Jones (SSCBA Chairman) & Tony Leech playing at Wrekin, Barbara Tams & Joyce Maddock playing at Newcastle came second with Mike Cornes & Lawrence Haynes playing at Wrekin third.  Congratulations all.

Northern Mid-Week Congress

Justin Hacket playing with Martin Taylor won the pairs on 22nd August 2018

HCL tournament New Delhi

Jason and Justin won the 2nd prize in the pairs event played 14th August 2018.

Gloucestershire Green Point Event

Congratulations to Dom Wilson and Jeff Jones who came second in the Swiss Pairs at the Glouscestershire Green point event on Sat 21st July in a very close contest with the winners scoring 100 vp  to their 99 vp. 

Midland Counties Challenge Bowl

SSCBA was represented by two teams in this event played at Cheltenham Bridge Club, Gloucesterhire headquarters, on 8th July 2018. Roger Keane's team came third and Dave Clarke's ninth.

Llandudno Swiss Pairs

Jason Hackett playing with and John Sansom won the Llangollen Swiss pairs on 8th July 2018

Hubert Philips Bowl

Some Staffs and Shrops players have done well during 2017/18 season in this competition with Justin Hackett, as a member of Brian Senior's team, eventually being the losing finalists to Paula Leslie's team in the seventh round.  Along the way, in the third round, Brian Senior's team played against Dan Crofts team that also included SSCBA member Celia Day.

A good number of players took part in this competition on the revised date of 14th June following the bad weather earlier in the year.  With 2 board rounds every pair played every other pair, most enjoyable. The winners of the Championship Mixed Pairs were Kath Adams & John Hartley (Stafford) with Pamela Booth-Jones & Tony Leech (Wrekin) second and John Day & Pat Stacey (Newcastle) third.  Winners of the Championship Flitch Pairs were Roger and Elaine Taylor (Wolverhampton).   Many thanks to James Vickers for directing and Jeff Jones for organising the event.

Adrian Kenworthy and Jason Hackett have won the pairs in Cordoba, Spain on 17th/18th March 2018.  In addition to the money prize they also won a ham each!

Nearer home, Barbara Hackett won the Easter Festival Swiss Teams and came fourth in the Swiss Pairs.  Barbara has been selected to play for Germany in the European championships and she came to the Easter tournament to practise with her German partner Anne Gladiotor.  Barbara regularly plays in the SSCBA Dawes team.

Dave Debbage, playing with John Sansom, won the Godiva Swiss Pairs on 14th April at the Coventry Congress.  Several SSCBA players took part in this event.