Phil Topley passed away on May 1st aged 94.  He will be remembered fondly by some of the longer standing members of the County.  Phil was one of the earlier grandmasters and won many competitions at both club and county level.  He was also very successful at national level.  Over the years he won most of the major national competitions.  He also represented England at national level.

His first major success was to be in the winning Gold Cup team in 1955.  The captain of the winning gold cup team in the previous 3 years was no other than Terence Reese, a prolific author who to this day is still regarded by many as the greatest ever British player.  An early testament to Phil's immense ability. He also won the Crockford's cup, another of the EBU's prestigious teams competitions.  The list goes on, national life masters, seniors  teams (won 4 times from 2000 to 2006).  He also won the Tollemache Cup, the inter county teams of 8; firstly in 1955, again in 1956, playing for the North West and then in 1976, being the only time Staffordshire has won the Tolly.  Over the years Phil played locally at Stafford, Newcastle and Wolverhampton.

Phil was very supportive of his partners who always appreciated his helpful advice.

Our thoughts at this time are with his wife Ann who was a regular player at Stafford during Phil's time at the Stafford club.

Phil's funeral will be on Thursday 23rd May 3 o’clock at Stafford Crematorium.

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.

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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. 

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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.

Who would believe that snow would cause a problem in mid-March.  Unfortunately a number had to pull out due to the road conditions but the competition nevertheless went ahead with a field mainly drawn from those who play in Dawes matches.  Winners were James Vickers & Martin Church, second Paul Cutler & Geoff Davies with Marianne Alexander & Judy Mitchell third.

SSCBA players, Jason Hackett and Richard Bowdery, finished 2nd in the Oslo New Year's Cup teams event, 7th January 2018, with team mates Høines & Hjelvik. Ed Levy and Paul Hackett were second in the Manchester Congress (7th January) and Paul was in the winning team in the teams event 8th January.  Well done all.

On July 18th 2017 Adams Grammar School had a bridge activity day. 60 students took part 40 had not played bridge before the rest had some knowledge. Teacher Collette Lonnigan spoke to them initially about the basics of bridge, then the rest of the day was getting them to play mini-bridge.
Jeff Jones, Jayne Ball, Val Lupton and Linda Curtis helped out for the rest of the day along with another teacher Neil. The students were divided into 3 classrooms the experience was noisy, exhausting but very worthwhile. Young people pick new things up quickly.
When the September Term starts they hope to run Bridge Club on Monday and Friday lunchtime and after school on Wednesday. Jeff Jones and Jayne Ball want to help with this and Linda would like to hear from anyone in the Newport Area that is willing to give up an hour a week to help.
IF YOU CAN HELP PLEASE CONTACT LINDA CURTIS 01902 765027 lcalice@btinternet.com. The future of bridge is young people and we need to get involved to enable this.

Andrew gave two of his inspiring master classes, on Thursday November 23rd at The Stone House Hotel, with sold out afternoon and evening sessions. 

How does Andrew manage to instruct so many of such a wide ability range so well and apparently all so effortlessly?

• Afternoon session  Suit establishment in trump contract, take out double, showing your share.  
• Evening  session    After INT opener, bidding big hands, cheat seat.

Kath Adams hosted the cordon bleu interval meal, where did the story of fish and chips come from?  Very, very many thanks to Kath and her team of helpers.