EDITORIAL

Bridge players now take their pleasures seriously! A light-hearted approach combined with a reasonable degree of skill and flair was until recently a good qualification for enjoyment of duplicate competitions. Nowadays it is not, as the widespread use of complicated systems and gadgets have put the simpler soul at a real disadvantage. One must swim with the tide. It is not necessary to practise these complexities, but time spent in understanding the inferences and the pitfalls for opponents and time spent on working out defensive plays to expose and exploit weaknesses in the systems - is time well spent. Slow play is the almost inevitable partner of complex systems and it is wrong that opponents of slow players are often penalised by having too little time left to consider their own genuine problems. I have always considered that chess-clocks should be used in major competitions to cure the problem and it is refreshing to learn that Ira G. Corn the creator and sponsor of the Dallas Aces (the crack team of the U.S.A.) has now introduced this method. If it catches on it will do much to startle really slow players out of their habit.

No longer just a game, Contract Bridge has become a school subject. The English Bridge Union, seeing the need for expert tuition has now set up its own scheme for training Bridge teachers. The amateur pundit teaching a few friends the rudiments of the game frequently burdens them with a great deal to unlearn. A new generation of mentors equipped with '0' and 'A' level teaching certificates now competes for the 'fat' fees offered by night schools for instructing their students. The E. B. U's examinations last October apparently set a high standard. Out of two-hundred and seventeen candidates for official teaching qualifications only eighty achieved '0' level and a further fifteen obtained 'A' level to add to their '0' level. It must be hard to devise fair examination questions and a post mortem on the results of the first examinations indicated that too much emphasis may have been placed on knowledge of the Laws of Bridge rather than on the knowledge of playing and bidding techniques. The scheme will certainly flourish if the examiners continue to show the same constructively self-critical attitude after the scheme becomes established. A strictly limited number of honorary diplomas have been granted to leading players - thirty only in the whole country. Peter Tottenham is the only person in Staffordshire to be awarded one.

COMPETITION RESULTS

Dawes Trophy 1971 - Warwickshire, as usual, won the Midlands Inter-County competition easily. Their First Team lost only one match and their Second was unbeaten. Staffordshire's First Team won four matches and lost three finishing fifth in the table; the Second Team won three matches and lost four but succeeded in finishing fourth.
The following played in the Staffordshire First Team during the year:- R. Beech, A. Benn, J. Beganski, A. Clayton, G. Davies, J. Day, D. Downs, A. Mallett, A. Monckton, P. Norris, E. Robinson, G. Salwey, K. Slyde, R. Speedman, R. Steel, W. Stewart, P. Topley, Mrs. Topley, P. Tottenham, R. Trounce and J. Twine. In the Second Team many of the above played in some matches. Others selected for the Second Team were:- D. Beavon, A. Codling, J. Dent, F. Dumbleton, G. Evans, Mrs. Gane, H. Goodwin, R. Knott, A. McAlister, Dr. Milewski, H. Salmon, Dr. Sartain, J. Seymour, G. Shaw, R. Smith, A. Stubbs and T. Young.

Tollemache Cup. (Midland Heat) - Warwickshire also won this event, in a close finish with Leicester and Derbyshire. Staffordshire came a rather disappointing fourth, as we fielded a strong team - Monckton/Beganski, Ferguson/Salwey, Link/Tottenham and Mallett/Topley. The Tollemache Final was played on February 19th and 20th at Stratford and Warwickshire went on to win outright.

Ladies' Pairs - Owing to rather a small number of entries no club heats were held this year and a thirty-nine board seven table Final was played at Wolverhampton early in December. The winners were Mrs. F. Edwards and Mrs. Johnson -- runners up Mrs. Lovell and Mrs. Bayliss with Mrs. Dash and Mrs. Ferguson (then Miss Duncan) third.

Men's Pairs (Staffordshire Mugs) - The heat winners were D. Davies/ G. F. Cook at Wolverhampton and Das Gupta/Tidwell-Jones at Stafford. The Final, played at Wolverhampton on the same day as the Ladies Pairs, was won by Tobias/Barnard with Stubbs/Goodwin second and Dumbleton/Day third. The holders Seymour/Codling were half-way down the list in seventh place this year. Congratulations to a new up-and-coming Staffordshire partnership on winning this event!

The Individual - Only the Wolverhampton heat has so far been played. The first nine (the likely qualifiers) were Mrs. F. Edwards, W. Stewart, F. Edwards, Mrs. Hanley, G. Charlish, G. Shaw, D. Beavon, A. Clayton and B. Hunt. The Newcastle heat will have been played by the time this Bulletin reaches you. Final at Newcastle on March 19th (not Stafford as previously announced).

Mixed Pairs - The Newcastle and Wolverhampton heats were both played during the first week in January. At Newcastle Mrs. Gane/Feltbower came first out of ten pairs, followed by Mrs. Sumberg/Dr. Milewski and Mrs. Glover/Day. Twelve pairs competed at Wolverhampton Mr. and Mrs. F. Edwards came first with Mrs. Bayliss/Henfrey only one point behind - Miss Hamblen/Hamblen were third. In the Final at Newcastle Mr. and Mrs. Dash won with a fine score, followed by Mr. and Mrs. F. Edwards and Henfrey/Mrs. Bayliss. There were some big hands around and fortune did not always favour the most adventurous. Two Wests playing in six Clubs after competitive bidding on Board seven, gazed at these lopsided hands:-

North held the Ace of Spades and the Ace of Diamonds. Alas, your Ed's. better half had the Ace of Spades led for a bottom, the other West had the Ace of Diamonds led for a top - six Clubs made with three Aces missing!

Championship Pairs (Bearn Trophy) - The number of entries this year has been a record, but the attendances at all venues have been disappointingly small. Up to and including the Stafford heat on February 15th the following pairs were leading:

Championship Teams of Four (Staffordshire Cup) - Only eight teams entered this year. Those captained by Feltbower, Tew, Salwey and Edwards were eliminated in the first round. In the-semi-final Beech's team beat Trounce's team and Link's team beat Gearing's. The finalists therefore, are Beech's team (Beech, Ballham, Davies and Downs ) and Link's team Tottenham, Slyde and Steel). The winners will represent Staffordshire in the Pachabo Bowl.

Staffordshire League - The Management Committee has decided on the purchase of a cup to be presented annually to the top team in Division 1 and to be known as the "Eric Jamieson Trophy". After five rounds Davies' team leads Division 1 closely followed by Feltbower, Salwey and Mallet. In Division 2 Dr. Milewski's team has a substantial lead, G. Robinson at this stage being the only close challenger.

Notable Performances
At the Droitwich Congress Tottenham and Link won the Men's Pairs and teamed up with Airey and Collins of Warwickshire to win the Teams of Four (Hayward Cup).
Mrs. Charlish and Mrs. Hanley were runners-up in the Ladies Pairs.
Staffordshire teams have been highly successful in the invitation tournaments of neighbouring counties. Derbyshire's MacFarlane Cup was won by Davies, Downs, Beech and Ballham; Warwickshire's Frank Cup was won by Topley, Robinson, Salwey and Mallett and Leicestershire's Joyce Cup was carried off by Monckton and Beganski. In the Gold Cup Tottenham's team (Tottenham/Link, Airey/Collins and Greenhalgh/Thompson have reached the fifth round. There may be other Staffordshire teams still surviving in the national knock-out competitions, but the news has not percolated through to the Editor.
Link and Keane, who did so well in last year's Junior Pairs Championship for the Cutty Sark Challenge Cup, again acquitted themselves well being fourteenth overall out of one-hundred and fifty-seven pairs competing throughout the country.

Personalities
The engagement of Teresa Duncan and Ian Ferguson was announced in the last Bulletin. Congratulations to them on now being Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson.
Mike Deeley and Hilda Harvey, both well known and well liked Staffordshire Bridge Players, have died recently. They are both sadly missed by their friends and our special sympathy goes out to Bert Harvey in his bereavement.

Annual General Meeting - Please note that the date has been changed from May 19th to May 12th. The meeting will be held at a new venue in Stafford, which should be much more satisfactory than any we have had since the Swan Hotel ceased to be available, namely at:
The English Electric Social and Athletic Club,
Stychfield Hall,
STAFFORD
A sketch indicating the location and best route will be posted on the notice boards of all affiliated clubs in April. Your support for the County is demonstrated by attendance at the A.G.M., please do your best to come and to stay for the short duplicate competition held at the end of the formal proceedings.