Notice is hereby given that the A.G.M. of this Association will be held at The Members' Pavilion, Stafford Show Ground on WEDNESDAY, 17TH MAY 1978 Start 7.00 p.m. PROMPT.

Will members please note that the names of any person to be proposed as a candidate for any office of the Association must be sent in writing to the Secretary, together with the names of the Proposer and two Seconders to arrive 5 clear days before the meeting. Any proposition which is to be binding on the Committee must be sent in writing, together with the names of the Proposer and two Seconders to the Secretary to arrive 5 clear days before the meeting.

A G E N D A

1. Apologies.
2. Minutes.
3. Matters arising.
4. REPORTS.
   1. Secretary
   2. Treasurer
   3. Captain
   4. Master Points Secretary
   5. English Bridge Union Delegate
5. AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION
   1. The Committee of the S.C.B.A. strongly recommend that the position of Chairman shall be by election at the A.G.M. for a term of 2 years and that no Chairman may serve more than 2 consecutive terms of office.
6. PRESENTATION OF TROPHIES.
7. Retiring Chairman's Report.
8. ELECTION OF OFFICERS F0R 1978/79.

   Office	Committee's Recommendation	Other nominations
   Chairman	J H RILEY (CHASETOWN)
   Vice-Chairman	B A F COOKE (STAFFORD)
   Secretary	JOHN HUDSON (NEWCASTLE)
   Treasurer	MRS SHEILA GREEN (WOLVERHAMPTON )
   Captain	ARTHUR BLOXHAM (STAFFORD)
   Master Points Sec.	ROY MARTIN (NEWCASTLE)
   Bulletin Editor	LES HIPKISS (WOLVERHAMPTON)
   Teams of Four League Sec.	ARTHUR BLOXHAM (STAFFORD)
   Pairs Trials League Sec	G DAVIES (STAFFORD)
   EBU Delegate	JOHN HUDSON (NEWCASTLE)

9. The newly elected Chairman to take the chair and address the meeting.
10. Any other business.
11. BRIDGE . Lucky dip Teams of Four. To be run by RICHARD TROUNCE

CHAIRMAN'S REPORT

Once again the Bridge season draws to a close. I hope it has been an enjoyable season for you all. May I urge you to play in our summer event, the new County Pairs , starting in May. The various County Competitions have so far been run successfully with about the same numbers as usual competing. The Teams of Four League continues to grow. I should like to take this opportunity to thank the Management Committee for their hard work in the last year and also thank them for helping me in my year of office. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the A.G.M. where suggestions for the future improvement of the running of the County can be discussed.

J. RILEY

FROM THE SECRETARY'S DESK

This is the last Bulletin before the A.G.M. and as you will see, the Agenda for the A.G.M. is the front page news. I can only ask as many of you to attend as can; the Committee rely on discussions and comment at the A.G.M. to give them a guide in preparing next season's programme. This they do at a Committee meeting held as soon after the A.G.M. as is possible. This year, I feel, has been a great deal more successful than last. Membership of the Association has increased to a respectable 242, with 7 Associate members. Entry to the traditional events has been slightly up, and we had 26 teams playing in the Teams of Four League. Our ambition is, to have FOUR Leagues of 8 Teams; let's try to reach this target next year - playing standards in Division III are moderate, so don't be frightened of entering a team on the grounds of playing ability. In fact the whole idea of County Leagues (AND IN THIS RESPECT- DON'T FORGET THE TRIAL PAIRS LEAGUE - WE WANT TO START A SECOND DIVISION IN THIS COMPETITION) is to get players of all standards playing in competition with players from other clubs - AND PLAYING AT A STANDARD AT WHICH THEY FEEL COMFORTABLE. I feel that the playing venue this year has been adequate and that next year we have a chance of making it better; in fact of making it good to play at. Three more clubs have started in Staffordshire and next year we hope to see some of their members taking part in the County scene. On behalf of the Association I take this chance of saying welcome to the S.C.B..A

REPORT OF THE DELEGATE TO THE E.B.U.

I again read the Agenda of the E.B.U. Council meeting for February and decided that there was little of interest to Staffordshire on it. The cost of sending me has now risen to £12.00 and I thought the Association could use this money better in other ways.

VARIOUS COMPETITION RESULTS

Staffs Cup
Alan Monckton's team beat Arthur Bloxham's team in the final.

1. The competition will run from May to August inclusive, on the second and fourth Wednesdays (eight sessions in total);
2. The scoring will continue to be imp'd on the Butler method;
3. However to cover the summer period, with holidays etc., to qualify for a place in the final league table the best four scores only will count. To qualify for a place in the final league table, you only need therefore, to play in four sessions. Furthermore, it will be possible to count towards these four sessions one occasion when one half of the partnership does not play with his regular partner.
4. Prize money will be as follows:-
   • 1st Prize £20 per pair
   • 2nd Prize £15 per pair
   • 3rd Prize £10 per pair
   • 4th Prize £5 per pair
   • The Pairs League Sub-Committee reserve the right to revise this prize money if there is not an average of eight tables per session;
5. Table money will be 50p per session, with a competition entrance fee of 50p per player.

The leading results in the Winter Pairs League were as follows:

1. Mr & Mrs Slyde
2. G.C. Davies/D. W. Downs
3. G. C. Salwey/R. J. A. Trounce
4. Mrs Sydenham/J. Meredith

BRIDGE ARTICLE

My article this month deals with two common problems. The first often arises on slam hands, when one partner knows a Grand Slam may be on, if his partner has specific cards, but has not got the bidding techniques or bidding space to find out. Or perhaps he suspects a slam may be there, but all will depend on what sort of fit he can find in a secondary suit. An example of the first type of hand might be this:- you hear partner open 1H, and hold

Contrast this with a different treatment for hands of similar strength.

The use of 5NT in the way I suggest can complete the range of bids; it says, in effect, "I am not seeking a particular control or highlighting a particular weakness; but I am concerned that we can make 13 tricks before the opponents get the lead in our side suit(s)".

The second common problem is what to do, in teams, with hands where you have reached what appears to be a good partscore, but 3NT may be possible. Thus you may hold a hand such as:
♠ Qx
♥ AKx
♦ AQJ98
♣ xxx

The bidding (opponents silent) goes 1D-1S-1NT-3D and you now are in limbo. 3D is not forcing and shows a hand of about 8-9 points, with probably 4 diamonds. The answer to this type of problem is to construct in your minds eye two hands for partner. The first should be best hand he could have on the bidding, with every card in the best place; and the second should be the opposite. You can then assess whether 3NT is likely on the first hand, and will go down a lot or the second. If this is the case, then you must permutate the cards on the first hand to see how quickly and easily you can find a hand, with maximum cards well placed, where 3NT is a poor contract. If you can do it easily, then a try is in order (or a gambling 3NT bid if you wish). On the above hand, the best partner could hold might be -

♠ Jxxx
♥ xx
♦ Kxxx
♣ KQx

and even with this, on a lead of one of the unbid suits, 3NT is a bit dodgy. So don't bid on. If you do bid on, 3H is the bid, to show a good stopper - type feature, and asking partner to reassess his hand in that knowledge. Another similar decision occurs, when you hold a misfit:-

♠ KJxxx
♥ x
♦ KQxxx
♣ xx

Partner opens 1C; you respond 1S (better than 1D, as you can now bid both suits economically if you wish): and partner rebids 3C, which is a boring thing to do to you. Again, the answer lies in constructing the best and worst hands that partner might hold. In this case you will immediately notice that they have one thing in common, that is to say a spade shortage (partner can bid 2H on a 3 card suit instead of 3C), if he has his strength concentrated in hearts and clubs, knowing that if you raise hearts you must have 5 spades. So if he doesn't rebid 2H he is unlikely to have adequate heart stoppers for 3NT, or a 3 card spade fit. The same would apply to a 2D rebid by opener thus your spade suit can be devalued.
Another feature you will notice is that partner is unlikely to have three aces; on such hands he will nearly always find a rebid which facilitates a 3NT contract rather than a 3C rebid which shows good clubs but gives no further information about where his cards lie.
So a 5C contract will depend on losing no club tricks, partner having the A♦ and not losing 2 spade tricks on the lead. Definitely against the odds. So a pass is safest. If you bid on, 3D is obvious but 4C may be better; this sort of bid alerts partner to the fact that controls are required, plus a fit in your suit. And that is what in fact you seek.

So, the theme of this article is to involve partner in solving your problems. Let him know what your problem is, by pinpointing it with descriptive bids. Who knows, he may be so impressed that he will play with you again.

A. S. Monckton