It is with sadness the Staffs & Shrops Contract Bridge Association has heard of the death of Pat Poxon on Thursday May 18th.

 Over the years Pat contributed most considerably to the County, not only on the “admin” side with a long stint as County Secretary, working alongside as many as five chairmen, but also as a regular player in County events.

Pat was a very good player who enjoyed various successes in County Events. Geoff Davies recalls winning the County Mixed Pairs with Pat in 2009. Pat also won the mixed pairs in 2002 with Des Biott. She was a prolific winner of the Ladies pairs winning the event in 2000, 2002, 2010 and 2012, on all occasions with Gillian Allsop. A “flair” player who often achieved good results with her bidding.

It was always enjoyable playing with or against Pat. She could switch off from bridge related themes, had a great sense of humour and always good for a pleasant chat.

Our thoughts are with Pat’s family at this sad time.

Pat's funeral will be held at Bushbury Crematorium West Chapel at 1.30 pm on 15th June 2023.

SSCBA is very sad to hear the news of the death of John Day on Tuesday 13th July 2022

John made an enormous contribution, not only at his beloved Newcastle BC but also at County level. 

John has been a member of Newcastle BC since the early 60s.In his early days he also became an active member of the County bridge scene, not only as a player but also on the admin side. He was the County Secretary in the mid 60s and over the years has had regular stints as the club’s County rep on the County Committee. Over the last 50 plus years he has been a very keen player in County events. 

John achieved many successes in county competitions such as the County Pairs, Mixed pairs and Men’s Pairs. His longevity is demonstrated by first being a member of the winning County League team in 1970, other wins over the years, and then winning the League three times in four years from 2010 to 2014. John first played in the Inter-Midlands County Dawes League in the late 60s and was still playing in the team prior to lockdown.

John also enjoyed success in national competitions. In the early 70s he reached the semi-final of the EBU Hubert Phillips Bowl, the National Mixed teams knockout competition, a most creditable achievement.  

How often did he feature on the “As We Once Were” pages here?

John was reluctant to try online bridge but with encouragement eventually took to it and has been playing regularly both on BBO and RealBridge at Newcastle as recently as 22nd  June on BBO coming third  and RealBridge on 20th June coming second. Tracy, who John played with at the recent RealBridge sessions and SSCBA events reports from her own experience John was super in supporting new players with sound advice, encouragement and patience.
 
Indeed a very talented player with a great flair for the game.  A brilliant declarer player who also made life very difficult for you when he was the defender. We must also not forget his very pleasant table presence, a true gentleman at the table, he always had a friendly word for his opponents and was very supportive of his partner.
 
Our thoughts go out to Frances, their two daughters and grandchildren at this very difficult time.

We are sorry to report the death of Ian Pendlebury at the age of 72 in 2022. Ian was a very active player when he was younger, reaching the rank of Grand Master and winning a couple of national competitions (the National Masters pairs with Pauline Rudolf and the Silver Plate with David Smith). He played in our S&SCBA county events at that time often with David Smith, and represented the County in the Dawes and Tollemache. For many years he wrote the commentary for the County’s Simultaneous Pairs. Latterly his bridge-playing occurred at Manchester Bridge Club. He had no close family.

Sadly, SSCBA  has learnt that Dan (David) Crofts passed away after a long illness on 27^th April 2022. Dan was a member at Moseley BC in early 60s and  ontinued ever since then except perhaps last couple of years. Also a member at Wolverhampton for very many years. He was of course a member of the Hackett group of players and enjoyed considerable success at County and national level playing within the Hackett squad. Dan was a regular winner of the County League and Staffs Cup. 

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 2020 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.

Phil Topley passed away on May 1st 2019 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.

SSCBA has just been advised by Ray Stubbs that Marion Jordan of Newcastle Bridge Club died on  Friday 17th April 2020.    Ray passes on the message from the family about future arrangements:

“Clearly it is difficult to make firm arrangements in these challenging times. Flowers are not really practical so if you feel you would like to do something immediately then feel free to kindly make a donation to any charity of your choice.

The funeral by necessity will need to be low key but we do plan to have a larger scale memorial / celebration later in the year when normal life returns. It doesn't make sense to choose a date now but we will keep you informed and I know Marion would love to have as many of you there as practically possible.”