What a night! - the 2024 Summer Party went off in style  with a record 76 attendees - we were packed to the gunnels Thanks to a great team effort, Pauline who masterminded the whole thing, Gerry Joyce and Wendy who cooked the glorious beef and salmon - everyone who came and contributed delicious savoury or sweet delights, and all the willing helpers who arrived early to help set up and then stayed behind to help pack away. A massive thank you to all concerned.  We were not blessed with a sunny summer's evening, but the rain stayed away, and we were able to enjoy the balmy if slightly damp Stansfield air. The Bridge went very smoothly indeed thanks to the interventions of Jackie and Phil who were directing, and we crowned two winning pairs, Peter and Robert who won the handicap and Richard and John who won the main ranking by an absolute whisker, but enough to take away the glory and the bubbly. Congratulations to both winning pairs.

BEM 4 RE

The president of Stansfield bridge club is included in the recent King’s Birthday Honours list.

Richard, who with his late wife, Mary, formed the club in 2007, is the recipient of the British Empire Medal ‘for services to the community in Stansfield, Suffolk’

Richard, aged 70, said: “While I am deeply touched to be nominated for this honour, the real recipient should be my late wife. She was the shining light who did so much for Stansfield and dozens of similar villages throughout Suffolk.

“I have little doubt that her remarkable contribution, initially as a volunteer and latterly as a county county councillor and deputy leader of Suffolk county council, played a part in my nomination for a BEM. I am accepting the award in that spirit. No one would have been more deserving of public recognition than her.”

Richard served as a Stansfield parish councillor for a number of years, including a spell as chairman. He also transformed a church focused newsletter into a monthly magazine of broader interest covering several local villages and served two terms as its editor. 

After starting his journalistic career with the East Anglian Daily Times and Cambridge Evening News, he worked for The Times for 20 years, where he was deputy political editor and subsequently racing correspondent, before spending 10 years on the Daily Telegraph.

In 2007 he started teaching bridge full time and taught more than 1000 people to play the game.

The Bell Trophy is the unofficial club championship and took place on Sunday 28th April 

Many congratulations to the new Champions Tony and Rani and to the talented runners up Pauline and Jo.

Thank you to Pauline for organising the event and to Richard for directing and scoring as well as playing!

See the full results HERE

Stansfield Team :Chris, Marcus, Jackie, Susan, Keith, Pauline, Jo and Joan	Clare Team: Will, Jan, John, Adele, David, and Angie, ( not pictured: Paul & Bridget)

The first Teams Match against Clare Bridge Club since the pandemic was held on 27th March , two teams of 4 from each club competed.

We are delighted to say Stansfield won by 68 IMPs, all down to team Pauline, Jo, Keith & Joan who ended the evening with +85 IMPs.  Team Jackie, Susan, Marcus & Chris ended up with – 17 IMPs.

 Thanks to Jackie who directed the event , she commented "It was a fun evening in a very relaxed atmosphere and having not directed at a team’s event since before the pandemic I was very pleased it all went smoothly……. Phew!!"

Hopefully this is the first of many re-matches with our friends at Clare. Thank you to all who took part.

STANSFIELD bridge club was formed in 2007 and is situated in the heart of Suffolk countryside between Clare and Bury St Edmunds. It currently has a membership of about 170 and is affiliated to the EBU.

The club runs sessions play Face to Face on Thursday evenings (visitors welcome) at 7pm, and runs F2F sessions for Improvers on Wednesday afternoons (2pm)

If you would like to contact the club, click STANSFIELD and email us.

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