| FORTHCOMING EVENTS |
TEAMS OF 4 CHAMPIONSHIP: Stages 1 & 2
SUNDAY 8 DECEMBER - 11am START
Nayland village hall - CO6 4JH
Stage 1 is played by all competing teams. Stage 2 is played in two sections; the top half from stage 1 play for four semi-final places, the lower half play for the Plate.
Semi-finals and finals played by mid-Feb and end-April 2020 respectively.
Entry £60 per team; includes sandwich lunch.
Enter online by clicking TEAMS or to download and post paper form click FOUR
BAH HUMBUG PAIRS
SUNDAY 29 DECEMBER - 11am start
Blackbourne centre, Elmswell IP30 9UH
Christmas and the New Year tends to play havoc with club bridge timetables - last year some clubs were closed for two weeks - so this festive cracker aims to fill the gap.
Around 30 boards, starting and finishing at convenient times. A free sausage roll, mince pie (said to be the best in Suffolk!) and glass of wine. Entry fee £12.50 per player.
To enter online click BAH HUMBUG or to download and post a paper entry click FESTIVE
2019 winners: Malcolm & Karen Pryor
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MID ANGLIA PAIRS
SUNDAY 19 JANUARY - 11am start
Community Hall, Station Rd,
Woodbridge IP12 4AU
A two session, Blue pointed event scoredf by IMPs. Tea/coffee provfided, but not lunch
Entry: £12. enter online by clicking MID ANGLIA or to download and post entry click WOODBRIDGE
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| 2019 joint winners: John Bloomfield & Andre Gray and Roger & Jill Tattersfield |
BURY ST EDMUNDS BRIDGE CLUB SWISS PAIRS
SUNDAY 26 JANUARY - 11am START
Blackbourne Centre, Elmswell IP30 9UH
Entry fee £32 per pair (includes lunch)
To enter online, click BURY SWISS PAIRS
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| NEW EVENT COMBINING TWO 'SPORTS' |
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Suffolk bridge-golf day next year
A county wide bridge-golf day will be staged for the first time in 2020.
Date and venue are still to be decided but the event will be handicap pairs - in contrast to the golf-bridge teams matches which have taken place between various bridge clubs in recent years.
The idea was floated by two golfers at Abbeygate bridge club and enthusiastically endorsed by the Suffolk bridge association at a recent meeting.
The format is expected to be 18 holes of golf, with Stableford points scoring, followed by lunch and bridge. A conversion scale will enable the golf score to converted to a percentage which will be added to a pair’s bridge score - and thereby result in an overall winning pair.
EBU Score software means the afternoon bridge score, like the golf score, can be handicapped.
Richard Evans, vice chairman of the SCBA, said: “Every bridge club has keen golfers among the membership and we hope this event will appeal to players of both games throughout Suffolk.”
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| CLUB TEAMS OF 8 ATTRACTS TOP ENTRY |
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The best entry from clubs for years in the annual Suffolk Club Teams of 8 ended with Ipswich & Kesgrave winning for the fifth year running on Sunday.
Colchester were runners-up ahead of Ipswich Hospitals while Stansfield finished fourth.
A maximum field was guaranteed when 13 clubs fielded a team in the event staged at Colchester. One of the attractions of the competition is the excellent tea provided by the local sea scouts and, once again, they did not disappoint. To see all the scores click on CLUBTEAMSOF8
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| SUFFOLK v NORFOLK - You couldn't make it up! |
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Suffolk came out on top against Norfolk in the annual local derby on Sunday, during an afternoon not without drama.
The A team halved 10-10, the B team enjoyed a thumping 18-2 victory, while the C team prevailed by 14-6.
The C team's success was unusual. With play due to start at 2pm, one of the C team pairs found themselves in Elmswell (where home matches are played) blissfully unaware that the match was taking place at Wymondham, just south of Norwich.
With no other players around and a party being set up in the room where they expected to play bridge, they realised their mistake and set off for Norfolk...except, for reasons best known to themselves, they started driving east towards Ipswich.
All of which meant they arrived more than an hour late and the rules stated that the entire C team should be penalised 3 IMPs for each of the eight boards in the first set, which the pair had missed. By the end of the second set the C team was even further in arrears and the position appeared hopeless.
However, following a half time break for tea - rated the best on the county circuit - the miracle of all miracles took place and the C team played way beyond themselves to run out convincing winners, much to the relief of the late pair...who shall remain anonymous (they hope!)
To see all the results, X-Imps etc click on NORFOLK
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| SUFFOLK CHAMPIONSHIP PAIRS QUALIFIERS |
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Can you emulate Debby & Maria?
Qualifying heats for the 2019-20 Suffolk Championship Pairs took place at most clubs last month.
For those who have not taken part, there is a final qualifying heat at Ipswich & Kesgrave on 9 January.
All players attempting to qualify must be bona fide members of the club and have primary allegiance to Suffolk. A score of 50% or more will qualfiy a pair for the semi-finals at Elmswell on Friday 14 February. The final takes place at Nayland on 5 April.
For all the details about the competiton, won last year by Debby Sutcliffe & Maria Allnutt, click on CHAMPIONSHIP PAIRS
If you qualify for the semi-finals click on SEMI-FINAL to enter the next stage.
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| FELIXSTOWE CONGRESS 2019 |
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Suffolk players enjoy clean sweep
For the first time in many years, home players won all the main prizes on the opening day of the Felixstowe Congress.
Leading the way at Suffolk's flagship event were Paul Maclachlan & Dave Allen (above) who won the Championship Pairs Final.
The pair, who are regulars at Stansfield and Clare, led for much of the way but saw their advantage whittled away only to just nudge back in front on the final board.
The opening Pairs qualifier, won for the second year running by David Willson & Simon Riley, resulted in the top 16 pairs playing in the Final: the next 16 contested the Consolation Final - won by county captain Rick Hanley & Graham Beeton - and the remaining 22 pairs played in the Open Pairs, won by Eric Newman & Diane Whitley. The non-expert prize went to Russell Tenzer & Gary Diamond, the overall winners 12 months ago.
To see all the results, scroll down the right hand column and click on the relevant event.
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| Graham Beeton & Rick Hanley |
Eric Newman & Diane Whitley |
Russell Tenzer & Gary Diamond |
The Swiss Teams on Sunday attracted 25 teams and the winners were Richard Sissons & Jenny Kendall from Kent, making their first appearance at Felixstowe, who teamed up with Brian & Valerie Barrett from Norfolk. The best placed Suffolk players were Roger & Jill Tattersfield who finished third with team mates Chris Megahey & Alaric Cundy.
Meanwhile, in the Relaxed Pairs Tony Trathen & Mary Moir stormed away from their rivals with a 69.84% winning score.
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| Richard Sissons & Jenny Kendall and Valerie & Brian Barrett |
Tony Trathen & Mary Moir |
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| AND YOU THOUGHT WE WERE JOKING...SO DID WE! |
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The photograph of a car marooned in the sea at Felixstowe was too good an opportunity to miss when it came to promoting this year's congress at the seaside venue.
'Get to Felixstowe the easy way' we said, urging players to book online...never thinking that water might actually scupper their chances of playing.
That was before the heavens opened on Sunday morning and the resulting downpour led to flooding all along Undercliff Road West leading to the Lesiure Centre where the Congress was taking place.
As the flooding levels crept higher and higher around breakfast time, covering the pavements, locals were speculating it might even flood the centre.
Fortunately the rain stopped in time; the torrent of rain slowly drained away and all was well....just!
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| LOCAL DIRECTING COURSES |
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Local club director training courses available
Every sport and game needs someone to run the event, whether it be an umpire, referee - or director.
A well run bridge session adds to everyone's enjoyment. One that is poorly run...well, let's not go there!
In a bid to guarantee the former and eliminate the latter, the Suffolk Contract Bridge Association is offering affiliated and non-affiliated clubs some local courses on directing.
The courses are one day only and designed for small groups. They can be tailored to specific requirements, such as:
- club director training - the basics
- refresher course for existing directors
- scorer training: EBU Score/Score Bridge/Bridgemates/Arc scorer
- the Laws of Duplicate bridge - a presentation for players
The club director training is very much aimed at allowing participants to support their local club. It is not a replacement for a full (four day) EBU directors course. The cost is £20 per person for affiliated clubs, £40 for non-affiliated clubs.
For more details, contact Jacks Morcombe, Suffolk's chief tournament director, or Peter Bushby by clicking on DIRECTOR PLEASE
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| BEST BEHAVIOUR AT BRIDGE |
GOOD MANNERS: Is it too much to ask?
Loosely interpreted, the EBUs 'Best Behaviour at Bridge' owes much to Manners Makyth Man, the motto of William of Wykeham - and Winchester College and New College, Oxford - both of which he founded in the 14th Century.
Indeed, the EBUs CODE, which asks players to be pleasant to each other and the director, might be better named Best Manners at Bridge.
The Suffolk bridge committee is taking a particularly strong line on 'bad behaviour/manners' and cracking down on anyone found to be in breach of the code. As with most counties, the culprits in Suffolk can be counted on the fingers of one hand - but that is a handful too many.
To highlight the issue, this website is running a series of cartoon strips devised by Peter Bushby (see below), and an article (click on 2½ No Trumps) by Glyn Button, the chairman of Framlingham bridge club, whose regular blog has delighted so many readers.
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