STANSFIELD HANDICAP PAIRS

SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER - 11am START

Stansfield village hall, CO10 8LW

Most bridge competitions are won by the best players, with the rest making up the numbers. But that is not the case with the Stansfield Handicap Pairs where players are handicapped according to their abiulity, so every pair has an equal chance of success. Handicaps are based on the EBUs NGS ratings.

ROAD CLOSURE: A road in Stansfield is closed for repairs. If you are travelleing from the Bury St Edmunds direction click on MAP for an alternative route.

Please allow extra time for journey and arrive by 10.45am

The entry fee is £15 per pair. Prizemoney totals £300. Please bring your own lunch. Tea and coffee provided.

Enter online by clicking STANSFIELD HANDICAP PAIRS

Maximum field 17 tables. Entries so far 16½ tables!

2018 winners: I&K

CLUB TEAMS OF 8

SUNDAY 10 NOVEMBER - 2pm START

Highwoods Community Centre, Colchester CO4 9SR

Entry fee £112 per team. Includes an excellent tea

Click on TEAMS OF EIGHT to enter online or ENTRY to download and post a paper entry.

The venue has a capacity of 24 tables and we now have entries from 12 different clubs. The entry list is therefore now closed but if any further teams wish to be put on a waiting list would they please contact the Competitions Secretary, Chris Rickard.

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 tea.

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

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

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

Online bridge from the comfort of your home on two Sunday evenings - 20 October and 3 November - starting at 7pm

Playing bridge online is a fun way to improve your game, whether it be at Pairs or Teams and Peter Bushby is organising two events on Sundays in the near future.

 It's free

Peter will help players through any learning curve using Bridge Base Online and will act as Partner Broker

There will be two groups: experienced and improvers

It is easy look back at how everyone did on each board: card by card; bid by bid

Click on 20 October to play on that date and/or 3 November to play then

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.

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.

Richard Sissons & Jenny Kendall and Valerie & Brian Barrett	Tony Trathen & Mary Moir

England's Senior team - including Suffolk player Malcolm Pryor - lost out to Denmark in the final of the d'Orsi trophy by 194-167.

With one stanza to go, England had narrowed the gap to just 9 IMPs, but the Scandinavian side enjoyed the better of the final set of boards.

However, a silver medal represents an excellent performance. The Ladies won their play off with Netherlands to gain bronze in the Venice Cup, while the Mixed team lost out to Romania. In the Bermuda Bowl, Poland beat the Netherlands

To see all the results click on CHINA.

New format well supported

The Suffolk Autumn Pairs, incorporating the Mens, Married, Ladies & Mixed Pairs of old, was staged for the first time at Lavenham on Sunday and attracted 17 tables.

The overall (and Mixed Pairs) winners were Dave Walker & Sue Smith (top photo). The other winners were Norbert Voelker & Mike Sherer (Mens), Jo Harpur & Helen Mason (Ladies) David & Jenny Price (Married) while a new Handicap prize went to Tim Evans & Marion Berry (bottom photo, with Suffolk competitions organiser, Chris Rickard)

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

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.

To see older items please click on NEWS ARCHIVE