In the 2020-21 season we had two teams in the Wessex League, a teams-of-eight competition for Oxfordshire clubs, which was played online. Our "A" team was in Division 2 and  our "B" Team in Division 4.

Fixtures and results for 2020/21 season are from the links below.

For match reports, please scroll further down.

A-Team Fixtures and Results 2020-2021

B-Team Fixtures and Results 2020-2021

A Team

The A team played its first online match on BBO on 5th November, losing to a strong Menagerie B team by 13.7 - 6.3.

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The A-Team played its second match in the Wessex League against Bicester on Friday evening, 20^th November, or should I say Friday night as it proved to be a very long drawn out affair, with 1 pair particularly slow.

Despite leading by 17 at half time we lost the second half and ended up losing the match 81-87.  The earlier lead was helped by Krys and Sandra being the only ones to find a slam.

Second half was really competitive and we would have won by 5 if I had not managed to misclick and leave Ruth, who opened in two clubs, in that contract!!  Very disappointing as the opposition made five spades.  As Ruth managed to make 5 clubs in a 4-2 fit she would have not had much difficulty in making at least 5 spades, the planned contract in a 7 2 fit!

Many thanks to

Sandra and Krys

Steph and Steven

Alison and Robert

Ruth and Howard

Thanks also to Roger and Ann for setting everything up.

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I'm pleased to report that on 4th December Summertown A won a Wessex League match beating Oxford D by 78 to 30, the 48 Imps converting to a V P score of just over 16 to 4.

Every pair contributed a positive score. Interestingly however we scored 39 Imps on the first three boards and after that the match was fairly even. A net gain of 9 over over the following 21 boards. Congratulations to the team on an efficient fast start.

The result leaves us after three matches in the middle of the table with an average score of just over 10.

Many thanks to

Sandra and Krys

Steph and Stephen

Alison and Robert

Ruth and Howard

And to our very good hosts Roger and Ann

and to Sandra for doing a lot of the organising and scoring

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The A-Team had its fourth match of this season's Wessex League on 7^th January against Wallingford B and achieved a 17 - 3 win on the Wessex League scoring system.

The score was 40 to 19 at halftime and an impressive performance in the second half of 25 to 3 resulted in an overall win of 65 -22.

An excellent team performance in which all four pairs contributed a plus score.

We had an early wake-up call with a slam on board 1.  Two pairs bid 6 no Trumps and 1 pair 6 diamonds and one of their pairs 4 Spades, - all contracts making 13 tricks. This gave us plus 9 on the first board.

One of the biggest swings was on board 18 when South opens 1 NT with 13 points, west doubles with 17 , east does a forcing pass , and in response to the re X bids 2sps with 2 points. East then X with a good 8 and a single spade, West bids 3NT with 4 spades.

Scores varied from -1400 which is 2 Spades double six down, -150 undoubled, +600 and +630.

The result moves us up to second in the table with 2 away matches to play

Many thanks to the team of Robert and Alison, Steph and Steven, Sandra and Krys, and Ruth and Howard.

Thanks also to our excellent reserves, Erica and Christopher, and to Roger and Ann who facilitated the whole evening.

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The A-Team had its 5th match against Abingdon B on Friday 29^th January, and we were lucky enough to win 89 - 53.  This converted to 15.15 to 4.85 VPS. This leaves us second in the table well behind the Menagerie, but a bit above Bicester and so it is possible we will get promoted if we carry on winning. With a total of 63 so far we should definitely be safe from relegation as our average will be slightly over 10 whatever happens in the last match against Banbury.

We built up a good lead by half-time, and while this slightly diminished in the second half it was still a very good result, well hosted by Peter Litchfield on behalf of Abingdon, and a pleasant evening was had by all.

Many thanks to Sandra for scoring and the team of

Sandra and Krys

Steph and Steven

Alison and Robert

Ruth and Howard

and to our excellent reserves - Erica and Christopher.

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The A-Team played its final match on Friday evening, 12th February, against Banbury and came out with a good win of 12 .76 - 7.24. This left us second in the table and, although Bicester have another match to play, they are too far behind us to overtake us and the Menagerie are well ahead of us and will win the Division.

Finishing second after losing our first two matches is a very good achievement by the team and I feel the best we could have achieved given that the Menagerie are very strong .

There were some interesting hands which my colleagues may feel suitable for one of the newsletters by way of analysis.

But I will simply thank my excellent teammates for a very successful campaign, namely:-

Sandra and Krys

Alison and Robert

Steph and Steven

Ruth and Howard

And our excellent reserves Erica and Christopher

And once again thanks also to Roger and Ann who kindly hosted our three home matches

B team

Click here for Roger Heath-Brown's report on Summertown B's match against Oxford G on 17th November.  Summertown B won 20:0.

Click here for Roger's report on Summertown B's match against Bicester B on 2nd December.  Summertown won 16:4.

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Summertown B had its third match of the season on 7th January, against Oxford F. It was quite tight, and though we led 53 - 38 at half time, we ended up 67 - 39 down. Perhaps the most exciting hand was board 7, on which Moira and Trevor sat East/West holding

986           AKJT5432
J5              A
JT98653     7
6               A74

It is love all. North opened 1H, and Trevor (East) said 4S. South went to 5H, and Moira bid 5S. I wonder what she was thinking at this point - that 5S might be a good sacrifice? And what was she thinking when North passed and Trevor raised to 6S? In fact of course the contract is solid, and no-one else found the slam.  Well done!

Thanks to all the team

Holly & Bridget
John & Sean
Moira & Trevor
Tunde & Kati

and to Paul, our reserve.

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Click here for Roger's report on Summertown B's penultimate match of the season against Oxford E on 4th March.  Summertown won 14:6.

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The Summertown B team had its last match of the season on 7th April against Wallingford D, playing in division 4 of the Wessex League. I'm pleased to say that we won, by 99 Imps to 34. This means that we end top of the division, by a safe margin.

All four pairs did well, with Butler scores of +31, +28, +28 and +18. Our best board saw us make two vulnerable games, while our opponents both went down.  We also made one slam, 6 Clubs by East, with

West  -  S: A 10 8 6 5,  H: 9,  D: J 9 2,  C: K Q 9 2

opposite

East  -  S: 4,  H: A Q 5 2,  D: A Q 7,  C: A J 7 4 3

The opening lead was a heart, up to the AQ, and the trumps were 3-1, so the play required one to trump two hearts in the West hand.  Meanwhile one Wallingford pair played in 3C.

Many thanks to David Emerson of Wallingford for hosting the match, to our team:-

John & Sean
Holly & Bridget
Ann & Mike
Paul & me

to our reserves, Kati & Tunde, and to the rest of our squad, Moira & Trevor.

Well done, one and all!

We usually celebrate Christmas with an annual Christmas party and a collection for Homeless Oxfordshire, the umbrella group run from O’Hanlon House that support a number of Oxfordshire charities for homeless people.  In the past, Summertown Bridge Club has always given generously, especially at Christmas.

Here is a gift aid form for donations to Homeless Oxfordshire in the hope that you might send your own donations to the charity.  Alternatively you could send a donation online through Homeless Oxfordshire’s home page, https://homelessoxfordshire.uk. 

Thank you for supporting this important local charity.

Ameena Ahmad sadly died on 19th October.  She had endured ill health for some time but continued to play regularly at both Summertown and Oxford Bridge Clubs.  She was a spirited lady and it's sad to think we will no longer be able to play against her.

There have been many comments about Ameena, some of which relate to the delicious food she cooked for social occasions. She obviously made a favourable impression on a lot of members. 

James Bentley noticed that she played with Irene Holland at OBC as recently as 16th October and has kindly produced the attached commentary (click here) on two of the hands they played.

David Bygott has kindly provided the photo you see here.

Andrew Robson has recognised the success of Oxford's Junior Bridge Club, run by Holly Kilpatrick, in his Times column of 20th October.  Click here to view the article.

We have just heard (21st April) the sad news that Jane Matheson died recently (the cause was unrelated to Coronavirus). She will be greatly missed.

Your committee will send condolences to her family on your behalf.