SCCBA Autumn Blue-Pointed Swiss Pairs 

Congratulations to Robert Lowe and Will Adler (pictured), who scooped the Autumn Congress Swiss Pairs against strong opposition at Patcham on Sunday November 30th.  They are now the proud holders of the magnificent Noel Mobbs trophy.  1 VP behind were Ken Ford and Mike Allen, while David Benjamin and Matt Read finished third.  The "non-expert" prize was won by Lawrence Goldberg and Clive Hardebeck.

Many thanks to Stephen Kennedy for directing, to Martin Pool for dealing the hands, to Mervyn Wotton for providing technical assistance and to Charlotte Setahul for providing sandwiches and cake to the needy.

Peter Clinch
Organiser

2025 EBU Silver Award Winner - Peter Clinch

Very many congratulations to Peter Clinch for his EBU Silver award, a richly-deserved recognition of multiple roles through which he has made substantial contributions to the further development of bridge at county and national levels.

From a Sussex perspective, Peter’s outstanding contributions, particularly over the last five years, have been vital to the development and delivery of the wide range of opportunities for competitive bridge now available to members at all levels of experience.  Peter has led this work, not only through his principal role as Chair of the County Association alongside other related responsibilities, but also as Chair of the Tournament Committee, Tournament Manager overseeing the delivery of each year’s competitions programme, and Organiser and/or Director of several individual events.

SCCBA Management Committee

SCCBA Eastbourne Venture Pairs

Congratulations to winners Caroline Holder & Julia Price from Horsham Bridge Club who won Eastbourne Bridge Club's inaugural SCCBA Venture Pairs on Sunday November 30th.  Well done too to David & Jane Spencer, who came second and to Crombie McNeill and Annelie Triandafyllou in third place.  All three of these partnerships scored in excess of 60% - no mean achievement.

As is the case in Venture Pairs, entries featured a number of partnerships with a mentor playing with wives / pupils so Caroline & Julia should be particularly proud of themselves as they were both under the NGS level denoting a mentor.

The bridge was played in good spirits and was competitive but friendly.  Everyone enjoyed an excellent lunch - Eastbourne is getting a great reputation for exceptional catering and this is the third County / National event that has utilised its splendid new kitchen facilities since June.

Ros Wolfarth,
Organiser

2025 Invitation Pairs

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2025 Invitation Pairs Competition Peter Clinch and Julian Mitchell and to the Runners-up Chris Jepson and David Clifton.  Prizes were also awarded to the two pairs with the best result for Round 7 and 8 combined - Francis Kelly & Peter Rowell and Yves Lebrec & Owen Leigh.  Thanks to Stephen Kennedy and Oliver Cowan for directing and to Mervyn Wotton for Website help.

Dates for the 2026 Competition are on the SCCBA County Calendar.  Further information can be obtained from the Competition Organiser, Andrea Galpin.

Hills Trophy

This annual Worthing BC Teams event for the Hills Trophy was held on Sunday 23rd November at the Angmering Community Centre.  18 teams took part in this event, run by director Paul Gibbons.  Initially, the contest was closely fought but the eventual winners drew away from the field after round 4.

Congratulations to the winning team who were Guy Davies, Terry Fishlock, Peter Rowell and Francis Kelly.

The runners-up were Valerie Benson, Roger Bill, John Austin and Ron Seymour.

The event was described by all as an excellent day with good organisation and venue and the hot meal supplied by the caterers.  My thanks go to all those who assisted in organising the event before and on the day.  Also to U3A for the loan of some of their equipment and of course Paul Gibbons.

See full results on the Worthing BC web-site.

Ernie Rivett
(Worthing BC)

SCCBA Worthing Welcome Pairs

It was a lovely relaxed session enjoyed by all players on Sunday November 16th.  Quite a few had reservations about participating and were pleasantly surprised that they actually enjoyed the experience.

It is a very worthwhile venture and hopefully more will be encouraged to enter in the future.

A huge thanks to the Worthing ladies for providing a delicious afternoon tea and to Alexa Baxter for directing.

Eileen Perrigo
Organiser

SCCBA East Grinstead Basic Bridge Pairs

This competition took place on Saturday November 15^th.  There were 26 entries, including several students from the Autumn 2024 cohort at Crawley, and some non EBU members.

This picture includes the winners Claire Weller and Patricia Kollinsky, runners up-Lynne Paine and Karina Butler and the Non-Expert (combined NGS of 7 or below) winners Thiru Jesudason and Maureen Parker.  Congratulations to all of them.

Tollemache Cup Qualifier

Well done, Sussex!  Sussex qualified on November 8th-9th (see results) for the main inter-counties event final.

After 15 matches, Sussex were just knocked out of top position into 2nd on the last match, but still comfortably qualified in the top 4 to go through to the final on January 31st - February 1st.

The Sussex team was :-

• Peter Clinch and Julian Mitchell
• Andy Ryder and Mike Allen
• Gunnar Halberg and Sally Clark
• Ollie Powell and Stephen Kennedy
• Neil Watts and Chris Jepson (C)
• Sat: Andy Morris and Chris Phillips
• Sun: Alan and James Hobden

Chris Jepson (Chairperson of Selection Committee)

Other County News