When she’s not presenting Strictly or shepherding contestants on The Traitors, Claudia Winkleman might be found sharpening her bridge skills, according to this article in The Times. She joins a band of celebrities and international figures who have shared a passion for the game. This illustrious group includes Omar Sharif, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Winston Churchill, Gandhi, Buster Keaton and Deng Xiaoping! According to Andrew Robson: “While it may be something that a younger generation might file under “later”, at some point we inevitably fancy a bit of ruff.”

Colin was a long-standing and very skilled member of the club. He died on the 29^th September after a long illness. Despite increasing disability, Colin retained his love of bridge and his astonishing memory for bridge hands. His long-standing friend and bridge partner Martin Baker would visit him in the care home where he lived latterly and take hands to discuss. Colin would retain information about all four hands by memory and offer advice on how they could be played.

Colin was a regular club player at both Waltham Forest and Woodberry bridge clubs. In 2012 he won, along with team mates Winnie Godber, John Stimson and Martin Baker, The Essex Swiss Pairs Hellier Trophy.

Colin was Chair of Waltham Forest from 2013 to 2016 and worked tirelessly to promote the club and to seek to build membership. He believed in encouraging new members to improve and to engage in the various forms of club and competitive bridge. We are very grateful to his sister Chris who is donating to Waltham Forest Bridge Club a trophy in his memory which will be awarded to the player who has improved the most each year.

Please use the following link for a tribute to Colin from another long-standing partner Paul Lamford.

woodberrybc.blogspot.com

Many congratulations to Ian Yeats and Anne Convery who scored a stellar 82.64% in the duplicate on 30th September. Any score over 80% is extremely rare.

Many congratulations to the Waltham Foresters team comprising WFBC members Tony Verran, Phil Mattacks and Stuart Dunstan and team-mate Ken Rolph, who are Essex Bridge League Champions for 2023-24. The New Foresters team of Paul Hickson, Ian Yeats, Peter Richardson, Brian Sharkey and Peter Rogers narrowly missed out on promotion to the First Division, despite winning all but one of their matches.

A fantastic result for Anne Catchpole (on the right in the photo) in the Swiss Teams at the EBU's recent Harrogate Congress. Her team, including her two nephews Jamie and Liam Fegarty, and Rachel Bingham (daughter of long-time WFBC member Judy Bourne) won the Trophy by a convincing margin, beating a number of internationals in the process. Very many congratulations to all concerned!.