The next major Wiltshire competition is the Championship Pairs qualifier, taking place on Sunday 30th January, on Realbridge. This compeition is open to any player who has Wiltshire as their primary county, as the winners of the final (taking place on 27th February) will go foward to represent Wiltshire in the Corwen Trophy. To enter, click here.

There was more success for Wiltshire in the Western League against Avon.  This was the fourth match in the series, with the matches being played on Realbridge.

The A team lost 7-13, and remain 5th in the table

The B team won 14-6 and are 7th in the table.

The C team won (their 4th win out of 4) 13-7 and are currently 2nd in the table.

Thank you to all the players who have represented Wiltshire. The next match is on 12th February, against Devon.

For links to the League tables, go to the Western League results on the right hand side of this page. For full hands and scores of the match on 15th January, click here

A happy New Year to all bridge players in Wiltshire. As we start the New Year, it seems that face-to-face bridge may still be a little way off. Some clubs in Wiltshire re-opened in 2021, but have now closed again; some clubs have remained closed, and some have stayed open but have reduced numbers. Some clubs are playing online only. For a list of Wiltshire clubs, please click here. If there are any changes to the list, let us know: please click here.

Last year Wiltshire organised regular Tuesday and Saturday online sessions on BBO. The Tuesday games stopped, but the Saturday afternoon games are still going - alternating between match-pointed pairs and Swiss pairs. This Saturday, 8th Janaury, will be a Swiss Pairs. Everyone is welcome, so why not give it a try? The cost is $3BBO. If you have not played in a Tuesday or Saturday session before, you must contact Gayle Webb, gaylewebb@blueyonder.co.uk so that your name and BBO alias may be added to the list.

Forthcoming Wiltshire events include the Championship Pairs Qualifier on 30th January on Realbridge - open to any player who has Wiltshire as their primary county of allegience, as the winners of the Final (taking place on 27th February) will represent Wiltshire in the Corwen Trophy. To enter click here.

And don't forget - Wiltshire Green Point Congress on 5th and 6th March 2022. Entries are now open - click here for details and to enter.

Sunday 5th December was the date for the Wiltshire Blue Point Teams event, played on Realbridge. Played in a friendly but competitive atmosphere, the winning team was Andrew Doye, Lilias Lamont, James Clark and Stephen Lee, who normally play in Hampshire. The runners-up, representing Wiltshire, Chaz Cross, Lucy Cross, Pete Webb and Anne Rogan. Well done to everyone who took part.

For the full results, and to see all the hands, click here.

Look out for the next Wiltshire event - Swiss Pairs - on 16th January 2022 - entries will be open soon.

Well done to the winners of the Wiltshire 9-high which took place on BBO on Sunday 14th - Paul Winstone and Roger Harris. Congraulations also to the runners-up, Glenys Foster and Mary Oram, and the 3rd place pair, Chris Bocci and Christine Oakhill. There was a good turnout - with 18 pairs taking part in this event.

Have you thought about learning bridge? Or you know someone who wants to learn bridge? A new course for beginners is starting at Bath Bridge Club in January 2022. For more details, click on Bridge Teaching in Wiltshire on the left hand menu, or click here. There are details of other courses in Wiltshire, and a link to the EBU directory of teachers which includes all qualified teachers in the county.

After a number of comments from players about the scores achieved by robots playing in Wiltshire events, it has been decided to remove these scores before posting the results. If you had a bad score against a robot, this will be removed, regretably if you had good score this will also be removed. The director has made, and will continue to make, an annoucement at the start of the Wiltshire Tuesday and Saturday online games to this effect.

Have you considered becoming a bridge teacher in Wiltshire? EBED, the education arm of the EBU, are re-starting face-to-face training in September and there are courses on offer In Aylesbury, Yeovil and Solihull. Each EBU affiliated cub may apply for one free place every two years, and anyone applying via an affiliated EBU club (who will be paying the invoice), will be entitled to a 20% discount. This discount is funded by the EBU.

For more information about the course and details on how to book, please click here.

It is with great sadness we report the death of another Wiltshire player, Valerie Austwick. She had represented Wiltshire in numerous competitions. She had also competed in and won several national bridge competitions. She was a stalwart member of Bath Bridge Club. A full tribute to Valerie may be found here.