Many congraulations to local Wiltshire bridge pair, Graham and Hazel Moxey, who scored an amazing 76.74% in a EBU Relaxed pairs competion on BBO on Sunday 2nd August. They earned a mention in the Daily Telegraph for their efforts. Well done to you both. It shows that anyone can play online and do well. If you are not playing online and wish to start, please contact any committee member, who will be pleased to help you get started. To see the full results please click here.

An email has been sent to all Wiltshire members who have provided an email address and are happy to receive emails from WCBA. For those who do not have an email address, or who have opted out, please note that the audited accounts for WCBA 2018/2019 which were due for approval at the April AGM are available. Here is a link to the accounts. If the committe hears nothing from the membership by 15th August, we will take it that the accounts are approved. The committee are very grateful to Colin for giving his time and expertise on an honorary basis.   Unless we hear to the contrary, we will assume that you, the membership, are happy for Colin to continue as auditor.

Committee members are keen to help clubs and individual members in any way that they can, and if you have any ideas you wish to promote, do let us know. Please follow the county web-site for news of events and other information.  The minutes of committee meetings are posted as soon as they have been agreed. For contact details of committe members, please click here.

Congratulations to the following teams who won their respective divisions in the first seaon of the Wiltshire online teams league:

Division 1   Katherine Hodgson, Keith Williamson, Roy France, Sam Sloan

Division 2   Paul Cooper, Martyn Tranter, Liz and Terry Butler

Division 3   Angela Gunning, Jane Portnall, Anne Hitchin, Rose Rogers

Division 4   Gerry McAinsh, Libby Fairhead, Anna and Andrew Marriott

Division 5   Andy and Mo Hill, Deborah and John Luck

For the full tables, please click here

The Covid-19 virus meant an early curtailment of the leagues. Following discussion with the team captains, here are the results:

League 1 - Blandy Team - Sonia Blandy, George Dalton, David Hale, Sue Hands and Brian Johnson - click here for the final table

League 2 - Buck Team - Martin Buck, Bob Bannister, Chris Clements, Jana Zlamalova, Michael Curtis, Kevin Hughes, David Marder, Alan White - click here for the final table

League 3 - Marriott Team - Anna Marriott, Andrew Marriott, David Alsford, Peter Gooch, Rita James, Jackie Miller, Richard Turner, John Whittleton - click here for the final table

Many congratulations to Phil Bennett who has received his well-earned Dimmie Fleming award. This award from the EBU is given to those people who have made a significant contribution to county bridge, and Phil certainly fulfils that criteria through his role as county treasurer for many years. Due to the current Covid-19 situation, the committee were unable to make the presentation at the AGM as planned, but Phil was able to receive his award from a committee representative (at a suitable distance!), and his wife, Di, received a bouquet.

Many Wiltshire players have been enjoying playing in the online competitions which started at the end of April. For a roll call of the winners in the Wiltshire Pairs Competition, please click here.

The winner and runners-up in the Swiss Pairs are available here.

You can still take part in the pairs or Swiss pairs events, for more information, please click here.

Congratulations to the following Wiltshire teams who have been taking part in the first season of the online EBU teams league:

Stuart Bridge, Roger Karn, Richard Samter, Tina Cottee, Trevor Purches and Chris Jones who won division 5 and have been promoted for the next season.

"Sixpack" - James Dunlop, Frances Ind, Phil Meats, Bill Nadel, Alastair Spence and John Treble who came 4th in division 7 and have been promoted for the next season.

Bath Gladiators - Graeme Dalrymple, Christine MacFarlane, May Morgan-Jones and Alan Reid, who were in the promotion places in Division 8 with 3 games to go but 3 big losses at the end led to relegation which shows how competitive these divisions are.

Liz Butler, Terry Butler, Marion Cowley and David Jacklin, who finished 5th in Division 10 and narrowly missed out on promotion.

Sarum Bridge Club - whose team of Paul Wright, Nigel Lewis, David Clayton and Wendy Butler won Division 11 and are promoted.

The next season starts on 27th April and if bridge clubs are unable to physically reopen it is likely the league will continue for a few more "seasons". The matches have generally been played on BridgeBase Online on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 18:00 and take around 45 minutes. They have been great fun to play in.

If anyone wants to know more about it, please look at the EBU web site on online leagues or get in contact with any of the players mentioned above and they may be willing to help. If there is to be a Season 3 then it is likely that you would need to get an entry to the EBU by mid May.

Wiltshire Online Bridge

Whilst the doors of our various Wiltshire clubs remain closed, our members have been learning new skills and online bridge is growing at a rapid rate.  Many of the clubs are now running “Virtual club” duplicate sessions, and teams matches and leagues have been evolving.

Wiltshire is now running two weekly online competitions which are open to all Wiltshire players and members of Wiltshire clubs. 

On a Tuesday afternoon we have an 18 board match-pointed pairs and on a Saturday afternoon a 20 board Swiss Pairs. 

Both these events are suitable for players of all standards.  The cost is $3.00 BBO per session and they last approximately 2 hours. 

This is a great way of getting a competitive game of bridge and for meeting up with old friends from your own club or neighbouring clubs throughout Wiltshire.

Results of these events are shown in our results tab in the main menu.

If you would like more information or would like to enter to play on either day, please contact Gayle Webb gaylewebb@blueyonder.co.uk .  It is essential that you contact Gayle prior to entering on the day as these events are “closed” events so as to ensure only Wiltshire players are involved.

If you have not played online and would like some help with how to get started, please contact anyone of the three below, all of whom will be happy to help you

Gayle Webb         gaylewebb@blueyonder.co.uk

Stuart Bridge      stuartbridgeuk@yahoo.co.uk

Richard Samter  richardsamter@virginmedia.com