Wiltshire Contract Bridge Associaiton is affliated to the EBU and is the umbrella organisation for clubs in Wiltshire, supporting, developing and promoting bridge in the County.

There was success for Wiltshire players in the recent Gloucestershire and Herefordshire Swiss event, held on 5th and 6th July. The pairing of Philip Howard and Graham Hodges came second out of 36 pairs in the Swiss pairs on 5th July. In the Swiss teams on 6th July, Philip Howard, Graham Hodges, Richard Samter and Andrew Parkes came second out of 20 teams. The standard of players was very high, so an excellent result for our members. Well done! For the full results, please click here.

Dates for the new season are now available on the calendar (please click here) - so make a note in your diaries. In particular the first event in the new season will be a Blue Point pairs competition on Sunday 21 September at Nursteed Centre, Devizes. Further information and entry forms will be available shortly. Also - look out for information on the new Wiltshire teams league and WIKO (Wilshire Knock-out for teams). Finally, next year the Wiltshire AGM will be slightly later - Sunday 17 May 2026 - so mark your calendar for this important date.

Another successful Cafe bridge event was held in Devizes on Wednesday April 30. This fun, social event was a chance for bridge players to play some cards and visit several local cafes. 24 pairs took part and the winners were: North/South - Paul Cooper and Marion Loudoun; East/West - Richard Freeman and Ian Roach. Below, you can see the winners receiving their prizes from Phil Meats, the organiser. For full results, please click here.

Wiltshire B were the only winners in the final matches of the Western League, held on Saturday 5th April. They beat Avon B 12VP to 8VP. In the final positions for the season both Wiltshire A and B finished in 5th place, out of 8 counties. Wiltshire C finished in 7th place. In the x-imps which shows how each pair did against all the pairs playing, the top Wiltshire players were Graham Hodges and Dave Latchem who cam 9th out of 48 pairs. For the full results and to see the hands, please click here.

The new season will start in September 2025. If you are interested in taking part, please contact Stuart Bridge. 

The final matches of the Wiltshire Teams League 2024-2025 were played on Friday 4th April. In League One the convincing winners were the Hodgson team: Bob Bannister, Pat Davies, Roy France, Katharine Hodgson, Sam Sloan and Keith Williamson. They won 8 out of their 10 matches, with an average of 13.8. League Two also had a clear winner - the Phillips team: Ernest Armstrong, Ray Elms, Richard Freeman, Richard and Sydney Gwyer, Sue Phillips and Ian Roach, winning 5 of their 6 matches, with an average of 14.5. It was very close for the remaining places in League Two with only 5 victory points (VPs) separating 2nd and 6th places. It was closer in League Three with the Forsyth team overcoming the runners-up, the Seagrove team by winning 6 out of their 7 matches, while Seagrove won 5, drew 1 and lost one. The winning members of the Forsyth team are: Jackie Albrow, Neil Forsyth, Yash Gadhok, Ann Henderson, Marie Roberts and Sylvia Sinclair. 

Thanks to all who took part this year, players and directors, and if you would like to have a go at playing in teams look out for the entry form for next year's league later in the summer.

For all the results and final positions, click on the links on the right hand side of the page.

Wiltshire Knock-out Winners 2024-2025

Congratulations to the Sam Sloan team - the winners of the Wiltshire knock-out 2024-2025. The team, comprising Sam Sloan, Roy France, Katharine Hodgson and Keith Williamson. The winners may go forward to represent Wiltshire in the Pachabo Cup. This will take place 14th and 15th June 2025 at Milton Keynes. The winners of the Plate competition were the Parkes Team - Andrew Parkes, Richard Samter, Liz and Terry Butler.

WILTSHIRE CHAMPIONSHIP PAIRS

It was a very close fought match in the Wiltshire Championship Pairs competition, held at Nursteed Centre, Devizes on Sunday 16th March. The winners were Martyn Tranter and Paul Cooper, second place went to Garry Towns and Evelyne Thomas, and in third place were Stuart Bridge and Roger Karn. The top three pairs will go forward to represent Wiltshire in the Corwen Trophy. There was only a 5% difference between second place and 11th place so just a few boards made all the difference. For the full results, please click here. For more information about the Corwen Trophy, please click here. 

Congratulations to Bath A

The Wiltshire qualifying event for the Garden Cities Trophy was held on 19th January 2025. The winners were Bath A, comprising of Stuart Bridge, Roger Karn, Richard Samter, Andrew Parkes, Chris Jones, John Treble, Phil Howard and Graham Hodges.  The full results and hands are available through this link.

There was glorious weather for the Wiltshire congress at Bath University this year, with numbers attending the roughly the same as last year despite the clash with the North Devon Congress. The winners of the Swiss Pairs on Saturday were brothers Matthew and Robert Covill, with 106 victory points, and coming a close second were Tim Rees and Mia Deschepper with 103 victory points. The top Wiltshire players were Richard Samter and Andrew Parkes who came 7th out of 60 pairs. For the full results, please click here.

As last year the Swiss Teams was a close run event and ended in a joint first place for the Solomon team (Warner Solomon, Ian Walsh, Stefan Lindfors and Rob Lawy) and the Hobhouse team (Robert and Lou Hobhouse, Sebastian Atisen and Susanna Gross). The top Wiltshire team, who ended in 7th place, was led by Richard Samter, with Andrew Parkes, Stuart Bridge and Roger Karn. For full results of the Swiss teams, please click here.

Congratulations to Di Bishop and David Brown who came top in the non-expert pairs played on Sunday 20th. There was success for some newcomers to county events, with 15 pairs taking part.  Full results and the hands may be seen in the results calendar. 

Wiltshire ran a Charity Bridge event on Sunday 1st December at Nursteed Centre, Devizes. This event was open to everyone, played in a friendly, social atmosphere. The winners on the day were Hugh Gross and Mark Sheppard with a great score of 70.17%, with Chris Jones and James Dunlop coming second with 65.85%. The event raised £500 for Wiltshire Air Ambulance who have thanked the Wiltshire bridge players for their fantastic effort. For full results and the hands, please click here.

There are many opportunities to learn bridge in Wiltshire, and many local teachers. To find out about opportunities to learn this fascinating and stimulating game, please click here.

A Wiltshire team, comprising Trevor Purches, Susie Gall, Stuart Bridge and Roger Karn, were the runners-up in the West of England Swiss Teams which took place on Sunday 13th October. It was quite close between first and second, and although the Wiltshire team won all their 6 six matches, the winning team won their 5 matches by a bigger margin. For the full results and to see the hands, please click here.