Our Summer Special (Wed 30th July at RBL) and Summer Extravaganza (Tue 19th Aug at Hallow) were both much enjoyed by all - many thanks to all those who put in the work to make these a success. Winners were: Pete Cole + George Jeffrey (Wed event) with runners-up Sue and Dennis; and at Hallow: Marian + Paul T (NS) and Bryan + Brian (EW).

Well done to Heather Carr and Dave Wiseman, winners of the Mixed Pairs in July; to Helen C and Louise, who won the Ladies' Pairs on September 10th, and Mike V and Rob C who (narrowly!) won the Men's Pairs on the same night.

The September Teams at Hallow was won by Martyn + Ian, Terry + Anita; and the Championship Teams trophy was won by Jane Morton, Mark Askwith, Rob Cookson + Mike Vetch, with Paul H, Geoffrey, Grahame + Steve in 2nd place.

The HEALEY CUP in November was won by a team of Bryan + Brian, John + Mike, the same team who won in 2023!

Our  sessions at Hallow and Claines, were part of the big C-i-N SIM events.  WBC members donated a fantastic total of over £560 (inc GiftAid) across our sessions.

RESULTS: Tuesday :Well done to Bryan and Marian, an excellent 68% in the room, and NINTH nationally, out of 1350+ pairs!

Results HERE; Commentary booklets for Tues HERE.

RESULTS: Wednesday: Well done to Paul and David, who won Wed's heat, with 63%.  Results HERE; Commentary booklets for Wed  HERE.

It's not too late to donate - here, or cash to Mike or George.

Link for payments:    ECats is fundraising for BBC Children in Need

The "Bridge- It's a Big Deal" Festival was a great success!!  The Festival was a nationwide event, with many things happening in the County; our aims were to raise awareness of our great game, and recruit some new players, whilst raising money for Cancer Research UK.  We were featured on the EBU Festival pages, with MORE photographs and links.

We had some good publicity from BBC H&W, thanks to ELLIOTT WEBB interviewing Yvette and Mike. 

Please note that you can still make a donation;  the link below will take you to CRUK's own giving page, which also allows you to GIFT AID where possible; linked from:

LINK FOR DONATIONS TO CANCER RESEARCH UK

WBC's Café Bridge event, on Wed 11th  September, raised £412 plus some extra donations; winners were Rufus + Lorna 

WBC supported Cancer Research UK by running our normal sessions that week (Tue 10th/Wed 11th) fully in aid of the cause. A further (approximately) £600 has come in via these donations - many thanks to our members.

All of the above became part of a County-wide effort worth over £3900, as part of an impressive £100,000 nationally (and still counting!!)

"BRIDGE - EVERYWHERE!"  - Saturday 7th September, Worcester City Centre

Well, we did play at EIGHT venues - The Hive, The Commandery, Cathedral Square, The Cornmarket, M&S Café, The Dice Box, Reindeer Court and finally in Crowngate, at 5pm!  The five-hour bell-ringing marathon at the Cathedral was an unexpected challenge, and the weather could have been kinder to us, to be honest, but we DID manage to play in all the outdoor venues for some of the time! and attracted quite a lot of curiosity and interest. Fifty players/volunteers from all over the County, across 8 venues and 6 hours - MANY THANKS to ALL our fabulous volunteers!

The 12 Speed Bridgers managed to play approx 24 boards per HOUR each, which many said was not possible! Well done to winners, Mike + Eddy, with 65%! And there were some great master-classes/supervised play sessions in The Hive and in M&S Café.

 Many photos to follow!

Hallow Summer Extravaganza took place on Tue August 13th.

Twelve and a half tables had a great time, with a fabulous tea served to the tables, all beautifully prepared for us by Dev, with help from Lynn on the day. The Pimms supply was drunk dry, whilst some chose prosecco, or tea! Prizes went to Bryan and Marian (open), Angela and David (9-high) Denise and Linda (5-high), and Maurice and Janet (closest to 50%) Pics to follow.

Meanwhile, seven and a half tables had great fun at our Summer Special at Claines, on Wed 24th July.

The Pimm's flowed at the interval, along with excellent strawberries, cream, meringue and shortcake  prepared for us by Linda. We were entertained by John with an ode to the characters of WBC! Prizes went to Geoffrey and Mike, leading pair, to Peter and Sue, the highest placed non-expert pair, and to Maureen and Marian, closest to 50%. See picture.

Nine Mixed Pairs (and an all-male pair!) contested the Mixed Pairs Trophy on Wed 10th July.

Congratulations to Jane and Dick, who won by a comfortable margin, with Jane + Mark in 2nd place, and Linda + Paul in 3rd. Pic to follow.

Thanks are due to Paul H and Geoffrey for Directing, scoring and ensuring we did not have a sit-out!

Congratulations to WBC Ledger, (Maureen, Jimmy, Steve, Geoffrey, Alan) who won the WCBA INTER-CLUB Teams, beating Droitwich into 2nd place. This completes a clean sweep of this year's inter-club teams competitions, with different but overlapping line-ups: The Healey Cup (November), the Ron Allen Trophy in March, and the Inter-Club Teams (Nov-Mar).

Well done to the WBC team, pictured above, (l to r Rob, Jane, Jimmy, Maureen,  Alan, Mike, John, Brian) who won the County's "Ron Allen Trophy" (teams of eight) event on Sat 2nd March, and have qualified to represent WCBA in the Garden Cities Trophy. 

The Calendar has now been extended to December 2024.

Tuesday 12th Dec was the Hallow Christmas Party; 12 tables played Multiple (Scratch) Teams,and a good time was had by all!  Winners of the Teams were Alan, Rob, Sarah and Isobel; Maurice and Janet won the XIMPs wine prize, and Janet also won the "beer card" prize.  Sue Smith and Peter Smith won wine for the first slam bid and made.

Wednesday 13th Dec was the Claines Christmas Party.  The Main event of 9 Multiple Teams was won again by Jimmy + Paul, Maureen + Geoffrey, with John, Tim, Dick & Jane in 2nd place. The Try-Teams winners were Russell, Lindsay, Brenda & Gill.  Photos below.

On Tuesday 19th Dec, we "joined up" with our French partner club BC Romorantin in a "simultaneous" pairs event (they  played the same boards at their own Christmas Party). They had 10 tables, we had 12, and honours were shared, with Susan Sharp and Bryan Ratcliffe winning the NS Section, whilst M. Rousseau and M. Dupré won the EW Section!

Alan Biggs and Mike Vetch held on to their lead in the Wednesday "P" competition to retain the trophy, with Geoffrey + Jimmy in 2nd place and Dick + Martyn in 3rd. In the PAIRS PLAY-OFF Final, Jimmy and Geoffrey  were the winners- see picture. 

WBC's 12th series of Online Pairs is now complete: in Division One, congratulations go to Steve A/Mike W and Nick F with newly promoted Jane and Mark in 2nd place. Champions in Division Two were David + Yvette Waide, with Roland and George runners-up.

Three WBC teams competed in the Healey Cup on November 12th, defending the trophy won last year by Simmons/Ledger/Ledger/Herbert; this year, the winners were Brian Yates, Bryan Ratcliff, John Dowbiggin and Mike Vetch, thereby retaining the cup for the Club. Opposition came from Bromsgrove, Marcle and Bewdley.

Click HERE to access our JustGiving page.

We are again supporting Children-In-Need at WBC, and would encourage ALL WBC players to add to our JustGiving page, which Yvette has kindly set up.

As of MONDAY, we have raised over £700 - in fact, £890 including Gift Aid!

ECATS results for Wednesday can be found here;   THE COMMENTARY BOOKLET (written by Julian Pottage) for Wednesday can be found here.

ECATS results for Tuesday can be found here;   THE COMMENTARY BOOKLET (written by Julian Pottage) for Tuesday can be found here.

Congratulations to Lyndsay and Russell, frequently seen at Hallow on Tuesdays, who won the Chairman's Cup on Sun 9th July!

In a good field of 16 pairs, Josie + Andy, Susan, Simon, Mike, Liz, Kirk and John, all involved in WBC activities, did themselves proud.

On Friday 17th March, we welcomed Andrew Robson OBE back to WBC at Claines RBL, for his fourth visit.

Both sessions were well-attended, and much enjoyed by all.

A superb £830+ raised for Children in Need (including the gift aid) from the combined efforts of Worcester and Ridgeway BCs!

Many thanks indeed to all who contributed!

Click HERE to access the JUST-GIVING page.

Children-in-Need was a huge success! As last year, we joined with WCBA/BBC/DBC and RBC to mount a County-wide effort to raise a huge sum, with the help of Yvette, who has again set up a Just-Giving page for this.  Last year, £1250+ was raised across the County in this way, and an additional £200+ was generated via the GIFT-AID option. This year, we surpassed this, with a spectacular £1450,  boosted further by over £250 in Gift Aid!

Many thanks are due to Yvette for doing this! And to all our bridge players for their donations!  The LINK for this is below, and for the time being is still live, so not too late to add to it!

We had 13 tables in play at our Party; ably hosted by Jimmy as ever, and plentiful delicious food from Freda - many thanks!

The Main Section was won (for the second consecutive year!) by Sue and Dennis, by a very large margin! The Try-Duplicate was quite different, with four of the six players in close contention. Congratulations to Diane and Jane, who won it, and also to Neil and Gay who are confirmed as our Try-Duplicate champions of 2019!

Lots of pics below!

Tuesday 12th November saw the Anniversary cake making a come-back, almost restored to its former glory!

(Spot the difference - compare with the other pictures below!)

On Wednesday 6th November, we celebrated 30 years of Worcester Bridge Club; 17 tables were in play, including four players who were present on the first session on 1st November 1989: (Neil Humphries, Lyn Jackson, Sue Evans and Dennis Loynes).

Congratulations to Nick and Dennis who won the main section pairs event, by just one match-point! And to Gay and Neil who won the Try-Duplicate event.

Lots of pictures of the cake and prize winners here.

Putting those last scores in quickly was risky... All other travellers had been double-checked...  However an error scoring bd 20 changed a few things: John and Ian up a bit, and that three-way tie for the 50% prize was transformed: Roland and Tim hit 50% on the nose!  Congratulations to Rosie and Sue who clinched their win in the last round!

Thanks to everyone for all that dashing back and forth! And for your generous donations: the charity total was £191 for Acorns Hospice.

Next WBC Cafe Bridge is likely to be the (single-cafe) Christmas event: details will be avvailable soon, and you will all get emails!

Photos are here - many thanks to Maureen for her organisation, and to Freda and team for the fantastic food!

Next Robson date: Fri 16th October 2020!

Thanks to Andy O'Hare for the photos!

We had eighteen and a half tables at our Christmas Party on Wednesday 14th December; Jimmy hosted and directed with aplomb as always; Caroline provided delicious food; and the Bridge was won by:

Andy Cullen + Rufus Ulyet (Main section)

Cecile Willis and Margaret Buchan (Intermediate section)

Happy Christmas to all at WBC!

Thanks to Andy OH for some great pictures!...

Friday 22nd November saw the long-awaited Andrew Robson seminars - a complete sell-out, much appreciated by all who attended.  Many thanks went out to Jane Rutter who made such a major contribution to this event.

Six teams (main section) and two "Try" teams competed on Wednesday evening for the wine prizes. 

The main section was won by Mike, Alan, Jane and Rob, while the Try-Teams event was won by John, Sarah, Sue S and Chris B.

Next Wed teams event is set for 14th August with a "Try" section as usual. "Try-"players should note that there will also be a Try" pairs section on Wed 24th July on the night of the :Summer Special.