It is with great sadness that I must report that John Turner passed away yesterday. He was a true gentleman, repected by all, and had supported Worcestershire bridge for 50 years.

• He had been a member of the County Committee since 1970 until he retired from it in 2017 and was the Chairman on 4 occasions. 
• He had also been a member of the Conduct Committee and the Selection Committee as well as being a qualified Tournament Director.
• He was the Events Secretary for 7 years from 1997. 
• He was a Member of the Midland Counties Congress Committee from 1973 until Warwickshire took over the Congress in 2016 and had been Chairman of the Congress on a number of occasions. 

John was presented with a Dimmie Fleming Award in 2002 for his contributions to bridge in Worcestershire.

Details of his funeral will be published when they are available.

The objectives of the WCBA are to promote and further the interests of bridge in the County and to organise Contract Bridge competitions. This Web Site will include details of future events, results of County competitions and other information concerning the organisation of bridge in the County.

Entries are now open for the 2019-20 Charity Rubber Bridge Competition which this year is supporting the Cinnamon Trust. Entries should be submitted by the 15th of September and the entry form is available in both PDF and Word format.

19th August - Pairs Ladder

26th August - NO BRIDGE

2nd September - Grand Prix Teams (First heat)

The Grand Prix Teams starts on the 2nd of September and there have been a number of changes to the competition this year. Firstly there will be 7 heats rather than 6 but your final score will still be based on your best 5 results. Secondly players who were selected for or played for Worcestershire in the Tollemache the previous year can now be members of teams with the proviso that no more than 2 of them may play for a team in a particular heat. As a consequence of this there will no longer be a pool of reserve players.

Mike Willoughby has started to write a regular County Newsletter and this can be found in the Worcestershire Bridge News section under the Information menu item, with he most recent one being the July County Newsletter.

In response to the recent survey about County Nights we are going to introduce a short interval at about 8.45pm. In order to achieve this we will aim to start at 7.15pm instead of 7.20pm and players will be encouraged to speed up play in a number of ways. Time can be saved by making the opening lead and putting dummy down before writing the contract in your scorecard or entering it into the Bridgemate. Players will be encouraged to claim when it is clear that they have the rest of the tricks or perhaps there are 1 or 2 clear losers. Any discussions should be left until all the boards in the round have been played.

After the sad loss of Roger Bowles last year his widow donated Roger's extensive collection of bridge books to Worcester Bridge Club. It was agreed that the books should be made available to all County Members and  the list of books can be seen at Roger Bowles Bridge Library.

The WCBA Committee has been giving considerable thought to the feasibility of acquiring bridge premises for the use of Worcestershire bridge players that would be available 7 days a week, with the ability to cater for the growing demand for daytime bridge. It is envisaged that the premises will support at least a 20 table session with room for matches, teaching and storage with a basic level of catering. The planned venue will include adequate facilities for parking, toilets, heating etc. A few documents are available in the Members Only area of the website, one asking for feedback and one being a feasibility review. To access the Members Only area of the website for the first time you will need the Membership Registration Code which you can get from Paul Hammond or other Committee Members.

There should be at least TWO Fast-Track beginners courses for September 2019:  Mike V in Ombersley and Richard G in Bewdley; details can be found on the main Learning Bridge tab.  there may be further beginner courses available - details will be published when known!

Meanwhile, for those who have learned Bridge in the last year or so, we have various options for Gentle Bridge sessions available: see HERE for details

Learners from three different groups (Malvern, Martley and Worcester) got together on Tuesday 26th March to play in an EBED Student SIM Pairs event, hosted at Droitwich Bridge Club.

Phil Thomas (teacher of the Martley group) and DBC members Vivienne and Ann helped out by playing "without standing".

The emphasis was on fun, and getting to know other learners; the players, who had been a little scared to "play in our first competition", were soon put at ease, and delighted to discover that other people make mistakes too!

Mike Vetch (organiser) gave out a few fun prizes to the top scorers and the "wooden-spooners"!

Click here for more pics and Results link.

John Sansom was a member of the team which won the A Final at the Scarborough Congress.

At the Scottish Overseas Congress in La Manga Sue Evans & Dennis Loynes came 3rd in the Swiss Pairs just 1 VP behind the joint winners.

Heather Westcott & Jennifer Romer won the Ladies Pairs at the Cheltenham Congress.

Jane Morton & Stewart Fishburne won the Solihull heat of the Portland Pairs.

At the EBU Overseas Congress in Athens Joyce Skelton & Chris Taylor came 2nd in the combined Mixed/Ladies/Mens Pairs and then came 2nd in the Swiss Teams playing with Kathy & Denis Talbot.

At the Midlands Counties Congress Sue Evans & Dennis Loynes won the Flitch.

For full results see Midland Counties Congress website.

Sue Evans, Dennis Loynes, Val & Steve Kennewell won the Swiss Teams at the East Wales Summer Congress.