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.

Mike Willoughby has provided a commentary on the hands from the Multiple Teams on the 8th of July.

22nd July - Swiss Pairs (Note change of event.)

29th July - Pairs Ladder

5th August - Phillipps Pairs

12th August - Point-a-Board Teams

19th August - Pairs Ladder

26th August - NO BRIDGE

2nd September - Grand Prix Teams (First heat)

Stewart Fishburne, Mike Willoughby, Ian Thompson & Simon Harrison came 4th= in the Pachabo Cup, which is contested by the holders of the teams-of-four Championship of each County

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.

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.

There are now FOUR Fast-Track beginners courses in place for January/March: Joyce in Leigh Sinton, Mike V in Redditch, Richard G in Bewdley, and Alan in Pershore:

• A Fast-Track weekend course is available at Pershore BC, full details TBC: Sat/Sun 2nd/3rd March 2019. Contact Alan Boyes for details, or click here.
• Booking for Mike's HoW Fast-Track course is done directly online with the College; follow this link: further details here. Please note: this course was briefly showing as "full" but we have expanded it to two teachers and is now open again. Course begins on Thur 24th Jan.
• Contact Joyce directly (see poster) for places on the Leigh Sinton Beginners' course.
• Contact Richard directly for the Bewdley (Areley Kings) course.

Joyce is also advertising an Improvers' Class for January: "...more material at the improver level from the Andrew Robson Next steps book – some of the topics I intend to cover are finessing, setting up suits, leads, delaying drawing trumps..." For further details, contact Joyce or click here.

For all other courses, contact the teacher directly, using emails or phone numbers here.

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.