Stratified Simultaneous Pairs: 7-11 March 2011

Stratified Simultaneous Pairs are a new type of club competition which gives pairs of all abilities the chance to shine at national level. Even if a pair never manages to come in the top half of your usual duplicate, they still have the possibility of doing well in their ‘strat’ (category) in this event and coming near the top nationally to win a good number of master points.

The EBU will be holding five separate Stratified Sims with different hands and ranking lists on each day from Monday 7 March to Friday 11 March 2011, so a club can participate on more than one day.

As usual for Simultaneous Pairs, there will be enhanced master point awards. In addition, national ranking lists and master points will be produced each day in each of four categories:-

• Overall
• For pairs both members of which are below the rank of Tournament Master.
• For pairs both members of which are below the rank of Star Master.
• For pairs both members of which are below the rank of District Master.

Pairs who feature in the master point awards in two or more of these categories will receive the highest of the awards available to them. Hand records and commentaries specially written with the club player in mind will be available online so that your members can study them afterwards.

The entry fee for the Stratified Sims is £2 per player — less than the usual entry fee.

The EBU will donate £250 to a charity chosen by the pair in Division D who achieve the highest percentage during the week.

The Sims will be administered and scored for the EBU by ECats. Organising a Simultaneous Pairs for your club is very simple. Anna Gudge, who arranges them on our behalf, will send you an organiser pack via email containing everything you need, and she is always available to help if you have queries. This competition is open to EBU affiliated clubs only, so why not give it a try at your club? Do get in touch with Anna to book your club into the Stratified Sims. You can email her by clicking here or telephone her on 01787 881920.

For more on how stratification works please see this article.

List of clubs entered

Under 21s win World Silver

The U21s have won silver at the World Championships in Philadelphia. Congratulations to Tom Paske, Graeme Robertson, Shivam Shah, James Paul, Tom Rainforth and Dan McIntosh with captain Michael Byrne and coach Alan Shillitoe. They lost to Poland in the final.
Read Alan's account of the event on the Selex Blog.

Earlier, the Hackett team (Paul Hackett, John Holland, Gunnar Hallberg and Americans Reese Milner and Garey Hayden) won gold in the Seniors event.
World Bridge Series

Dimmie Fleming Awards, 2010

The English Bridge Union is proud to announce that the following people have been awarded the prestigious Dimmie Fleming award for services to bridge. The awards are made specifically to publicly recognise those who have worked hard promoting bridge locally at County and Club level. This is a momentous occasion, because we have ten winners this year!

The winners for 2010 are:
David & Anne Gilling, Bedfordshire
Dave Harrison, Cambs & Hunts
Geoff Bell, Cumbria
Anne Swannell, Gloucestershire
Derek Rue, Gloucestershire
Mike Minting, Hertfordshire
Bill McCarthy, Oxfordshire
Peter Langston, Sussex
Ted Bond, Yorkshire

Congratulations to all of them.

Photos of this years winners
About the Award
Who was Dimme Fleming?
Past winners

AGM Results

As members may know, the Annual General Meeting of the English Bridge Union took place yesterday (Wednesday 6 October) in London.

Election of Directors
Eight positions are now subject to election each year since the Article changes passed by the shareholders on 1 July 2010. Eight candidates were nominated and agreed to stand. All were elected.

Directors Elected:
Sally Bugden
Heather Dhondy
Jeremy Dhondy
Suzanne Gill
Michael Hill
Graham Jepson
Malcolm Oliver
Andrew Petrie

Thanks were given by the Chairman to retiring members: Alan Nelson, Jeff Morris and Martin Pool for all their work over the years whilst on the Board.

There being no other candidates for the roles, the following remained in their positions:

Chairman - Sally Bugden
Vice Chairman - Andrew Petrie
Treasurer - Michael Hill

Laws & Ethics Committee
Three nominations were received for the three vacancies and thus there was no need for an election:
Frances Hinden
Neil Morley
Tim Rees

Miss Hinden and Mr Morley will be re-elected, and Mr Rees elected, for a three-year term of office expiring in 2013.

Tournament Committee
Three nominations were received, for three places, so no election required:
Margaret Curtis
Philip Mason
Andrew Petrie

Mrs Curtis, Mr Mason and Mr Petrie will be re-elected for a further three-year term of office expiring in 2013.

Selection Committee
Two nominations were received, for two places, so no election required:
Heather Dhondy
Paul Hackett

Mrs Dhondy and Mr Hackett will be re-elected for a further three-year term of office expiring in 2013.

AGM Nominations

Nominations for the AGM on the 6th October 2010

Nominations received as at 15th September 2010 (closing date)

Board
Eight positions are now subject to election each year since the Article changes passed by the shareholders on July 1st 2010. Eight candidates have been nominated and have agreed to stand. As such, there will be no need for an election for the eight positions available.

Sally Bugden
Heather Dhondy
Jeremy Dhondy
Suzanne Gill
Michael Hill
Graham Jepson
Malcolm Oliver
Andrew Petrie

Officers
Sally Bugden – Chairman
Andrew Petrie – Vice-Chairman
Michael Hill – Treasurer

Tournament Committee
The election this year is for three positions serving a three year term of office expiring in 2013 – no election required.

Margaret Curtis (re-elected)
Philip Mason (re-elected)
Andrew Petrie (re-elected)

Selection Committee
The election this year is for two positions serving a three year term of office expiring in 2013 – no election required.

Paul Hackett (re-elected)
Heather Dhondy (re-elected)

Laws & Ethics Committee
The election this year is for three positions serving a three year term of office expiring in 2013 – no election required.

Frances Hinden (re-elected)
Neil Morley (re-elected)
Tim Rees (newly elected)

Ian Muir

The EBU is extremely sad to announce the death of Ian Muir from Cramlington in the North East. Ian was a member of the EBU's Panel of Tournament Directors and a Senior Congress TD.

He died in his sleep on Saturday after a long illness. Our thoughts are with his friends and family at this sad time.

Please read his Obituary here.

Funeral Details:
Ian's funeral will take place on Tuesday 21st September, at 1.30 pm, at Whitley Bay Crematorium. There will be a post funeral bash at the Briardene pub afterwards.

Warren Buffett Cup, 2010

by Paul Hackett

The greatest bridge stars in the world will be at Miskin Manor near Cardiff from the 13-16 September when Europe plays the USA for the third time for the Warren Buffett Cup.

The European team are all world champions. Fulvio Fantoni with Claudio Nunes and Giorgio Duboin with Antonio Sementa are the two pairs from Italy. Fulvio is currently ranked number one in the world and, between them, they have countless world and European titles.

Norway also has two pairs. Geir Helgemo with Tor Helness and Boye Brogeland with Erik Saelensminde. Tor has the distinction of also having won a world title at poker. Boye and Erik are playing in the teams today, though not in the same team. Germany’s representatives are Sabine Auken and Daniela von Arnim. Fitness fanatics, they have been finalists in a major world or European event every year since 1991. Jason and Justin Hackett are England’s representatives. Interestingly, Justin’s world ranking (35th) is exactly the same as that of Barbara, his wife, in the World Ladies. Their father, Paul, captains the team.

Team USA also has a fantastic line-up. Bob Hamman, ranked Number 1 in the all time world rankings, is partnering Zia Mahmood. Believed by many to be the world’s best pair, Eric Rodwell and Jeff Meckstroff (known as Meckwell) are making their first appearance in the Buffett Cup. Winners of the Cavendish five times, Bobby Levin and Steve Weinstein are back. Fred Gitelman, founder of BBO, is partnering Geoff Hampson who has played in every Buffett Cup. Jill Meyers, number 1 in the all-time Women’s world ranking, is playing with Jill Levin, who is married to Bobby. Completing the team is one of the world’s fastest players, Alan Sontag, and David Berkowitz. David came out with the classic remark “I’m not even the best bridge player in my own house”. He is married to Lisa, a world champion in her own right. For the third time running Donna Compton captains the USA team.

Do come and watch. Play is daily between 10.00 and 19.30 and, for those of you who cannot get there, please visit http://www.bridgebase.com/ where every board from every table will be shown live. The event starts with pairs, followed by teams and ending with an individual.

Visit http://www.buffettcup.com/ for more information on the Cup.

John Armstrong Memorial Award - Winner, 2010

By Danny Davies

At the Brighton Congress, it was announced that Bob Rowlands is this year’s winner of the John Armstrong Award.

'Its pretty strange being 17 and being shipped off to London on a regular basis to train to be a junior bridge international. Especially when the one thing I can't get out of my mind is, knowing most of my friends would be out in Sheffield working out which pub they could get into without having ID. It just made me feel worse, thinking pints of cider were 2 for 1 at the Beehive pub, as my train arrived at St Pancras. The tube was a gloomy place and maybe if I turned around now and got back on the train to Sheffield, would I be able to meet my mates for last orders and then see if I could get into KiKis nightclub... Having said that how would I move the business man out the way, to get off the underground. So I stayed on the train and got off at Barons Court. I followed the directions well trod by so many bridge players to Queens Club Gardens and used the key I had been sent to get into the posh building. I knocked on number 4 and heard steps coming to the door...

Looking back now I'm 38, its pretty tough to explain how amazing it is that someone would go that far out of their way... We didn't have much money at home, and I am pretty sure without the support and mentoring from Bob Rowlands, in fact I can guarantee I couldn't have afforded to go and play in Raymond Brock's Junior squad. Bob provided me with a place to stay in London, bought me take away food, gave me hands to bid and play but perhaps most importantly helped me understand how the game should be played; with courtesy, respect to partner and opponents as well as to win.

It isn't just me that Bob has provided food, shelter and coaching to... in fact it would be pretty impossible to list a Junior, Ladies or Open international team in the last 20 years that doesn't have a member of the team who Bob has helped. He is a proof there are good people playing bridge today and someone I along with many others continue to be thankful to. Bob's actions are extraordinary in his support of bridge players of all skills, ability and age. His selfless approach at the bridge table and away from it makes him the perfect winner of this years John Armstrong award...

An ash has now been planted for Bob Rowlands and an oak in memory of John. Anyone wishing to pay tribute to the late John Armstrong can visit Heritage Wood, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire, where trees and bulbs are planted yearly in his memory as well as a bench placed in his name.

Seniors Camrose Trial 2010

The EBU Selection Committee plans to hold a Seniors Team Trial to select a team for the Seniors Camrose Trophy to be held in England on 27th – 29th May 2011. Applications are invited from teams of up to six players, all of whom qualify to represent England and were born in 1951 or before. Participation in the Trial will be subject to the Conditions of Contest which will be available on request from 15th October 2010, and the winning team will compete in the Seniors Camrose Trophy on a self-funding basis.

Date(s) and venue of Trial
The weekend of 17th-19th December has been reserved for the Trial. The venue and precise timings (including the use of Friday 17th December , as necessary) will be announced when the level of entries is known. The format will be a round-robin, with the winning team guaranteed selection.

Closing date for entries
Entries should be submitted to Sandra Claridge, 31 Elm Trees, Long Crendon,
Aylesbury HP18 9DG, or by email to claridge31@tiscali.co.uk to reach her by 8th November 2010.

Entry fee
The entry fee of £280 per team should be submitted to Peter Jordan at the EBU. Tel 01296 317203, email peter@ebu.co.uk.

Lady Milne Trial 2011

Applications are invited for a pairs Trial to select a team to represent England in the 2011 Lady Milne Trophy, which will be held in Northern Ireland on 15th – 17th April 2011. Participation in the Trial will be subject to the Conditions of Contest which will be available on request from 15th October 2010, and the team will compete in the Lady Milne Trophy on a partially or fully self-funding basis. The leading three pairs in the Trial will be guaranteed selection for the England team.

Date(s) and venue of Trial
21st-23rd January 2011 – Young Chelsea Bridge Club, London.

Closing date for entries
Entries should be submitted to Sandra Claridge, 31 Elm Trees, Long Crendon,
Aylesbury HP18 9DG, or by email to claridge31@tiscali.co.uk to reach her by 8th November 2010.

Entry fee
The entry fee of £70 per player should be submitted to Peter Jordan at the EBU. Tel 01296 317203, email peter@ebu.co.uk.

EBU key tags

It has been brought to our attention that some of our members have concerns that their new EBU membership card "key tags" are a security risk.

We'd like to confirm that the only information contained on the card is the EBU number and name and no other personal details. We suggest that if you have any worries about security that you keep the card with your other credit and store cards, safe in your wallet or purse.

Club Focus - Issue I

We would like to introduce you to the new-style online Club Focus, the EBU Newsletter which is now especially tailored for club committees, tournament directors, scorers and anyone else involved in the administration of an EBU-affiliated bridge club.

• View here

Stratification of Results at Clubs

The EBU has for some time been considering the stratification of games; this means that in any game that a club has decided to stratify there will be master point winners at two or more levels, depending upon the levels of stratification that the club decides to implement. It will not affect the way that the game is played in any way, players of all levels will play in the same manner they do at present, but there will be a presentation of stratified results at the end of the game and corresponding master point awards. Full details of those awards will be available after we have thoroughly tested the software facilities. Clubs will (optionally) be able to separate their games into three stratification levels, A, B and C.

Purely as an example, clubs could choose something like the following stratification levels -

C up to Master

B up to Regional Master

A above Regional Master.

The game will be played and scored in the usual manner, but the resulting master point awards will be made taking into account the stratification levels. For example, this means that if a "strat c" player has a good day they will, of course, win the master points at their highest level of achievement, but if they were not that successful but still able to finish in the top part of their own stratified level there will still be a master point award. When this possibility was considered by the interim Club Committee they were extremely enthusiastic. We will be able to introduce this facility into our clubs (and some EBU events) during the next 6-12 months.

We are looking for two or three clubs that use Scorebridge to offer themselves for “beta” or secondary testing of these new facilities. Once the system works we will make the required functionality available to other scoring system authors, but it will be up to them as to whether they add the functionality to their programs.

If your club is interested in helping us, please let Barry Capal know (barry@ebu.co.uk). It is unlikely these tests will start before October 2010.

European Championships 2010

The Women had a good last few days - losing none of their final eleven matches - but in the end couldn't quite stay in the medals and finished fifth. Nevertheless, they qualify for next year's Venice Cup. The Open team unfortunately were 12th and the Seniors 14th so neither will be joining them.

• Selections: Open Women Seniors
• Event information
• Internationals Blog

Hubert Phillips Bowl

The Hinden team has won the 2010 Hubert Phillips Bowl for mixed teams. Congratulations to Frances Hinden, Jeffrey Allerton, Jon Cooke, Graham Osborne and Mike Scoltock. They beat the Oliver team (Malcolm Oliver, Val Gibson, Bill March, John Atthey and Clive Owen) in the final by 2000 aggregate points. Well done to both teams for getting to the final.

Hubert Phillips Bowl 2009
Photo of winning team

Crockford's Cup 2010

Congratulations to Janet De Botton & Artur Malinowski; Andrew McIntosh & Nick Sandqvist; Jason Hackett & Justin Hackett for winning this years Crockford's Cup!
Full results

2010 Gerard Faulkner Salver

Congratulations to the Law team who have won the 2010 Gerard Faulkner Salver playing against the Garthwaite team. The Garthwaite team conceded after 40 boards with a winning margin of 62 Imps going to Peter Law's team.

The team played in memory of their late captain, Denis O'Donovan, who sadly passed away in April.

View Team photo
View 2010 - 2011 competition details

Corn Cairdis – Cup of Friendship 2010

Congratulations to England who have won this years Corn Cairdis (Cup of Friendship) between Ireland and England by 11 VPs. The final score was England 179 and Ireland 168.

The friendly international is played between The English Bridge Union and the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland every year, and each country competes with three teams: a County Team, a Club team and an Officials team.

English Officials:
Peter Stocken
Sandra Claridge
David Harris
John Williams

England Club Team:
Philip Mason
Pauline Cooper
Sheila Galloway
Sue Pell

England County Team:
Jeff Smith
Jackie Pye
Roy Garthwaite
Heather Hobson

This year was a close result for England, and one possible reason was that the England Club team were missing from the match for the whole of Saturday! Their plane was grounded due to technical difficulties at Leeds Bradford Airport, which meant they were delayed for seven hours!

This was the 19th year of the Cup: England is in the lead with 13 wins against Ireland’s 6 wins over the last nineteen years.

Well done to all three teams.

Date of U25 trials announced

This year’s trials will be held on the weekend of October 16/17th. These trials will help the selectors choose teams to play in the Channel Trophy, the Junior Camrose and the Amsterdam White House tournaments, as well as selecting the squad for the 2011 Europeans.

The venue is undecided as yet – as soon as it has been fixed you will be informed.

National Final of County Teams of 8 winners 2010

The national final of County Teams of 8 winners will be taking place on Sunday 11 July 2010 at the West Midlands Bridge Club, Solihull.

Times:

12.00 - Coffee and tea
12.30 - Bridge starts
15.45 - Meal
19.15 - Finish

There will be 48 Boards.

	A	B	C
1	Manchester	Manchester	Merseyside/Cheshire	(North)
2	Berks/Bucks	Berks/Bucks	Berks/Bucks	(Metropolitan)
3	Camb/Hunt	Herts	Essex	(East)
4	Warwickshire	Oxfordshire	Derbyshire	(Midlands)
5	Avon	Avon	Cornwall	(South West)

Prizes for 1st/2nd place in each group.

Cost is only £20 per player, payable to Graham Jepson, on the day.

Non profit making event.

Club Focus

This is our last Club Focus in the current format, so we've got an extra bumper edition for everyone. Please enjoy the read!

Read Club Focus

Denning Team win the Spring Fours

Congratulations to Paul Denning, Patrick Shields, Gary Jones, Dafydd Jones, Peter Goodman and Adrian Thomas who won The Schapiro Spring Foursomes in Stratford-upon-Avon at the weekend. In an all Wales final, they beat Jourdain by 1 IMP.
Results

Club Focus

Welcome to all our readers to the reborn EBU!

With the advent of Universal Membership all members of our affiliated clubs will be receiving English Bridge, the EBU’s member magazine, from the June issue. This will take over part of the role until now fulfilled by Club Focus with more articles for our club players. That means this is the last issue of our newsletter in its current form intended for a general readership. We do hope you have enjoyed our mix of entertaining, informative and instructive articles over the fifteen issues of its existence.

Club Focus will continue as an occasional newsletter squarely aimed at club administrators, providing useful information and helpful articles for club chairmen, secretaries, committee members and others involved with the running of our clubs. Clubs will be invited to pass the newsletter on to anyone they feel would be interested.

We thus say goodbye to those of you who simply come along to enjoy a friendly game of bridge without being involved in the actual running of the club. If you have never thought about it before, you might consider whether you have time to lend a helping hand with the activities of the club. Most committees will welcome an extra pair of hands.

We would welcome any articles and ideas for future issues of a new format Club Focus. Please do drop us a line to clubfocus@ebu.co.uk

We would like to thank all of those who have helped with the creation of CF over the last two or three years, especially our regular contributors and those who have helped in many ways behind the scenes.

We wish you all plenty of good and enjoyable bridge.

Please read the last Club Focus, here.

Cambridge University have won the 2010 Portland Bowl

Cambridge University have won the Portland Bowl for the first time since 2004. The team won after a close final over Oxford’s A team, which was held over last weekend (24 – 25 April) at the Portland Club in London.

The Cambridge team included five members from England’s junior squads - Graeme Robertson (Captain), Sarah O' Connor, Tom Rainforth, David Faria and Dave Williams. The team was completed by experienced player, John Haslegrave.

Oxford won the first set by 11imps but Cambridge had a storming second set, when they won by 38 imps to take the lead by 27. Their lead was whittled down to 9 imps going into the last set but they gained another 4 imps to emerge victors by 13 imps.

Oxford (Joe Claley, Ian Angus, Ian Able, Alice Kaye, and James Paul) had previously survived a nail biting semi final, beating Durham (Tom Dessain, Dominic Maloney, Paul and Adam Lewis-Jones) by only 1 imp!

Cambridge had won seven of the first ten Portland Bowls, but has only won twice in the last fifteen matches. However, this win takes them into the lead with 10 wins against Oxford’s 9.

Full results

Michael Byrne

Denis O’Donovan (1949-2010)

Denis, who died of a fatal heart attack on 23 April, had been a well-known figure in the Kent bridge world for over thirty years. Denis, who was originally from Ireland, won a Silver medal for Ireland in the 1974 European Youth Championship in Copenhagen. Later on, he represented Kent in the Tollemache on many occasions, being part of the winning team four times. Other national successes include Crockfords (three times) and the Pachabo. He played twice for England in international matches; he particularly enjoyed a match against Ireland in Galway, where he was brought up. He had been selected to represent England in the forthcoming Seniors Camrose.

Away from the bridge table he followed a career in education, having been a secondary school headmaster. His many other interests included sport, especially football. He was a former referee and was involved in the administration of youth football in the county.

Denis lived near Canterbury and is survived by his wife Maria, two children and two grandchildren. He will be sorely missed.

Patrick Collins and Peter Law

Gill's Cruise Centre

The English Bridge Union joins forces with one of the most experienced cruise retailers in the UK, Gill’s Cruise Centre to offer ‘Learn to Play Bridge’ courses on board Fred Olsen cruise ships.

The EBU sees the partnership with the family-owned business as a new and innovative way of providing a different type of learning opportunity.

Designed for absolute beginners the classes have been arranged around the ships own schedule to combine a holiday with learning a new hobby.

In addition to on-board ‘Learn to Play Bridge’ courses there are plans to offer ‘Improve your Game’ courses to the many thousands of social players who wish to consolidate and develop their game.

The combination of the English Bridge Union’s top class tutors with Gill’s Cruise Centre inspires the confidence that clients will be looked after by one of the UK’s leading cruise specialists whilst learning a game that will bring lifelong enjoyment.

Click here to view the bridge cruises and here to link to Gill's Cruise Centre website.

You and the EBU

Welcome to the new English Bridge Union. We are the governing body for duplicate bridge in England representing communities of bridge players at club, county and national level. We are funded by members for members and the development of duplicate bridge in England.

The Benefits of Membership
If you are a member of one of our affiliated duplicate bridge clubs you automatically become a member of the EBU. You can find out about the services and benefits available to you here.

If you are a duplicate bridge club and would like to affiliate to the EBU you can read all about the many associated benefits including the security afforded to your club members through playing within our jurisdiction here.

If you would like to join the EBU via one of our affiliated clubs and learn more about the county bridge association where you live – click here to find out about our activities in your area.

If you cannot join one of our clubs you can still receive the many benefits of membership by becoming a direct member.

Membership of the EBU enables you to take part in a wide and varied programme of competitions, tournaments and simultaneous events and you can also receive our bi-monthly, exclusive members’ magazine, English Bridge and our EBU diary. If you are an EBU member via a club you qualify for these benefits through earning magazine points.

Want to Learn? Want to Teach?
The EBU is England’s national bridge organisation and it is committed to developing the game of duplicate bridge through an extensive education programme. If you would like to learn to play bridge you can find a teacher here.

If you would like to train to teach bridge, please look at our dedicated teacher training programmes and the English Bridge Union Teachers Association.

Security for our members
Membership helps maintain the infrastructure of the game which provides development for the future and protection today for all those who play in our clubs and our national and county competitions.

If you require any help with playing regulations or the laws of duplicate bridge click here for further information.

Young People and Bridge
We have a wealth of news on our website about our Minibridge teaching initiative for schools and the many activities available for those taking part in Youth Bridge.

International Competitions
As a national bridge organisation we select players to represent England in a variety of competitions. We are very proud of the success of our players on the international scene. You can read more about the players concerned by clicking on biographies.

Here to Help
We are here to help you get the best out of your membership of the EBU. There is always a friendly member of staff who can help.

Enjoy your bridge.
Sally Bugden, Chairman

Submission Number One!

At 16:49 on 1st April we had our very first Pay To Play submission. Welwyn Garden City Bridge Club had a 10-table duplicate in the morning. Congratulations to Susan Early and Nora Cherry (North/South) and Michael Pearce and Ann Kaplan (East/West) for winning the first session of the new era.

Peter Thompson

Sadly Peter Thompson died early this week, following a long period of being unwell.

He was a co-founder of Tewkesbury Bridge Club nearly fifty years ago, and during that time had been Treasurer, Scorer, Secretary, Chairman, Chief Tournament Director and finally President.

He had also been an active member of Cheltenham Bridge Club and virtually single-handedly formed the Gloucestershire Teams of Four League in 1977; there are now over forty teams playing in five divisions. He also started the U3A group in Tewkesbury in 1993, which now plays twice a week with an average of eleven tables.

Peter received the Dimmie Fleming Award in 2007 in recognition of his services to bridge over many years.

Dr John Carter - Funeral Arrangements

John's funeral will be taking place this Saturday, 3pm at St Denys Church, Chilworth.

Donation can either be for St Denys Church or Countess Mountbatten Hospice.

Monies can either be given to the undertakers J Lawrence and Son 023 8055 4801 or to the family.

St Denys Church, Dundee Road, Southampton, SO17 2ND

Dr John Carter

The EBU is extremely sad to announce the death of John Carter, a long standing and hard working member of its Board who has been a key supporter of universal membership and the modernisation of the EBU. John initiated the ground breaking National Grading Scheme Project. His skills and insight will be sorely missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family at this time.


Obituary

Dr John Mervyn Carter, who died on 8 March aged 67, was a technical strategy, design and planning consultant to one of IBM’s major software products and later an administrator and board member for the English Bridge Union.

John Carter was born on 6 December 1942 in Staines, Middlesex. John won a place at University College of North Wales and gained a BSC in Physics and Mathematics in Autumn 1964, and then a PhD in Theoretical Physics in 1967.

In his working life, John had over 15 years of management experience at IBM, working as Customer Advocate for one of IBM’s largest clients, Wal*Mart. He was also Development Manager in many of IBM’s major software products. In later years he was a technical strategy, design and planning consultant to one of IBM’s major software products.

In his private life John took a great interest in the card game bridge, and from 1985 until recently he was the Hampshire and Isle of Wight delegate to the EBU council. He was also chairman of the local county bridge association twice from 1987 – 1992 and from 2005 until this year. At the English Bridge Union he was Board member from 1992 – 2000, 2001 – 2002, and 2004 until his death.

The English Bridge Union is currently heading towards Universal Membership from 1 April 2010 and John had been heavily involved in a number of the development projects, especially as a member of the Universal Membership Project Board and leader of the National Grading Scheme Project. His great work in these projects will be seen for many years to come.

Tournament Focus - Issue IV

Our fourth Tournament Focus, written especially for our Tournament players, is now available. Our last edition was the first on-line version, and proved very popular — thank you for everyone's feedback.

• View here

Congratulations to...

Tony Forrester and Artur Malinowski who came second against many great bridge players in the recent Slava Cup.

• See more

Lords versus Commons Match 2010

by Jeremy Dhondy

The 2010 House of Lords vs House of Commons Match was held early in the year because of the forthcoming General Election. It was, as usual, sponsored by Stephen Perry of London Export Corporation Ltd in memory of his father Jack whose name is on the match trophy. The hospitality organised at the venue, the Portland Club was up to its usual high standard.


The Lords built up an sizeable early lead and hung on to win by a comfortable margin to make the overall score 19-17 to the Lords. It is likely that whatever the result of the election the Commons are going to have to look for some new blood if they are to challenge the Lord’s in 2011.


An excellent set of hands together with commentary was produced by Paul Bowyer.


The Sir Anthony Berry Trophy for the best bid or played hand of the day went to Evan Harris MP (Liberal Democrat, Oxford West and Abingdon) for his play to make 3NT when the slightest slip in technique would have led to defeat.


In the photo (below), left to right, the winners: Lord May, Lord Skelmersdale, Baroness Billingham, Lord Baker, Baroness Henig (captain), last-minute substitute Jack Johnstone (Lady Henig’s husband), the Earl of Caithnesss and Lord Harrison.

Junior Camrose 2010

Congratulations to Scotland who won the Junior Camrose and the Peggy Bayer 2010. Well done to our England teams who came third in the Junior Camrose, and second in the Peggy Bayer.

• Further details

2009 Master Point Lists

The 2009 Master Point ranking lists are now available to be viewed online. Congratulations to John Holland who has won the Sunday Telegraph Salver for the most points earned in the year. He finished ahead of 2007 winner Ron Davis and Frank Springett.

David Bakhshi has regained the lead in the Gold Point List, ahead of John Holland and last year's leader Tim Rees.

• Most Points of 2009
• Gold Point Ranking List
• All Master Point Reports (including county reports)

Great Northern Swiss Pairs

Please note that the Great Northern Swiss Pairs is taking place on 2/3 October at the Hilton Hotel, Leeds. Entries will be to the Yorkshire Contract Bridge Association. Details will follow soon.

Scam

Warning to bridge teachers, an email is currently being sent around, and is a scam.

The email is as follows:

"Hi ,I'm , My son would be coming for 2 months holiday in the United Kingdom () and I want him to use the period of his holiday to learn the fundamentals of Bridge Card Game from . Could you please provide me with your rates, Location and Qualifications and then we can move on from there. I await your quick response as soon as possible, Thanks. "

The scam would work as follows:

1. Supply details of bank account so a large ‘overpayment’ for lessons can be made.
2. A request to refund the amount of the overpayment leaving the actual amount for tuition or else make the payment to a 3rd party for ‘services’.
3. You make the refund only to find the original amount isn’t there after all. Fraud / money laundering.

So, please make sure you ignore the email.

Great Northern Swiss Pairs

Please note that the Great Northern Swiss Pairs is taking place on 2/3 October at the Hilton Hotel, Leeds. Entries will be to Yorkshire Contract Bridge Association. Details follow soon.

Senior & Lady Milne Trials

The Hackett team won the Seniors Trials final, beating O'Donovan by 235 - 168 IMPs. The Lady Milne Trials also took place. Congratulations to all the qualifying pairs!

• Lady Milne Trials
• Seniors Trials
• Tom's Blog