EBU News

England win silver at World Mind Games

2011-12-15T09:59:00.001Z

The England ladies won a silver medal at the World Mind Games invitational event in Beijing, losing to USA in the final. Well done to Sally Brock, Nicola Smith, Heather Dhondy, Nevena Senior, Susan Stockdale and Fiona Brown.

Nicola Smith also won silver in the Individual event.

Free EBU Sims - December 11

2011-12-11T10:05:00.000Z

Last month was our trial of the new Sim Pairs software. We were very pleased to have 100 clubs sign up and hope that this will put the system through its paces! Results and commentary booklets are available at the links below. Players are also welcome to share stories of the evening and make comments on our Google+ page or on Facebook.

Results
Commentary: A4 - booklet form
Google+ thread or Facebook (requires account to comment)
List of participating clubs
Instructions for club scorers

Gold Cup - 2011

2011-12-10T09:47:00.000Z

Congratulations to the Peter Lee team, who have won the 2011 BGB Gold Cup. Peter Lee, Frances Hinden, Jeffrey Allerton, Graham Osborne, John Howard and Andy Bowles beat Alexander Allfrey, Andrew Robson, David Gold, Tony Forrester, Peter Crouch and Derek Patterson by 126-100 IMPs.

Photo: Shireen Mohandes

NICKO winners 2011

2011-12-01T10:03:00.000Z

Congratulations to David Jones, Steve Green, Garry Watson and Martin Jones for winning the 2010/11 National Inter Club Knockout at the weekend. They beat Manchester in the final. This is the fifth time that the team has won the NICKO.

Lords V Commons 2011

2011-11-21T11:29:00.005Z

"The 37th match between the House of Commons and the House of Lords for the Jack Perry Trophy was held at the Portland Club, London last Friday. The Commons were depleted as the last general election had seen retirements and defeats for several MPs, but they came out fighting and had a useful lead at the halfway stage.

A second half revival saw the Lords run out winners and increase their lead in the series to 20-17.

The match, sponsored each year by Stephen Perry and London Export features a trophy for the best bid, played or defended hand. The Anthony Berry Trophy, judged by EBU Vice-President Tony Priday. who attended the very first match, was won by Baroness Byford for her bidding to an excellent 6D, played with skill."

Lords Team: Lord Skelmersdale, Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes, Lord Harrison, Baroness Billingham, Lord May of Oxford, Baroness Henig (Captain), Earl of Caithness, and Baroness Byford. Well done to them.

Report by Jeremy Dhondy. The match was sponsored by Stephen Perry of London Export Ltd in memory of his father Jack whose name is on the match trophy.

Photos

AGM 2011 results

2011-10-13T15:10:00.001+01:00

The Annual General Meeting of the English Bridge Union took place on 5 October in London.

Election of directors

Two candidates were nominated and have agreed to stand. As such, there was no need for an election for the eight positions available.

Directors elected:

Sally Bugden

Heather Dhondy

Jeremy Dhondy

Val Gibson (newly elected)

Michael Hill

Graham Jepson

Ian Payn (newly elected)

Andrew Petrie

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

Officers:

Sally Bugden - Chairman

Andrew Petrie - Vice-Chairman

Michael Hill - Treasurer

Laws & Ethics Committee

Three nominations were received for the two vacancies, so an election was required.

Congratulations to David Burn and Martin Pool who serve for a three year term of office, expiring in 2014.

Tournament Committee

Three nominations were received, for three places, so no election required:

Brian Crack (re-elected)

Paul Hackett (re-elected)

Ian Payn (newly elected)

Mr Hackett and Mr Payn serve for a three year term of office, expiring in 2014, and Mr Crack for two years, expiring in 2013.

Selection Committee

Five nominations were received, for four places, so an election was required.

Congratulations to Tom Townsend, Simon Cochemé and Nick Smith who serve for a three year term of office, expiring in 2014, and Heather Bakhshi who serves for a one year term of office, expiring in 2012.

Nominations for AGM

2011-09-15T12:58:00.001+01:00

Nominations for the AGM on the 5th October 2011

Nominations received as at 14th September 2011 (closing date)

Board
Two 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
Val Gibson (newly elected)
Michael Hill
Graham Jepson
Ian Payn (newly elected)
Andrew Petrie

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

Tournament Committee – 3 positions

Three nominations have been received for the three vacancies. Although there is no requirement for an election, a vote is required to ascertain the term of office for each nominee. Two are required for a three year term of office expiring in 2014, and one for a two year term of office expiring in 2013.
Brian Crack (re-elected)
Paul Hackett (re-elected)
Ian Payn (newly elected)

Selection Committee – 4 positions

Five nominations have been received for the four vacancies therefore an election will take place. The top three successful candidates will be elected for a three year term of office expiring in 2014; with the fourth successful candidate being elected for a one year term of office expiring in 2012.

Heather Bakhshi
Richard Bowdery
Simon Cochemé
Nick Smith
Tom Townsend

Laws & Ethics Committee - 2 positions

Three nominations have been received for the two vacancies therefore an election will take place. The top two successful candidates will be elected for a three year term of office expiring in 2014;

David Burn
Martin Pool
David Stevenson

Club Insurance - Renewal

2011-06-30T11:58:00.003+01:00

EBU Club Insurance is due for renewal from the 1 April 2011. The Public Liability policy is £58 and the Premium insurance policy is £68.60. Insurance premium tax of 5% and Osbornes administration cost of £5.00 are included in the quoted prices.

Should you require new club insurance, or wish to change your insurance, please contact Karen immediately on 01296317200 of by email karend@ebu.co.uk

We would like to take the opportunity to remind you that Osbornes are independent insurance intermediaries and as such act on your behalf when arranging insurance.

As always, should you have any general insurance queries, please contact Osbornes on 01844 213161 or by email admin@osbornesins.co.uk

Draft Policy Full (large PDF)

Draft Policy Summary

Standard Schedule

Premium Schedule

Employers Liability Certificate SPECIMEN

Business Interruption Cover

National Final of County Teams of 8 winners 2011

2011-05-17T16:23:00.004+01:00

The national final of County Teams of 8 winners will be taking place on Sunday 10th July 2011 at the West Midlands Bridge Club, Solihull.

Times:

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

There will be 48 Boards.

	A	B	C
1	Manchester	Yorkshire	Cumbria	(North)
2	Herts	Northants	Herts	(East)
3	Surrey	Berks/Bucks	Sussex	(Metropolitan)
4	Warwickshire	Warwickshire	Warwickshire	(Midlands)
5	Somerset	Devon	Dorset	(West)

Changes to the EBU Board

2011-03-09T12:11:00.002Z

Ian Payn
We are delighted to welcome Ian Payn to the Board of the EBU. Ian has agreed to take up the role of Board Director responsible for education. Ian has extensive skills in medium and long term business planning and implementation of strategy. He also has a wealth of experience in the world of duplicate bridge; he is on the committee of the London Metropolitan Bridge Association and was previously Chairman of the Young Chelsea Bridge Club; He is currently Chief Operations Officer of Charter Chambers in London.

Suzanne Gill
We are sorry to say goodbye to Suzanne who is retiring from the Board to arrange her emigration to Australia to be with her daughter. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Suzanne, who has made a valuable contribution to the work of the EBU by chairing the Education Working Group. This involved organising the county education research project which culminated in a report presented to the Board in January 2011. We wish Suzanne very good luck with her new life in Australia.

Bill McCarthy

2011-03-08T12:02:00.000Z

Bill McCarthy lost his fight against cancer passing away peacefully on Sunday 27th February. Bill was very much a family man and his main hobby was Bridge.

Bill was an active member of Thame, Aylesbury and Wallingford clubs.

He served for several years on the Oxfordshire Bridge Association and was Competition Secretary for several years.

Bill was a County Director and was always ready to help run charity events.

He was a member of Thame Club for over 17 years and was secretary for many of these. His knowledge of bridge movements was legendary and he developed many of these for local clubs.

In 2010 he was awarded the Dimmie Fleming award by the EBU for services to Bridge, an achievement of which he was very proud.
Bill was one of that rare breed of unsung heroes and will be missed by all of his friends.

Bill was first and foremost a family man and was extremely proud of his 5 children and numerous grand-children. He regularly went on bridge holidays with his wife, Freda.

I was proud to have known Bill as a friend and bridge partner. Thank you Bill. You will always be in our memories.

Bob Kingshott

Charitable status for English bridge club

2011-03-01T12:36:00.002Z

The Charity Commission has recently made the ground-breaking decision to award charitable status to a bridge club in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. The Charity Commission stated that: “sport has often been used to advance charitable aims but, following a change in the law introduced by the Charities Act 2006, it is now charitable to advance amateur sports or games, which promote health by involving physical or mental skill or exertion.”

The charitable purposes of Hitchin Bridge Club are :

· The advancement of amateur sport by promoting the game of bridge for the benefit of the residents of Hitchin and the surrounding area.

· The provision of facilities for the learning, teaching and playing of bridge for the benefit of the residents of Hitchin and the surrounding area with the object of improving conditions of life.

Hitchin Bridge Club was recognised as being established for exclusively charitable aims for the public benefit in advancing amateur sport and providing recreational facilities. The club was registered as charity number 1140362.

Recent research has proven that undertaking regular mental activity such as playing bridge can significantly lower the risk of developing forms of dementia in our older population1. Additionally, research shows that social interaction amongst the elderly can stave off cognitive decline. Playing bridge has also been proven to benefit school pupils, not only in their education but in later years when they have more time available for a leisure pursuit. The game provides both high level mental stimulation and social engagement.

The President and founder of Hitchin Bridge Club, Mrs Margaret Eddleston said: “I am really pleased about the decision of the Charity Commission. The club wishes to help more people learn to play bridge and to reap the benefits from regular mental stimulation and companionship it provides. Recognition that bridge is a sport of the mind and its importance to the mental health and well being of players by the Charity Commission is very welcome. With the benefit of charitable status the club can now concentrate on providing a new community building for the residents of Hitchin which will provide modern facilities for playing the sport and a wide range of other community activities”.

The bridge club is affiliated to the English Bridge Union.

Notes:
1 - see Annals of Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians and the Washington Post, 2003 reporting on: Verghese, J. 2003. The effects of mind games on Alzheimer’s and dementia. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, USA.

Press:
For further information, please contact Matt Betts, the EBU’s press and communications officer, on 01296 317 200 or by email Matt@ebu.co.uk. See full press release here.

About Hitchin Bridge Club:
The club started in 2000 with only a handful of bridge players. In 2005, it became affiliated to the EBU. It successfully obtained a lottery grant in 2007 to purchase a Dealer4 card dealing machine and associated equipment. In February 2011 it became the first bridge club to obtain charitable status and is now a charitable company limited by guarantee. The club currently plays two evenings a week but is hoping to increase the number of sessions. Membership is approximately 125 and the club is proposing to build a new club house and community centre to replace the current hired hall, which is due to be demolished in the next 2 years. http://www.hitchinbridgeclub.org.uk/

Charity Commission:
The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. See http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/ for further information or call the contact centre on 0845 300 0218. As of 28 February 2011, the Charity Commission is opening a public consultation on the advancement of amateur sport as a charitable aim. Rosie Chapman, Executive Director Policy and Effectiveness at the Charity Commission, said: "For years, sporting activities have been used to further a wide variety of charitable aims, for example to advance the physical education of young people or to relieve disability or the effects of old age. Now that advancing amateur sports or games is in itself a charitable aim we want, with the help of the sector, to explore what that means. We are particularly interested in hearing views on what types of sport or game which involve mental, as opposed to physical, exertion might be capable of being charitable. We are also publishing reports on our final public benefit assessments, which looked at sport and recreation charities." See full press release here: http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk/RSS/News/pr_amateur_sport.aspx

Jane Preddy

2011-02-28T16:36:00.004Z

31st January 1928 – 24th February 2011

Jane Preddy started playing bridge at the age of 11, when her grandmother taught her the rudiments of the game in the air raid shelters during the Blitz. In the 1940s she played much Canasta with Terence Reese and her first, late husband, William Preddy, as well as bridge with many of the big names of the time including “Skid” Simon.

Having enjoyed a string of successes on the national bridge scene in the late 1940s, Jane stopped playing in order to raise a family of five – four daughters, including former bridge international Kay, and a son. However, she returned to bridge in the 1980s, when she revitalised her international career; among other successes, she represented Great Britain in the World Championships in Japan in 1991. It was in the early 1980s that Jane made her most significant contribution to bridge, when she founded the West of England Bridge Club in Bristol, a club that attracted many future internationals such as Andrew Robson, Marc Smith and David Carlisle, with whom Jane lived for the last thirty years and married in 2003. The star of the club was undoubtedly Jane herself, an exceptional teacher who attracted a very devoted following.

Jane retired from Bristol to Kent, where she took up golf, in the late 1980s but soon after she moved again. First she briefly co-managed the Acol Club in London together with Andrew Robson, then she followed David Carlisle first to Aberystwyth, where he gained a PhD, and later to Essex, where he became a school teacher.

Jane Preddy loved life and was much loved by all her family and friends. She leaves her second husband, four daughters and a son. She had thirteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Jane Preddy - Funeral Arrangements

2011-02-28T11:16:00.000Z

Jane Preddy’s funeral is at 12pm on Friday 11th March 2011 at Parndon Wood Crematorium & Cemetery, Parndon Wood Road, Harlow, Essex CM19 4SF. The family requests no flowers but donations to either the Harlow RGT (Retired Greyhound Trust) – Jane adored her dogs – or the NSPCC. Cheques made payable to either and sent c/o Daniel Robinson and Son, 79/81 South Street, Bishop's Stortford, CM23 3AL. Cheques can also be given to the funeral directors on the day. If any of her friends are coming can you please let David Carlisle know via email at dacarlisle@btinternet.com

Appeal Focus

2011-02-27T12:07:00.000Z

The second edition of Appeal Focus is now available. It's aimed at Appeal chairmen, other players who have regularly served on appeal committees, referees and tournament directors.

View here

England win Junior Camrose & Peggy Bayer Trophies

2011-02-21T12:09:00.000Z

The England teams were victorious in Ayr at the weekend. The Peggy Bayer team won comfortably and finished a massive 63 VPs ahead of Scotland. The Junior Camrose team had a closer run, but eventually were 9 VPs ahead of second-placed Scotland. Congratulations to both teams!

NEC Cup - Japan

2011-02-16T16:41:00.000Z

Congratulations to the Dutch/English NEDUK team (David Gold, David Bakhshi, Louk Verhees and Ricco van Prooijen) who have won the NEC Cup in Yokohama. The Hackett team (Paul Hackett, Justin Hackett, Tom Hanlon and Hugh McGann) went out in the semi finals.

Also, congratulations to the England Ladies: Heather Dhondy, Nevena Senior, Fiona Brown, Susan Stockdale who won the B Division of the Swiss Teams. And to Justin Hackett who came second in the ASUKA CUP with partner, Masaru Naniwada.

Official website

Matthew Hoskins - Obituary

2011-02-15T15:56:00.002Z

MATTHEW HOSKINS of Sussex who died on the 1st February 2011 at the age of 51 of a heart attack had been an ever present and well known figure in the Bridge world for over 25 years. Bridge had been a significant part of his life from his days at Whitgift School onwards.
Matthew was a Premier Grand Master and prolific master point winner and won the Annual Master Point Award when sponsored by Macallan. He had numerous domestic tournament successes in Sussex where he won the Spring Congress twice, the County Pairs three times and the County Teams on five occasions in addition to representing the County in the Tollemache. His successes on the tournament circuit included the BBL Isle of Man Teams, a number of EBU One Day Events, the Scarborough Pairs with his wife Liz, the Porthcawl Congress Pairs and Teams, Autumn Congress Satellite Pairs and the National Swiss Teams.

He and Liz were also third in the Portland Pairs. In knockout events he was twice a Crockfords finalist, once being runner up and less than a month before his death he was on the Horsham Team which won the 2009-10 National Inter-Club Knockout claiming a number of significant scalps along the way.

At Brighton he won the Mid-week Knockout teams several times, the Mixed Pairs with his wife Liz, twice the Mixed Pivot Teams, had frequent appearances in both A & B Teams Finals and finished third in the Main Pairs in 2010.

In tournaments abroad he had reached the knockout stages of the Rosenblum in 1998 in Lille losing to the eventual bronze medallists. In 2003 in the European Open in Menton he was on a team reaching the last sixteen of the knockout phase before losing to Sabine Auken.

Always courteous at the bridge table, he was one of the nominees for the inaugural John Armstrong Award in 2009.He would always make sure of welcoming players to the table and of encouraging newcomers to the tournament world.

Away from the bridge table he had a keen interest in horse racing and was proud to have been in the Winners Enclosure after the 2009 Grand National won by Vida Bingham's horse Mon Mome.

Whilst Matthew loved teams play especially knockout events Matthew was also a careful Pairs player and in one season had second places in the Easter Guardian Pairs and the National Pairs in addition to the Crockfords second place. He often joked about exchanging those seconds for a win!

On a personal note Matthew has been my good friend for nearly 25 years at and away from the bridge table. It seems hard to believe I won't again have the 'phone call on a Monday morning to chat about the weekend's bridge. I was fortunate to have played bridge with him for many years and in his last event, the National Swiss Teams, where the team finished 4th, the weekend before his death.

Matthew was a popular figure through his competitive but fair attitude to the game allied to a fine if occasionally cutting sense of humour and a keen eye for a practical joke. Matthew lived in Shoreham and is survived by his wife Liz. He will be very sorely missed.

(Andrew Southwell, printed on the Sussex website)

Tollemache Final 2011

2011-02-10T11:46:00.000Z

Congratulations to the North East team (Bill March, Val Gibson, Christopher Owen, John Atthey, Martin Kane, Malcolm Oliver, Julian Gibson, Damien Hassan, Clive Owen) who won the Tollemache Final. This was the first time the North East has won this prestigious event. The Tollemache Cup is the inter-county championships for teams of eight.

Matthew Hoskins

2011-02-09T16:40:00.000Z

The EBU is extremely sad to announce the death of Matthew Hoskins (Sussex) who was recently a member of Horsham 'A' which won the 2009/10 National Inter Club Knockout competition, beating Cambridge 'A' in the final. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family at this time.

Funeral arrangements for Matthew Hoskins

The funeral will be at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Kings Walk, Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex BN 43 5LF at 11am on Tuesday 22 February 2011, followed by the committal at 12 noon at Mill Lane cemetery, Mill Lane, Shoreham.

Lunch will follow at the Ardington Hotel, Steyne Gardens, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 3DZ. Parking in the immediate vicinity of the hotel can be difficult, but there is an NCP car park close by.

Everyone is very welcome at the service, at the cemetery and at lunch.

For catering purposes it would help if I could have some idea of numbers. If you are proposing to attend, please let Matthew’s brother Toby know at tobyhoskins@hotmail.co.uk

Flowers or donations are welcome. Donations in Matthew's memory for the RNLI (Shoreham Harbour Lifeboat Station) or the EBU Youth and Education Trust would be gratefully accepted, and may be left in church or sent to Caring Lady Funeral Director, 68 High Street, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex BN43 5DB.

Annual Master Point Reports

2011-02-01T11:42:00.000Z

The 2010 Master Point reports are now ready. Congratulations to Ed Scerri for winning the Sunday Telegraph Salver for the most points earned during the year. He was ahead of Frank and Janet Springett. In the Gold Point list, David Bakhshi is once again top of the table, followed by John Holland in second and Michael Byrne in third.

The Club Champions have also been announced. These are the players who earned the most local master points at each club from April - December. The club winners were entered into the Annual Prize Draw, so congratulations to the following prize winners:

Steve Lee and Chrys Poole - Hazlemere - £400 (£200 each)
Ray Foulds - Worcester - £200
Graham Boutell and Ann Grant - Stratford St. Mary - £100 (£50 each)

Eric Pudsey (22.05.24 – 02.01.11)

2011-01-05T14:58:00.001Z

Eric died peacefully at a Care Home in Hull after a long illness.

He was the Vice President of Yorkshire Contract Bridge Association from 1999 but was best known as Yorkshire Secretary from 1980 to 1999, a role which he combined with that of Treasurer for many of those years. He received a Dimmie Fleming Award in 1999 following his retirement, in recognition of his tremendous commitment to bridge administration.

He was also one of the leading Yorkshire bridge players particularly during the 1980s and was selected to represent the county at all levels on many occasions.

Eric left school at the age of 16 to work at a local Estate Agents, but in 1942 he was conscripted into the army and in 1946 was posted to Rangoon where he became editor of the forces newspaper, the Burma Star. After being demobbed in 1947 he obtained a science degree from Hull University and qualified as a teacher. He spent the rest of his career teaching at schools in Hull and never married.

Yorkshire bridge owes a great deal to Eric and he will be fondly remembered by the county as both a player of the highest quality and for his unstinting commitment to the county’s administration.

The funeral will take place at the Northern Cemetery, Hull on Monday 17 January 2011 at 11.00 a.m.

Stratified Simultaneous Pairs: 7-11 March 2011

2010-12-22T15:35:00.003Z

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

2010-10-17T11:11:00.000+01:00

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

2010-10-07T10:47:00.003+01:00

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

2010-10-07T09:29:00.005+01:00

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

2010-09-27T09:47:00.002+01:00

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

2010-09-13T11:30:00.003+01:00

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

2010-09-08T10:27:00.003+01:00

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

2010-09-07T10:20:00.000+01:00

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

2010-09-06T12:25:00.000+01:00

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

2010-09-06T12:24:00.001+01:00

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

2010-08-05T15:35:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-27T09:40:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-12T12:55:00.000+01:00

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

2010-07-01T09:36:00.000+01:00

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.

Hubert Phillips Bowl

2010-06-30T11:45:00.001+01:00

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

2010-06-08T11:09:00.000+01:00

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

2010-05-30T11:42:00.000+01:00

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

2010-05-25T15:35:00.002+01:00

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

2010-05-20T13:55:00.000+01:00

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

2010-05-20T09:54:00.013+01:00

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

2010-05-08T10:15:00.000+01:00

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

2010-05-04T10:23:00.000+01:00

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

2010-04-30T12:58:00.001+01:00

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

2010-04-26T15:52:00.004+01:00

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)

2010-04-26T09:59:00.001+01:00

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

2010-04-15T09:34:00.002+01:00

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

2010-04-10T09:37:00.001+01:00

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!

2010-04-01T09:39:00.000+01:00

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

2010-03-26T16:00:00.004Z

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

2010-03-10T10:08:00.001Z

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

2010-03-10T09:37:00.015Z

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

2010-03-09T12:20:00.000Z

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...

2010-03-07T12:23:00.000Z

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

2010-03-01T09:11:00.005Z

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

2010-02-26T12:24:00.000Z

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

2010-02-20T12:26:00.000Z

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

2010-02-10T12:28:00.000Z

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

2010-01-28T11:13:00.001Z

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

2010-01-25T15:00:00.000Z

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

2010-01-25T09:39:00.000Z

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!

Lords versus Commons Match 2009

2009-12-07T10:49:00.001Z

Commons win for the first time since 2005

The House of Commons Team were successful for the first time in four years at the 35th annual House of Lords versus House of Commons match played at Crockford’s Club on Friday December 4th. Their win cuts the Upper House lead to 18-17.

An exciting set of boards was produced by Paul Bowyer together with commentary and Lord Kalms found an excellent lead to defeat 3NT on an early board but Nick Palmer (Lab, Broxtowe) and John Hemming (Lib Dem, Birmingham Yardley) helped the Commons to a lunchtime lead when they bid a good 6♦ played very competently by John Hemming to make when trumps didn’t break kindly.

After an excellent lunch one might have expected the standard to slip a bit but it didn’t and the Commons added to their lead and went into the final set leading by 2690 points.

The Commons captain Michael Mates (Conservative, East Hampshire) remarked that his team had once blown a lead of 3000 with two sets to play but didn’t see how they could do the same with only one set to play. Fairly shortly the computerised scoreboard showed that the Commons majority had been slashed to 280. As fingernails were being bitten however a fine defence by the captain himself restored a more healthy lead and the Commons ran out winners by 2800 aggregate points over the 28 board match which was played in fine spirit.

Michael Mates accepted the Jack Perry Trophy on behalf of the winners and also won the Sir Anthony Berry Trophy which is awarded for the best bridge moment, adjudicated by Jeremy Dhondy, for his excellent defence mentioned above to beat a game contract made at the other tables.

Winning team (L-R: Evan Harris, Tony McWalter, Nick Palmer, Michael Mates, John Marek, John Hemming, Bridget Prentice, Robin Squire).

The House of Lords team were: Lord Skelmersdale, Lady Oppenheim-Barnes, Lord Baker, Lord Kalms, Lord Harrison, Lady Billingham, Lord May of Oxford, Lady Henig)

Report by Jeremy Dhondy. The match was sponsored by Stephen Perry of London Export Ltd in memory of his father Jack whose name is on the match trophy.

Tom Bradley Award 2009

2009-12-01T11:20:00.003Z

Congratulations to Ken Pattison, NEBA County Youth Officer who has won the 2009 Tom Bradley Award. The award has been given in recognition of his tireless 10 years of working in a number of schools in the Darlington and Teesside area.

The Tom Bradley Award is assigned each year to a non-school teacher for services to the teaching of bridge in England.

Photos
More information

Stuart Staveley

2009-11-30T11:43:00.007Z

We are sad to report that Dr Stuart Staveley (Vice President of the EBU) has passed away.

John Williams who knew him well has written the following obituary:

I arrived at the EBU in Thame in the Spring of 1978, charged with taking over from Stuart Staveley as Executive Secretary of the EBU.

The EBU had recently established offices at 15B High Street, but part of the operation – the trading department – was located in the Staveley private household across the road at (I seem to remember) No. 81. Stuart was assisted – some might say ruled – by his wife Ann, who acted as Assistant Secretary. Certainly it was Ann who took all the phone calls from Harold Franklin during the day and night-time, and by and large did his (i.e. Harold’s) bidding.

I had a few precious months with Stuart while he tried to school me in the mysteries of management of the EBU. He was a careful and punctilious manager ("look after the pennies" was his byword), and this was entirely in keeping with his other role as a part-time lecturer in classical history at London University. Stuart was the ultimate academic. He deplored and despised anything that wasn’t correct or traditional in the modern world. He insisted on spelling Yugoslavia with a J.

Stuart was a founder of Aylesbury Bridge Club, where he took me to play with him soon after I arrived. Naturally, I had to learn the Blue Team Blue Club book from cover to cover – the most rigorous and structured of bidding systems – at 24 hours notice in order to do this. (When we played, every system bid in the book seemed to come up, and I got them all right, much more by luck than judgment, which Stuart accepted without comment.) He was a fine technician at the bridge table, though Ann regarded him as far too passive in the bidding.

At this time Stuart and Ann were looking towards retirement in Scotland (though Ann was already ill and sadly didn’t survive long in their remote highland cottage).

Stuart had set himself the task of writing a book on the history of punctuation in the English language – perhaps not destined for best-seller status – and this kept him occupied for a good time.

He didn’t lose his bridge contacts, remaining as Secretary of the International Bridge Press Association for some years. He had accepted a role as a Vice-President of the EBU (though he never attended meetings) and made occasional appearances at European and World events in a press role.

The last time I saw him was at the World Teams Olympiad in Maastricht in 2000, when we shared a table at the final dinner, and he had some cutting things to say about substandard fancy cuisine. He was accompanied, I recall, by his “new” wife, also called Ann – which somehow seemed entirely fitting.

Stuart was in many ways the founder of the modern EBU. He will be remembered fondly and with enormous respect by all who knew him.

Tournament Focus - Issue III

2009-11-27T15:53:00.000Z

The third issue of Tournament Focus, written especially for our tournament player, is now available to read on-line.

In each issue, we hope to provide you with information on our future events, updates from the Tournament Committee, and articles of interest to our many tournament players.
Since the past two editions, members have commented that the newsletter was very hard to read as a PDF, so we have worked on creating a new on-line version for you to enjoy. We hope you enjoy the new look!

We look forward to your feedback and ideas for future contributions and articles in our next newsletter which will be hitting your inboxes in February 2010.

Read here

Members Travel Insurance Offer

2009-11-27T15:40:00.001Z

In association with the English Bridge Union, AIS Direct are pleased to provide a range of insurance products at competitive rates that are available to members and their families.

EBU Members taking out a policy before 31st December 2009 will enter a Prize Draw for a FREE policy renewal in 2010 - the winner to be announced in January 2010.

For more information, please view our own travel insurance website, here.

Laws Flow Charts

2009-11-21T15:36:00.000Z

The L&E have produced some flow charts of common laws which we hope TDs will find useful.

■ Flow Charts

Paper Master Point processing at Aylesbury

2009-11-19T14:34:00.002Z

From April 1st 2010, no paper master points issued will be accepted by the EBU, unless dated before then, and within the stated validity, with all updating being done from then onwards electronically. This will mean that the days of collecting small pieces of paper and then sending them to Aylesbury for us to count and manually update will be over.

However, we are about to enter a time of substantially increased work pressures at the Aylesbury office as we work to implement these and other IT system changes, and this may result in delays in processing master point claims.

We would therefore ask members who have paper master points that they wish us to put on their records to follow these requirements of submission to us carefully:-

Please use the correct forms. Note that the master point year ends on December 31st.
Please count your master points as requested and fill in the forms properly.
to see if your claim has been processed, click here. Enter your EBU number where requested; click on your rank to see individual registrations. Please allow at least four weeks for your claim to be processed, before contacting the office.

We will of course ensure that all paper master points are updated before we produce the results for the 2009 Master Point competitions. Due to the work pressures previously stated, there may be a delay in the final results. If that happens, apologies in advance!

Simultaneous Pairs Event Policy from April 1, 2010

2009-11-10T09:46:00.004Z

EBU, WBF and EBL Simultaneous Pairs will only be open to affiliated clubs.

BGB Simultaneous Pairs events will attract a surcharge of £1 per player for ALL BGB sessions played in unaffiliated clubs. As for the Children In Need simultaneous, Overall Master Points will only be awarded by ECATS to EBU members in unaffiliated clubs if the results are uploaded electronically to ECatsBridge with the EBU number of such members included in the file in the correct format. These will subsequently be uploaded to the EBU by ECatsBridge once the overall results are known and the Master Points will be credited accordingly.

All other licensed simultaneous events are being reviewed and a policy will be announced in early 2010.

AGM Results

2009-10-07T15:43:00.004+01:00

As members may know, the Annual General Meeting of the English Bridge Union is taking place today (Wednesday October 7th) in London.

The election results were announced at 3.30 p.m. and they were as follows:-

	Directors Elected	Number of votes received
1.	Sally Bugden	71
2.	Andrew Petrie	69
3.	Michael Hill	65
4.	Graham Jepson	64
5.	Jeremy Dhondy	59
6.	Martin Pool	58
7.=	Jeff Morris	55
7.=	Malcolm Oliver	55
9.	Alan Nelson	54
10.	John Carter	53

Peter Stocken and Suzanne Gill were nominated but just missed out on being elected with 46 and 40 votes respectively.

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

Chairman - Sally Bugden

Vice Chairman - Andrew Petrie

Treasurer - Michael Hill

Voting took place and the following members were elected:-

Laws & Ethics Committee

Two nominations were received, for two places, so no election required.

Mike Amos and Jeremy Dhondy were therefore re-elected for a further three-year term of office expiring in 2012.

Selection Committee

Four nominations have been received for the two vacancies. The top two persons duly elected will serve for a three year term of office expiring in 2012.

	Number of votes received
Sally Brock	57
Peter Baxter	39
David Muller	25
Heather Bakhshi	24

Baxter beat Muller after a tie and a run-off vote.

Tournament Committee

Two nominations were received, for two places, so no election required.

Alan Nelson and Addis Page were therefore re-elected for a further three-year term of office expiring in 2012.

Dimmie Fleming Award, 2009

2009-10-07T10:26:00.003+01:00

Bob Blackmore, who last August won the first John Armstrong Memorial Award, is now the recipient of the Dimmie Fleming Award for services to bridge.

Bob is a player of the highest standard who has won almost every competition in Devon and has represented that County in national events on numerous occasions.

He was a founder member of the Exeter Bridge Club, and has been its unpaid financial director since 1994. He has used that position to promote the interests of bridge both for the club and the Devon Bridge Association.

Bob largely gave up competitive bridge to take on the role of encouraging young players and those new to the game. For as long as most people can remember, nobody has worked harder for bridge in Devon than Bob Blackmore.

Richard Currie

2009-09-30T09:52:00.001+01:00

It is with great sadness that we inform you that Richard Currie passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday 19th September at the Phyllis Tuckwell hospice. His parents, Erica and Douglas, were with him.

Richard was the favourite bridge partner of many and not just of members at Farnham Bridge Club. Those who were privileged to share a part of his short life have been given the opportunity to know a generous, kind man with a large heart and great sense of humour, who unstintingly gave of himself in every way. He was a 'star' both at and away from the bridge table who looked after his bridge playing partners, team mates and opponents with the same selfless and helpful attitude. Both he and his partner were notorious for their rendition of EHAA which put their opponents playing skills to the test - a system which I am sure many will be pleased to see the back of!

Those who played regularly with him had the unique opportunity of sharing in some of his successes whilst following others with interest and no-one can replace him in our hearts.

Richard's funeral service will be held at St Thomas-on-the-Bourne church, Frensham Road, Farnham GU9 8HA on Monday 5th October at 12 noon. There will be a private cremation for family only later in the day.

AGM Nominations

2009-09-28T15:44:00.006+01:00

The following are the nominations for the AGM on the 7th October 2009.

Nominations received as at 16th September 2009 (closing date).

Board

Twelve candidates have been nominated and have agreed to stand. As such, there will need to be an election for the ten positions available.

Sally Bugden
John Carter
Jeremy Dhondy
Suzanne Gill
Michael Hill
Graham Jepson
Jeff Morris
Alan Nelson
Malcolm Oliver
Andrew Petrie
Martin Pool
Peter Stocken

Officers

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

Tournament Committee

The election this year is for two positions serving a three year term of office expiring in 2012 – no election required.

Alan Nelson
Addis Page

Selection Committee

The election this year is for two positions serving a three year term of office expiring in 2012.

Heather Bakhshi
Peter Baxter
Sally Brock
David Muller

Laws & Ethics Committee

The election this year is for two positions serving a three year term of office expiring in 2012 – no election required.

Mike Amos
Jeremy Dhondy

Promotion

2009-09-17T14:54:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to the following TD’s who have been successfully promoted:

Gordon Rainsford to become a National Tournament Director.

David Stevenson to become a National Tournament Director.

Neil Morley to be promoted to a National Tournament Director.

Martin Lee to be promoted to a Senior Congress Tournament Director.

England are World Champions!

2009-09-12T14:58:00.001+01:00

England are World Champions! After a roller coaster ride of a match, where they were down by 60 IMPs after one set, fought back brilliantly to lead by 30 IMPs after five sets and had to face an exciting late rally by Poland, England emerged victorious by 187 IMPs to 163.67.

Congratulations to all the team: Gunnar Hallberg and John Holland, David Price and Colin Simpson, Ross Harper and Paul Hackett and NPC Peter Baxter.

In the Venice Cup Final, China beat USA. In the Bermuda Bowl Final, USA beat Italy.

View Press Release
David Muller's Selections and Internationals Blog
Championship Website
Bulletins featuring England: 3 - 6 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 15

England Players Scoop IBPA Prizes

2009-09-09T11:08:00.003+01:00

England players have taken centre stage at the prestigious International Bridge Press Association’s 2009 Awards Ceremony.

Michelle Brunner won the Gidwani Family Trust Defence of the Year Award, for a defence reported in the IBPA Bulletin by Maureen Hiron, The Independent Bridge Columnist.

Stuart and Gerald Tredinnick won the Precision Best Bid Hand of the Year Award, for an auction reported by Heather Dhondy in her 2008 Gold Cup article, published in English Bridge.

Well done to all players and journalists concerned!

You can find all the deals in the São Paulo Bulletins:

Roy Absalom (1918 - 2009)

2009-09-09T11:04:00.003+01:00

Roy Absalom was born in Abercarn. Very shortly after, the family moved a couple of miles down the road to the mining village of Cwmcarn, in what was Monmouthshire. His parents did not want him to become a miner like his father, so urged him to get a good education. His father died at the age of 53 when Roy was 16. A year later his mother encouraged him to go to work in London with a scheme run by the government where his board and lodging were provided plus 5s a week. As soon as he was earning, he started sending money back to his mother in South Wales.

Roy started work before the war at Mosers in London, which became Nettlefolds & Mosers and later still became GKN. He returned to the company after the war, and worked there until taking early retirement at 55, when the company moved to Bootle. He studied to become a Chartered Secretary and by the time he retired he was the Company Secretary and a Director.

During the war he travelled out to Palestine on a troop ship via South Africa and because he had to have an operation on his knee he was not sent into action in Italy. He ended the war having spent four years in Palestine and without hearing a shot fired!

While he was in Palestine he learnt to play bridge, which was a game he loved for the rest of his life. He was a former Chairman of the British Bridge League and Vice-President of the EBU. He went to Israel with young international players and took part in several exchanges between Croydon and Arnhem. He was the Chairman of the Croydon Bridge Congress for several years.

Roy was a very keen sportsman, enjoying running, hockey and tennis in his younger years and then moving on to golf. His love of rugby was well known in the family and he would always support Wales when they were playing. Tennis was very important, as he met his wife, Beryl, at a whist match run by the tennis club to which they both belonged. They married on 1st October 1949, and had two daughters and three sons. Roy was devoted to his family and up until the time he died Beryl used to test him to make sure he could remember the names of all his grandchildren – ten of them. He had four great grandchildren, and knew that a fifth one was on the way.

Roy suffered from Parkinson's Disease for almost thirty years but in all this time he was never heard to complain about it. He was always cheerful, he kept his interest in the activities of others and his sense of humour never left him. A few months ago he gently joked that he was ‘a fine figure of a man’. Maybe more than he knew, he really was. He will be greatly missed.

The funeral will take place on Monday 14th September, 11.30am at Croydon Crematorium, Thornton Road (A23).

BingoLotto Returns

2009-09-02T16:30:00.003+01:00

Sports and recreation clubs (including EBU affilliated clubs) across the UK are set to benefit from the launch of an interactive TV game, BingoLotto. Participants will be able to buy a £2 Gamecard at the check-outs at every Tesco store throughout Britain and each Gamecard will raise 40 pence for good causes. The TV game, hosted by Ulrika Jonsson, will air weekly on Virgin 1 every Sunday evening starting on 13 September.

The BingoLotto TV game has run in Sweden since 1991 where it has raised just under £1bn for charities and sports organisations. At least 20% from each Gamecard sold in Great Britain will be distributed to sport, recreation and voluntary projects up and down the country through CCPR. Profits will be distributed to the governing and representative bodies of sport and recreation, including the English Bridge Union.

Tim Lamb, CCPR chief executive, believes the investment distributed to CCPR members can make a big difference to community sport and recreation:

“It is CCPR’s role to protect, promote and provide for its members, their clubs and participants and BingoLotto proceeds have the potential to contribute to all three of our aims. The financial environment for clubs is still very tough and this new funding stream will hopefully give them a much-needed boost.”

Tickets at all Tesco stores will be on sale from 7 September 2009.

For further details of the scheme, visit www.bingolotto.tv

Update: Unfortunately BingoLotto has put its plans on hold and has stopped selling game cards. Read the press release for more information.

Peter Czerniewski (1949-2009)

2009-09-01T09:47:00.007+01:00

Peter Czerniewski was one of the most successful English players of the last three decades. He died on August 29th 2009 at the age of just 60 after losing a two-year battle against cancer.

Peter was born in West Wales of Polish parents but, although he represented Wales as a junior at chess, did not start playing bridge seriously until he was at university in 1968-1970 (Jesus College, Oxford). He played in the ’Varsity Matches of 1969 and 1970 but this was just the start of a distinguished career in competitive bridge. He represented Great Britain in the Common Market Championships of 1987, winning a Gold Medal. He played for England in the Camrose in 1988 with his first regular partner (Barry Rigal) and subsequently in 1996 (with David Price) and most recently in 2009 with Ian Panto, winning the trophy for England.

He has won the Gold Cup, Crockfords Cup, The Spring Fours (three times), the Tollemache (three times), the Lederer (twice), the Brighton 4 Star Teams (twice) and the Grand Masters’ Pairs. He was also a successful rubber bridge player, respected (and feared) at TGRs and other London clubs.

These successes lay alongside his working life as a designer and implementer of computer systems for British Aerospace and other major international corporations.

Peter was a man of great charm who loved, and was loved by, his family and who naturally made friends throughout the bridge world. He had a great intellect and a mind which worked considerably faster than most people’s. Come to think of it, he also had a body which worked faster than most people’s! He was a keen marathon runner and completed an astonishing fifteen marathons during his lifetime, recording a best time of under three hours.

After his retirement in 2007, he had the time to start playing bridge seriously again. He represented England in the Senior Camrose in 2008 (winner) and 2009. He finished in third place in the first division of the EBU Premier League in 2008.

On a personal note, Peter has been my good friend for nearly thirty-five years. I learnt about his illness in the summer of 2008 and have been closely involved with his active bridge life of the past fifteen months. In June 2008 I was a member of the England Senior team in the European Championships in Pau, France, for which Peter was a dedicated NPC. In October 2008, Peter and I were both playing members of the English Seniors team which reached the quarter-final of the World Mind Sports Olympiad in Beijing. I was his NPC for his successful performance for England in the Camrose in January 2009 and we played together in the Schapiro Spring Foursomes in May of this year. Finally, as his swansong, he partnered me in the Brighton Pairs on August 14th until, racked with pain and the side effects of powerful medication, Peter was forced to withdraw. He died peacefully two weeks later surrounded by his family.

Peter lived in North London and is survived by his loving and devoted wife Pam and his two children, Alexandra (22) and Christof (20). He will be sorely missed by them and all in the bridge world who knew him.

Chris Dixon
31st August 2009

Update:

Peter Czerniewski’s Life will be remembered at:

St Marylebone Crematorium
East End Road
East Finchley
N2 0RZ

on Thursday September 10th at 3pm.

English Bridge Internationals are invited to wear England Team Uniform.

More memories will be shared afterwards at 9 Ella Road, London N8 9EL

There will be a collection for Marie Curie & St John’s Hospice and donations are welcome at this web address to donate for Peter’s daughter, Alexandra, who will be running a marathon in her father’s memory.

http://www.justgiving.com/alexandrarunsformariecurie

John Armstrong Memorial Award - Winner

2009-08-17T11:24:00.003+01:00

Several nominations were made for this new award, for people who play the game in the spirit of John Armstrong, and they were as follows:

Bob Blackmore (Devon)
Michelle Brunner (Manchester)
Simon Cochemé (London)
Peter Crouch (Kent)
Jonathan Davis (London)
Bernard Goldenfield (Manchester)
Mathew Hoskins (Sussex)
Don Smedley (Derby)
John Reavy (Derby)

The EBU endorses this award in John’s name. It has been instigated, organised, and judged by Danny Davies, John Holland, Graham Kirby, Jack Mizel and Paul Hackett.

Bob Blackmore was announced as the winner of the first award yesterday by the EBU’s Chairman, Sally Bugden. Two trees will be planted at Heritage Wood, Derbyshire: one in memory of John and the other in Bob’s name.

Sally Bugden, Chairman of the EBU, congratulates Bob Blackmore

Bob Blackmore: Helen Foster writes, “Much of Exeter Bridge Club’s success is attributed to Bob. A Grand Master, he partners players of any standard on a club evening and will encourage partner throughout, never failing to point out his own mistakes. His services to Devon are much appreciated, and the club bridge room was named after him.”

The John Armstrong Memorial Award Nominations

2009-08-10T11:06:00.010+01:00

Following Danny Davies' article, we have been very pleased to receive several nominations for this award, for people who play the game in the spirit of John Armstrong. They are as follows:

Bob Blackmore (Devon)
Michelle Brunner (Manchester)
Simon Cochemé (London)
Peter Crouch (Kent)
Jonathan Davis (London)
Bernard Goldenfield (Manchester)
Mathew Hoskins (Sussex)
Don Smedley (Derby)
John Reavy (Derby)

Bob Blackmore. Helen Foster writes; Much of Exeter Bridge Club’s success is attributed to Bob. A Grand Master, he partners players of any standard on a club evening and will encourage partner throughout, never failing to point out his own mistakes. His services to Devon are much appreciated (the club bridge room was named after him) but John might well have wanted to be associated with him.

Michelle Brunner. While suffering a life threatening illness has continued to not only play bridge at the highest level but also has made a determined effort to represent England in the Open team. Her cheerfulness at the table is an inspiration to us all.

Simon Cochemé. For organising and promoting the Lederer Invitational tournament for several years and also without financial reward attempting to maximise the publicity for the recent TV Bridge programme.

Peter Crouch. For accepting John Armstrong’s word at the bridge table when if he had appealed there was a strong possibility that he would have won the appeal and thus represented England instead of John.

Jonathan Davis. For helping to put the Buffett Cup into action. Specifically setting up and maintaining a highly professional website at his own expense.

Bernard Goldenfield. Dave Debbage writes: A gentleman who was a regular teammate of John and has always conducted himself in the John Armstrong mold.

Matthew Hoskins. Raymond Roberts writes: Outside bridge I have had the pleasure of several chats about the world in general and the Antique market. I and many around have always shared my view that Matthew is always a gentleman, always prepared to help tyros and whilst being a great tournament player has never to my knowledge treated anyone other than with respect and in a fair and friendly way.

Don Smedley. Nominated by East Midlands Bridge Club as an inspiration to John in his younger days and a continuous asset to the club.

John Reavy. Nick Simms writes: He is always civil at the table and, equally importantly, was well liked by John himself. The two often played together at East Midlands Bridge Club. John has stayed in touch with John Armstrong’s mother and brother, Paul, and has been campaigning for a fitting memorial to John Armstrong at the EMBC.

The EBU endorses this award in John’s name. It has been instigated, organised, and judged by Danny Davies, John Holland, Graham Kirby, Jack Mizel, Paul Hackett. The winner will be announced by the judges at Brighton and two trees will be planted at Heritage Wood, Derbyshire: one in memory of John and the other in the winner's name.

John Robbins

2009-07-20T10:01:00.003+01:00

We are sad to report that John Robbins died on June 20th after a long illness. He was a regular player on the national circuit attending congresses all around the country.

He started playing bridge after leaving Birmingham University and was a dominant force in Midlands bridge, being Chair of the Warwickshire selection committee for several years and an active member and Director of West Midlands Bridge Club. He also represented Warwickshire in a number of national competitions.

He taught bridge and was always keen to encourage young recruits to the game. Having done his post-graduate degree at Oxford University, some years ago he and several other Alumni set up 'The Oxford Alumni' with the aim of meeting socially and enjoying bridge. He was very much involved in promoting this and played his last match against Cambridge shortly before he died. In the last few months of his life, despite being very ill, he continued to play in every competition going. It could literally be said, "He lived for the game.”

Dick Freeman (1933 - 2009)

2009-07-06T09:47:00.002+01:00

We are sad to record the death, on 29th June 2009, of Richard “Dick” Freeman of Atlanta, USA, one of the world's great players.

Freeman was a Bermuda Bowl winner three times (1995, 2000, 2003) and runner up twice (1997, 2005). He was a World Grand Master, placed 13th in the world rankings at the time of his death.

Dick Freeman was also a member of the ACBL Hall of Fame.

Freddie North: 1921 - 2009

2009-06-29T09:30:00.006+01:00

We are sad to announce the death, on 28th June 2009, of Freddie North, one of the last surviving giants of the rubber bridge era as well as a very popular bridge teacher and writer.

Frederick Lumsden North was born in Southsea in 1921. His father had been an officer in the First World War and Freddie followed in his footsteps, joining a young soldiers’ battalion at the age of 17. He was commissioned into the Queen’s Royal Regiment in 1941, promoted to Captain in 1943 and to Major in January 1945. After demobbing in November 1946, Freddie went on to the Imperial Service College (later amalgamated with Haileybury). In his youth, he had been a proficient rugby player as well as an accomplished race rider.

Freddie North was one of the first bridge professionals of post-war England. In 1950, he opened The Sussex School of Bridge, which flourished until his retirement in 2000. From the mid-70s until his retirement, Freddie also worked for P&O, organising and running bridge on cruise ships. In over fifty years of playing and teaching bridge, Freddie North also contributed regular columns to most of the English bridge magazines, and wrote over twenty bridge books, some in collaboration with the great Jeremy Flint. His elegant style of writing, lucid and gently humorous, endeared him to tens of thousands of readers and students.

Although primarily a very successful high-stakes rubber bridge player, Freddie North also excelled at duplicate bridge, becoming one of the EBU’s first Grand Masters. He won his first national title in 1948, The Sydney Woorward Cup, playing with Peter Heywood. He won the National Pairs in 1952 in partnership with Chris Hunt, The Field Cup in 1958 opposite the great Maurice Harrison-Gray, and The Daily Telegraph Cup four times (1950, 1955-56, 1963 and 1967). In tandem with John Pugh, Freddie won the Pachabo twice (1959 and 1962) representing Sussex CBA, of which he was President for nearly thirty years from 1972. They also won the Gold Cup in 1962, playing with Harrison-Gray, Rockfelt and the Sharples brothers, and Crockfords in 1967 with Louis Tarlo and Claude Rodrigue as team-mates.

Freddie represented Great Britain in the World Pairs Olympiad of 1962 and 1966, and played with Dimmie Fleming in the 1962 World Pairs. He also represented England in several Camrose matches in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Freddie North lived in Sussex, together with his wife, Margaret, and their dog, Sasha. He kept writing until the end; always the polished professional, he was preparing his next set of articles for English Bridge when pneumonia and a previously undiagnosed lung cancer brought a swift end to his long and busy life.

Our sympathies go to Margaret and Freddie’s family. He will be sorely missed by all his friends and readers.

Elena Jeronimidis

Stuart Sather

2009-06-24T15:44:00.001+01:00

We are sorry to announce the death of STUART SATHER on 10th June 2009, in Charing Cross Hospital after a short illness. He follows his wife GWYNETH SATHER who died in November.

Stuart and Gwyneth were active members of the bridge circuit for many years, both in the USA and London where they moved in 1979, particularly at the Wimbledon Bridge Club where they played both as a pair and with others. They were very involved in the teaching side of the game and in their retirement years were ‘hired hands’ as tutors on a number of Fred Olsen cruises, which took them all over the world. Gwyneth was a teacher on the EBU books and looked forward to her weekly sessions with beginners even when she fell ill. Stuart lent his expertise in IT to the cause and developed the membership database for the Wimbledon BC, where he also served as Secretary.

They are survived by daughter Lynn, son Trevor and seven grand-children.

Online Tournament Survey

2009-06-16T10:27:00.000+01:00

To help with the development of our competitions programme, the Tournament Committee undertook an on-line survey earlier this year. The full results are now available.

Download full report

Exhibition Bridge Match – 4 July, Bath

2009-06-09T10:23:00.000+01:00

An exhibition bridge match (organised by Chris Dixon) will be taking place in the King’s Lounge of the Pump Room complex, Bath all day on Saturday 4th July, between the England Women’s team (the World Championship gold medal holders) and the England under-twenty-fives team prior to their departure for the European Championships commencing on 8 July 2009 in Romania.

EBU members and members of the public are welcome to see the teams in action by visiting the Pump Room on 4th July. There will be one session in the morning from 10.00am and one in the afternoon from 2.00pm.

The match is being held to promote mind-sports in the run up to the European Bridge Championships in 2010 and the second World Mind Sports Games in 2012. All welcome!

If you would like to attend, either come along or contact Matt Betts.

Further information

Alec Salisbury

2009-06-01T14:24:00.005+01:00

We are sad to announce that Alec Salisbury passed away last week. Alec was the EBU's Schools and Youth Officer for many years.

Alec was educated at Isleworth Grammar, gained a Degree in Electrical Engineering, and Commissioned during his period of National Service.

Alec was very influencial in bridge and particularly youth bridge, later acting as Schools and Youth Officer for the English Bridge Union. He also helped support the Educational Trust for British Bridge, when it was first founded in 1991. With Sandra Landy, he produced a Manual for Teachers, which included card play via Minibridge, simple bidding and defence. They both visited many schools together to tell them about the new Bridge for Schools publication and to encourage teachers to introduce bridge into their schools. It was by this method that the game of Minibridge was first introduced into all the home counties.

The Alec Salisbury Award was later created to honour his work with youth bridge. The award is given to teachers who promote bridge in schools.

He was still teaching well into his seventies and regularly ran bridge weekends, particularly at Marlborough School and The Earnley Concourse (in Chichester). He was also a regular player on various cruise ships.

Alec will be remembered for his cheerful disposition, always willing to help whatever the circumstances. He will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

A funeral will be held on Friday the 5th June 2009 (friends are welcome to the house afterwards, but please call Mary Macrae for details: 07852512023). There will also be a Memorial Service on the 6th June 2009. The Memorial service is at Wokingham Baptist Church at 10.30am and is open to all.

EBU Members Benefits - Theatre Offer

2009-06-01T10:24:00.001+01:00

Rodgers & Hammerstein's - Carousel
Starring Lesley Garrett

Carousel tells the story of two star-crossed lovers – Billy Bigelow, a handsome but ill-mannered carousel barker, and Julie Jordan, a naive and selfless young mill worker. This truly great classic musical is set to one of the most ravishing and celebrated scores of all time, including The Carousel Waltz, If I Loved You, June is Bustin' Out All Over and You'll Never Walk Alone.

'Lesley Garrett's 'You'll Never Walk Alone' had me weeping into my notebook' Observer

***** Daily Mail

**** Daily Telegraph, Mail On Sunday, Evening Standard, Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Express, The London Paper, Time Out, The Times

Best seats just £29.50 (normally £61) for all performances until 30 July*

To book, call 0870 164 8787 and quote ‘EBU’ offer or online at www.ambassadortickets.com/carousel and enter the promo code EBU.

*Subject to availability

Savoy Theatre, The Strand, London, WC2R 5DE

3rd National County League Final 2009

2009-05-27T15:51:00.003+01:00

The following counties have qualified for the NATIONAL COUNTY team of 8 final at West Midlands Bridge Club on Sunday 5th July 2009.

	A	B	C
NORTH	Manchester	Yorkshire	Manchester
EAST	Norfolk	Northants	Hertfordshire
S’WEST	Dorset	Avon	Avon
MIDLANDS	Gloucestershire	Derbyshire	Oxfordshire
S’EAST	Kent	Kent	Essex

Coffee served from noon, - start at 12.30. Meal at 3.45 pm

New York Times - How Bridge helps the Brain

2009-05-26T13:12:00.006+01:00

For all that scientists have studied - the brain remains the most complex and mysterious human organ — and now it is the focus of billions of dollars’ worth of US research to penetrate its secrets. The New York Times has been following recent developments through a series of articles. Last week they looked into how Bridge has been helping a group of people aged 90+ to keep their mind alert.

Read Article

John Armstrong Memorial Award

2009-05-19T16:18:00.003+01:00

Can you win like John Armstrong?

A few months ago Graham Kirby and I were driving home from a Crockfords match. We had just played against Paul Hackett and our conversation had naturally turned to the person whom all of us were lucky enough to play bridge with, John Armstrong. As we had a long way to go, Paul had asked Graham and I to think about the memorial trophy for John.

We briefly discussed how suitable the planting of trees in John’s name and the annual winners name was – as John loved the outdoors and orienteering. But it didn’t take long for our conversation to shift to how different playing bridge with John was, compared to playing with anyone else. We shared stories about the spirit in which John played the game which has contributed as much to British Bridge as being one of the exceptional players of several generations. John was welcoming to anyone he met at the table, whether they had been playing for two months or if he was playing against some of the best players in the world. John would encourage opponents who were total beginners and if they asked, he would take time to help them improve. At the same time, I remember him laughing and joking on the other side of the screen with the great Norwegian, Gier Helgemo in the middle of the European championships.

John took time and care playing at his local club in Derby and gave up a lot of his own time to help junior teams and teach. The first time I spent more than an hour with John, he had agreed to Captain our junior team in the European Championships in Cardiff. My mum always told me how she loved it if she was lucky enough to play against John and Graham. This was not because she did well, but because of how charming they both were and how much fun it was to visit their table.

After playing in Cardiff, John had, in his usual selfless way, offered to give me a lift back to the North. During the journey, there was a moment that changed my outlook on bridge forever. John suggested we play together in the Premier League the next year and I was totally honoured, excited and in awe. We played in and won several Premier Leagues with Paul Hackett and Tony Waterlow, then later with Tom Townsend and David Gold. There was not a single cross word in any of our teams. In fact, whether we were in the Gold cup semi-final and I stupidly played in a redoubled cue bid costing us a place in the final or whether we were beating Forrester / Robson and the Hackett twins by 1 imp after 128 boards, John always smiled, laughed and treated everyone with respect.

I learned how the game should be played with John. People often talk about how the British are missing that winning mentality and boy did John play to win. He never lost concentration, gave away a sloppy overtrick or did anything less than the meticulous preparation required for playing international bridge. What all of those lucky enough to play the game with John have realised is that being a winner is not to the exclusion of charm, whit and warmth.

If you know anyone who plays the game in the spirit of John please nominate them for the John Armstrong memorial award by emailing Paul Hackett on: Paul.h@ukonline.co.uk

Danny Davies

P2P Files

2009-05-15T15:49:00.001+01:00

Today we announced the file format for future P2P submissions. We have contacted all the scoring system authors we know about but if you didn't receive our email, please contact us now to find out more.

Email Us

Membership Benefits from HMCA

2009-05-15T11:32:00.001+01:00

Healthcare and related benefits for EBU members.

Members of the EBU are now eligble to join the health-related member benefit schemes offered by HMCA (The Hospital & Medical Care Association).

These arrangements provide members (and their families) with a simple means of securing the benefits and services offered by HMCA, at an exclusive rate. The services, which are provided exclusively by HMCA for members of associations and professional groups, have already been appreciated by thousands of members of other participating organisations over the past 30 years.

The schemes on offer include the following plans:-
Private Healthcare Plan
Personal Accident Plan
Term Life Plan
Income Protection Plan
Dental Plan
Hospital Sickness & Injury Cash Plan
Travel Plan

For more information, please visit our special site.

Seniors Camrose: 29 - 31 May 2009

2009-05-14T11:29:00.000+01:00

The England teams have now been announced for the Seniors Camrose 2009:

PATRON:Bernard Teltscher & Tony Priday
Chris Dixon & Victor Silverstone
David Price & Colin Simpson

ENGLAND:Paul Hackett & Ross Harper
Gunnar Hallberg & Peter Czwerniewski
Ian Panto & Tony Waterlow
NPC John Williams

There will be no vu-graph but spectators can watch at the open tables.
More information

Tournament Focus

2009-05-14T11:26:00.000+01:00

The first edition of Tournament Focus has now arrived!

Tournament Focus is written especially for the tournament player – whether you play in just one or many. We hope that our newsletter will inform, entertain, and provide views from our tournament players, every quarter.

View here

EBU Prizes & Barcelo Hotels

2009-05-10T14:46:00.000+01:00

We are pleased to announce that the EBU has arranged a special deal with Barcelo Hotels to enhance the value of EBU prizes!

Winners may now exchange their winnings for Barcelo benefits, as below.

Agreed prize values:
£50 prize money = A one night Bed & Breakfast stay for two people.
£80 prize money = A one night Dinner, Bed & Breakfast stay for two people.
£100 prize money = A two night Bed & Breakfast stay for two people.
£150 prize money = A two night Dinner, Bed & Breakfast stay for two people

Peter Garner Gray

2009-05-08T14:28:00.003+01:00

We are sorry to have to announce the death of PETER GARNER-GRAY on 1st April 2009, and we offer our sincere condolences to his family and close friends. Peter was a well known member on the bridge circuit.

Read Merseyside and Cheshire Bridge Association Obituary

Club Focus - Issue III

2009-05-08T14:18:00.000+01:00

Another bumper edition of Club Focus is now available to read.
Read Issue III
View past editions