Dick Freeman (1933 - 2009)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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