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Paul Soloway

Paul Soloway of Seattle, who has died aged 66, was one of the world's leading bridge-players. He won the Bermuda Bowl, the World Open Teams title, on five occasions and took silver in two Bermuda Bowls and two Olympiads.

View full obituary here.

Naturalists V Scientists

A unique and interesting game of bridge took place in London on 1 until 2 November, pitting together the bridge playing talents of some of the greatest and world renowned players. Stakes were high and tensions were at an optimum level.

Final scores were:
Thursday was won by the Scientists by 78 imps.
Friday was won by the Scientists by 58 rubber points.

The two days of bridge were played by the “Naturalists” and the “Scientists” - both at very different spectrums of the game and who last met 15 years ago. The “Naturalists” are a team from the traditional Portland bridge club in London, who believe in playing an old fashioned version of bridge from the pre-conventions age; whilst the “Scientists” favour the playing of modern bridge. It made the two days very interesting and a challenge of two extremes for high stakes.

Playing in the “Scientists” team were some of the best known international bridge players, captained by Zia Mahmood (world champion). The other players were Andrew Robson (author and world champion), Boye Brogeland (2007 world champion from the Norway team) and English internationals - Gunnar Hallberg and David Gold. The “Naturalists” were captained by ship owner, Dimitri Marchessini, with his team of Giles Hargreave, Patrick Lawrence and David Wolfson.

Our press release can be found here.

John Sadler

John Sadler died on 30 October at the age of 74, after battling cancer for the last 7 years.

John’s highest achievements at bridge were gained in partnerships with Doug Smerdon and Tony Waterlow. In the seventies, John reached the final of the Gold Cup playing with Doug Smerdon. In the early eighties, with Doug as his partner and Tony Waterlow-Derek Oram as team-mates, John won Crockfords. Then the following year the team came within a whisker of retaining the Crockfords Cup, losing the top spot on a split-tie.

View full Obituary here.

AGM Results - 2007

Annual General Meeting of the English Bridge Union

As members may know, the Annual General Meeting of the English Bridge Union took place on Wednesday October 3rd in London.

The election results were announced at 2.00 p.m. and they were as follows:-
1. Peter Stocken - 65
2. Sally Bugden - 63
3. Martin Pool - 62
4. Michael Hill - 61
5. Alan Nelson - 59
6. Jeff Morris - 57
7. John Carter - 52
8. Graham Jepson - 51
9. Malcolm Oliver - 46
10. Philip Mason - 43

Andrew Petrie was nominated but just missed out on being elected with 42 votes.

After that vote was complete there was another vote for the three Officers of the EBU and the result was as follows:-
Chairman - Peter Stocken
Vice Chairman - Sally Bugden
Treasurer - Michael Hill

Voting took place and the following members were elected:-

Laws & Ethics Committee for a three year term of office:-
David Burn (re-elected)
Frances Hinden
David Martin (re-elected)

Selection Committee the top two for three year term of office and the third for one year:-
Heather Dhondy
Paul Hackett
Gerard Faulkner (re-elected)

Tournament Committee the top three for a three year term of office and the fourth for two years:-
Margaret Curtis (re-elected)
Philip Mason
Andrew Petrie
Addis Page (re-elected)

Dimmie Fleming Awards 2007

The English Bridge Union is proud to announce that the following 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.

The winners for 2007 are:
Kay Batting - Sussex
Paul Hammond - Worcestershire
Margaret Hatch - Berks & Bucks
Peter Thompson - Gloucestershire
Colin Tuton - Northamptonshire

Please click on their names for a mini-biography of each winner.

Last years winners can be found here.

2007 European Youth Championships

The 21st European Youth Team Championships for Bridge were held in Jesolo, Italy from 11 to 21 July 2007.

As ever, the championships were very challenging with the England Junior team playing a total of 21 rounds and the England Girls and Schools teams playing 16 rounds each. All teams performed well and completed the championships in the top ten.

Full results here.

Diana Williams

We are saddened to inform members of the death of Diana Williams of Worcestershire, a former England Ladies International and a great supporter of English bridge.

Full Obituary here.

New Communications Officer for the EBU

Matt Betts joins the EBU Team as Communications Officer.

Elaine Clague

Bridge in the Isle of Man lost a great supporter and ambassador when Elaine Clague died at the age of 89 at the end of June this year. Elaine and her husband John (who died in 2005) were founder members of both the Douglas Bridge Club and the Manx Bridge Union and both put a lifetime's work into the game, holding executive positions in both the club and the Union over many years. They were involved in the running of the Isle of Man Bridge Congress and both received Dimmie Flemming awards for their services in 2003.

Read full obituary here.