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Manchester
County Bridge Association |
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Latest News and Upcoming Events
Deal of the WeekManchester Congress ReturnsOnline this time, so no travel or parking problems, please put it in your diary - 2nd and 3rd January. Details to follow. Michael's ClinicOn Saturday 5th December at 11.00 Michael Byrne will discuss interesting deals from the MCBA duplicate on Friday 4th and other interesting deals on zoom. Cost is £3.25, for details on how to pay and join click here. European Selection for Manchester PlayersCongratulations to Michael Byrne who has been selected to play with Kieran Dyke for England in the European Championships in Madeira in June 2021. The rest of the team is Ben Norton, Mike Bell, David Gold and Andrew Robson. This is substantially the team which was picked for the cancelled championship in 2020, but with Michael and Kieran replacing Alex Hydes and Ben Handley-Pritchard. In the Women's event Catherine Draper plays with Gillian Fawcett in a team unchanged from 2020 and in the Seniors Alan Mould and John Holland play together, Alan replacing Norman Selway, who in turn is playing in the Mixed team, replacing Michael Byrne. All these selections are on the EBU web site buried under Internationals and selections menus under that. Tollemache Qualifier - Manchester WinCongratulations to the Manchester team who won the Tollemache Qualifier which was played online over the weekend of 21st-22nd November. This year it was an all play all event with 27 counties competing. Manchester were handily placed in fourth position overnight on Saturday, but a storming set of matches on Sunday left them well clear of Surrey and Kent in joint second, despite Manchester suffering their worst defeat of the weekend against Worcester in the last round. All five pairs were positive on cross-imps with Gary and Michael best of the Manchester pairs. The team averaged 13.6 VPs per match and beat or tied with every other team that qualified. Well done to all the players and especial thanks to Michael Byrne for captaining the team efficiently and enthusiastically. The team was John Holland/John Hassett, Michael Byrne/Gary Hyett, Catherine Draper/Andrew Woodcock, Alan Mould/Rodney Lighton, Alec Smalley/Tom Slater. Results are on the EBU web site. The final will be held in February for the top eight teams. Gloucester MatchThe match against Gloucester was held on Sat 21st November. The A team lost by 7 imps, but the B and C teams won by 15 and 18 respectively to give Manchester overall victory. Results are on the Manchester Events web site. A: Neil Thomas/Roger Hopton, Irving & Joy Blakey, Pete Foster/John Roberts, Kath & Alan Nelson B: Raymond Semp/Rhona Goldenfield, John Stell/Max Sampson, Espen Gisvold/Janet Tolan, Sam Herman/David Sarabowski (reserves Alan Tranter/Andy Burnett) C: Paul Murray/Phil Taylor, Irene Davies/Karen Reissmann, Gordon Bickley/Ann Farquhar, Ann Thornton/Peter Green, Stephen & Liz Halstead, Anne Whitehead/Nicki Decent Ben Franks PairsThis year's event will be held online on Sunday 6th December at 10.30 on the RealBridge platform. This is a two session pairs event with the top four Manchester pairs qualifying for the Corwen Trophy in June, the inter-county pairs championship. More details and an entry form can be found on the Manchester Events web site. John Armstrong PairsThe Merseyside Swiss Pairs event was held online on Sunday 15th November. With no travel required there was a huge entry of 90 pairs from all over the country. Best Manchester pair were Irving and Joy Blakey who finished third. Results are on the Mersey web site.
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