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2010 News and Results
 
Year End Congresses
Many congratulations to Sue Richmond and Craig Fisher who achieved their first National win in the Swiss Pairs at Blackpool on 28-29th December.  The event  was dominated by Manchester pairs with John Holland/Michelle Brunner, Kath and Alan Nelson third equal and John Parsons/Ed Levy, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield fifth equal.

In the Swiss Teams Gary Hyett playing with Howard Melbourne, Geoff and Ros Wolfarth won.  Tracy Capal playing with a Merseyside team came third, Alan and Kath Nelson, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield were fourth.

At the London event Michael Byrne, playing with James Paul was fourth equal in the Swiss Pairs.

Full results of all events are on the EBU web site.

Camrose Seniors Trial

The Seniors Camrose Trial was played at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club, London, on Saturday and Sunday 18th and 19th December.  Congratulations to John Holland and Paul Hackett who continued their run of successes in Seniors events by winning with team mates Gunnar Hallberg, Roger O'Shea, David Price and Colin Simpson.


Channel Trophy

The annual international tournament for Juniors between England, France, The Netherlands and Belgium took place from 17-19th December at Lille.  Manchester was well represented in the Girls' team with Amy Stout, Lavinia Constantin, Laura Bonney and Alex Birchall playing.  Michael Byrne was captain of the under 20 team.  There were no English successes to report, France winning all three sections.


Tom Middleton 1934-2010
Tom Middleton

Tom passed away last Thursday morning  (9th December).
Tom started playing bridge in his 30s and soon developed a great passion for the game. Unfortunately during the past few years, as he became more and more afflicted with Parkinson's Disease, this cruel illness meant he could no longer play his favourite game which was terribly frustrating for him.
Even so, he still required weekly updates as to who had won what, where and ........"Any slams?  Bidding please!".
He loved bidding slams - "Count your Romans!" was one of his favourite expressions.

Before his illness he used to preside over our weekly bridge lunch in Manchester where we all went to do bidding challenges,  steeling  ourselves for his harsh reprimands if we forgot the system or missed a slam, before continuing on to Manchester Bridge Club for rubber bridge, Tom usually being the big winner and recipient of our hard-earned cash!
 
He was a fine player. This was one of the hands which helped him win the Ruia Cup in 2000.
Tom was East playing in 6 spades, he received a diamond lead.
How would you play the hand?

K54        AQ9876
KQ10       65
AK2        Q9
AJ32       Q84

Tom won the diamond lead with the queen, drew one round of trumps before playing two more rounds of diamonds ditching a ....heart!   Now he drew another round of trumps, which split 2-2.  Next he led a heart.  His RHO won with the ace and was endplayed. 6S bid and made. Well played Tom!  You "played it like Garozzo".

Our sympathies go to his beloved Deirdre, his children (we all know Jonathan) and grandchildren. He will be greatly missed.

The funeral service took place on 20th Dec. at Prestbury Church.

Kath Nelson
Ben Franks - John and Michelle Retain Trophy
Manchester County's pairs championship and qualifier for the Corwen Trophy took place at Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday 5th December.  Twenty pairs participated, John Holland and Michelle Brunner were leading after the first session and held on to their lead fairly comfortably.  Michael Byrne and Michael Newman were second, with Steve Raine and Sue Richmond third.  The fourth pair, who also qualify for the Corwen were David Matthews and Ann Thornton (they also scored the most in the second session).  Congratulations to them all.  First session prize was shared between Alec Smalley/Barbara Lewis and Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield.  Second session prize went to John Hassett and Jeff Morris.

Thanks to Jeff Smith, Pat Buxton and Barabara Lewis for organisation and directing.

   
1   John Holland & Michelle Brunner              62.09
  2   Michael Byrne & Michael Newman               57.62
  3   Steve Raine & Sue Richmond                   56.11
  4   David Matthews & Ann Thornton                55.18
  5   David Pennington & Rod Franks                54.91
  6   Alec Smalley & Barbara Lewis                 54.69
  7   Jeff Morris & John Hassett                   54.60
  8   Ross Allen & Philip Mott                     52.76     
  9   Tracy Capal & John Parsons                   50.54     
 10   John Fitzgerald & Gillian Mcmullan           49.25 

John and Michelle

John Holland and Michelle Brunner
Michaels

Michael Newman and Michael Byrne
Steve and Sue

Steve Raine and Sue Richmond


Tollemache Qualifying
Congratulations to the Manchester team who qualified for the Tollemache final for the second year running at Daventry on 20th-21st November.  The team of Michael Newman, Michael Byrne, John Holland, Michelle Brunner, John Hassett, David Debbage, Gary Hyett and Rodney Lighton finished second in their group behind a strong Kent team and just ahead of the Lancashire team who were close behind throughout the weekend.  They won seven of their eight matches, including a narrow victory over Kent.  Michael Newman and Michael Byrne did especially well, topping the Butler scores for the group.   Many thanks to npc Rhona Goldenfield and scorer Bernard Goldenfield for their help and support throughout the weekend.

The selectors have chosen the same team to play in the final in February.  Full results are on the EBU web site

NEBA Congress

Bill & Joyce White had a very successful weekend at the North East Bridge Assocation Congress held at Allensford 12-14th November.
They won the Mixed Pairs on Friday night, won the Speedball teams on Saturday night playing with Babs & Tim Matthews, and came fourth in the Championship Teams, again with Babs & Tim Matthews on Sunday, with a 10th finish in the Championship Pairs.  They also won the Arnold Deane Quaiche presented to the highest scoring overall winner(s) of the weekend.

Whites

Bill and Joyce White

Seniors' Congress
A fine weekend for Kath and Alan Nelson at Daventry over the weekend of 13th-14th November where they won the main pairs event and followed up by winning the Swiss Teams with Patrick Collins and Andrew Petrie.

Premier League
Michael Byrne and Mike Bell have won the Premier League, and earned the right to represent England in the Camrose in 2011. The final three matches were held over the weekend of 12th-14th November and team Rosen (Byrne, Bell, Espen Erichsen, Norman Selway, Neil Rosen, Martin Jones) went in with a 20 victory point lead.  A few tight matches saw their lead go down to 5 vps going into the last match.  In the first set of the final match against 3rd place Crouch, Rosen started disastrously losing 53 imps in the first set, but, with Michael and Mike playing well they clawed all the imps back resulting in a draw, which left them victors ahead of Teltscher (Forrester, Gold, Bakhshi, Townsend, Silverstone) on a split tie.

As a result of this success Michael and Mike have been selected to play for England in the Camrose matches in Llandrindod Wells on 4-6th March 2011.


Autumn Intermediate Pairs
The Autumn Intermediate Pairs at Altrincham attracted 19 pairs, everyone enjoyed the event.
Thanks to Barbara Lewis, Stanley Blaiwais and Pat Buxton for their hard work in making this a successful event.

First 10 places

1  Marsha Gee & Michelle Bovensiepen
2  Linda Hitchen & Jane Jones
3  Margaret Kelly & Liz Downie
4  Tony Ward & Eric Bell
5  Andrea O'Rafferty & Ann Thompson
6  Doreen Cook & Shirley Pryce
7  Karen Leigh & Helen Reid
8  Margaret Clough & Pauline Bell
9  Myrna Essayan & Eileen Cambell
10 Sue Skinner & Di Trotter

Winners

Pat Buxton, Michelle Bovensiepen (winner) and Stanley Blaiwais
Missing from the photo is Marsha Gee
Second

Linda Hitchen and Jane Jones (second)
Third

Margaret Kelly and Liz Downie (third)


EBU Autumn Congress
A team of ex Manchester University Bridge players congregated at Birmingham on Sunday 7th November for the above event.  Barry Myers from London played with Rodney Lighton for the first time for over 30 years and Steve Eginton from Berkshire played with Howard Melbourne of Derbyshire.  They won their qualifying section by a small margin and went on to finish (a distant) third in the teams final.  Full results are on the EBU web site.

Man Univ Bridge players

Howard Melbourne, Barry Myers, Rodney Lighton and Steve Eginton

Commonwealth Games
The third Commonwealth Games Bridge event took place in New Delhi, India from 24th to 29th October.
Manchester was well represented in the England team with Jeff Morris playing with John Hassett.  Gary Hyett played with Brian Callaghan of London, Ian Reissman and Mike Perkins of Berkshire were the third pair.  They finished in eighth place in the round robin out of 24 teams.

World Championships Philadelphia
John and Paul World Champions

During October the World Open Championships were held in the US.  Following on from their Senior's World Championship last year John Holland and Paul Hackett continued their success at world level by winning the Rand Cup, the Senior's event.  The other members of the team were Gunnar Hallberg (from London) with Americans Reese Milner and Garey Hayden.

Seniors

Garey Hayden, John Holland, Gunnar Hallberg, Reese Milner and Paul Hackett

In the Under 21 event the English team, with Michael Byrne as npc, won a silver medal.

In the Rosenblum Cup Michael Byrne and Mike Bell playing with Martin Jones and Neil Rosen won their qualifying group in fine style, but then lost in the first KO round to a strong South African team.

Northern Counties League
The final round of inter county matches for this season took place on 9th October.

In the A division at Bradford Manchester won as they have done in every season.  This year we weren't guaranteed to win before the final matches, but convincing wins over our nearest rivals Merseyside and Yorkshire increased our lead.  The team was Rodney Lighton/Gary Hyett, Kath/Alan Nelson, Alan Jones/David Barton, Raymond Semp/David Adelman.  The last three pairs finished in the top three places in the Butler scoring for the day with Kath and Alan being the top pair.

The B Team of Sid Travers/Eve Lighthill, Joyce and Robert Jones, Joyce and Bill White, Pauline and John Rudolf played at Keighley.  Going into the final match they were fifth 59 VPs behind the leaders.  They managed to rise to fourth place but the gap was too much to overcome.

The C team also played at Bradford and won on the day, moving up from seventh to second place overall, just behind Cumbria. The players were  Kevin & Celia Comrie, Marcelo & Elena Rosenbaum, Dave Matthews and Ann Thornton, and Dhun Daji and Howard Stubbings

Selections
The selection committee has made the following selection for the inter county teams of eight.

Tollemache at Daventry on 20/21 November

Michelle Brunner/John Holland, Michael Byrne/Michael Newman, Rodney Lighton/Gary Hyett, John Hassett/David Debbage
Reserves and npc/scorer Rhona and Bernard Goldenfield

Derbyshire SwissPairs
Well done to Peter Greaves, playing with Marjorie Mound (Derbyshire), who came second in the above competition (1 victory point behind the winners).   Seventy five pairs were competing.

Premier League
The second weekend of the Premier League took place at Manchester Bridge Club on 25-26th September.

After the end of the second weekend Michael Byrne and Mike Bell playing with Neil Rosen, Martin Jones, Espen Erichsen and Norman Selway are leading with 88 VPs, 20 VPs ahead of second place.  There are three matches to play in the final weekend.  Full results are on the EBU web site.

Bolton Congress
A good day out for David Tobias on 5th September, partnering Bernard Kaye who won the Bolton Congress Pairs final after also comfortably winning the Qualifying event earlier in the day.
Other notable Manchester performances were from Ann Thornton and Dave Mathews who reached the final as North/South runners-up in the qualifying event and from Rodney Lighton and Neil Thomas ending in 5th place in the final.
Raymond Semp playing with Peter Jones won the Consolation Pairs event.


Derbyshire Match
Congratulations to the Manchester team of Dave Matthews (captain) / Anne Thornton, Dave Pennington/Lesley Johnson, Haidee Schofield/David Tattersall, Frank McCarthy/Martin Taylor, Ron/Jeanne Bayley,  Vivian Newgrosh/Karen Sandler who won the annual Derbyshire vs Manchester match held Sunday 5th September at Spondon Bridge Club.
 
The whole team played well and there were slams aplenty, with many exciting hands contributing to a huge win for Manchester, outscoring their opponents by around 222 to 138 VPs, enabling Manchester to retain the trophy that they won last year.

Northern League
The third (of four) round of matches in the Northern League took place on Saturday 28th August.  The A and B teams were in action at Bradford and the C team at Manchester. 

The A team of Rodney Lighton, Gary Hyett, Raymond Semp, Peter Jones, Kath and Alan Nelson, Joy and Irving Blakey beat Lancashire and Merseyside comfortably, but lost heavily to their main rivals Yorkshire to total 36 VPs and finish second on the day behind Merseyside.  Fortunately Yorkshire lost to the other two teams, leaving Manchester well ahead in the overall rankings.  As usual the playing conditions and buffet were excellent.

The B team finished fifth on the day and are in fifth position overall.  The team was David Pennington, Rod Franks, Steve Mattinson, Pauline Lang, Joyce and Bill White, Peter and Jean Hand.

The C team of Irene Davies, Karen Reissmann, Pat Buxton, Alistair McKillop, Ray Ashleigh, Angela Parkinson, Lance Bloohn & Jack Hassan played at Manchester Bridge Club. The day started badly with only one win out of the first four matches but the evening session proved much more productive with three wins out of three. With one round left to be played Manchester C team lie fourth out of seven. Everyone enjoyed the bridge. We were treated to an excellent half time spread by the MBC catering staff.  (Thanks to Irene Davies for this report)

Full results are on the Northern Bridge League web site (and are now correct).


Scarborough
In the Swiss Pairs at the EBU Scarborough Summer festival on 1st August winners were Mike Bell and Jason Hackett.  John Parsons and Ed Levy were ninth.  Full results on the EBU web site.

Brighton Results
The second weekend was the Swiss Teams.  After Friday evening and Saturday's play the top 8 teams play the main final on Sunday, with the next 8 playing the B final.  The remainder continue in the Swiss teams.  Congratulations to Michael Byrne playing with Duncan Happer, Graeme Robertson and Ben Paske who finished fourth in the Swiss and qualified for the main final where they finished seventh.
In the knock out teams which ran all week Michael Byrne, Mike Bell, Simon Cope, Chris Cooper, Shivam Shah and Tom Paske won from an original entry of 19 teams.
In the Senior Swiss Teams on Thursday Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield, Kath Nelson and Jim Luck were the winners from a field of 51 teams, while in the Mixed Pairs Michelle Brunner and Alan Nelson were 5th out of 121 pairs.
On Wedneday Tom Slater continued his excellent run with a win in the Open Pairs playing with Graeme Robertson while Michael Byrne, Mike Bell, Bryony Youngs and Andrew Murphy were second in the Mixed Pivot Teams.
In the mid-week events Celia Comrie and Tom Slater did very well finishing second in the E-W section of play with the expert.
In the Senior's pairs over three sessions, John Holland and Erika Slatcher were second, just ahead of Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield with Kath Nelson and Jim Luck seventh.
In the Swiss Pairs over the first weekend (6-8th August) the best Manchester placings were 19th= by Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield and Tom Slater with Frazer Morgan.  Close behind in 22nd position were Michelle Brunner and John Holland.  352 pairs competed. 

Full results of all events are on the EBU web site.

Senior teams

Senior Teams
Rhona Goldenfield, Jim Luck, Kath Nelson, Bernard Goldenfield
KO Teams

Knockout Teams
Tom Paske, Simon Cope, Michael Byrne, Chris Cooper, Shivam Shah
(Mike Bell missing from photo)
Photos from EBU


One Day Swiss Teams
Manchester's Green point Swiss Teams event was held at Altrincham on Sunday 25th July.
After four rounds Michelle Brunner's team were tying for the lead with  Rhona Goldenfield's team.  Rhona won that match 15-5 to take the lead, but after another match the two teams were tying at the top again.  In the final round Michelle's team managed a convincing 18-2 win (with the help of picking up +1400 on one board) while Rhona's team lost, allowing Peter Jones, Steve Raine, Jackie Pye, Dave Audley and Alan Nelson, Kath Nelson, Jeff Smith, Andrew Petrie to overtake them to end up second equal.

Gill Griffiths, Pat Burrows, Gillian Whyte and John Holland started slowly, but then accelerated to get the ascenders' prize for the second year running.  Prizes of wine were awarded to the team with the highest IMP win each round.

Thanks to Rhona Goldenfield for her hard work in organising the event, Kevin Comrie for presenting prizes, Alec Smalley and Barbara Lewis for preparing the duplicated boards and David and Liz Stevenson for directing efficiently.

    1    5  Michelle Brunner, Rodney Lighton, Bill Hirst, Howard Melbourne                104   2.75
  2=   8  Peter Jones, Steve Raine, Jackie Pye, David Audley                             94   2.25
  2=  19  Kath Nelson, Alan Nelson, Andrew Petrie, Jeff Smith                            94   2.25
  4   16  Bernard Goldenfield, Rhona Goldenfield, Joy Blakey, Irving Blakey              93   1.25
  5    2  Eve Lighthill, Sidney Travers, Ian Kane, Kenneth Hassell                       82   1.25
  6=  24  Peter Richmond, Roger Allison, Dave Edwards, Gillian Jones                     80   1.25
  6=  20  Liz Commins, Paddy Murphy, Daniel Miller, Peter Hall                           80   1.00
  8   17  Dave Keen, Jean Keen, Peter Foster, Neil Thomas                                78   1.00
  9   12  Tim Matthews, Babs Matthews, Joyce White, Bill White                           75   1.00
 10   15  Patricia Burrows, Gill Griffiths, John Holland, Gillian Whyte                  74   1.00
 11   23  John Hampson, Simon Whitehouse, Paul Roberts, Julian Merrill                   72   1.25
 12=   9  Kevin Comrie, Celia Comrie, Alec Smalley, Barbara Lewis                        71   1.00
 12=   3  Raymond Semp, Gary Hyett, Dave Debbage, John Hassett                           71   0.75
 14=  10  John Rudolf, Pauline Rudolf, David Smith, Ian Pendlebury                       69   0.75
 14=   6  Rod Franks, David Pennington, Pauline Lang, Steve Mattinson                    69   0.75
 14=  13  Marlene Kaye, Sandra Millikin, Bernard Kaye, Roger Waddington                  69   0.75
 17    7  John Maclachlan, Peter Boardman, Glenda Lloyd, Bruce Denwood                   68   1.00
 18=   1  Irene Davies, Karen Reissmann, Peter Green, Mohammed Jabbar                    60   0.75
 18=  14  Jenny Morris, Jim Morris, Kevin Higgins, Richard Sinton                        60   0.50
 20   22  John McKenzie, Ann McKenzie, Janet Leach, Roger Lott                           52   0.75
 21   11  Bill Wattleworth, Liz Wattleworth, Don Cross, Jill Entwistle                   51   0.50
 22    4  Tony Price, Rosemary Price, Megan Taft, Alan Crabtree                          45   0.50
 23   21  Ann Thornton, Stephen Ward, Gillian McMullan, John Fitzgerald                  41      
 24   18  Peter Greaves, Brenda Greaves, Peter Horn, David Hill                          33   0.25
Winners

Winners - Bill Hirst (Kevin Comrie), Rodney Lighton,
Howard Melbourne and Michelle Brunner
Secod=

Second equal Peter Jones, Jackie Pye and Dave Audley
Missing is Steve Raine
Second=

Second equal Alan Nelson, Andrew Petrie,
Kath Nelson and Jeff Smith

Ascenders

Ascenders' Prize Winners
Gill Griffiths, Gillian Whyte, Pat Burrow, John Holland


President's Cup - Manchester Retain Trophy
Congratulations to the team representing Manchester who won the Presidents Cup held in Carlisle on the weekend of July 17th and 18th.
 
On the Saturday the team of Joy and Irving Blakey, Rhona Goldenfield and Boris Ewart, Raymond Semp and David Adelman with Dave Audley and Peter Jones left the team well placed in third position.
 
On the Sunday the team changed to Raymond playing with Gary Hyett, Peter Jones again with Dave Audley, Tom Slater (lowering the average age) partnering Alec Smalley and Michael Newman once again forming a makeshift partnership, this time with David Barton.
 
The team stayed in third positon and then dropped to fourth.  However, a tremendous rally over the final set of 12 boards saw the team run out comfortable winners!
 
This means that Manchester become the first team to retain the trophy in many many years, (having won it last year in Derby) and also that they continue their trend of winning in Carlisle having won the trophy when it was held there in 2002.

European Youth Pairs Championship
This event took place in Opatija, Croatia from the 14-17th July.  Laura Bonney, Alex Birchall, Lavinia Constantin and Sinead Bird from Manchester all took part, but unfortunately there was no great success to report.

National League Final
The National Final of the inter county leagues was held in Solihull on Sunday 11th July.  The Manchester A and B teams won the Northern League last year and qualified.
Many congratulations to the Manchester B team of Fred Bell and John Roberts, Pauline and John Rudolf, Ian Kane and Ken Hassell and Sid Travers and Eve Lighthill who won against teams from Berks and Bucks, Avon, Herts and Oxford.
Everyone played very well and they all enjoyed the event.
This is, I believe, the first National win for John Rudolf, Ian Kane and Eve Lighthill.  The others have all won National events, but some a long time ago.

In the A team final the team of Gary Hyett/Raymond Semp, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield, Kath and Alan Nelson, David Barton/Alan Jones finished a close second to Warwickshire.

Riviera Congress
Congratulations to Michael Byrne who won the Riviera Congress Teams Championship held on Friday June 25th in Torquay. Michael was the holder of the event, having won last year with a team of England Junior Squad members. This year he teamed up with England's leading Junior pair Ben Paske and Graeme Robertson, and partnered U25 and Ladies international Alice Kaye from London. The team won all of their matches, winning by 10 vps, making it the third year in a row that a junior team has won the event.

Northern League
In the second round of Northern League matches on the 3rd July the A Team of  Gareth Hyett/Michael Newman, Bernard/Rhona Goldenfield, Kath/Alan Nelson, Dave Barton/Alan Jones were second on the day, leaving them in first place overall.
 
The B team: Barbara Lewis/Alec Smalley, Dhun Dhaji/Howard Stubbings, Dave Audley/Peter Jones, Joyce/Peter Hishmurgh were also second in their division, now seventh overall.
 
The C team of  Jeanne and Ron Bayley, Anne Super/Ray Ashleigh, Paul Worswick/Paul Beckwith and Clive and Helen Worthington finished in last place, but are in third place overall.

European Chamionships
The 50th European teams Championships took place in Ostend from 22nd June to 3rd July.  Representing England in the Seniors Team were John Holland and Paul Hackett.  Jason and Justin Hackett played in the Open Teams; completing the Hackett family participation Barbara played for the German women.

The England Women's team finished fifth - out of the medals, but qualifying for the World Championships.  The Open team were 12th out of 18 in the final group.  The Seniors ended up in 14th place.

Pachabo
The Goldstone Trophy qualifies a Manchester team for this event which was held on 12-13th June at Daventry.  Unfortunately the Goldstone winners Alec Smalley and Barbara Lewis were unable to play because of  holidays, so a composite team was formed with Tom Slater of the winning team partnering Rodney Lighton and Michael Byrne and Michael Newman also from the losing finalists playing.

The team finished sixth equal, playing particularly well on the Sunday to move up from fourteenth place overnight.  Full results are on the EBU web site.


Northern League
In the Northern League matches on 12th June the A team (Kath and Alan Nelson, Michelle Brunner and John Holland, David Barton, Alan Jones, Tracy Capal, Rhona Goldenfield finished first on 63Vp, second were Merseyside with 40VP.
All pairs finished positive in the overall Butlers and the Nelsons finished first in overall Butlers.

The B Team of Mark Halliwell/Mike Ardron, John and Pauline Rudolf, Dhun Daji/Howard Stubbings, Ken Hassell/Ian Kane finished equal seventh out of eight teams.

In the C league the team of Irene Davies, Sue Richmond, Gillian McMullan, John Fitzgerald, Marcello & Elena Rosenbaum, Viv Newgrosh and Karen Sandler won 5 of the 7 matches, beating Merseyside 20-0 and Lancashire 19-1. At the end they were in second place on 93 VPs, with Cumbria leading on 100 VPs.
They all had a really good time and didn't care about missing the football, being happy to be active participants rather than passive spectators.

Thanks to Irene Davies and Rhona Goldenfield for reports.

Corwen Trophy
The inter-counties pairs was held at Hinckley on 5-6th June.  Manchester pairs had qualified via the Ben Franks in December.  Congratulations to Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield who had a consistent set of results throughout the weekend and finished in 6th place (out of 113).  John Holland and Michelle Brunner also started fairly well but dropped a little to 25th finally.  Rodney Lighton and Gary Hyett started with an indifferent first set, but two good sessions saw them climb to tenth and they eventually finished twelfth.  Full results are on the EBU web site.

PotY
The annual player of the year competition for 2009-2010 has been won by Michelle Brunner in the Expert category.  In the Intermediate category, there was a triple tie between Howard Stubbings, Ben Beever and Eddie Thornton-Chan.  Prizes will be presented to them at some suitable occasion.

Yorkshire Congress
A few Manchester players crossed the Pennines to play at Harrogate in the Yorkshire congress over the bank holiday weekend.  Congratulations to Peter and Brenda Greaves, playing with Peter Hempson of Yorkshire and Norman Stephenson of the North East, who came fourth in the main final of the Teams event which attracted an initial entry of 41 teams.  Also to John and Pauline Rudolf who were second in the Championship Pairs.

Spring Bank Holiday Congress
Congratulations to Gary Hyett, playing with Geoffrey Wolfarth of Sussex, who won the major pairs event at Bournemouth over the bank holiday weekend.  Results are on the EBU web site.

Seniors' Camrose
In the home international Seniors' event at Glasgow over the weekend of 28th-30th May, England won comfortably, with England 2 in second place. Well done to the England team of John Holland, Gunnar Hallberg, Patrick Collins, Malcolm Lewis, Ross Harper, Paul Hackett.

Garden Cities
On 22nd May Bramhall Village Club team of eight (Fred Bell & John Roberts; Joyce & Bill White; Jenny & Jim Morris; Kevin Higgins & Frank Brown) represented Manchester CBA at the regional final of the Garden Cities Tournament.  The team won four of their seven matches but finished a disappointing 6th= on 60 IMPs.   York and Bolton will go through to the National Final.

AGM
The AGM of the association was held at Manchester Bridge Club on Thursday 27th May.  There was much discussion of changes at the EBU and a few polls were taken so that Manchester's views could be reported back to the EBU.  Thanks to Alan Nelson for his clear explanations of  the reasons behind the mooted changes.

Kevin Comrie ran the meeting well and it finished not too late.  The elected officers all remained in post.  Thanks to them all for their work over the year.

The new selection committee is Denis Robson, Jenny Morris, Joyce White, David Tattersall and Michael Newman.  John Rudolf takes over as handbook editor from Jeff Smith.  The handbook will, in future, be available as a printable document on the web site.  Hard copies will also be available from John Rudolf for those who do not have the means to print a copy.

The President, Eve Lighthill, presented League Trophies to team captains of division winners.
Isolated Menaces

Division 1 Rhona Goldenfield of Isolated Menaces with Eve Lighthill
Four Js

Division 3 Joyce White and Jenny Morris of The Four Js
Altrincham

Division 4B Michael Asher of Altrincham A
Watchus

Division 5A Howard Middleton of Watchus
Hearts and Minds

Division 5B Hilary Boydell and Linda Williams of Hearts and Minds
Hopscotch

Division 6B Graham Watton of Hopscotch


Merville Goldstone Trophy
Congratulations to Barbara Lewis's team (Sam Herman, Alec Smalley, Tom Slater) who won a tightly contested and exciting final on Monday 10th May against Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Gary Hyett and Rodney Lighton.  After 24 boards Barbara's team led by 1 IMP.  Michael Byrne refused to concede and won the last eight boards by 1 IMP.  Four more boards were needed to break the tie, three of them were flat, but on the fourth Tom Slater and Alec Smalley bid and made an excellent slam to win by 11 IMPs.  The final featured several exciting deals, the best being one where both teams bid a cold Grand Slam and both teams found the good save over it.

Barbara's team had previously beaten Michelle Brunner's team in the semi final and now have the opportunity to represent Manchester in the Pachabo final in June.

Goldstone winners

Sam Herman, Barbara Lewis, Alec Smalley and Tom Slater



Higson Cup and Plate Finals
The Higson Cup and Plate finals were played at Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday 9th May.  Thanks to David Tattersall for organising the event, Jeff Morris for directing and Bob Cooke for presenting the prizes.

Congratulations to Joy and Irving Blakey, Jeff Smith and David Barton who won the Cup by a good margin from Robert Jones, Royce Alexander, Norman Southern and Derek Gray.

In the Higson Plate AZ Stars won, again by a good margin, from Red Bull with AZ Kings third.


Higson Cup Final results

1      Inverted Minors                                                             108    

          Joy Blakey, Irving Blakey, David Barton, Jeff Smith
2      Finesse                                                                      94    
          Robert Jones, Royce Alexander, Nornan Southern, Derek Gray
3      St.Titus                                                                     83    
          Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Rodney Lighton, Gary Hyett
4      Manchester S                                                                 78    
          Barbara Lewis, Peter Jones, Sam Herman, Alec Smalley
5      Bananas                                                                      65    
          Antony Lipson, Graham Burns, Alex Wiseman, John Stell
6      Polar Bears                                                                  52    
          Bob Cooke, Howard Kay, Joyce Jones, Gill Griffiths
7      Sedgeley                                                                     44    
          Sid Travers, Len Gorodkin, Bernard Kaye, Roger Waddington
8      Altrincham A                                                                 36    
          Mike Asher, Ann Jordan, Lindsay Barnes, Ken Hughes

Plate Winners

Plate Winners
David Milne, Sheena Adam, Gill Riley and Bernard Hart
(possibly not labelled in the right order)
Winners

Bob Cooke with Cup Winners
Joy and Irving Blakey, David Barton, Jeff Smith
Second

Cup Second
Norman Southern, Royce Alexander, Derek Gray and Robert Jones
Third

Cup Third
Gary Hyett, Michael Byrne, Michael Newman and Rodney Lighton

Eric Rose

We are sorry to report the death of Eric Rose on 30th April at the age of 85.  Eric had been a member at Altrincham (formerly Sale) bridge club since before 1970 and played frequently at Altrincham and also at the Stretford and Trafford clubs.  He was a former chair at Altrincham and also directed there for many years.  Despite suffering from ill health for the last ten years he continued to play regularly.  He played in the league and EBU competitions until recently.  In the late 1980s he won the Infirmary Plate twice.  He also played for Manchester B teams.  Eric qualified as an engineer at university where he also learned to play bridge.  After a short career in engineering he went on to study and practice dentistry.  Our condolences to his wife Margaret, also a long standing member at Altrincham, his daughters and grandchildren.

Thanks to Peter Dawson, Chair at Altrincham Bridge Club, for this information.

Jersey Congress
Congratulations to John Holland and Michelle Brunner and Martin Taylor playing with Harry Peck (Yorks) who came second in the Swiss Teams in Jersey on 3rd-4th May.  Full results of the Jersey Congress are on the EBU web site.

Jersey Teams

Martin Taylor, John Holland, Michelle Brunner and Harry Peck


Madeline Berney Swiss Pairs
Dave Debbage continued his run of success in Lancashire events, winning this event with Catherine Draper on 2nd May.  Second were Rhona and Bernard Goldenfield.  Full results are on the Lancashire web site.
Selections
The selection committee has made the following selections for Northern League and National League finals in June and July.

A team
B team
C team
Northern League
Sat 12th June
Brierfield
Michelle Brunner & John Holland
Michael Byrne & Michael Newman or Mike Bell

Rodney Lighton & Gary Hyett
Bernard & Rhona Goldenfield (Capt)

Bradford
Sid Travers & Eve Lighthill (capt)

Mark Halliwell & Mike Ardron
Fred Bell & John Roberts

Pauline and John Rudolf
Bradford
Gillian McMullan & John Fitzgerald
Karen Reisman & Irene Davies
Ed Glinert & David Tattersall (Capt)
Kevin and Celia Comrie


Northern League
Sat 3rd July
Manchester
Irving and Joy Blakey
David Barton and Alan Jones
Kath and Alan Nelson
Michael Newman & Michael Byrne (Capt)
Manchester
Dhun Daji & Howard Stubbings
Joyce & Bill White

Barbara Lewis (Capt) & Sam Herman
Pauline Lang and David Pennington

Blackburn
Ron and Jeanne Bayley
Paul Worswick & Pat Burrows (Capt)

David Matthews & Barry Hobden
Ann Super and Ray Ashleigh

National Finals
Sun 11th July
West Midlands Bridge Club
Michelle Brunner & John Holland
Rodney Lighton & Gary Hyett
John Hassett & Dave Debbage
Michael Newman & Michael Byrne
(Capt)
West Midlands Bridge Club
Peter Jones & Tom Slater
Ken Hassell & Ian Kane

Denis Robson (Capt) & Raymond Semp
Fred Bell & John Roberts



Crockford's
Congratulations to Dave Debbage, who has qualified for the English National Teams Final playing with Catherine Draper, Ollie Burgess and Andrew Woodcock of Lancashire.   Good luck to them in the final on May 15-16th.

Nicko
The Manchester Bridge Club team of Rhona and Bernard Goldenfield, Michael Newman and Michael Byrne are Manchester's last representatives in the NICKO this year.  They are now through to the last 16, having beaten South Shropshire in the latest round.

League and Cup
All the results are in for this year's league which finished on April 30th.  Congratulations to the promoted teams and division champions, commiserations to the relegated teams.  The finals of the Higson Cup and Plate are on May 9th and then after the summer break we hope that everyone will re-enter the league and cup for next year.  The results of the final KO round of the Cup and Plate are posted (25th April).

Thanks to David Tattersall who has done a fine job in his first year as league secretary.


Lady Milne in Manchester

 
EBU team

The winning EBU team
Susanna Gross, Sandra Penfold, Sally Brock, Nevena Senior, Simon Cope (npc), Nicole Cook, Chris Duckworth

I once played a tournament in America that was ended by rain*.  But that’s another story which was trumped by an Icelandic volcano.  The Irish teams due to fly to Manchester for the Lady Milne on 16-18th April had to change their travel plans at short notice.  By taking overnight ferries and driving long distances they arrived, but the play on Friday was cancelled,  the matches were shortened and the schedule was re-arranged.

Despite this hiccup the weekend was enjoyed by all.  England, as the host nation, had two teams.  They played each other in the first round and drew 15-15.   After the first day’s play Scotland had a good lead, but still had to play both England teams.

By the final match England, EBU, Ireland and Scotland were all in contention.  England played Ireland while the EBU played Scotland.  Both matches were being shown on screens in the vu-graph theatre and there was a good sized audience (plus hundreds on BBO) to see the exciting last few boards.   The EBU team pulled off a double coup when Nevena Senior and Sandra Penfold bought a contract in 2S when opponents could make 5D.  In the other room Sally Brock and Susanna Gross overbid to 6D.  However, the Irish defender discarded incorrectly and this contract came home.  Meanwhile an English pair missed an easy 7NT (BBO commentator “The limit on this deal is 7NT”).  The sitting out EBU pair Chris Duckworth and Nicole Cook as well as their captain, Simon Cope, were now getting very excited.  On the penultimate board Sally Brock and Susanna Gross had to bid a fairly easy 6H to seal the victory.  This they duly managed and the EBU had won by a margin of 6 VPs over the England team with Scotland and Ireland only 1 VP further behind in joint third place.

Thanks to all the Manchester volunteers Michael Byrne, Eve Lighthill, Kath Nelson, Steve Mattinson, Elena and Marcelo Rosenbaum, Rhona Goldenfield, Jeff Morris, Martin Taylor, Kevin and Celia Comrie, Barbara Lewis, Ben Paske, Alex Roberts, Tom Slater, Laura Bonney, Ross Allen, Barry Wennell, Steve Peterkin; vu-graph commentators Denis Robson, Bernard Goldenfield, Jim Luck and Simon Cope; EBU officials Sandra Claridge, John and Maggie Pyner,  Michael Clark, Jeff Smith.   And anyone who I've missed off the list.

Chancellor’s proved to be, yet again, a good venue having hosted this event previously in 2005 and the Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer in 2008.

Full results are on the EBU web site.

*Rain flooded the local sub-station and out went all the lights.


Trophy

The Trophy dating back to 1934

England

England table
Jeff Morris, Jeremy Dhondy (npc) Michael Byrne,
Catherine Jagger,
Catherine Seale,
Richard Bowdery (assistant npc), Jane Moore,

Gillian Fawcett, Joe Fawcett
Table1

Northern Ireland table
Table

Scotland table

Table8

Republic of Ireland table
Wales

Wales table
Penultimate Deal

The penultimate deal which clinched the cup for the EBU team
2NT is balanced raise to 4H+, 3H is interest,
4H minimum, 6H just perfect



League - Isolated Menaces win
Isolated Menaces have won the first division for the first time since 2006.  Congratulations to Michelle Brunner, John Holland, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield who have won or drawn all their matches so far and averaged 23+ VPs.  Since their first win in 1982 Isolated Menaces have won the league 14 times in 29 years.  Ever present in the team has been their captain Michelle Brunner.

Congratulations also to LNW (Ed Levy, Dave Debbage, John Parsons, Adam Hickman, Sue Richmond and Rob Myers) who are the first team to gain promotion from the very closely contested division 2.

Easter Festivals
An outstanding success for Bill and Joyce White who won the three session championship pairs on 2nd-3rd April at Buxton (they also had to play two qualifying sessions).  Other good results by Manchester players were third place for Rod Franks and David Pennington, sixth John Holland and Michelle Brunner, eighth Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield.  John Parsons/Lavinia Constantin and Peter Green/Irene Davies also reached the final.  Gillian McMullan and John Fitzgerald were fourth in the Swiss pairs. 
John Holland, Michelle Brunner, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield won the Swiss teams with Pat Burrows, Paul Worswick, Dhun Daji and Gill Griffiths doing very well to finish fourth.
Meanwhile in London Michael Byrne won the open pairs with Graeme Robertson and Kath and Alan Nelson were third in the Swiss teams playing with Steve Aucterlonie and Malcolm Lewis.

In the National U-25 pairs an excellent result for Rob Myers who was first equal playing with Daniel McIntosh.
In the National U-19 pairs Jack Hassan and Luke Webb did well to come third.  Laura Bonney and Alex Bishop were above half way in eighth place.
Full results of these events are on the EBU web site.

Buxton winners

Buxton Pairs and Teams winners
Rhona Goldenfield, John Holland, Michelle Brunner,
Bill White, Joyce White and Bernard Goldenfield
Cantor Cup
The Cantor Cup was held on Sunday 28th March at Altrincham Bridge Club.  17 pairs participated and all had an enjoyable time.
Almost all the players were Novices and playing in a duplicate competition for the first time.
The hands were duplimated and so everyone was able to take the hand records home with them.
Thanks as usual to Barbara Lewis and Pat Buxton for organising and to Stan Blaiwais for directing.
Also thenks to the Cantor family for their continued sponsorship of this event.

Results

Rank Names Score
1 Ann Thompson & Andrea O'Rafferty 61.33%
2 Julie Grace & Stuart Grace 58.67%
3 Tony Jenkins & Eileen Camidge 58.36%
4 Doreen Cook & Shirley Price 58.30%
5 Barbara Eastabrook & Michelle Lees 57.56%
6 Hugh Searson & Barbara Searson 55.15%
7 Philip Barraclough & Susan Squires 54.82%
8 Pam Knowles & Elva Parker 53.99%
9 Anthony Lawrence & John Hurst 53.06%

Winners

Ann Thompson & Andrea O'Rafferty

Second

Stuart & Julie Grace
Thrid

Tony Jenkins & Eileen Camidge
Organisers

Pat Buxton and Stan Blaiwais

University Bridge
Manchester University A team won their Portland Bowl Quarter Final  against Leeds A on Friday 12th March to reach the finals of this prestigious national competition.
 
The team was Phillip Mott, Lavinia Constantin, Sinead Bird and Ross Allen, their opponents were captained by Amy Stout and contained two further members of the England U25 squad.

The home team led after the first two sets but fell behind in the 3rd set. They pulled it all back and more to win by a comfortable 7 imps in the final set of 8 boards.
 
This was the first of the Quarter Finals played, the other semi finalists are expected to be Durham A, Oxford A and Cambridge A, all of whom contain junior international players.

Northern Pairs
Congratulations to Terry McCaughey/Eddie Thornton-Chan and Paul Beckwith/Paul Worswick who finished third and sixth respectively in the Northern Pairs at Bradford on Sunday 21st March.  They qualify for the National Pairs final in April, good luck to them.

School's Cup
In the School's Cup on the weekend of 20-21st March Manchester's Jack Hassan, Alex Birchall, Luke Webb, Laura Bonney came second in the Swiss Teams event out of 14 teams competing.  Well done to them - it is good to see that another set of Manchester Juniors is having success.

Southport Teams
Dave Debbage ventured out successfully to Lancashire on Saturday 5th March to win the Southport Pivot Teams with Lancashire's Andrew Woodcock, Catherine Draper and Ollie Burgess.

Swiss Pairs - a Presidential Triumph

The annual EBU/Manchester one day Swiss Pairs was held on Saturday March 13th at Altrincham Bridge Club. 48 pairs competed with entrants from as far afield as Aberdeen and as near as Altrincham.
Well done to our President and Vice President Eve Lighthill and Sid Travers who won.  Full results are on the EBU web site.  Ken Hassell and Ian Kane from Altrincham were a close second.  Third equal were Roger Allison/Peter Richmond and Raymond Semp/Peter Jones with Jeff Smith and Andrew Petrie fifth.

Non-expert prize went to Altrincham's Mohammed and Mariam Jabbar and ascender's to John Roberts and Rodney Lighton who won their four matches after the break to move up 25 places (it's a game of two halves).

Many thanks to all who worked hard to make this a most enjoyable and successful event: - Rhona Goldenfield, Pat Buxton, Kevin Comrie (and any others who I have forgotten).  Also thanks to the tournament directors David Stevenson and Stan Blaiwais.

Winners

Sid Travers and Eve Lighthill with MCBA Chairman Kevin Comrie

Second

Ken Hassell and Ian Kane

Fifth

Andrew Petrie and Jeff Smith

3rd

Roger Allison and Peter Richmond

Ascenders


Rodney Lighton and John Roberts

NonExpert

Mohammed and Mariam Jabbar


Newcomers League
Congratulations to Joan and Alan Hinchliffe, Denise Phythian, Anne Groome, Andrea Bell, Geoff Ashcroft, who won the Newcomers League comfortably after the final evening held on Thursday March 4th, with a total score of +139.
 
Second place was Wendy Gonsalkorale's team with 87, in third place were Sonia Hopkinson and Peter Hallsworth, Christine Barraclough and Nick Tarrier with students Harry Yu and Toby Searle, who won the last evening with magnificent score of +38


Newcomers

Newcomer's Winners
Andrea Bell, Joan Hinchliffe, Anne Groome & Denise Phythian

Final scores:
First: Joan Hinchliffe, Geoff Ashcroft, Denise Phythian, Anne Groome, Alan Hinchliffe, Andrea Bell +139 IMPs
Second: Wendy Gonsalkorale, Jill Birch, Jian Pang, Faye Giorgiou +87 IMPs
Third: Nick Tarrier, Christine Barrowclough, Sonia Hopkinson, Peter Hallsworth, Harry Yu, Toby Searle, Luke Webb, Steve Parr +14 IMPs
Fourth: Jo Krasner, Amy Dean, Paul Batstone, Fiona Alcock, Hans Kurer
Fifth: Lionel Cox, Danny Doherty, Peter Clothier, John Hurst
Sixth: Anne Kerr, Jenny Rowley, Sanjit Kamath, Anthony Lawrence, Val Morgan
Seventh: Michael Coop, Susan Tarr, Mike Blundell, Moira Bloomfield, Malcolm Allum, Mac Norgate

Harrogate Spring Congress
 
In the Spring congress held on 26-28th February Manchester players were out in force. Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield were second in the Mixed Pairs with Michael Byrne and Amy Stout close behind.  In the Teams former Chairman Jeff Smith (with Jackie Pye, Dave Robinson, Richard Pike) scored a big win ahead of Michael Byrne's team of "juniors" (Ben Paske, Duncan Happer, Chris Dixon).  Alan and Kath Nelson were fifth, playing with youngsters Phil Stevens and Adam Skalski from Lancaster.  In the Open Pairs on Friday Eddie Thornton-Chan and Ben Beever were second.

Tollemache
Congratulations to the Manchester Team who achieved their best result in the Tollemache for a long time when they were second to a strong Middlesex team at Hinckley on 13-14th February.  The team was John Holland, Michelle Brunner, Michael Byrne, Mike Bell, Gary Hyett, Rodney Lighton, John Hassett and Dave Debbage.
They won six out seven matches, including beating Middlesex.  All the team's pairs played well and were positive on the Butler scoring.  Unfortunately the team failed to beat other counties as heavily as Middlesex and a loss to East Wales in the penultimate round left Middlesex too far ahead.  Full results are on the EBU web site.

Many thanks to Rhona Goldenfield (NPC) and Bernard Goldenfield (scorer) who dealt brilliantly with all the administrative and social details, leaving the players to concentrate on the competition.

Tolly Final

Mike Bell, Michael Byrne, John Holland, Michelle Brunner
Rodney Lighton, John Hassett, Gary Hyett, Dave Debbage
Rhona and Bernard Goldenfield

Gazette Trophy
Congratulations to Bramhall Bridge Club who, by winning for the second time in three years, showed that this event isn't exclusively for Manchester Bridge Club!  They go on to represent Manchester in the Garden Cities Regional Final on May 22nd.  Thanks to Pat Buxton for providing excellent refreshments and to Jeff Smith for directing.  The event was held at Altrincham Bridge Club on Sunday 24th January.  Six teams from four clubs entered.


1   BRAMHALL                                                                     65    
          Jenny Morris,Jim Morris,Joyce White,Bill White
          Kevin Higgins,Richard Sinton,Howard Stubbings,Dhun Daji
2   MANCHESTER A                                                                 63    
          Gary Hyett,Michael Newman,Peter Jones,Tom Slater
          David Adelman,Jeff Morris,Rob Myers,Dave Debbage
3   CHEADLE                                                                      54    
          Royce Alexander,Mary Costagliola,David Pennington,Rod Franks
          Pauline Lang,Steve Mattinson,Barbara Lewis,Alec Smalley
4   MANCHESTER B                                                                 47    
          Karen Reissman,Irene Davies,Gillian McMullan,John Fitzgerald
          Dave Matthews,Ann Thornton,Eddie Thornton-Chan,Ben Beever
5   ALTRINCHAM A                                                                 45    
          David Olliver,Ray Semp,Geoffrey Fink,Sid Travers
          Ian Kane,Ken Hassell,Ann Jordan,Geoff Hull
6   ALTRINCHAM B                                                                 26    
          Eric Rose,Lindsey Barnes,Mike Asher,K Hughes
          Ann Edwards,Anna Drysdale,Mohammed Jabbar,Mariam Jabbar

Lady Milne and Seniors Trials
The trials for the Lady Milne (Womens home internationals) took place in London from 22nd-24th January.  The Manchester pairs attempting to qualify were Kath Nelson/Tracy Capal and Rhona Goldenfield/Michelle Brunner.  Unfortunately neither pair had a good weekend, finishing in the bottom half of the field.

Meanwhile the Senior's trial play-off also took part in London.  The Gold medal winning team of John Holland, Gunnar Hallberg, Colim Simpson, David Price, Paul Hackett and Ross Harper beat Denis O'Donovan, John Short, Patrick Collins and Malcolm Lewis by 235-168 IMPs.  As a result this team has been selected to play in the European Championships in Ostende from 22nd to 30th June.

Midland Counties Congress
Congratulations to Steve Mattinson and Pauline Lang who won the championship pairs for the Foster Cup at the Midlands County Diamond Jubilee Congress at Bransford on January 9th.

Steve Mattinson and Pauline Lang

Camrose First Weekend

The first weekend of the home internationals for this season took place in Edinburgh from Friday 8th January to Sunday 10th January.
Playing for England were Manchester's John Holland and Michelle Brunner.  This was John's eighth Camrose appearance and Michelle's fourth.  Current record holders for Manchester are Gary Hyett and Alan Mould each with nine appearances.  Paul Hackett is non-playing captain for England.

England finished in second place just 1 VP behind the Republic of Ireland.  The second weekend is from 5-7th March in Northern Ireland.
Link to Camrose Site
For results and further information


Manchester Congress 2010
Detailed result files are too large to put on the web server, if you still wish to see the results please e-mail Rodney for them.

Final Pairs Results

Teams A Final

Teams B Final

Teams C Final


The annual congress took place at the Renaissance Hotel on 2nd-3rd January.  Despite snow showers there was a good attendance for the first day with 64 pairs competing including a good turn out of juniors from all over the country.  Unfortunately the first session was played in freezing conditions - a large supply of portable heaters brought the temperature up to acceptable by the evening.  Coping best with the cold were Alan Nelson and Jeff Morris who led after the first session.  Intermediates Tony Coley and Dieter Salden from the Cheadle club did extremely well to be third after the first session.  They went on to win the Tournament Master prize, with Tean and Craig Porteus in second place in this category.

In the second session Rhona Goldenfield and Michelle Brunner improved from 14th to win overall, Bernard Goldenfield and Adrian Thomas (Wales) were second and Men's Pairs winners.  Kath Nelson and Tracy Capal won the Ladies Pairs and Bryony Youngs (Oxford) and Tom Slater were fifth overall and won the Mixed Pairs.  Second in the Mixed Pairs category were Gillian McMullen and John FitzGerald.  Alan Nelson and Jeff Morris dropped to fourth place overall.

The ascender's prize was won by Brian Irlam and Michael Tomlinson.

John Atthey won the prize for the best Junior over the weekend.

In the Teams the A division was won by the de Botton team (Jason & Justin Hacket, Janet de Botton and Nick Sandqvist) with Michelle Brunner's team second and Michael Byrne's team third.

The B Division was won by Tony and Alex Wilkinson, Phil Stephens and A Skalski.

The C Division was won by Sue Richmond's team.

The Novice pairs events were unfortunately poorly supported, probably because of the weather.
On Saturday afternoon Barbara Eastbrook and Michelle Lees won a 9 pair competition ahead of Marjorie Blackham and Mary Wilson.
On Sunday afternoon Wendy Lunas and Jan Coull won a 6 pair event ahead of Stella Beswick and Rita Bradbury.
On Sunday evening only 5 pairs played with Jo Krasner and Amy Dean triumphing.



Many thanks to Kevin Comrie and his large team of helpers for all their hard work to make this, yet again, a successful event in difficult circumstances.

Michelle Rhona

Winners Michelle Brunner and Rhona Goldenfield
being presented with trophy by John Holland

Beranrd Adrian

Second and Men's Pairs Trophy
Bernard Goldenfield and Adrian Thomas

Kath Tracy

Kath Nelson and Tracy Capal
Ladies Pairs


Dieter Tony

Tournament Master winners Dieter Salden and Tony Coley


John Gillian

Second in the Mixed Pairs Category
John FitzGerald and Gillian McMullan

Jeff Alan

First Session and Fourth Overall
Jeff Morris and Alan Nelson


Sat aft

Barbara Eastbrook and Michelle Lees


Sun aft

Stella Beswick and Rita Bradbury


Sun aft

Wendy Lunas and Jan Coull

Sun eve

Jo Krasner and Amy Dean

de Botton team

Jason Hackett, Justin Hackett, Janet de Botton and Nick Sandqvist
Teams winners

Cope

Mike Bell, Michael Byrne and Simon Cope
A teams third (missing is John Atthey)


Morris's and Hands

Jim Morris, Jean and Peter Hand and Jenny Morris
B Teams second


Brunner

John Hassett, Dave Debbage, John Holland and Michelle Brunner with Paul Hackett
A teams second

Richmond

Sue Richmond, Craig Fisher, John Parsons and Ed Levy
C Teams winners



Wilkinson


Tony and Alex Wilkinson  B teams winners (with Phil Stephens and A Skalski)

Novice Pairs Sat Afternoon
1 Barbara Easterbrook & Michelle Lees 34.5 48 71.88%
2 Marjorie Blackham & Mary Wilson 36.5 60 60.83%
3 Michael Cull & Pauline Cull 27 48 56.25%
4 Dorothy Kitchen & Lynda Lomax 26.5 48 55.21%
5 Hugh Searson & Barbara Searson 32 60 53.33%
6 Diana Calvert & Paul West 29.5 60 49.17%
7 Felicity Byrne & Sigrid Brown 19.5 48 40.63%
8 Nick Tarrier & Christine Tarrier 22 60 36.67%
9 Katherine Debbage & Eve Debbage 12.5 48 26.04%

Novice Pairs Sun Afternoon
1 Wendy Lunas & Jan Coull 26.5 40 66.25%
2 Stella Beswick & Rita Bradbury 23 40 57.50%
3 Tony Ward & Alan Langston 19.5 40 48.75%
4 Paula Berens & Peter Berens 18.5 40 46.25%
5 Chris Boal & Gill Leather 17.5 40 43.75%
6 Eric Bell & George Tate 15 40 37.50%

Novice Pairs Sun Evening
1 Jo Krasner & Amy Dean 10.5 16 65.63%
2 Barbara Hamburger & Gwen Niemand 8 16 50.00%
3= Anthony Lawrence & Richard Bolton 7.5 16 46.88%
3= Mike Blundell & Hans Kurer 7.5 16 46.88%
5 Susan Tarr & Moira Bloomfield 6.5 16 40.63%


League 2009-2010

List of Players

  Division 1 Iso Aga Inv Man Sai Cur Gra Pro Ban 3 K Adj Total Played Average
1 Isolated Menaces * 17 21 30 28 15 23 25 15 26 0 200.00 9 22.22 C
2 Agamemnon 13 * 21 16 15 15 16 17 26 21 0 160.00 9 17.78
3 Inverted Minors 9 9 * 17 14 20 23 21 12 21 0 146.00 9 16.22
4 Manchester J 0 14 13 * 16 22 23 14 24 15 0 141.00 9 15.67
5 Saint Titus 2 15 16 14 * 11 2 28 19 25 0 132.00 9 14.67
6 Curry Eaters 15 15 10 8 19 * 16 11 23 9 0 126.00 9 14.00
7 Grasshoppers 7 14 7 7 28 14 * 20 11 16 0 124.00 9 13.78
8 Proteus 5 13 9 16 2 19 10 * 20 22 0 116.00 9 12.89
9 Bananas 15 4 18 6 11 7 19 10 * 24 0 114.00 9 12.67 R
10 3 Kings And Me! 4 9 9 15 5 21 14 8 6 * 0 91.00 9 10.11 R



  Division 2 Fin L N Tea Che D A Mil Sed Tem Lea Pol Man Cro Adj Total Played Average
1 Finesse * 24 17 23 8 11 19 25 26 27 27 12 0 219.00 11 19.91 P
2 L N W 6 * 26 25 11 30 22 13 7 24 22 30 0 216.00 11 19.64 P
3 Team Mayhem 13 4 * 15 26 12 13 25 20 17 16 26 0 187.00 11 17.00 P
4 Cheshire Cheeses 7 5 15 * 22 19 23 18 13 19 30 15 0 186.00 11 16.91
5 D A S H 22 19 4 8 * 17 9 18 30 30 14 14 0 185.00 11 16.82
6 Milkmen 19 0 18 11 13 * 14 6 14 21 23 26 0 165.00 11 15.00
7 Sedgeley 11 8 17 7 21 16 * 25 20 4 20 13 0 162.00 11 14.73
8 Tempo 5 17 5 12 12 24 5 * 18 22 19 21 0 160.00 11 14.55
9 Leaders With Attitude 4 23 10 17 0 16 10 12 * 9 14 30 0 145.00 11 13.18
10 Polar Bears 3 6 13 11 0 9 26 8 21 * 14 26 0 137.00 11 12.45 R
11 Manchester A 3 8 14 0 16 7 10 11 16 16 * 30 0 131.00 11 11.91 R
12 Cross Roughs 18 0 4 15 16 4 17 9 0 4 0 * 0 87.00 11 7.91 R



  Division 3 Fou Pet Man Tri Nor Bes Whi Hin Can Hyd Dav Adj Total Played Average
1 Four J's * 30 8 15 19 11 30 28 14 25 20 0 200.00 10 20.00 P
2 Petersfield 0 * 18 6 12 9 30 30 25 30 30 0 190.00 10 19.00 P
3 Manchester S 22 12 * 22 30 8 18 17 11 19 30 0 189.00 10 18.90 P
4 Tricksters 15 24 8 * 21 23 11 17 15 13 24 0 171.00 10 17.10
5 North Star 11 18 0 9 * 27 16 19 18 25 24 0 167.00 10 16.70
6 Besse Force 19 21 22 7 3 * 11 13 16 17 26 0 155.00 10 15.50
7 Whitefield Albatrosses 0 0 12 19 14 19 * 18 27 0 24 0 133.00 10 13.30
8 Hindsight Convention 2 0 13 13 11 17 12 * 22 22 20 0 132.00 10 13.20 R
9 Canute B 16 5 19 15 12 14 3 8 * 18 22 0 132.00 10 13.20 R
10 Hydrangeas 5 0 11 17 5 13 30 8 12 * 12 0 113.00 10 11.30 R
11 Davenport A 10 0 0 6 6 4 6 10 8 18 * 0 68.00 10 6.80 R



  Division 4A A Z Red Ash Bro Mon Roc Ruf Bra Alt The Gam Adj Total Played Average
1 A Z Ace Inhibitors * 16 7 22 26 22 11 30 14 30 30 0 208.00 10 20.80 P
2 Red Bull 14 * 16 7 15 16 24 29 27 29 17 0 194.00 10 19.40 P
3 Ashton Aces 23 14 * 11 5 12 18 20 17 30 26 0 176.00 10 17.60
4 Brookdale Club 8 23 19 * 12 30 13 16 5 18 12 0 156.00 10 15.60
5 Monton Misfits 4 15 25 18 * 15 8 12 16 15 21 0 149.00 10 14.90
6 Rochdale Aces 8 14 18 0 15 * 17 19 20 15 23 0 149.00 10 14.90
7 Ruff Diamonds 19 6 12 17 22 13 * 14 15 9 16 0 143.00 10 14.30
8 Bramhall Buddies 0 1 10 14 18 11 16 * 8 30 16 0 124.00 10 12.40
9 Altrincham Z 16 3 13 25 14 10 15 22 * 0 1 0 119.00 10 11.90
10 The House Of Tantalus 0 1 0 12 15 15 21 0 30 * AV+ 0 112.00 10 11.20 R
11 Gamblers 0 13 4 18 9 7 14 14 29 Def * 0 108.00 10 10.80 R



  Division 4B Alt Fou Dou Gro Bid A Z Man Man Sha Mid Adj Total Played Average
1 Altrincham A * 7 30 16 22 23 18 16 30 19 0 181.00 9 20.11 P
2 Four Pips 23 * 5 13 18 9 30 7 22 27 0 154.00 9 17.11 P
3 Double Diamonds 0 25 * 5 24 24 14 13 20 28 0 153.00 9 17.00
4 Grosvenor Wednesday 14 17 25 * 18 21 0 18 11 22 0 146.00 9 16.22
5 Bidding Belles 8 12 6 12 * 17 22 27 19 16 0 139.00 9 15.44
6 A Z Kings 7 21 6 9 13 * 20 12 28 18 0 134.00 9 14.89
7 Manchester Cardinals 12 0 16 30 8 10 * 19 16 13 0 124.00 9 13.78
8 Manchester Aces 14 23 17 12 3 18 11 * 11 14 0 123.00 9 13.67
9 Shakers 0 8 10 19 11 2 14 19 * 16 0 99.00 9 11.00 R
10 Midland Railway 11 3 2 8 14 12 17 16 14 * 0 97.00 9 10.78 R



  Division 5A Wat Rue Clo Tri Kid Ast Rad Bri Ast Eur Kin Adj Total Played Average
1 Watchus * 19 22 27 21 12 22 24 16 10 29 0 202.00 10 20.20 P
2 Rueful Rabbits 11 * 15 16 19 30 18 16 22 28 22 0 197.00 10 19.70 P
3 Close Call 8 15 * 11 27 20 14 28 19 30 21 0 193.00 10 19.30
4 Trio 3 14 19 * 29 24 20 23 20 8 18 0 178.00 10 17.80
5 Kids 9 11 3 1 * 13 18 24 26 18 28 0 151.00 10 15.10
6 Astra Zeneca Aces 18 0 10 6 17 * 22 10 25 23 Def 0 131.00 10 13.10
7 Radbroke Bandits 8 12 16 10 12 8 * 15 11 25 10 0 127.00 10 12.70
8 Bridge Builders 6 14 2 7 6 20 15 * 17 21 18 0 126.00 10 12.60
9 Astra Zeneca Stars 14 8 11 10 4 5 19 13 * 17 24 0 125.00 10 12.50
10 Eureka 20 2 0 22 12 7 5 9 13 * 20 0 110.00 10 11.00 R
11 Kinder Aces 1 8 9 12 2 Def 20 12 6 10 * 0 80.00 10 8.00 R



  Division 5B Hea Tra Get Tra Can Mco Shi Und And Adj Total Played Average
1 Hearts & Minds * 19 12 24 13 30 24 13 30 0 165.00 8 20.63 P
2 Trafford Tigers 11 * 14 24 25 12 16 25 27 0 154.00 8 19.25 P
3 Getting Better 18 16 * 11 19 14 22 30 18 0 148.00 8 18.50
4 Transfers 6 6 19 * 30 25 9 30 14 0 139.00 8 17.38
5 Canute C 17 5 11 0 * 12 29 14 24 0 112.00 8 14.00
6 Mcotcha 0 18 16 5 18 * 18 13 19 0 107.00 8 13.38
7 Shine 6 14 8 21 1 12 * 16 20 0 98.00 8 12.25
8 Underclubbed 17 5 0 0 16 17 14 * 14 0 83.00 8 10.38 R
9 Andrew's Aces 0 3 12 16 6 11 10 16 * 0 74.00 8 9.25 R



  Division 6A Sci Che Bro Dou Mix Sla Wee Bur Jac Int Adj Total Played Average
1 Science Sagas * 26 17 24 5 28 22 20 28 30 0 200.00 9 22.22 P
2 Chelford Champs 4 * 16 22 25 14 26 14 30 27 0 178.00 9 19.78 P
3 Brookdale Spades 13 14 * 13 21 28 16 8 22 27 0 162.00 9 18.00
4 Double Trouble 6 8 17 * 20 18 18 21 29 13 0 150.00 9 16.67
5 Mixed Bunch 25 5 9 10 * 20 11 23 16 30 0 149.00 9 16.56
6 Slams R Us 2 16 2 12 10 * 16 22 23 27 0 130.00 9 14.44
7 Week 2s 8 4 14 12 19 14 * 13 11 22 0 117.00 9 13.00
8 Burtt's Belles 10 16 22 9 7 8 17 * 11 9 0 109.00 9 12.11
9 Jackals 2 0 8 1 14 7 19 19 * 30 0 100.00 9 11.11
10 Intelligent Solutions 0 3 3 17 0 3 8 21 0 * 0 55.00 9 6.11



  Division 6B Hop Cra Mon Eni Spi Adl Car Joy Sla Bom Pyg Adj Total Played Average
1 Hopscotch * 16 17 23 14 22 21 23 16 16 30 0 198.00 10 19.80 P
2 Craig's Crusaders 14 * 16 20 25 10 13 19 30 17 24 0 188.00 10 18.80 P
3 Monday Girls 13 14 * 12 22 21 25 2 19 25 30 0 183.00 10 18.30
4 Enigmas 7 10 18 * 14 8 21 30 30 23 19 0 180.00 10 18.00
5 Spinning Tops 16 5 8 16 * 20 21 25 25 20 20 0 176.00 10 17.60
6 Adlan 8 20 9 22 10 * 3 18 21 8 19 0 138.00 10 13.80
7 Card Sharps 9 17 5 9 9 27 * 17 5 19 14 0 131.00 10 13.10
8 Joycettes 7 11 28 0 5 12 13 * 11 11 19 0 117.00 10 11.70
9 Slammers 14 0 11 0 5 9 25 19 * 19 11 0 113.00 10 11.30
10 Bombay Sapphires 14 13 5 7 10 22 11 19 11 * Def 0 112.00 10 11.20
11 Pygmalion 0 6 0 11 10 11 16 11 19 Def * 0 84.00 10 8.40