 |
Manchester
County Bridge Association |
|
|
2011
News and Results
Year End Congress Blackpool In
the year end congress Kath and Alan Nelson won the Mixed
Pairs, John Holland and Ben Green won the Open Pairs on
Wednesday 28th.
In the Swiss pairs, John and Pauline Rudolf were second, John Holland and Ben Green third, Kath and Alan Nelson fourth. And in the Swiss Teams John Holland, Ben Green, Jackie Pye and Jeff Smith were second, Kath and Alan Nelson, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield fourth. Congratulations to all who did well. Full results are on the EBU web site. Tollemache Selection The
selection committee has selected the following team for the
Tollemache final at Hinckley on Feb 11-12th.
Michael Newman/Michael Byrne John Holland/Alan Mould Jeff Morris/John Hassett Kath & Alan Nelson npc Raymond Semp. Of the team who qualified in November Bernard Goldenfield (and Rhona Goldenfield npc), Bill Hirst and Gary Hyett are unavailable for the final. Channel Trophy Sinead Bird
and Sarah O'Connor played for the England Girl's team in the
Channel Trophy from 16th-18th December in the
Netherlands. They finished a commendable second to the
Netherlands with team mates Lavinia Constantin (who played
in Manchester for a few years) and Emily Middleton.
Michael Byrne was npc of the U20 team.
Click here
for results and more information (in Dutch)Ben Franks Pairs - Triumph for the Juggler's Club Ben Beever and Eddie Thornton-Chan scored 67% with their innovative Juggler's Club system in the second session of the Ben Franks to leapfrog above several pairs to win by a small margin from Michael Newman and Michael Byrne. In third place were half time leaders John Hassett and Jeff Morris, with Raymond Semp and Ken Hassell fourth. These four pairs qualify to represent Manchester in the Corwen Trophy in June. Thanks to Barbara Lewis and Irene Davies for organisation and to Mike Amos for directing efficiently.
1 Eddie Thornton-Chan & Ben Beever 59.52 2 Michael Byrne & Michael Newman 59.21 3 John Hassett & Jeff Morris 58.64 4 Ray Semp & Kenneth Hassell 58.11 5 Rod Franks & David Pennington 57.05 6 Rhona Goldenfield & Bernard Goldenfield 56.73 7 Justin Hackett & Martin Taylor 54.34 8 Dan Crofts & Gary Hyett 52.71 9 Chris Hine & Stephen Ward 52.02 10 Alan Nelson & Sid Travers 51.27 11 Kevin Comrie & Celia Comrie 51.11 12 Peter Bailey & Ben Harrison-Graham 50.90 13 Nicholas Greer & Sean Mekie 50.16 14 Alec Smalley & Barbara Lewis 49.76 15 Craig Fisher & Sue Richmond 49.28 16 Christine Benson & Terry Mccaughey 49.18 17 Ray Ashleigh & Anne Super 48.65 18 David Matthews & Ann Thornton 48.30 19 Irving Blakey & Joy Blakey 47.42 20 Irene Davies & Peter Green 47.05 21 Sinead Bird & Sarah O'Connor 46.62 22 Bernard Kaye & Roger Waddington 46.22 23 Gillian Mcmullan & John Fitzgerald 45.45 24 John Parsons & Tean Porteus 42.88 25 Roger Hopton & Lance Bloohn 42.40 26 Mike Coop & Kirstyn Fuller 39.10 27 Louise Vincent & Richard Cross 35.91 Tollemache Qualifier Manchester have qualified for the Tollemache final for the third year running. The team of Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Gary Hyett, Rodney Lighton, John Hassett, Jeff Morris, Bernard Goldenfield and Bill Hirst won their qualifying group at Daventry on 25th-26th November. The team were second after Saturday's play only just ahead of the next two teams, but played solidly throughout Sunday to pull away from the other counties. Many thanks to Rhona Goldenfield (npc) for her hard work in all the organisation. Lederer Many
congratulations to Michael Byrne and Mike Bell who won
the major invitational tournament of the year, The
Lederer, at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club on the weekend
of 19-20th November.
They played every board, with team-mates Espen Erichsen/Norman Selway on the Saturday and Martin Jones/Neil Rosen on the Sunday. This is their first victory, and Mike Bell's debut in the event, Michael Byrne having played in 2001 and 2002 as part of an England junior team. They
won
five of seven matches to finish well clear of the second
placed team.
This
is
possibly the first ever win for a Manchester pair in this
event. Michael and Mike re-formed their partnership as a
one off for this event playing Mike Bell's Tribal system.
Premier League John
Holland and Paul Hackett's team improved in the final
weekend at Solihull on 11-13th November to finish
third. In Division two Mike Bell's team just failed
to get promoted, also finishing third. Full results
are on the EBU web site.
Keri Klinger Award The
International Bridge Players Association has awarded the
Keri Klinger Award to John Holland and the late Michelle
Brunner for performing in admirable fashion under
pressure. John collected the award at the Premier
League in Solihull.
For the full citation click here (page 8) Autumn Intermediate Pairs There was a full house of 16 Tables for the Autumn Intermediate Pairs held at Altrincham on Sunday 6th November. There were some players who had supported this competition before and, encouragingly, a lot of new faces to an MCBA event. Everyone appeared to enjoy the afternoon.
=========================================================================== NORTH - SOUTH RANKS Rank Pair Names % =========================================================================== 1 12 Graham Winn & Susan Triggs 63.37 2 11 Tony Ward & Eric Bell 59.49 3 1 Doreen Cook & Shirley Pryce 56.35 4 6 Ann Thompson & Andrea O' Rafferty 55.89 5 5 Bob Leach & Margaret Leach 53.52 6 15 George Leigh & Sally Bray 53.35 7 14 Mariam Jabbar & Mohammed Jabbar 52.87 8 8 Iain Hart & Paul Batstone 51.47 9 16 Felicity Byrne & Reba Bhaduri 50.85 10 13 Ros Mayall & Joyce Sykes 50.57 11 3 Nicholas Hinton & Nil Ghosh 48.75 12 9 Helen Reid & Karem Leigh 43.40 13 4 Peter Collinson & Annie Curtis 43.36 14 7 Faye Georgiou & Sanjeet Kamath 42.88 15 2 Myrna Essayan & Eileen Campbell 38.11 16 10 Paul West & Michelle Rosenberg 35.76 =========================================================================== =========================================================================== EAST - WEST RANKS Rank Pair Names % =========================================================================== 1 2 Michael Coop & Nicholas Greer 68.42 2 5 Liz Downie & Margaret Kelly 62.45 3 10 Pat Dunningham & Jean Reed 56.21 4 12 Carol Frost & Hilary Boydell 55.29 5 4 Pam Dorian & Jessica Smith 54.52 6 13 David McNellie & Marion McNellie 54.34 7 7 Phil Hayward & Nigel Catterall 52.27 8 16 Tean Porteus & Craig Porteus 50.91 9 8 Angela Parkinson & Wendy Burton 50.73 10 9 Doreen Tarz & Adriane Stone 46.70 11 14 Anne Rhodes & Frank Wetton 43.90 12 1 Hugh Searson & Barbara Searson 43.53 13 6 Pat Gorham & Diana Calvert 42.01 14 11 Jean Wright & Keith Wright 41.38 15 15 Pat Turner & Judith Eva 40.80 16 3 Kieron Billings & Wendy Verber 36.54 =========================================================================== Many thanks to Barbara Lewis, Irene Davies and Stanley Blaiwais for organisation and directing. Lancashire Teams Another
success for Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield, playing with
Jackie Pye and Jeff Smith on 30th October.
Chester Bowl Congratulations
to
Ian Kane and Ken Hassell who won the Chester Bowl at Deva
Bridge Club on 16th October.
Northern League - C Team win Division Congratulations
to the Manchester C Team of Kevin & Celia Comrie,
Stephen Ward/Chris Hine,
Lance
Bloohn/Roger Hopton, Irene
Davies/Haidee
Tattersall who won comfortably on Saturday 22nd October and
thus qualify for the National League finals. Stephen
and Chris and the scratch partnership of Irene and Haidee
did well on the Butler scores.
The A team of Michael Newman/Kath Nelson, Bernard & Rhona Goldenfield, Rodney Lighton/Gary Hyett, John Hassett/Jeff Morris were not in best form and for the first time in six seasons Manchester failed to win the division. Congratulations to the Merseyside team who won for the first time. Rodney and Gary were the best pair on the Butler scores. The B team of Raymond Semp, Ken Hassell, Peter Jones, David Audley, Eve Lighthill, Sid Travers, David Pennington & Pauline Lang needed to overcome a fair deficit to win, but failed and finished runners-up. Raymond and Ken were the best pair on the Butler scores. Thanks to all players who have turned out for the county this season and we hope for more successes next season. Full results and Butler scores are on the Northern League web site. EBU Autumn Congress John Holland, playing with Ben Green of Warwickshire finished third in the Two Stars pairs. John and Pauline Rudolf were fifth in the Satellite pairs. In the teams Gary Hyett was second in the main final, Sue Richmond, Craig Fisher, Neil Thomas and Peter Foster were seventh. In the secondary final John Holland, Ben Green, Michael Byrne and Duncan Happer won with John and Pauline Rudolf third playing with Liz Commins and David Stevenson. Great Northern Swiss Pairs Bernard
and Rhona Goldenfield did well to finish second in
this event in Leeds on 1st-2nd October in a field of 123
pairs.
Full results are on the EBU web site. NICKO Manchester
C (Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Rhona & Bernard
Goldenfield) have reached the final of the NICKO after
defeating Moseley B who conceded after 24 of the 32 boards
with a deficit of 53 IMPs. Bernard & Rhona were
previous winners of the NICKO in 1990 and 1993 while the
two Michaels were previous winners in 2007. They
will play Coventry in the final.
Premier League in Manchester The
second weekend of the Premier League was held at Manchester
Bridge Club on 1st-2nd October.
Highest placed Manchester players are John Holland and Paul Hackett in fifth place. The final three matches take place at Solihull in November. Sheffield 75th Anniversary Event The
Manchester team of Alec Smalley, Barbara Lewis, Sue
Richmond and Craig Fisher went to the Teams event at
Sheffield Bridge
Club, part of Sheffield's 75th anniversary celebrations.
They had an enjoyable day, Sheffield Bridge Club provided excellent hospitality and their friendliness and generosity was reciprocated by our bridge. The Sheffield team of Sandy Davies, Dave Robinson, Graham Jepson and Frank Littlewood won by a very large margin. Derbyshire Match  Gillian
McMullan, Jeanne Bayly, David Matthews, John FitzGerald,
Michael Wymer, Ann Thornton,
Graham Winn, Karen Sandler, Ron Bayly, George Leigh, (Jeff Morris), Lance Bloohn, Susan Triggs The victorious Manchester team being presented with the trophy after winning the annual match against Derbyshire on Sunday 18th September at Manchester Bridge Club Northern League - win in all three divisions The
penultimate round of matches for this season took place on
Saturday 10th September.
The A team of Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield, Alan and Kath Nelson, John Holland/Bill Hirst, Michael Byrne/Michael Newman won with 57/80 VPs to leave Manchester in overall third position, but within 2 VPs of the leaders. Bernard and Rhona were the best pair on the Butler scores. The B team of Ken Hassell/Raymond Semp, Ben Beever/Eddie Thornton-Chan, Irving and Joy Blakey, Peter Jones and David Audley also won on the day to finish in overall 2nd position, but some way behind Yorkshire. Ken and Raymond were our best pair. The C team of Gill Griffiths and Paul Worswick, Kevin Higgins and Richard Sinton, Irene Davies and Stephen Ward, Jeanne Bayly and Ron Bayly won with Paul and Gill being the best pair. The C team lead their division. Full results and Butler scores are on the Northern league web site. Bolton Congress In
the pairs on Saturday 3rd September there was an
incredibly tight finish, with only 9 match points
separating the top six pairs at the end of the two session
event. Congratulations to Lance Bloohn and Roger
Hopton who won, with Mariam and Mohammed Jabbar
third. There was another success for Manchester
players in the Swiss Teams on the Sunday when Neil Thomas,
Gillian McMullan, Boris Ewart and Peter Foster won.
In the Ladies pairs Gillian McMullan was second with
Pauline Holden of Lancashire with a score of 64.6%
(which would normally win).
Full results are on the Bolton Bridge Club web site.  Duncan Happer and Michael Byrne Congratulations
to
the following Manchester players who did well at Brighton
this summer.
Michael
Byrne
and Duncan Happer, together with Irish internationals Hugh
McGann and Tom Hanlon won the Four Star teams Championship
on Sunday 21st August.
The
team
started in the qualifying Swiss abysmally, with only 26/60
Vps out of their first 3 matches to leave them needing an
enormous mountain to climb. However on the Saturday they won
16, 20, 20, 19, 18, 19, 15 which meant they won the
qualifying event by 12 victory points.
In
the
final they started strongly including a 18-2 victory over
the Treddinicks (winners in 2009) and led at the half way
stage, but a very tight 11-9 loss to Pat Collins team meant
they needed a small win in their final match to ensure
victory. The tension was further heartened by the fact that
their Irish team-mates had to leave by 7.20, 20 minutes
before play was due to finish. In the end two players from
their opponents in the final match (Mick Carrington and
Richard Frederick from Hampshire) agreed to start early and
play quickly, and all the boards were completed resulting in
a 14-6 win for team Byrne, and the trophy by 5 victory
points.
In
the
B final Kath and Alan Nelson playing with Jeff Smith/Andrew
Petrie from Lancashire were early leaders but they fell away
at the end to finish in 5th position, just behind John
Holland and Bill Hirst, playing respectively with Ben Green
and Patrick Jourdain.
John
Holland
was 15th in the Swiss Pairs with Ben Green.
Michael Byrne was second with Basil Letts in the play with an expert. Mike Bell won the Tuesday Pairs with Yvonne Wiseman Tom Slater, Ben Paske, Alec Smalley, Barbara Lewis were fourth and Alan Nelson, Bill Hirst, Rhona Goldenfield, Kath Nelson were sixth in the Mixed Pivot Teams. Rhona Goldenfield and Michael Byrne were ninth in the Mixed Pairs. I may have missed some significant results. Full results are on the EBU web site. Gerard Faulkner Final The
final of the 2010-11 Seniors' KO was held on Monday 8th
August at Manchester Bridge Club.
The finalists, with the exception of North East's Clive Owen, were all from Manchester. Clive Owen, John Holland, John Hassett and Jeff Morris won by 80 IMPs when Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield, Joy and Irving Blakey conceded with 8 boards to play.  Clive Owen, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield, John Holland Joy and Irving Blakey, Jeff Morris, John Hassett Brighton Report Alec Smalley and Barbara Lewis' experiences of this year's congress. This was our first trip to the Brighton
Congress, having previously been to several continental bridge
events.In respect of the bridge, the intensity is much higher
than in The two main competitions, Swiss Pairs and Swiss Teams, are contested over the weekends, and are long and demand high levels of consistent concentration – as evidenced by Michael Byrne’s team who won the main event, the A Star Teams final (136 boards in total). However, during the midweek there are several more relaxed and fun competitions: Play with an Expert, Mixed Pivot Teams and Mixed Pairs in the evening and Open Pairs and Senior (over 60 years) events every afternoon. And, for anyone who has not yet had enough bridge, there are Speedball events starting at midnight. Everyone who we met and played against were friendly and were enjoying the events. We were especially impressed with the large turnout of talented young bridge players…who give the events some vibrancy and augurs well for the future of bridge in the UK. We were successful in the Mixed Pivot Teams (playing with Tom Slater and Ben Paske), winning a prize: Alec and Tom had a wonderful experience playing in the Swiss Teams with Irving Gordon and Bill Whyte finishing 6th in the Brighton Bowl. Interesting Question Playing
with my wife Lorraine at Bramhall for the first time for
many a year, she led a club against Ben Beever's 3NT
contract. He thought for a while and then asked me
"How long has your partner been playing bridge?". He
got two very different answers, I said "about half an
hour", she replied rather more truthfully "37 years".
President's Cup Ten
counties competed in the President's cup at Sheffield over
the weekend of the 16-17th July. Manchester won the
previous two years, but this year finished a modest fifth,
well behind Merseyside. The team was
Gary
Hyett/
Raymond Semp, Peter Jones/David Audley (both days), Mark
Halliwell/Mike Ardron, Leslie Klein/David Barton
(Saturday) and Alec Smalley/Tom Slater, Kath & Alan
Nelson (Sunday). Kath and Alan Nelson were our
best pair on the Butler scores, followed by Peter Jones
and David Audley.
European Juniors Congratulations
to
the England Under 20 team who finished fourth in the recent
European Junior Championships. The team started well and were
in the hunt the whole way through, but a bad loss in the
penultimate match put their qualification in danger. However,
they crushed The Netherlands 25-4 in the final match to clinch
a qualifying spot for the World Championships, which will be
held next summer in Cuba.
The
team
was Shivam Shah/Basil Letts (Manchester Congress Teams winner)
from London, Tommy Brass (Reading)/Alex Roberts (Cheshire) and
Simon Spencer/Ankush Khandelwal from Nottingham, with Michael
Byrne as NPC and Alan Shillitoe as coach.
Manchester Green Point Swiss Teams This
event was held at Altrincham on Sunday 24th July.
This year's winners were from Lancashire, Bill Alston, Andrew Petrie, Nick and Sue Woodcock. Congratulations to the non-expert teams of David Matthews, Ann Thornton, Kevin Higgins and Richard Sinton who finished third and Stephen Ward, Christopher Hine, George Leigh and Michael Wymer who were fourth. A full entry of 25 teams was achieved. Thanks to Rhona Goldenfield for all her hard work organising the event and to various helpers, also to David Stevenson and Joan Lewis for directing. 1 Nick Woodcock, Sue Woodcock, Andrew Petrie, Bill Alston 106 3.00 2 Justin Hackett, Martin Taylor, Darren Evetts, Barbara Hackett 102 2.50 3 N David Matthews, Ann Thornton, Kevin Higgins, Richard Sinton 89 2.00 4 N Stephen Ward, Christopher Hine, George Leigh, Michael Wymer 87 1.75 5 Bernard Goldenfield, Rhona Goldenfield, John Morrell, Marianne Farr 86 1.50 6 Alan Nelson, Jeffrey Smith, Kath Nelson, Michael Newman 83 1.25 7 Liz Commins, David Flacks, Paddy Murphy, Barry Jones 81 1.00 8 Tim Matthews, Babs Matthews, Joyce White, Bill White 77 1.00 9 John Rudolf, Pauline Rudolf, Peter Hand, Jean Hand 76 1.00 10 Alan Whittam, Paul Evans, Michael Tomlinson, Ewart Evans 75 1.00 11 Pauline Lang, Steve Mattinson, Rod Franks, David Pennington 71 0.75 12 Glenda Lloyd, Peter Boardman, Christine Skellon, Trevor Ward 69 0.75 13= Jean Keen, Dave Keen, Sue Richmond, Neil Thomas 68 0.75 13= David W Briggs, Brian Irlam, Pauline Holden, Robin Atkinson 68 0.75 15 Maureen Borley, Philip Nuttall, David Armstrong, Stephen O'Brien 66 1.00 16 Pat Burrows, Gill Griffiths, Gillian Whyte, John Holland 65 1.00 17 Mike Swanson, Colin Humphrey, Raymond Semp, Rodney Lighton 63 0.75 18 Eve Lighthill, Sidney Travers, Ian Kane, Kenneth Hassell 62 0.75 19 N Duncan Ault, Diane Jane Ault, John Ashworth, Cath Hornby 56 0.50 20 Linda Williams, Marsha Gee, Lance Bloohn, Roger Hopton 55 0.75 21 Irene Davies, Karen Reissmann, Gillian McMullan, John Fitzgerald 54 0.50 22 Geoff Cowie, Robbie Roberts, Shirley Stott, Maureen Foster 52 0.50 23 N Mohammed Jabbar, Mariam Jabbar, Vivienne Newgrosh, Jacqueline Rich 47 0.50 24= Martin Craven, David Pollard, Antony Edwards, Neil Zussman 46 0.50 24= Bob Loveridge, Helen Montgomery, Jeff Wilkins, Ann Wilkins 46 0.50
Senior's Congress Congratulations to John Holland playing with Erika Slatcher of the Isle of Man who won the pairs at the Senior's Congress at Eastbourne on 9th July by the large margin of nearly 7%. Bill Hirst was fourth with Jeremy Dhondy of London. Bill and Jeremy won the Swiss teams with Patrick Collins and David Kendrick. National League Final  At
the fifth attempt Manchester have finally won the A Division
Final of the National County Teams of Eight at Solihull on
Sunday 10th July. Well done to Bernard & Rhona
Goldenfield, Kath & Alan Nelson, David Debbage &
John Hassett and the emergency partnership of Michael Newman
& Alec Smalley. Bernard & Rhona were by far
Manchester's best pair on the day in the Butler scoring
(finishing second overall) although all four pairs finished
positive. This is, I believe, Alec Smalley's first
national title.
Northern League Matches The
second round of the Northern league was played on Saturday
9th July.
The A team of Mike Bell/Sarah O'Connor, Bernard & Rhona Goldenfield, Kath & Alan Nelson, David Debbage/Rob Myers finished fourth out of five teams. In the B Division the Manchester team of Fred Bell/John Roberts, Craig Fisher/Sue Richmond, Eve Lighthill/Sid Travers, Dave Matthews/Anne Thornton were joint third out of seven teams. The best result was achieved by the C team who won their division, winning five out of six matches. The team was Rita & Peter Jordan, Gillian McMullan/John FitzGerald, Irene Davies/Karen Reissmann and Kevin & Celia Comrie. They now lead the division by a margin of 22 VPs. Full results are on the Northern Bridge League site. NICKO Manchester C (Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Rhona & Bernard Goldenfield) have reached the semi-finals of the NICKO after defeating West of England C by 34 IMPS over 32 boards. This is the third time in the last six years that the two Michaels have reached the semi-finals of this competition. Michelle Brunner  Michelle
Brunner was one of England and Manchester’s best known
bridge players, a former World and European Ladies
Champion and many capped international as well as winner
of many national and local events.
Posterity will doubtless remember Michelle for her many achievements playing bridge; however all those who had the pleasure to know her will remember her for her warmth, humour, beauty and friendliness. Michelle was born on New Year’s Eve 1953, the middle daughter of three from a North London Jewish family. She learned bridge at home at the age of 14 and played at school in the sixth form. In 1971 she arrived at Manchester University ostensibly to study Italian. At that time the University had a strong and thriving bridge club which she joined, and her standard rapidly improved. The Italian was rather neglected and she left University to work for Thomas Cook. In the mid seventies she and John Holland became life and bridge partners, they married quietly in 2008. Michelle was a true bridge addict; she played all over the world with great distinction and since 1995 worked as a bridge professional, teaching in the Manchester area and writing books and articles about the game. It would be impossible to list in an obituary all Michelle’s honours at the game*. She represented her country 40 times in international events, most often with her great friend Rhona Goldenfield. In Women’s events she won a World Championship in 1985 with Gill Scott-Jones and European Championships in 1979 with Rosie Hudson and in 2001 with Rhona Goldenfield. The 2001 European was possibly the pinnacle of her achievements, when she and Rhona were the best pair from any country and played the last eight matches in the event without a break. She played in the Lady Milne Trophy many times and represented Britain in mixed teams events. She also competed at the top level in open events, winning four Camrose caps in partnership with John. At the domestic level she won many national titles with John, most notably the Hubert Phillips six times, the Portland Pairs three times (a record) and Crockfords once. The Gold Cup eluded her, but she came very close, losing by two IMPs in the 2006 final. In the Manchester area she won everything, including the strong Manchester league with 16 wins in the last 32 years. As a player her strengths were great concentration and a will to win, excellent dummy play and defence and good bidding judgement. Michelle was bright, beautiful and bubbly. Everyone who met her will remember her friendly manner and humour. Along with her meticulous preparation these qualities made her an outstanding teacher. Her classes and seminars were hugely popular. She also wrote two textbooks on Acol for beginners and improvers and an excellent column for Bridge Plus for many years. In 2000 she was treated for breast cancer and recovered. She was ill before the 2007 Venice Cup in Shanghai and her doctor suggested that she didn’t go. Of course Michelle wanted to play and went. She was possibly the best player on the English team and produced a brilliant defence that was written up in English Bridge in December 2007. On her return a diagnosis of terminal cancer was made. She decided that she was going to live life to the full while she could. She gave up work, went on holidays to Europe and Australia and had many trips to the theatre and musicals. She also continued playing bridge at the highest level, winning selection with John for England twice in the Camrose Trophy. She won two defence of the year awards given by the IBPA for the best reported defence in the world. She was immensely proud of John’s achievement in winning two World Seniors Championships, although disappointed that she was unable to travel with him. In early 2011 she undertook the arduous trip to Australia to play in the Gold Coast Congress and have a holiday. Despite being in considerable pain from back problems her team reached the finals of this strong event. We send our condolences to John Holland, her sisters Susan and Gillian and all her friends. Michelle Brunner born 31st December 1953 died 24th June 2011 * See the honours pages for events won and international representation. A nice tribute to Michelle has been published in the bulletin for the European championships currently taking place in Poznan. Click on the link below and go to pages 14-16. Peter Hasenson has compiled a list of Michelle's achievements. Click here to read Peter's document Click here for the EBU obituary Maureen Hiron has written an obituary for the Independent Liz McGowan has put a tribute to Michelle in her column in the Scotsman The funeral for Michelle Brunner was held at the Jewish Cemetery near Dunham on Sunday 26th June. More than a hundred people gathered from all over the country and beyond to pay their last respects to Michelle on a glorious sunny day. The Rabbi, Jeff Morris and Rhona Goldenfield all spoke eloquently of Michelle's achievements and warmth and personality. Many thanks to all those who came and those who couldn't, but who sent messages of condolence. Also many thanks to all those people who visited Michelle in her last few weeks and supported John and the family, especially to those who stayed overnight to relieve the burden on John, Susan and Gillian. Northern League The
first round of this year's Northern league matches took
place on Saturday 11th June. In the B division the
Manchester Team of Craig Fisher & Sue Richmond, Ken Hassell
& Ian Kane, Howard Stubbings & Dhun Dhaji, Jean
& Peter Hand won four of their six matches and finished
with 74VPs in fourth position.
In
the C Division the team was Paul Beckwith & Paul
Worswick, Irene Davies & Karen Reissman, Marcelo &
Elena Rosenbaum, Graham Winn & Susan Triggs.
They also won four of the six matches and lie in third
position.
There were no A team matches for the first weekend. NICKO Manchester
C
(Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Rhona
& Bernard Goldenfield) have reached the
quarter-finals of the NICKO after
defeating Hurworth C. At half time
they trailed by 14 IMPs but a storming second half
score of +44 IMPs saw them win by 30 IMPs.
Pachabo Final The
Manchester team of John Hassett, Bill Hirst, Jeff Morris
and Stuart Shalom finished a creditable fifth in the
Pachabo on the weekend of 11-12th June at Daventry.
Yorkshire Congress There were successes for Manchester players at the Yorkshire Congress at Harrogate on 3rd-5th June. In the Mixed pairs Michael Byrne, playing with Fiona Brown of Yorkshire won, and in the Championship Pairs John and Pauline Rudolf were winners. More results are on the Yorkshire web site. Officers Pat
Buxton retired as tournament secretary at the AGM after
ten years in the post. She was presented with a cash
gift which she donated to the charity of her choice.
Many thanks to Pat who has worked tirelessly, turning out
to all events and willingly helping with administration
and catering. Irene Davies has taken over the role.
Barbara Lewis was elected chair of selectors at the first selection committee meeting. Selections The new selection committee has made its first set of selections. National League Finals Solihull Sunday 10th July A Team Kath and Alan Nelson, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield, Michael Newman and Gary Hyett, David Barton and Alan Jones. President's Cup Sheffield 16th-17th July Gary Hyett and Raymond Semp, Kath and Alan Nelson, Tom Slater and Alec Smalley, Joy and Irving Blakey
Corwen Trophy In the inter county pairs event at Hinckley on 4-5th June Steve Raine and Sue Richmond did well to finish 13th. John Hassett and Jeff Morris were 28th and our other pairs David Pennington/Rod Franks and Ann Thornton/David Matthews were around half way. Full results are on the EBU web site. Bramhall Green Teams of Eight 12
months on from the introduction of P2P and the formation of
a new club - Bramhall Green Bridge Club - who play at the
Brookdale Club. Bramhall Green
hosted a local teams of eight event on Sunday 29th May. Of
the teams invited the following clubs entered; Marple,
Ashton, Cheadle Hulme, Trafford together with 2 teams from
Bramhall Green. The
competition (run and directed by Jeff Smith) was won by
Bramhall Green with Marple in 2nd place and Cheadle
Hulme 3rd.
 The winning Bramhall Green Team Graham Barker, Marion Moulds, Dieter Salden, Dawn Hodgkinson, Adrian Lee, Derek Bailey, Doris Kirwan, Gil Fletcher Senior Camrose The Senior Home Internationals took place in Oxford on 28-29th May. Playing for England were John Holland with Gunnar Hallberg, and Paul Hackett with Roger O'Shea. Colin Simpson and David Price were the third pair. England finished third with John Holland and Gunnar Hallberg being their leading pair on the Butler scores. Annual General Meeting - Selection Committee
The AGM was
on Thursday 26th May at Manchester Bridge Club.
The following Selection Committe was elected:- Rodney Lighton, Peter Jones, Alec Smalley, Barbara Lewis, Michael Newman. Here
are
the dates for the Northern League 2011 - players may wish to
make a note if they are interested in playing. Players who
wish to be considered for selection please contact the Match
secretary Michael Byrne - abbot_hugo@hotmail.com
Match 1 -
Saturday June 11th
Match 2 -
Saturday July 9th
Match 3-
Saturday September 10th
Match 4 -
Saturday October 22nd
Presidents
Cup - Sheffield July 16th-17th
Derbyshire
Match
- Early September Date TBAMore details are on the calendar page. AGM Awards League and Player of the Year awards were presented by the association's president Eve Lighthill at the recent AGM.
Garden Cities - Regional Final In the
Garden Cities Regional Final held in Bradford on Saturday
21st May Manchester Bridge Club qualified for the National
Final to be held on 18th June. Manchester Bridge
Club won the eight team qualifier with two teams
qualifiying, just ahead of Hurworth from the North
East. This is the first time since 2007 that a team
from MCBA has reached the final. Well done to John
Hassett & Bill Hirst, Michael Byrne & Michael
Newman, David Debbage & Rob Myers, Rhona & Bernard
Goldenfield.
Crockford's Final The
Manchester Team of John Hassett, Bill Hirst, Jeff Morris and
Howard Melbourne finished fifth in the Crockford's final
over the weekend of 14-15th May. John Holland and
Michelle Brunner played in earlier rounds.
Northern League Selections The committee has made the following selections for Saturday June 11th; there is no A team match.
Higson Cup and Plate Finals The finals of the Higson Cup and Plate were held on Sunday 8th May at Manchester Bridge Club. In the Plate an Astra Zeneca team won for the second year running, although this year it was AZ Kings (Barbara Moore, Anne Jeater, Jim Straffon and Lindsey Cook). Last year's winners AZ Stars were third. Runners up were Hindsight Convention who had won in 2008. In the Cup Saint Titus (Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Rodney Lighton and Alan Mould) took a 10 VP lead in the first half over Curry Eaters (Darren Evert, Jason, Justin, Paul and Barbara Hackett) and just managed to hold onto it, beating Curry Eaters in the head to head match despite Jason making 6S in a perilous 4-3 fit while the Michaels went off in 6NT. This was Alan Mould's first game of bridge for about 18 months! Manchester J (Ian Pendlebury, David Smith, John and Pauline Rudolf) were third. The win for Saint Titus means that Michael Newman finishes an excellent season by winning the Player of the Year prize, just ahead of Michael Byrne and last year's winner Michelle Brunner. Thanks to Bob Cooke for presenting prizes and Jeff Morris and Joan Lewis for directing and organising. Roy
Higson Final =====================================================================================
TEAM
RANKINGSRank Team Names VPs ===================================================================================== 1 7 St Titus 104 M Byrne,M Newman,R Lighton,A Mould 2 3 Curry Eaters 94 P Hackett,D Evetts,Jason Hackett,Justin Hackett B Hackett 3 2 Manchester J 84 I Pendlebury,D Smith,P Rudolf,J Rudolf 4 5 Team Mayhem 80 N Thomas,G McMullan,P Foster,P Callow 5 1 Manchester S 63 B Lewis,S Herman,P Jones,T Slater 6 8 Crimes & Misdemeanours 60 G Burns,A Wiseman,D Tobias,J Stell 7 4 Sedgeley 43 S Travers,L Gorodkin,B Kaye,R Waddington 8 6 Love Hearts 32 P Bailey,B Harrison-Graham,Hari Gohil,John Browning Higson Plate ===================================================================================== TEAM RANKINGS Rank Team Names VPs ===================================================================================== 1 1 AZ Kings 80 B Moore,A Jeater,J Straffon,L Cook 2 3 Hindsight Conventions 79 Alan Tranter,Andy Burnett,Harry Ingham,Colin Humphrey 3 2 AZ Stars 71 S Adam,B Hart,G Marsden,D Milne 4 4 Red Bull 66 E Glinnert,H Stubbings,M Rosenbaum,E Rosenbaum 5 5 Midland Railway 58 David Johnston,Ted Cadman,Simon Townsend,Iain Mackie 6 7 Davenport A 47 Jim O'Neill,Stewart Thomas,Chris Baker,Adrian Lee 7 6 Lancelot 19 Irene Davies,Karen Reissman,Lance Bloohn,Karen Sandler
Heaton Moor Bridge Club Unfortunately
Heaton Moor Bridge Club has had to close, due to dwindling
numbers. The remaining funds of over £1700 have been
donated to Walthew House, an independent local charity
supporting people in Stockport who are blind, visually
impaired, deaf or hard of hearing or who have dual sensory
loss. There is a small Bridge Club at Walthew House
between 12pm and 2pm on Mondays.
Oakfield Bridge Club, still a thriving club, has decided to change its affiliation to Lancashire. Player of the Year In the Intermediate category congratulations to David Matthews and Ann Thornton who win the award by scoring in three competitions, Ben Franks pairs, Gazette Trophy and League Division 3. In the Expert category Michael Newman, who won two points ahead of Michael Byrne who was two points ahead of last year's winner Michelle Brunner. League - Isolated Menaces Win - All Matches Completed The
league season has now finished with all matches
completed. Many thanks to David Tattersall for all his
hard work this season in running one of the best county
leagues in the country. Well done to all those
promoted teams and commiserations to those who were
relegated. We hope to see everyone back next year and
some new teams entering.
Congratulations to Michelle Brunner's Isolated Menaces (John Holland, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield + Bill Hirst). They retain the title that they won last year and have now won five times this millennium. In the final match of the division St Titus recorded their biggest win of the season 28-2 over Finesse to finish second 4 VPs behind Isolated Menaces. In Division 2 Ian Kane's DASH and Tracy Capal's By 1 Imp will return to the top division, the third promotion spot went to Graham Burns' Crimes and Misdemeanours. In Division 3 Tricksters - Kevin Higgins, Richard Sinton, Valerie Hobden, Ann Thornton, Barry Hobden, Dave Matthews are also promoted - well done. North Star join them as second promoted team and Manchester A as third. Meanwhile in Division 4A Hindsight Convention (Alan Tranter, Andy Burnett, Harry Ingham, Don Fitzpatrick, Colin Humphrey) are promoted along with Farokh's Googlies, with Division 4B promoted teams being Grosvenor Wednesday and Hydrangeas In Division 5A Winning Ways and Kids and in Division 5B Midland Railway and Astrazeneca Aces are promoted. Congratulations to Eureka - Ann Morris, Alan Bray, Catherine Kramer and Eugene Hutton and Love Hearts (Division 6a), The 6 Diamonds - Pat Dunningham, June Gilbert, Penny Culshaw, Pauline Cathcart, Vanessa James, Maisie Saffer, Suzie Joseph and Double Trouble - John Berry, Tricia Berry, Fiona Goode, Anne Rhodes (Division 6b) who are promoted to division 5. Easter Festival There
was no Easter festival in the North this year, but a few
Manchester players travelled to London to play.
Congratulations to Luke Webb and Jack Hassan who finished second in the under 19 pairs. In the Swiss Teams Michael Byrne, playing with Simon Cope, Derek Patterson and William Whittaker finished second. Full results are on the EBU web site. Gerard Faulkner Trophy Congratulations
to Irving and Joy Blakey, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield
who beat a strong London team in the semi-finals of the
Senior's knock out.
This sets up a (nearly) all Manchester Final as they will play Jeff Morris, John Hassett, John Holland and Clive Owen. NICKO For the second year running
Manchester C (Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Rhona
& Bernard Goldenfield) have reached the last
16 of the NICKO after defeating Sheffield A by 22 IMPs
and are now the only MCBA team remaining in
the competition.
National Pairs In the National Pairs final at Hinckley over the weekend of 16-17th April Gary Hyett playing with Dan Crofts of Birmingham came a creditable sixth. John Hassett and David Debbage were 18th. The other Manchester qualifiers Michael Byrne and Michael Newman did not play. Full results are on the EBU web site. Goldstone Trophy Jeff
Morris's team (John Hassett, Irving and Joy Blakey) beat David
Barton (Alan Jones, Martin Braid and Michael Clarke) in the final
of the Goldstone Trophy. They will represent
Manchester in the Pachabo in June. Added to the team
were Stuart Shalom and Bill Hirst who will replace Joy and
Irving who are unavailable for the final.
Caryl and Joel Bloch We
are sorry to report the recent deaths of Caryl and Joel
Bloch, within a few days of each other. Caryl was a
former secretary of the MCBA and Joel was an EBU delegate
for several years.
 Caryl Bloch Higson Cup Congratulations
to Division 6 team Love Hearts, John and Anne Armstrong,
Peter Bailey and Ben Harrison-Graham, who have reached the
Higson Cup final having beaten higher division teams in each
of their three Higson Cup matches. This may be the
first time that a division 6 team has reached the final.
Also to Sedgeley, average age late seventies, who recently beat Isolated Menaces in the Higson cup by precisely one IMP, thereby repeating their previous result and score in the same round about 10 years ago, a remarkable co-incidence ! Portland Pairs Congratulations to Sue Richmond and Neil Thomas who finished fifth nationally in the EBU mixed pairs, playing at Brierfield on Sunday 27th March. Full results are on the EBU web site. National Pairs The regional heats of the National Pairs took place on Sunday 20th March. In the Northern Pairs at Bradford Michael Byrne and Michael Newman were second, just ahead of David Debbage and John Hassett, who both qualified for the National final in April. Also doing well in twelfth place, but just failing to qualify, were David Matthews and Ann Thornton. At the Midlands heat in Solihull Gary Hyett won with Dan Crofts. Green Point Pairs The annual
Swiss Pairs event was held at Altrincham on Saturday 12th
March.
Kath Nelson and Michael Newman, playing together for the first time for nine years, won ahead of Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield. John Holland and Michelle Brunner, having very recently returned from Australia, showed little sign of jet lag, finishing fourth and fith respectively, with partners Gillian Whyte and Alan Nelson. This was a well organised and run event, with thanks to Rhona Goldenfield and her helpers and to David Stevenson and Joan. Rank Pair Cat Names Score(VPs) GPs ================================================================================== 1 6 Michael Newman & Kath Nelson 104 3.75 2 5 Rhona Goldenfield & Bernard Goldenfield 97 3.25 3 42 Liz Commins & Paddy Murphy 96 2.75 4 29 John Holland & Gillian Whyte 95 2.50 5= 27 Michelle Brunner & Alan Nelson 94 2.50 5= 13 Bob Loveridge & Helen Montgomery 94 2.25 7 16 Ian Kane & Kenneth Hassell 89 1.50 8 24 A Raymond Semp & Peter Jones 85 1.25 9 12 N Max Richman & Sandra Richman 84 1.50 10 26 Bill White & Joyce White 83 1.00 11 28 John Morrell & Marianne Farr 82 1.25 12= 48 Roger Allison & Peter Richmond 81 1.00 12= 50 Don Cross & Jill Entwistle 81 1.00 14 19 Craig Fisher & Sue Richmond 79 1.00 15= 41 N Lance Bloohn & Roger Hopton 77 1.00 15= 44 Howard Stubbings & Dhun Daji 77 1.00 17= 35 Barbara Lewis & Celia Comrie 75 1.25 17= 40 John Farmer & Babs Matthews 75 1.25 17= 11 N Karen Reissmann & Irene Davies 75 1.00 17= 45 Irene Bowers & Wynn Sutherland 75 1.25 21 7 Tracy Capal & Liz Muir 74 1.25 22 25 Jeffrey Smith & Tony Coley 72 0.75 23= 1 N Duncan Ault & Diane Jane Ault 71 1.00 23= 43 Jenny Morris & Jim Morris 71 1.00 23= 2 N Alan Paylor & Michael Cleaver 71 0.75 26= 33 John Rudolf & Pauline Rudolf 69 1.00 26= 37 Steve Mattinson & David Pennington 69 1.00 26= 36 Clive Henderson & Barbara Henderson 69 0.75 29= 31 Barrie Newall & Julia Newall 68 1.00 29= 30 N Peter Boardman & Glenda Lloyd 68 0.75 29= 23 Sue Woodcock & Nick Woodcock 68 0.75 29= 4 Rodney Lighton & Tom Slater 68 0.50 33= 38 Gillian McMullan & John Fitzgerald 67 0.75 33= 34 Boris Ewart & Peter Foster 67 0.50 35 47 Bernard Kaye & Michael Tomlinson 65 1.00 36 21 N Stephen Ward & Michael Wymer 62 0.75 37 15 David Flacks & Julian Merrill 60 0.50 38 46 John McKenzie & Ann McKenzie 59 0.75 39= 49 Bill Wattleworth & Liz Wattleworth 56 0.75 39= 10 Geoff Cowie & Robbie Roberts 56 0.75 39= 39 N Peter Green & Haidee Schofield 56 0.75 42 14 Patricia Burrows & Gill Griffiths 55 0.50 43 17 Ann Thornton & David Matthews 54 0.75 44= 20 Christine Benson & Richard Acaster 52 0.50 44= 32 Denis Robson & Val Robson 52 0.50 46 18 Peter Greaves & Brenda Greaves 51 0.50 47 9 Trevor Ward & Christine Skellon 43 0.50 48 3 Terry McCaughey & Alistair McKillop 42 0.50 49 22 N Ian Clough & Jackie Clough 37 0.50 50 8 N Vivienne Newgrosh & Jacqueline Rich 31 0.50
Gold Coast Congress Several
Manchester players went to Australia for a holiday and to
play in the Gold Coast Congress. Bill Hirst finished
seventh in the A final of the pairs, while John Holland and
Michelle Brunner were second in the B final.
In the Swiss teams John Holland, Michelle Brunner, Howard Melbourne, Bill and Andy Hirst finished sixth. They reached the finals after winning closely fought quarter and semi final matches, but lost to a strong Australian team in the final. Click here for the Gold Coast Congress web site EBU Spring Congress The EBU Spring Congress was held at Harrogate from 25-27th February. In the Swiss pairs Kath and Alan Nelson were second, with Michael Byrne and Bryony Youngs fifth just ahead of Pauline and John Rudolf. In the Swiss Teams Michael Byrne, Tom Slater, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield won by a large margin winning all their matches. Also in three different teams which finished third equal were Joyce and Bill White; Sinead Bird and Sue Richmond; and David Adelman. Full results are on the EBU web site. Newcomer's League  David Tattersall (second from left) presents the Newcomer's Trophy to Simon and Claire Webb, Sonia Hopkinson and Peter Hallsworth For the final round of the
Newcomers Teams two of the eight teams were a pair
short including the leaders after Round V in
February.
This meant that Claire &
Simon Webb were given the heavy responsibility of
joining Sonia Hopkinson & Peter Hallsworth to
try and defend their lead in the absence of Sonia
and Peter's usual team mates of Christine
Barrowclough & Nick Tarrier. Claire
& Simon performed their role of "Super Subs"
admirably and succeeded in holding off the
challenge of Mac Norgate, Kate Durham, Jeff Clark
& Malcolm Allum.
1st Sonia Hopkinson, Peter Hallsworth, Christine Barrowclough, Nick Tarrier 2nd Mac Norgate, Kate Durham, Jeff Clark, Malcolm Allum, Ann Wood 3rd Mike Blundell, Donie O’Loughlin, Anne Kerr, Val Morgan 4th Judith Holland, Paula Oliver, Pam Dorian, Bryan Archer, Sean Mekie 5th Claire & Simon Webb, Harry Bennett, Peter Stott, Pam McKeon, Peter Wild, Nicholas Greer, Mike Coop, Kirstyn Fuller 6th Moira Bloomfield, Susan Tarr, Nancy Beattie, Jackie Shah, Duncan Watson 7th Amy Dean, Jo Krasner, Lionel Cox, Hans Kurer, Danny Doherty, Tim Kennedy, Peter Clothier 8th Pete & Chris Connolly, Carmel Williams, Linda Williams, Annie Curtis, Amanda Bellow, Babette Broadhurst, Sunny Howard Cantor Cup 22 pairs participated in the Cantor Cup held this year at Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday 27th February. This was an enjoyable and successful event, especially the tea and scones (just from the oven) served during the break.
Thanks to Barbara Lewis and Stanley Blaiwais for organistion and directing. 1= 1 Susan Tarr & Moira Bloomfield 62.73 1= 17 Sean Mekie & Ciprian Florescu 62.73 3 11 Sanjeet Kamath & Faye Georgiou 62.05 4 10 Anthony Lawrence & Carol Frost 55.45 5 22 Eugene Hutton & Avril Hutton 55.00 6 18 Peter Wild & Pam Mc Keon 54.09 7 4 Donald Walton & Andrea Miills 52.73 8= 9 Paul West & Diana Calvert 51.14 8= 15 Joan Hobson & Gordon Hodgson 51.14 10= 13 Peter Connolly & Chris Connolly 48.86 10= 14 Ross Allen & Sarinya Pasakawee 48.86 12= 3 Doreen Cook & Shirley Pryce 48.64 12= 19 Bill Duncan & Graham Fletcher 48.64 14 8 Tim Kennedy & Stephanie Mauser 48.18 15= 7 Sally Bray & Judith Dunkerley 47.27 15= 16 Tracey Shaw & Joan Youngjohns 47.27 17 21 Julie Grace & Stewart Grace 47.05 18= 12 Nancy Beattie & Jackie Shah 45.91 18= 20 Carol Mc Kinnon & Anne Richardson 45.91 20 2 Malcolm Alum & Kate Durham 45.68 21 5 Patricia Sturrock & Rosemary Bedale 35.45 22 6 Annie Curtis & Amanda Beelew 35.23 Camrose Michael Byrne and Mike Bell played for England in the second weekend of Camrose matches at Llandrindod Wells (4-6th March). England finished second to the Welsh team. Michael and Mike played very well overall, finishing third best of all pairs in the Butler ranking. Tollemache Final - Manchester 2nd (again) The Manchester team of John Holland, Michelle Brunner, Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, John Hassett, David Debbage, Gary Hyett and Rodney Lighton (npc Rhona Goldenfield) played in the Tollemache final (12-13th Feb) at Hinckley. Manchester started well with good wins against the North East and Gloucester followed by a narrow victory against Surrey. At this point we were leading, but the last match on Saturday was a loss to Cambridge, leaving us in fourth place, though the first four teams were very close together. On Sunday our poor form continued with losses to Avon and Hertfordshire leaving us in third place. A good last match win against Kent, the pre-tournament favourites, meant that we jumped into second place, though well behind the North East who won every match after their first round loss to Manchester. This is the second year running that Manchester have finished second. Michael Byrne and Michael Newman were, by far, our best pair. Thanks to Rhona Goldenfield (npc) and Bernard Goldenfield (scorer) for their efforts in supporting the team. Full results are on the EBU web site. Gerard Faulkner Salver In the EBU's senior knockout event two predominantly Manchester teams have reached the semi-finals, Joy and Irving Blakey with Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield and John Hassett, Jeff Morris and John Holland playing with Clive Owen from the North-East. The first mentioned team won the event a couple of years ago. National Swiss Teams The
National Swiss Teams Congress took place at Hinckley on
29-30th January.
Michael Byrne playing with Chris Dixon, Ben Paske and Graeme Robertson finished second, with Kath and Alan Nelson sixth and overnight leaders John Holland and Michelle Brunner eighth. For full results click here. Lady Milne Trials Manchester
players Tracy Capal (playing with Jill Feldman of
London) and Laura Bonney (playing with her university
partner) took part in the trials in London on 22-23rd
January. Both pairs finished well out of
contention.
Gazette
CupThe inter club teams of eight was held at Altrincham Bridge Club on Sunday 23rd January. Six teams took part, with Manchester Bridge Club's A team emerging as the winners by a large margin. They qualify to represent Manchester in the Northern Counties final of the Garden Cities Trophy. Thanks to Pat Buxton for providing refreshments for the teams and to Jeff Smith for directing. 1 3 Manchester A 90 M Byrne, M Newman, J Hassett, G Hyett D Debbage, M Brunner, B Goldenfield, R Goldenfield 2 1 Manchester B 62 Dave Matthews, Ann Thornton, Eddie Thornton-Chan, Ben Beever Karen Reissman, Irene Davies, John Fitzgerald ,Gillian McMullan 3 6 Cheadle B 50 Rod Franks, Tony Coley, Alastair McKillop, Terry McCaughey Paul Worswick, Gill Griffiths, Pat Burrows, David Berrisford 4 5 Cheadle A 45 Eve Lighthill, Barbara Lewis, Sue Richmond, David Pennington Pauline Lang, Steve Mattison, John Currie, Royce Alexander 5 2 Altrincham 34 A Drysdale, A Edwards, G Campbell, L Barnes R Jackson, R Acaster, M Jabbar, Mariam Jabbar 6 4 Bramhall 23 Jim Morris, Jenny Morris, Richard Sinton, Kevin Higgins Bill White, Joyce White, Dhun Daji, Howard Stubbings Manchester Congress Manchester's annual friendly congress took place at the Renaissance Hotel on 8-9th January. Not only was it much warmer outside this year than last, the competitors were pleased to find that it was also very much warmer inside! There was a very good turnout for both the main events, though the novices' events were unfortunately poorly supported. As usual everyone enjoyed themselves and it was pleasing to see many visitors from all over the country and a good number of juniors playing. Barry Myers and Steve Eginton returned to Manchester to play bridge here for the first time for twenty plus years. There seemed to be hundreds of prizes handed out and a fair number of the prizes went to the non-usual suspects. Special congratulations to Michael Newman and his young team of Sinead Bird, Tom Slater and Basil Letts for a fine performance in winning the teams event in a strong field. This was Michael's first win in the event since 1984. The partnerships in the winning team were all new for the weekend. Sally Brock (playing with Barry Myers) won the mixed pairs for the second time, the first being in 1987, I believe that she hasn't played in between. The pairs event was won by Michael Byrne and Simon Cope, with Wyn Williams and Barry Wennell from North Wales putting in a consistent performance over the two sessions to finish second. Stephen Ward and Michael Wymer from Manchester were the leading pair in the tournament master category, finishing just outside the top ten, but ahead of many expert pairs. Thanks to internationals Sally Brock and Patrick Jourdain for presenting the pairs and teams prizes respectively, to the directors David Stevenson, David Collier and Stanley Blaiwais for the smooth running of the event. Special thanks to Kevin Comrie and his team of helpers who worked so hard to make this, yet again, such an enjoyable event. Novice Pairs Saturday Afternoon Rank Pair Names Total Max Score% ================================================================================== 1 1 Ian Bates & Robert Bagot 77.68 102 76.16 2 5 Noel Christopher & Tony Miles 58.00 102 56.86 3 8 Paul West & Diana Calvert 51.67 102 50.66 4 3 Kate Durham & Mac Norgate 49.34 108 45.69 5 6 Pam Dorian & Jessica Smith 48.66 108 45.06 6 7 Paula Oliver & Judith Holland 48.34 108 44.76 7 4 Jo Krasner & Amy Dean 48.33 108 44.75 8 2 Annie Curtis & Amanda Bellew 37.98 102 37.24 ==================================================================================
Other prize winners not photographed were Tournament Masters First: Michael Wymer & Stephen Ward Second: Anne Jeater & Barbara Moore Teams Qualifying Sections Eve Lighthill, Sidney Travers, Ian Kane, Kenneth Hassell Alan Whittam, Paul Evans, Desmond King, Tony Wilkinson Philip Mott, Nicholas Greer, Michael Coop, Kirstyn Fuller LEAGUE 2010-2011 List of Players
Goldstone Trophy 2010-2011
Jeff Morris, John Hassett, Irving and Joy Blakey David Barton, Alan Jones, Martin Braid, Michael Clark |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
