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Manchester
County Bridge Association |
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2016
News and Results
Blackpool
Year
End Congress
John
Holland and Alan Mould won the Swiss Pairs on 28-29th
December with overnight leaders Bernard and Rhona
Goldenfield finishing fourth. In fifth place were
Kevin Higgins and Richard Acaster who also won the B
category prize.
In the Swiss Teams on December 30th Peter Jones was second with Paddy Murphy, Liz Commins and David Stevenson. Third and category B winners were Janet Tolan, Andy Green, Michael Wymer and Stephen Ward. Haidee Tattersall won the C category of the teams with Olwen Renowden, Edward Jones and John Councer. Congratulations to all, full results are on the EBU web site. Goldstone Upset Congratulations
to The Four Dummies (Karen
Jones,
Lillian Syme, Barbara Eastabrook, Judy Yates) from
division five who have beaten Tricksters from
division two to set up a quarter final match against
Michael Byrne's St Titus team.
Seniors and Juniors Seniors Trials took place at the West Midlands Bridge Club on 17-18th December. John Holland and Paul Hackett were in the team which finished second. Junior teams played in the Channel Trophy in London from 16th-18th December. Manchester's Alex Birchall was in the Under 26 team and Michael Byrne was npc for the U21s. All the junior teams finished second in their respective events. Results are on the EBU web site. Radio 4 at MBC Members
of the Monday afternoon class at Manchester Bridge Club
featured on an item about the GCHQ puzzle book broadcast
on Wednesday 7th December at 12.15. The item was on
the programme "You and Yours" and is available here about 6 mins into
the program.
Llangollen Swiss Teams Winners at Llangollen over the weekend of 3rd-4th December were Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield, John Holland and Jackie Pye ahead of Michael Byrne, Fiona Brown, Ciaran Coyne and Hugh McGann. Congratulations to them; full results are on the North Wales site. Ben Franks A perfect number of pairs (26) meant that everyone played two boards against every other pair over two sessions at Manchester Bridge club on Sunday 27th November. In a very close finish John Holland and Michael Byrne won, with Rodney Lighton and John Currie second, Alan Mould and Alec Smalley third and Nicholas Greer and John Parsons fourth. These pairs qualify for the Corwen Trophy in June. Andrew Jackson and Graham Campbell were the top placed intermediates, finishing in eleventh place. John Holland has now won the event seven times, more than any other player. In the player of the year competition John Holland leads after two events. In the Intermediate category there is a four way tie for first place between Judith Dunkerley, Sally Bray, Chris Baker and Jim O'Neill. Thanks to Ann Thornton for organising the event, Jeff Smith for directing and Irene Davies for presenting the prizes. Detailed results are on the Manchester Bridge Club web site.
EBU Selection Committee Manchester's
Alan Mould and Ollie Burgess have been elected to the EBU
selection committee at the EBU AGM in November.
Tony Priday Award Congratulations
to
Jeff Smith who has become the second recipient of the Tony
Priday Award for an outstanding contribution to bridge.
Jeff has been involved in county administration and tournament directing in Manchester and Lancashire and has developed the scoring software used by the EBU and many of its clubs. Foundation Cup Congratualtions
to Peter Foster, John Roberts, Neil Thomas and Gillian
McMullan who won the teams event at Blackburn on Sunday 20th
November.
Full results are on the Blackburn web site. Tolly Qualy - Manchester Scrape Through Manchester's finest played in the inter county teams of eight on 19-20th Nov. in Birmingham. The team of John Holland, Gary Hyett, Alan Mould, Ollie Burgess, Tom Slater, Alec Smalley, Michael Byrne, Michael Newman (npc Rhona Goldenfield), with Bernard Goldenfield substituting seven boards for Ollie Burgess, were drawn in group A against Leicester, Lancashire, North East, Berks & Bucks, Channel Islands, Norfolk, Derbyshire and Northants. After lying sixth after the first session on Saturday, and fourth at the end of Saturday, they spent most of Sunday battling for second place with Lancashire but miles behind Berks and Bucks. Eventually a ruling went Manchester's way and they scraped through by 1 VP. Alan Mould and Ollie Burgess were best on the cross IMPs (apart from Bernard who led the whole field by virtue of his seven boards). John and Gary also scored respectably, while the Michaels and Tom and Alec were slightly negative. Aviemore Congress A
few Manchester players went North to the Aviemore congress
on the 12-13th November. Winners of the consolation
teams were Bill and Joyce White playing with Babs and Tim
Matthews of Cumbria. Second were Neil Thomas,
Gillian McMullan, Dave Hammonds and Corrine Ross who were
also second in the Swiss Teams.
Results are here.  Bill & Joyce White, Babs & Tim Matthews Pendle Witch Pairs About
a dozen Manchester pairs went to Brierfield on Sunday 13th
November for the enjoyable Pendle Witch Pairs. Winners
were Boris Ewart (making a rare appearance) and Peter
Foster, with last year's winners John Currie and Rodney
Lighton third and Andy Green and Janet Tolan fifth.
Peter Jones and Adam Wiseberg were second in the non-expert
category.
Full
results on the Brierfield
club web siteSeniors Congress Congratulations to Kath and Alan Nelson winners in the pairs at the EBU Seniors Congress in Reading on 5th November. Full results are on the EBU web site.  Autumn Intermediate Pairs 31 pairs enjoyed the event, the director, scorer and helpers from Altrincham Bridge Club ensured a successful afternoon on Sunday 6th November. Thanks to Barbara Lewis, Margaret Harris and Ann Thornton for their hard work.
1 Margaret Kelly & Liz Downie 64.06 2 Patricia Gorham & Anthony O'Neill 63.63 3 Helen Nightingale & Peter Allison 60.98 4 Phillip Taylor & John Browning 60.70 5 Graham Campbell & Andrew Jackson 57.30 6 Haidee Tattersall & Hilary Boydell 57.10 7 Henry Bissell & Josh Clarke 54.89 8 Annie Curtis & Jackie Lowrie 53.87 9 Adam Wiseberg & Jonathan Engler 53.79 10 Sue Howard & Ken Doodson 53.61 11 Angela Ashleigh & Wendy Burton 52.79 12 Pam Hegarty & Jackie Watton 52.71 13 Michael Kisk & Ralph Deane 51.88 14 Lisa Czyniewska & Mary Green 51.52 15 Graham Wood & David Tattersall 51.23 16 Chris Baker & Jim O'Neill 51.03 17 Susan Triggs & Graham Winn 50.26 18 Tracy Shaw & Tricia Sturrock 49.99 19 Adele Hodari & Suzanne Beckett 49.48 20 Andrea Mills & Dave Welsh 48.55 21 Hazel Powell & Carol McKinnon 48.45 22 Adrienne Stone & Mark Gomme 45.79 23 Mac Norgate & Carolyn Jones 44.80 24 David Murray & Andrea O'Rafferty 42.42 25 Margaret Harris & Pat Turner 42.17 26 Ally Oliver & Judith Lambert 41.70 27 Paul West & Rak Kapur 39.76 28 Wendy & Ruth Verber 39.64 29 Jane MacGruer & Barbara Herring 39.12 30 Dianne Hutchinson & Catherine Kramer 37.72 31 Gillian Maguire & Brian Lee 37.62 More detailed results are on the Altrincham Bridge Club web site Lancashire Green Point Events
Lancashire held two one day green point events on the
29-30th October. Congratulations to Kath and
Alan Nelson who won the teams on Sunday at Blackburn
with Jeff Smith and Jackie Pye of Lancashire.
Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield were third in the pairs
at Brierfield on Saturday and also third in the teams
with John Currie and Rodney Lighton. Results are
on the Lancashire
web site.
Premier League The
EBU trial for the Camrose Trophy was played over three
successive weekends this autumn. In the second
division John Holland's team won gaining promotion to
the first division next year. Alan Mould's team
were second also gaining promotion. Gary Hyett
substituted one weekend in Alan's team. Michael
Byrne's team finished fifth in the first division and
stay up.
Results
can
be found on the EBU web site.Chester Bowl Many Manchester pairs went to Deva Bridge club for the charity pairs event on Sunday 23rd October. Most successful were Lance Bloohn and Roger Hopton who were third in the consolation final and John Currie and Rodney Lighton second in the main final. Full results are here. North Wales Swiss Pairs Congratulations
to Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield who won at Shotton on
Sunday 9th October, John Holland and Tony Coley were
third.
Full results are here. Northern League Final Round - Manchester win A and B Divisions The final round of Northern league matches took place on Saturday 8th October. In the A division at Bolton, Manchester, fielding their Tollemache team, won on the day and increased their overall lead to finish nine VPs ahead of Yorkshire 2. The team was Alan Mould/Ollie Burgess, Alec Smalley/Tom Slater, John Holland/Gary Hyett, Michael Byrne/Michael Newman. Tom and Alec were our best pair on the cross IMPs. The A2 team of Kath & Alan Nelson, Royce Alexander/John Currie, Sylvia Massey/Herbert Potts, Raymond Semp/Peter Jones finished fifth on the day and sixth overall. Peter and Raymond were the best of our A2 pairs. The B division was played at Bradford where our team of Pete Foster/John Roberts, Gillian McMullan/Neil Thomas, Eve Lighthill/Ken Hassell, Robert & Joyce Jones had an excellent day, winning the day's event and overtaking Cumbria to take the division title. Special congratulations to Neil and Gillian who were the best pair in the division on the cross IMPs with 1.5 IMPs per board and to Eve and Ken who were second with 1.07 IMPs per board. The C division was played at Manchester where our team of Irene Davies/Karen Reissmann, Ann Thornton/Paul Murray, Joan Lewis/Roy Higginbottom, Liz and Stephen Halstead finished seventh on the day and overall. Irene and Karen were our best pair on cross IMPs. Detailed results are here  NBL B Division Winners Ken Hassell, Joyce Jones, Gillian McMullan, Neil Thomas, Pete Foster, John Roberts, Eve Lighthill, Robert Jones Cumbria Green Point Weekend Manchester players were out in force at the Cumbria event on 24th-25th September. Best results were achieved by Joyce and Bill White with Tim and Babs Matthews of Cumbria who were second in the Swiss Teams, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield with Joy and Irving Blakey were fourth and Bernard and Rhona again who were third in the Swiss Pairs. Full results are here. World Bridge Games The World
Bridge Games take place in Wroclaw, Poland from 3rd to
17th September. England are represented in the Open,
Women's, Seniors and Mixed events with Manchester interest
in the Seniors where John Holland plays with Brian Senior,
Patrick Collins, David Kendrick, Sandra Penfold and Norman
Selway with Paul Hackett npc.
The Seniors failed to progress to the knock-out stages, John Holland and Paul Hackett led the Seniors Pairs after Friday's sessions, but slipped to ninth place by the finish on Saturday. Click here for the event web site Northern League Round 3 The third round of Northern league matches took place on Saturday 10th September. In the A division at Bradford, Manchester were third on the day and just retained their overall lead four VPs ahead of Yorkshire 2. The team was Alan Mould/Rob Myers, Alec Smalley/Tom Slater, Kath & Alan Nelson, Joy & Irving Blakey. Tom and Alec were our best pair on the cross IMPs. The A2 team of Pete Foster/John Roberts, Joyce & Bill White, David Sarabowski/Andy Green, Raymond Semp/Peter Jones finished fifth equal on the day. The B division was played at Keighley where our team of Steve Mattinson/David Pennington, Gillian McMullan/Roger Hopton, Nicholas Greer/Neil Thomas, Herbert Potts/Sylvia Massey were fifth equal on the day and surrendered their overall lead by four IMPs to Cumbria. Neil and Nick were our only pair to score positive on the cross IMPs. The C division was played at Brierfield where our team of Gordon Bickley/John Parry, Ken Hassell/Adam Wiseberg, Paul Beckwith/Paul Worswick, Anne Whitehead/Haidee Tattersall finished fourth equal but remain in last place overall. Paul and Paul were our best pair on cross IMPs. Bolton Congress Bolton
Bridge Club's annual congress was held over the
weekend of 2nd-4th September. As usual it was a
friendly event with a good buffet tea.
Congratulations to Rodney Lighton, John Currie,
Nicholas Greer and Neil Thomas who won the Swiss Teams
on Sunday for the second year running in a field of
seventeen teams. Third equal were Howard
Melbourne, Barbara Travis, Alan Mould, Ollie Burgess
and Ed Levy, Rob Myers, Laura Covill, Rob Dixon.
In the pairs Chris Hine and Stephen Ward did very well
to finish second. Rob Myers was third with Phil
Godfrey of Yorkshire. Rhona Goldenfield and
Marianne Farr were second in the Ladies Pairs.
Turnout was up by about 50% over last year.
Full results are on the Bolton Club website. Tollemache Qualifying The
selection committee has chosen the following team to
represent Manchester in the qualifying round of the inter
county teams of eight on 19-20th November.
Michael
Newman & Michael ByrneJohn Holland & Gary Hyett Alec Smalley & Tom Slater Alan Mould & Ollie Burgess npc Rhona Goldenfield Eastbourne Summer Meeting The EBU's main congress has moved from Brighton to Eastbourne this year. The Swiss Pairs was the main event of the first weekend from 19th-21st August. Last year's winners Michael Byrne and Kieran Dyke finished fourth, with John Holland and Alan Nelson 13th in a field of 270 pairs. Kath Nelson and Bill Hirst (ex Manchester, now Kent) were second in the senior pairs, with Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield sixth. Michael Byrne was second in the Tuesday Open Pairs with Jonathan Richards, and also second in the GCH Fox Championship Pairs with Ewa Kater. Michael Byrne was second again in the mixed pivot teams with Mike Bell, Sarah O'Connor and Ben Norton, with Gary Hyett third with Ros and Geoffrey Wolfarth and Brian Senior. And another second place, this time for Kath and Alan Nelson, Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield in the Senior Swiss Teams. And finally a win for Michael Byrne in the midweek knockout teams with Tom Townsend, Alex Hydes, Sarah O'Connor, Tom Paske and Ewa Kater. In the Swiss Teams the top eight teams after three sessions finishing on Saturday play an all play all A final on Sunday, with the next eight in the B final. Congratulations to Alec Smalley, Michael Newman, Toby Nonnenmacher and Alex Roberts who have done very well to finish fourth just behind John Holland playing with Ben Green, Sally Brock and Barry Myers and Gary Hyett playing with Howard Melbourne, Barbara Travis and Fiona Brown. Michael Byrne playing with Kieran Dyke, Mike Bell and Fiona Brown has qualified for the B final. In the A final congratulations to Gary Hyett's team who won, with John Holland's team second, while Alec, Michael, Toby and Alex finished eighth. In the B final Michael Byrne's team were third. Full results are on the EBU web site. Michelle Brunner Memorial The annual charity event in memory of Michelle Brunner and in aid of Christie Hospital and St Ann Hospice was held at Manchester Bridge Club on Saturday 13th August. Ollie Burgess spoke eloquently of his memories of Michelle and her great help especially when starting his bridge career. Nineteen teams then sat down to play a mixed pivot Swiss event under the direction of Mike and Sarah Amos. Kath & Alan Nelson, Jeff Morris and Michael Newman were winners well ahead of Raymond Semp, John Hassett, Barry Myers and Sally Brock. Result of the day was achieved by the intermediate trophy winners John and Catherine Ashworth, Barbara Heaton and Paul Vose who were third. At the interval Simon Alexander auctioned off various items effectively and then the raffle was drawn by Eve Lighthill. In all £1700 was raised. Thanks to Jeff Morris and Manchester Bridge Club staff for hosting, Simon Alexander for auctioneering, Susan Triggs, Graham Winn and Eve Lighthill for the raffle and to Sarah and Mike Amos for directing (for which they waived their fee) and to everyone else who helped. Full results are on the Manchester Bridge Club site.
Northern Bridge League Selections The selection committee has selected the players below for the final two Northern league matches.
Preston Summer Pairs Congratulations
to Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield who won the Preston
Summer Pairs on Sunday 7th August. Full results are here
Northern Bridge League Match 2 Manchester
now lead in both the A and B divisions after the
matches on Saturday 6th August.
In the A division at Bradford the team of Alan Mould/Ollie Burgess, John Holland/Gary Hyett, Alec Smalley/Michael Newman, Michael Byrne/Toby Nonnenmacher finished second on the day but increased their lead at the top of the table. John and Gary were the best pair overall on the cross IMPs. The A2 team of Kath & Alan Nelson, Peter Foster/John Roberts, Peter Jones/Raymond Semp, Jeanne & Ron Bayly improved their score over last month's matches but still finished last. Alan & Kath were the best pair on the cross IMPs. In the B division at Blackburn Manchester were also second on the day, but swapped places at the top of the table to lead Cumbria by 6 VPs. The team was Eve Lighthill/Ken Hassell, Joyce & Robert Jones, David Olliver/Sid Travers, Neil Thomas/Nicholas Greer. Joyce and Robert were our best pair on the cross IMPs. In the C division at Bradford the team of Linda Williams/Ann Thornton, Roger Hopton/David Fussell, Elena & Marcelo Rosenbaum, Michael Wymer/Mel Pelham finished last. Roger and David did well on the cross IMPs. Patrick Jourdain We are sorry to report the death of Patrick Jourdain on 28th July. Patrick was a Welsh international, bridge correspondent for the Daily Telegraph and a frequent visitor to the Manchester congress. A full obituary is on the EBU web site and another on the Welsh Bridge Union site ACBL Life Masters Congratulations to Ollie Burgess and Ed Levy who finished 20th in the Life Masters at the Summer Nationals in Washington DC on 24th July. They enjoyed playing in a star studded field including Zia, Meckwell etc. One Day GP Teams The annual one day green point Swiss Teams was held at Altrincham on Sunday 24th July. As usual there was a full turnout of 26 teams, who enjoyed a hot day of bridge. Runaway winners were Kath Nelson, Jeff Morris, Alan Nelson and Jeff Smith who were 30 VPs ahead of second with one match to play. They lost their final match to Richard Winter, Sarah Teshome, Gwen Beattie and Jeremy Stanforth of Yorkshire/Lancashire who were second. Eight intermediate teams entered, with Adam Wiseberg, David Olliver, Sally Bray and Judith Dunkerley finishing highest of these. The last round prize went to Barbara Eastabrook, Karen Jones, Graham Campbell and Andrew Jackson. Thanks as ever to organisers Rhona and Bernard Goldenfield, directors David Stevenson and Joan Lewis and all MCBA members who helped on the day. Full results are here, PotY points have also been added. 1 Kath Nelson & Jeff Morris Alan Nelson & Jeff Smith 108 2 Sarah Teshome & Richard Winter Gwen Beattie & Jeremy Stanforth 86 3= Paddy Murphy & Mark Weeks Alan Stephenson & Stuart Matthews 83 3= Trevor Hails & Chris Ryall Paul Roberts & Joan Marray 83 5= Eve Lighthill & Sidney Travers Ian Kane & Kenneth Hassell 82 5= Bill & Liz Wattleworth Roger Allison & Peter Richmond 82 5= John Holland & Gillian Whyte Patricia Burrows & Pauline Lang 82 8 Marianne Farr & Mike Nicholson Alan Williams & Raymond Semp 78 9= Bob Loveridge & Helen Montgomery Nicholas Sutcliffe & Michael Tomlinson 77 9= Bernard & Rhona Goldenfield Joy Blakey & Irving Blakey 77 11 Tim Matthews & Ken Johnston John Farmer & Babs Matthews 75 12 David Olliver & Adam Wiseberg Sally Bray & Judith Dunkerley 74 I 13 Rodney Lighton & John Currie Alec Smalley & Tom Slater 73 14 Nicholas Greer & Neil Thomas Jean Keen & Dave Keen 72 15 Dorothy Molins & Stephen Molins Wynn Sutherland & Irene Bowers 70 I 16 Chris Baker & Jim O'Neill Hari Gohil & John Browning 65 I 17 Steve Mattinson & Rod Franks Howard Stubbings & Dhun Daji 64 18 Diane Ault & Duncan Ault Catherine Ashworth & John Ashworth 63 19 Ann Thornton & Paul Murray Michael Greaney & Peter Carey-Yard 58 I 20 Irene Davies & Karen Reissmann Gillian McMullan & Roger Hopton 56 21 Celia Comrie & Kevin Comrie Peter Jones & John Roberts 55 22 Graham Campbell & Andrew Jackson Karen Jones & Barbara Eastabrook 54 I 23 Haidee Tattersall & Hilary Boydell Anne Whitehead & Wendy Burton 53 I 24 John Moran & George Leigh Andy Green & Yvonne Barnes 52 I 25= Helen Nightingale & Sue Hazlehurst Andrea Mills & David Welsh 48 I 25= Barrie Newall & Julia Newall Barbara & Clive Henderson 48
Northern Bridge League Match 1 In
the A division Manchester 1 (John Holland/Toby
Nonnenmacher, Nicholas Greer/Neil Thomas, Alec
Smalley/Michael Newman, Kath & Alan Nelson) lead
ahead of Yorkshire at Brierfield. Manchester 2
(David Pennington/Rod Franks, Eddie Thornton-Chan/Tony
Hodgson, David Olliver/Sid Travers, Ron & Jeanne
Bayly) fared less well. Toby (in his penultimate match
for Manchester before moving to London) and John were
the top pair on the cross IMPs.
In the B division at Manchester (Peter Jones/Barbara Lewis, Chris Hine/Stephen Ward, Howard Stubbings/Dhun Daji, Sylvia Massey/Herbert Potts) were a close second to Cumbria. Howard and Dhun were our best pair on the cross IMPs. In the C division, also at Manchester, the team of Karen Reissmann/Irene Davies, Janet Tolan/Victor Ridding, Susan Triggs/Graham Winn, Karen Jones/Barbara Eastabrook finished sixth with Victor and Janet our best pair on cross IMPs. Full results are on the Northern Bridge league site. European Youth Pairs Championship Manchester's
Alex Birchall has qualified for the final of the European
Youth
Pairs
in Liepaja, Latvia partnering Will Roper.
They
are joined by Alex Roberts and Ankush
Khandelwal
who led the field from the start, their score of
59.7% was nearly two whole tops ahead of the next pair.
13
English pairs are competing, six have made it through to
the finals. Michael Byrne is with them as NPC. The final takes place this Sunday, the other non qualifiers will play in the President's Cup. National Inter County League Finals Manchester won the A division of the inter-county leagues on July 10th at Coventry for the second year running. Congratulations to the team of Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Kath and Alan Nelson, Alec Smalley, Tom Slater, Alan Mould and Rodney Lighton. They held a small lead over Avon and Warwickshire at half time, but pulled away to win comfortably in the second half. All four pairs contributed to the win with everyone being positive on the cross-imps. Manchester had qualified by winning the Northern League last year and were playing against winners of the South-West, Eastern and Midland leagues (London, winners of the South-East league, were unable to raise a team).  Tom Slater, Michael Byrne, Kath Nelson, Rodney Lighton, Michael Newman, Alan Nelson, Alan Mould, Alec Smalley Full results are here Derbyshire Match The
annual Manchester vs Derbyshire match took place on the
3rd July at Spondon Bridge Club. Manchester was
represented by Tricia Blum/Simon Townsend, Victor
Ridding/Janet Tolan, Barbara Eastabrook/Adam Wiseberg,
Chris Baker/Jim O'Neill, Liz & Steve Halstead, Graham
Campbell/Lindsay Barnes (Captain).
They lost the first half by 35 IMPs but won the second by 1 IMP. This was an interesting hand KQJxxx Void Qxx AKxx Axxx xxx AKJxx x South opened 1D and despite heavy pre-emption in hearts the Manchester pair reached 7S. WBU Swiss Pairs Several Manchester pairs went to Llandudno on the 2nd-3rd July for the Swiss Pairs event. Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield finished third out of 71 pairs. The event was won by a large margin by Jason Hackett and John Sansom who didn't lose a single match. Full results are here President's Cup Manchester
were
victors in the Inter County teams of eight, held over the
weekend of 18th-19th June at Bradford Bridge Club.
Manchester
led
throughout, and increased their margin of victory in the
final session to win by 27 VPs, over a match clear of the
second placed team.
All
the
pairs played well, everyone enjoyed themselves, and the team
won all of its matches. It was a fine performance by a
team that included a large number of younger players
partnering their older counterparts. The oldest age gap in a
partnership was a record 61 years!
Well
done
to Toby Nonnenmacher/Raymond Semp, Alec Smalley/Tom Slater,
Michael Byrne/Michael Newman (both days), on the Saturday
Gary Hyett (played with Michael Byrne) and John Currie
(played with Michael Newman) and on the Sunday Kath &
Alan Nelson.
Link
to
the full
results including cross imps.
 Toby Nonnenmacher, Alan Nelson, Raymond Semp, Kath Nelson, Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Tom Slater, Alec Smalley Castle Swiss Pairs Congratulations
to Gillian McMullan and Neil Thomas who won this event at
Huddersfield Bridge Club on Sunday 19th June 10 VPs clear
of second place. This is their second win in this
event in three years.
 Neil Thomas and Gillian McMullan European Championships The European Teams event took place in Budapest from June 15th-25th. John Holland played in the Seniors and Alan Mould was coach of the open team. The event web site is here. Both Open and Seniors teams finished tenth, the Women's team won a gold medal. Summer Intermediate Pairs The
Summer Intermediate Pairs event was held at Altrincham
Bridge Club on Sunday 12th June. Thirteen tables
enjoyed a pleasant afternoon of bridge; the results are
below, together with pictures of the prize winners.
Thanks to Joan Lewis for directing and to Ann Thornton and Barbara Lewis for organising. 1st Andrea Mills & David Welsh 63.3 2nd Chris Baker & Jim O'Neill 58.81 3rd Helen Nightingale & Peter Allison 58.01 4th Nigel Catterall & Philip Hayward 57.37 5th Karen Jones & Barbara Eastabrook 56.57 6th Scott Middleton & Roy Saleh 55.45 7th Susan Triggs & Graham Winn 55.29 8th Hazel Powell & Geoff Densham 54.33 9th Annie Curtis & Jackie Lowrie 53.69 10th Anne Whitehead & Haidee Tattersall 53.21 11th Adam Wiseberg & Andrew Jackson 52.56 12th Paul West & Rak Kapur 52.4 13th Liz Downie & Margaret Kelly 51.6 14th Stephen Harlow & Gill Page 50.64 15th David Tilley & Andrew O'Brien 50.48 16th Jackie Walton & Pam Hegarty 49.84 17th David Tattersall & Graham Wood 47.92 18th Gillian Maguire & Brian Lee 46.96 19th Adrienne Stone & Chris Cleaver 45.99 20th George Leigh & Sally Bray 45.35 21st Catherine Kramer & Diane Hutchinson 44.87 22nd Adele Hodari & Suzanne Beckett 44.23 23rd Lisa Czyniewska & Diane Saxon 42.47 24th Ann Thompson & Vanessa James 40.22 25th John Davies & Alan Swarbrick 37.66 26th Sue Berry & Carole Whitehurst 30.77
Pachabo - Manchester Finish Second The
inter counties teams event took place at Birmingham on
11th-12th June, Manchester won the event last
year. Manchester and Cambridge contended first
place throughout the weekend, but in the final session
Cambridge ran out winners by nearly a whole
match. The Manchester team was Michael Byrne,
Michael Newman, Rodney Lighton, John Holland, Gary
Hyett and Alan Mould.
Full
results are on the EBU web site.
Northern League Selections The selection committee have selected the following teams for the first two Northern League matches.
Yorkshire Congress In
the
Yorkshire congress held over the weekend of the 3rd to 5th
June the teams championship was won by Michael Byrne,
playing with England international Fiona Brown, and
team-mates Hugh McGann and Cameron Small. They scored +90
imps, well over 50 imps clear of the second place team led
by Brian Senior, the team who was practicing for the
European Seniors Championship.
On the Friday Michael and Fiona
also won the mixed pairs for the 4th time
Corwen Manchester Bridge Club's David Debbage playing for Lancashire with Andrew Woodcock finished fourth in the inter-county pairs on June 4-5th. Top placed Manchester pair were Gillian McMullan and Neil Thomas who were 31st out of 98. MCBA AGM The AGM of the Association was held at Cheadle Hulme Bridge Club on Thursday 26th May. There was a good turn out of around 40 members. The meeting was well controlled by Chair Irene Davies. The most important decisions made were to continue with two teams in the A division of the Northern League and to choose option three from the selection committee policy paper (i.e. mix up pairs 5-12 between the A2 and B teams). Note that some players at the meeting expressed a strong preference between playing in the B or A2 team, which the selection committee would take into account. The officers of the association remained the same, with the exception of the selection committee, where Roger Hopton and Steve Mattinson replace Gillian McMullan and Peter Jones. Presentations were made to Goldstone, Player of the Year and League winners, see photos below. Members enjoyed a buffet and drinks at the interval. Thanks to Irene Davies, Haidee Tattersall, Ann Thornton and Barbara Lewis. Thanks to Cheadle Hulme Bridge Club for hosting the AGM.
John Armstrong Pairs Manchester
pairs did well in the Swiss Pairs event at Merseyside on
Sunday 22nd May. Alan Mould and Michael Byrne were
second, Joy and Irving Blakey and Ann Thornton and Linda
Williams were joint fourth.
Full results are on the Merseyside County web site click here. Calendar The
events for 2016-17 are now on the calendar page.
Goldstone Final The
final of the Goldstone Trophy took place at Manchester
Bridge Club on Monday 23rd May. Team
Byrne (Michael Byrne, Alan Mould, John Holland, Michael
Newman with Gary Hyett and Rodney Lighton in previous
rounds) have won the Goldstone trophy for a record
breaking 5th consecutive year, breaking the previous
record set in 2006.
In the
closest ever final, the margin was just 1 imp, (although a
ruling from a previous board increased it to 14 imps
pending appeal).
Team
Morris (Burgess, Hassett, Morris, Myers) were the early
leaders of the match but set 2 and 3 saw the holders take
control.
Set 4
was exciting with two slam hands, one played in 6S+1 by
Holland/Mould and 4S+3 by Hassett/Morris. On the other
slam hand both teams were defending spade contracts the
other way!
Thanks
to Manchester Bridge Club for hosting the match and to
Christine Barton for duplimating the boards.
Selections The selection committee has made the following selections
Teltscher Trophy The Senior Camrose event took place in Edinburgh from 20th to 22nd May. John Holland played for the Patron's team with Gunnar Hallberg, their team finished second. Click here for the event web site. Northern Counties Improvers Pairs Final The
finals of this event for players under the rank of
Master were held at four centres simultaneously on
Sunday 15th May. Qualifiers from club heats
played at their local final. The Manchester
Bridge Club heat was won by Margaret Harris and Pat
Turner from the Altrincham club. They also won
overall with a fine score of nearly 69%. Many
congratulations. For the MBC results click here
and the overall results click
here.
 Pat Turner and Margaret Harris Killarney Congress The annual congress at Killarney took place from May 14th to 22nd. As usual several Manchester players were participating. In the first event, the congress pairs Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield finished first ahead of Rob Myers playing with Dan McIntosh. Kath Nelson won the mixed pairs with Cian Holland, Rob Myers won the mixed teams with Dan MacIntosh, Tim and Alex Gauld. Kath Nelson won the ladies teams and Rob Myers the men's teams. Alan Nelson won the President's night pairs. To conclude a successful week Bernard and Rhona won the main teams event, the Loch Lein Trophy, playing with Jim Luck and Alan Williams, regular visitors to the Manchester Congress. For congress results click here. League Summary All Matches Completed (May 10th) The
remaining match in Division three was played on May
9th. We look forward to everyone participating
next year; the entry form will be on the league page
in July.
Division
1: St
Titus clinched the league title by losing to Bare Bones
by 13-17. Congratulations to Michael Byrne,
Michael Newman, Gary Hyett, Alan Mould, Rodney Lighton
and Toby Nonnenmacher. St Titus have now won the
league five times in nine years with
Gary Hyett having a record 17 titles. Bare
Bones have finished second, congratulations to Jason
Hackett, Ollie Burgess, Rob Myers, Ed Levy and Adrian
Kenworthy in their first season with a new
line-up.
Division
2: IMPs R Us (Tracy Capal, David Stevenson, Ted
Revely, Paddy Murphy, Liz Commins, Stuart Davies) have
won the division with an excellent average VP score of
22.9 to bounce back into the top division next
year. Tempo (Bob Cooke, David Pennington, Rod
Franks, Gill Griffiths, Steve Mattinson, Pauline Lang)
beat Manchester S (Kevin Comrie) 29-1 in their final
match to overtake Cheshire Cheeses (Paul Roberts).
Tempo and Cheshire Cheeses join IMPs R Us in promotion
to the first division.
Division 3: Rejuvenated (John Fitzgerald, Peter & Rita Jordan, Stuart Hunter, Jane Perrins, Roz Bavin, Barry Keen) and Uppercut (Stephen Ward, James Sheppard, Michael Wymer, Christopher Hine, Linda Williams) are promoted, with Uppercut winning the league by 10 VPs. Division 4: Splinter Group (John Moran, Andy Green, Yvonne Barnes, George Leigh, Janet Tolan) have won the division. Skaters (Karen Sandler, Lance Bloohn, Barry and Vivienne Newgrosh) have taken the second promotion place. Division 5: Midland Railway (Simon Townsend, Ted Cadman, Iain Mackie, Philip Eagle, Tricia Blum) have won the division on a split tie ahead of Chorlton Challengers (Bev Pardoe, Colin Skelton, Anthony Yates, Mark Garrod). Division 6: In the first division to complete all the matches, The Unconventionals (Pam Hegarty, Anthony Shortell, Peter Harrison, Mark Gomme, Christine Brierley) won their final match 23-7 to win the division on a split tie ahead of Double Diamonds (Nigel Caterall, Philip Hayward, Michael Green, Ann Wood, John Bridgman). Division 7: Many congratulations to Adam Wiseberg's Lastminutebid.com (Jonathan Engler, Sally Bray, Judith Dunkerley and Peter Jackson) who have won the division in their first season in the league, winning six out of seven matches. Adlan (Edward & Helene Adam, Eric & Janet Langer) have taken the other promotion spot. Blackburn Open Swiss Pairs Manchester
players dominated this event on Sunday 8th May.
John Holland and Brian Senior who were practising for
the European Seniors next month unsurprisingly won,
losing only one match to David Hammonds and Paul
Beckwith who finished a close second. Bernard
and Rhona Goldenfield recovered from an indifferent
first session scoring 59 out of 60 in the evening to
finish third. An excellent buffet was served and
the other five Manchester pairs had an enjoyable, but
less successful, event. Full
results are here.
Garden Cities Regional Final The Manchester Bridge Club team of Edward Levy, Robert Myers, Jeff Morris, John Hassett, David Sarabowski, Andy Green, Adrian Kenworthy and Jason Hackett won the Northern regional final of the Garden Cities Trophy at Bradford on 7th May. They progress to the national final in June. Spring Fours - Toby Wins Punchbowl Congratulations to Manchester's Toby Nonnenmacher who won the main consolation event at the Schapiro Spring Fours over the bank holiday weekend at the start of May. The team of Ben Norton (Leics), Ankush Khandelwal (Notts), Alex Roberts (Mersey/Cheshire) and Toby Nonnenmacher were knocked out of the main competition at an early stage although they had received an unfortunate draw as they played in successive rounds, the eventual quarter-finalists, the eventual semi-finalists and the fourth seeds. They then reached the knockout stages of the Punch Bowl after finishing second in their eight team group, and won three matches in the knockout to take the trophy. They defeated an Anglo-Danish-Norwegian team of Gitte Hecht-Johansen (London), Arne Andreasen, Lisbeth Aulid Eide, Henrik Gosvig, and Baard Risnes in the final.  Ben
Norton,
Ankush Khandelwal, Alex Roberts and Toby Nonnenmacher
Jersey Festival Well done to Joy and Irving Blakey who finished second in the Swiss Pairs in a field of 58 pairs at the EBU event 22nd April to 1st May. In the teams Joy and Irving Blakey, Rhona and Bernard Goldenfield were third and in the senior pairs Joy and Irving were second with Rhona and Bernard third. Rhona and Bernard won the mid-week pairs and Joy, Irving, Rhona and Bernard won the seniors multiple teams. Full results are on the EBU web site. Player of the Year In a
closely fought contest for the Intermediate category
Graham Campbell and George Leigh share the prize just
two points ahead of Karen Jones in third place, with
Chris Baker, Jim O'Neill and Barbara Eastabrook in
joint fourth place a further two points behind.
The new format for Intermediates appears to have been
successful with more players scoring points in events,
leading to a more exciting contest.
Michael Newman has won the Expert category ahead of Ollie Burgess and Alan Mould in joint second place. John and Michael in Paris The
French Bridge Federation are holding their Open trials
with a novel format this week (19th-21st April).
They have invited six pairs from England to play
against their top six pairs. John Holland is
playing with Ben Green and Michael Byrne with Mike
Bell.
Exciting finish in Division One relegation battle In the final match of division one of the league at Cheadle Hulme on Monday 18th April, Team Mayhem (Neil Thomas, Peter Foster, David and Jean Keen) just failed to stay up. One more IMP in their match against DASH would have led to Agamemnon being relegated. To go down with an average score of 14.4 is somewhat unlucky. Goldstone St Titus
beat DASH in the Goldstone semi-final to set up the final
against Jeff Morris's team. The first 24 boards were
closely fought with St Titus being 11 ahead, but they
easily won the last set, bidding two slams missed by DASH
and various other swings totalling 48 IMPs. The
winners qualify for the Pachabo.
As a result of this win Michael Newman wins the expert category of the Player of the Year category, his second win in this competition. In the Intermediate category Graham Campbell now leads by one point ahead of George Leigh with the league points still to be added. President's Cup Selections The following team has been selected for the inter county event at Bradford on June 18-19th. Both days: Raymond Semp/Toby Nonnenmacher, Alec Smalley/Tom Slater. Saturday Michael Byrne/Gary Hyett, David Barton/John Currie. Sunday Michael Byrne/Michael Newman, Kath & Alan Nelson. Higson Finals The Higson Cup and Plate Finals took place at Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday April 10th. In the cup the top league placings were reversed when Bare Bones, who were one VP behind St Titus at half time overhauled them to win by a margin of seven VPs. Congratulations to Robert Myers, Adrian Kenworthy, Mike Goldsmith and Ed Levy. Third place went to Isolated Menaces. In the plate Splinter Group (John Moran, George Leigh, Janet Tolan and Andy Green) won by a substantial margin ahead of The Four Dummies (Karen Jones, Barbara Eastabrook, Susan McGeechan and Judy Yates) who won the Higson Salver for lower division teams. Thanks to Kath Nelson for her hard work running the league and cup this season and to directors Jeff Smith and Joan Lewis. Detailed results are on the Manchester Bridge Club web site.
Higson Cup
Higson Plate
North Wales Swiss Teams Easter Festivals In
the Northern Easter Festival at Ilkley Bernard and
Rhona Goldenfield won the Swiss Pairs without losing a
match well ahead of second placed Alan Mould and John
Holland. Meanwhile Michael Byrne went to London
and finished second in the pairs with Kieran
Dyke.
In the Swiss Teams events on Sunday Bernard and Rhona teamed up with Irving and Joy Blakey to finish second ahead of John Holland, Alan Mould, Gary Hyett and Willie Crook (Notts). In London Kath and Alan Nelson teamed up with former MCBA members Steve Eginton and Bill Hirst to finish third equal. Full results are on the EBU web site and the YCBA web site. Portland
Pairs
Congratulations
to
Irene
Davies and Roger Hopton who were an excellent fourth out
of 360 in the EBU Mixed Pairs event on 20th March.
Playing at Brierfield they had a 59% first session to be
in 27th place, then a small improvement in the second
session to 61.5% gave them an average of 60.5% about 2%
behind the winners. Full results are on the EBU web
site.Regional Pairs John
Holland and Tony Coley finished second in the Northern
Pairs at Bradford on 13th March and qualify for the
National Pairs Final next month along with Gary Hyett
who played with Dan Crofts in Solihull.
Martin Braid Memorial Trophy Fifteen
teams played at Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday 13th March
in the pivot teams event in memory of Martin Braid in aid of
The British Heart Foundation.Winners were Kath & Alan
Nelson, Michael Newman and Jeff Morris, ahead of Robert
Myers, Laura Covill, David Debbage and Ed Levy. In
third place and winners of the non-expert prize were Adam
Wiseberg, John Fitzgerald, Jonathan Engler and Andrew
Jackson. Full results on the Manchester
Bridge Club site.
 Play about to start - in the foreground in the green shirt Farokh Engineer, the former India and Lancashire cricketer. Struggling with a stack of boards the director, Sarah Amos Portland
Bowl
Manchester
University A have reached the semi finals of the Portland Bowl
by beating Cambridge University A in an online match.
The
team,
led by England U25 squad member Toby Nonnenmacher (who was in
the winning Cambridge team last year) took a commanding 26 imp
lead at half time of the 32 board match, played on BBO on
Wednesday 9th.
The
second
half started disastrously and they were quickly looking in
danger of losing. Towards the end two crucial back to back
slam swings went in Manchester's favour and they emerged
victors by over 20.
Green Point Swiss Pairs The annual Green Point Pairs was held at Altrincham on Saturday 5th March. As usual the event was full and was well run by David Stevenson and Joan Lewis. Thanks to Rhona and Bernard Goldenfield for their hard work in organising the event. Ken Hassell and Ian Kane from the Altrincham club quickly reached table one and stayed there after that all day winning ahead of Raymond Semp and Toby Nonnenmacher. Last year's winners Alan Nelson and Jeff Smith were third. The player of the year results have now been added. Ollie Burgess has moved into the lead in the expert category ahead of Michael Newman who is now just ahead of Joy and Irving Blakey and Raymond Semp in joint third place. In the intermediate category Graham Campbell still leads, but Chris Baker and Jim O'Neill have now moved into joint second ahead of Karen Jones and George Leigh. Full results below pictures, detailed results are on the Altrincham web site.
1 38 Ian Kane & Kenneth Hassell 108 4.00 2 21 Toby Nonnenmacher & Raymond Semp 105 2.94 3 23 Alan Nelson & Jeff Smith 100 2.31 4 5 Kath Nelson & Ollie Burgess 95 2.11 5= 35 Joy Blakey & Irving Blakey 91 1.93 5= 12 Tony Hodgson & Eddie Thornton-Chan 91 1.81 7= 25 Pauline Lang & Rod Franks 89 1.81 7= 32 Rodney Lighton & John Currie 89 1.43 9= 15 John Holland & Gillian Whyte 87 1.63 9= 19 Eve Lighthill & Sidney Travers 87 1.50 11 40 Celia Comrie & Kevin Comrie 85 1.50 12 46 Gwen Beattie & Jeremy Stanforth 84 1.25 13 7 Gary Hyett & Margaret Howe 83 1.00 14= 10 Peter Kaufmann & Christopher Pope 81 0.88 14= 11 Karen Reissmann & Peter Carey-Yard 81 1.00 16= 42 Peter Jones & Jackie Pye 80 1.13 16= 18 Howard Stubbings & Dhun Daji 80 0.88 18 16 Alan Mould & Michael Newman 76 0.89 19 14 A Babs Matthews & John Farmer 75 1.13 20= 3 Michael Byrne & Patricia Burrows 72 1.00 20= 27 Bernard Goldenfield & Rhona Goldenfield 72 0.75 20= 28 Nick Woodcock & Sue Woodcock 72 1.00 23 13 Bob Loveridge & Helen Montgomery 71 0.88 24 37 Steve Mattinson & Michael Parr 70 1.00 25 36 James Sheppard & Stephen Ward 69 0.75 26 45 Stuart Matthews & Mark Weeks 68 0.75 27= 43 Trevor Hails & Chris Ryall 67 1.13 27= 33 Bill White & Joyce White 67 1.00 29 50 John Morrell & Marianne Farr 66 0.75 30 1 Andy Green & Haidee Tattersall 63 0.63 31= 26 Tracy Capal & Paddy Murphy 62 0.63 31= 31 N Chris Baker & Jim O'Neill 62 0.75 33= 30 Peter Boardman & Glenda Lloyd 60 0.75 33= 2 N Mariam Jabbar & Mohammed Jabbar 60 0.75 33= 29 N Helen Nightingale & David Tattersall 60 0.88 36= 49 Michael Wymer & Edward Jones 59 0.50 36= 17 Peter Foster & John Roberts 59 0.50 38= 48 N Andrea O'Rafferty & David Murray 57 0.75 38= 4 N Ruthy Chadwick & Hilary Abramson 57 0.75 38= 34 Bill Wattleworth & Liz Wattleworth 57 0.51 41 6 Max Richman & Sandra Richman 56 0.63 42= 47 John Fitzgerald & Barbara Eastabrook 55 0.75 42= 20 N Graham Campbell & Lindsey Barnes 55 0.50 44 8 N Terry Krell & Jonathan Engler 54 0.63 45 22 Kevin Higgins & Richard Sinton 52 0.75 46 39 N Richard Cross & Carol McKinnon 50 0.50 47 9 Richard Acaster & David Berrisford 49 0.25 48 24 Andrea Mills & David Welsh 42 0.25 49 44 Nicholas Greer & Henry Bissell 36 0.25 50 41 N Pat Dunningham & Peter Horn 34 0.25 Ranked Masters Events Events
for each ranking were held in Birmingham over the weekend
of 27-28th February. Manchester players did well
with Kath Nelson second in the Premier Grand Masters
playing with Steve Auchterlonie of Kent, Peter Foster won
the Premier Life Masters with John Liebeschutz of
Cambridge, Tom Slater was second in the National Masters
with Rob Dixon of Oxford and Sean Mekie was second in the
Regional Masters with Laura Covill also from Oxford.
Congratulations to all. Full results are on the EBU
web site.
Cantor Cup A good
turnout of 24 pairs competed for the Cantor Cup on Sunday
28th February at Manchester Bridge Club. Most of the
pairs were competing in their first event and it was
encouraging to see a good number of students. They all
enjoyed the competition including the afternoon tea
with fresh scones.
Thanks to
Joan Lewis for directing, Barbara Lewis and Ann Thornton for
organising and to the Cantor family for some of the prizes.
2nd Ernest Au & Sarahi Bajani 64.77 3rd Joan Missira & Chris Boal 64.27 4th Shirley Leak & Graham Hobbs 61.24 5th Michael Faust & Richard Aubrey 58.22 6th Marie Kirwan & Neville Toft 55.00 7th Josh Clarke & Rocky Bullin 53.73 8th M Whiteoak & J Rudd 53.34 9th John Bridgman & Paul Batstone 53.29 10th Lisa Czyniewska & Diane Saxon 51.04 11th Martin Godden & Gillian Maguire 50.97 12th Henry Bissell & Wisnu Ananda 50.49 13th Stephen Harlow & Gill Page 50.18 14th Mike Kilkenny & Alan Stokes 48.29 15th Maggie Morgan & Marilyn Cole 47.58 16th Peter Chua & Anna Ivanova 45.55 17th Jane McGruer & Barbara Herring 44.46 18th Mike Wood & Lesley Richards 44.05 19th Jacqueline Michelson & Carol Gee 42.99 20th Tessa Connolly & Debbie Kennedy 40.86 21st David Eason & Clive Beveridge 39.91 22nd Geraldine Mulholland & Nigel Campbell 38.73 23rd Linda Fletcher & Avril Hutton 38.24 24th Corinne Goddard & Josephine Jackson 37.71 Goldstone Semi-Finals The
semi-finalists in the Goldstone Trophy are St Titus
(Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, Alan Mould, Gary Hyett,
Rodney Lighton, John Holland) versus DASH (Ken Hassell, Ian
Kane,
Raymond Semp, Eve Lighthill, David Olliver, Sid
Travers) and Jeff Morris (John
Hassett,
Rhona Goldenfield, Ollie Burgess) versus
Altrincham A (Geoff
Hull,
Ann Jordan, Mike Asher, Graham Campbell, Andrew
Jackson). The winners will represent
Manchester in the inter counties Pachabo event,
won last year by the St Titus team.
Harrogate Congress In the EBU Sping Congress at
Harrogate on 20th-22nd February John Holland finished third
in the Swiss Pairs playing with Clive Owen. Full
results are on the EBU web site.
Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer The Under 26 and Under 21 home internationals took place from 19th-21st February in Edinburgh. Manchester interest was provided in the U26 event by Sean Mekie, a Manchester member currently living in the South and by Toby Nonnenmacher, a London member currently living in Manchester. Having trailed to Scotland in the U26 event most of the weekend, England overtook them by winning the final set of 14 boards 66-4. East Wales Swiss Congratulations
to Bill and Joyce White playing with Babs and Tim Matthews
of Cumbria who came second in a field of 38 teams at
Newport on 13-14th Feb. For full results click here.
 Tim Matthews, Joyce White, Babs Matthews, Bill White Tollemache The
Manchester
team of Michael Byrne/Gary Hyett, John Holland/Alan Mould,
Alec Smalley/Tom Slater, John Hassett/Jeff Morris npc Ollie
Burgess played at West Bromwich on Feb 13-14th against Kent,
London, Middlesex, Worcestershire, Yorkshire, Surrey, Berks
and Bucks.
The team
started well with two good wins on Saturday afternoon, but a
3-17 loss to Kent on Saturday evening left them in third
place, a long way adrift of London. Yorkshire's surprise
defeat of London in the penultimate round gave Manchester hope
if they could hammer London in the final match. However,
they lost 17-3 and finished fourth behind London, Kent and
Surrey. Michael and Gary were our best pair on the cross
IMPs followed by Tom and Alec.Gazette Cup The
county inter club teams of eight competition took place on
Sunday
7th February at Altrincham Bridge Club.
There was a good turn out of ten teams, with Manchester (Burgess) winning comfortably ahead of Cheadle Hulme. They go on to represent Manchester in the Garden Cities competition. The intermediate cup went to Altrincham (Fitzgerald) who were sixth. Welcome to Stretford Bridge Club who have recently affiliated to the EBU and sent a team for the first time. Thanks to Joan Lewis for directing and to Ann Thornton for organising. The PotY spreadsheet is now updated with the points for the Gazette. Ollie Burgess has moved into second place behind Michael Newman in the expert category while Graham Campbell has increased his lead over Karen Jones in the intermediate category. 1 Manchester (Burgess ) 131 Edward Levy, Mike Goldsmith, Robert Myers, Ollie Burgess David Sarabowski, Andy Green, Adrian Kenworthy, Jason Hackett 2 Cheadle-Hulme (Thomas) 111 Neil Thomas, Gillian McMullan, Royce Alexander, John Currie Joy Blakey, Irving Blakey, Alec Smalley, Tom Slater 3 Altrincham (Kane ) 108 Kenneth Hassell, Ian Kane, Kath Nelson, Alan Nelson David Olliver, Sidney Travers, Roger Hopton, David Fussell 4 Bramhall (Lang) 103 Tony Hodgson, Eddie Thornton-Chan, Gilbert Fletcher, Doris Kirwan Ross Worthington, Pauline Lang, Chris Barnard, Ian Pendlebury 5 Manchester (Byrne ) 99 Michael Byrne, Leslie Klein, Peter Jones, Michael Newman Raymond Semp, Toby Nonnenmacher, Nicholas Greer, Alan Mould 6 Altrincham (Fitzgerald ) 93 John Fitzgerald, Barbara Eastabrook, Mohammed Jabbar, Mariam Jabbar Graham Campbell, Andrew Jackson, Sally Bray, George Leigh 7 Cheadle-Hulme (White ) 88 Bill White, Joyce White, Joyce Jones, Robert Jones Eve Lighthill, Barbara Lewis, Herbert Potts, Sylvia Massey 8 Bramhall (Higgins ) 78 Kevin Higgins, Richard Sinton, Steve Mattinson, Rod Franks John Roberts, Richard Acaster, Inder Sethi, Surinder Sethi 9 Stretford (Jackson) 61 Howard Middleton, Peter Jackson, Hilary Black, Haidee Tattersall Don Monks, Helen Murray, Bernice Hadfield, Marjorie Robinson 10 Manchester (Thornton ) 28 Ann Thornton, Linda Williams, Ross Allen, Phillip Taylor Irene Davies, Karen Reissmann, Susan Triggs, Graham Winn
Cyprus Congress In the EBU
overseas congress from the 1st-7th February Bernard and
Rhona Goldenfield won the teams event playing with Warner
Solomon and Sandy Davies. All results from the event
are on the EBU web site.
Teltscher Trials Trials for the Senior Camrose took place on 6-7th February at Solihull. Manchester players competing were John Holland and Gary Hyett for the Hackett team and John Hassett and Jeff Morris for the Sansom team. Neither team was successful. Results are on the EBU web site. Chester Congress Several
Manchester players went to Deva bridge club for their
congress on 30-31 January. Successes were recorded
by Pauline Lang and Rod Franks who were second equal in
the pairs and in the Swiss Teams by Michael Newman and
Ollie Burgess who won by a large margin playing with
Andrew Woodcock and Catherine Draper of Lancashire.
Full results are on the Deva
web
site.
LCBA Butler Pairs Congratulations to Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield who won the Lancashire Butler pairs at Lytham on 23rd January ahead of Jackie Pye and Jeff Smith. Results are on the LCBA web site. National Teams Congress In
the point-a-board event at Birmingham on 16-17th January
Michael Byrne's team (Kieran Dyke, Andrew Murphy, Ed
Jones) were second and John Holland's team (Ben Green,
Jeremy Dhondy, Brian Callaghan) finished third. Full
results of this event and the parallel Swiss Teams are on
the EBU web site.
Preston Teams In the Preston Teams on 10th January clear winners were Kath and Alan Nelson with Jackie Pye and Jeff Smith ahead of Catherine Draper, Andrew Woodcock and Liz and Bill Wattleworth of Lancashire. Full results are on the Preston Bridge Club site. Manchester Congress 2016 The
Manchester Congress took place at the Victoria and Albert
Hotel on 2nd-3rd January.
As usual it was a hugely enjoyable event, thanks to Sarah and Mike Amos and Joan Lewis for directing, all those who helped set up and clear away and especially to Irene Davies for co-ordinating it all. Thanks also to internationals Justin Hackett and Sally Brock for presenting prizes. In the pairs on Saturday Jeff Smith and Marianne Farr from Lancashire were clear winners nearly two percent ahead of Richard Winter and Tom Cohen of Yorkshire who won the Men's pairs trophy. Top Manchester pair were Sam Herman and Peter Jones. They were followed by the winners of the Mixed Trophy Barry Myers and Sally Brock who have won this trophy four out of the five times they have played. Well done also to Janet Tolan and Victor Ridding in sixth place and Eddie Thornton-Chan and Tony Hodgson who were seventh. The Ladies pairs trophy was won by Irene Davies and Karen Reissmann and the Intermediate Trophy was won by Ann Thornton and Michael Greaney. In the teams Alec Smalley, Michael Newman, Joy and Irving Blakey managed a score of +81 IMPs which would normally be a winning score, but Sally Brock, Barry Myers, John Currie and Rodney Lighton had a huge score of +115 IMPs to win by a large margin, this was the first win in this event for three of the team, Rodney Lighton last won it in 1982!. In the teams B final Jason Hackett's team also posted a score of over 100 IMPs for an emphatic win. In the teams C final the Whitefield team of Avril Mattinson, Rosemary Rosenthal, Wendy Brentwood and Pam Ladbrooke were delighted to win. Two events for players new to tournament bridge were held, the Kevin Comrie Cup and the Players Progress Cup which attracted an enthusiastic entry. Congratulations to Laura Covill winner of the Junior Trophy sponsored by Manchester Bridge Club. Two quizzes set by Michael Byrne and Raymond Semp and a caption competiton also kept players entertained. The player of the year spreadsheet has now been updated. Michael Newman has increased his lead thanks to his second place in the teams, Alan Mould and John Holland move into second and thrid place respectively. In the Intermediate category Graham Campbell still leads, but Karen Jones has closed the gap in second place, with Adam Wiseberg third. Summaries of results are on the links below Pairs Teams A final Teams B final Teams C final Kevin Comrie Cup Players Progress Cup Detailed congress results are on the Manchester Bridge Club web site for the main events and the Larkhill Club web site for the Kevin Comrie and Players Progress. Michael Byrne's Quiz answers are here.
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| # | M | C | M | R | T | T | M | O | T | Total | Ave | |
| 1 | MIDLAND RAILWAY | + | 20 | 15 | 17 | 13 | 25 | 13 | 22 | 29 | 154 | 19.25 |
| = | CHORLTON CHALLENGERS | 10 | + | 15 | 24 | 9 | 17 | 27 | 22 | 30 | 154 | 19.25 |
| 3 | MONTON MISFITS | 15 | 15 | + | 10 | 25 | 9 | 17 | 19 | 29 | 139 | 17.38 |
| 4 | RADBROKE BANDITS | 13 | 6 | 20 | + | 29 | 21 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 127 | 15.88 |
| 5 | THE FOUR DUMMIES | 17 | 21 | 5 | 1 | + | 16 | 18 | 15 | 30 | 123 | 15.38 |
| 6 | THE ENIGMAS | 5 | 13 | 21 | 9 | 14 | + | 20 | 25 | 12 | 119 | 14.88 |
| 7 | MANCHESTER CARDINALS | 17 | 3 | 13 | 21 | 12 | 10 | + | 16 | 15 | 107 | 13.38 |
| 8 | OVERTRICK LUNATICS | 8 | 8 | 11 | 16 | 15 | 5 | 14 | + | 23 | 100 | 12.50 |
| 9 | THE DIAMOND DAMES | 1 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 0 | 18 | 15 | 7 | + | 57 | 7.13 |
Manchester League 2015-16 Division 6
| # | T | D | B | T | D | P | 3 | N | N | Total | Ave | ||
| 1 | THE UNCONVENTIONALS | + | 16 | 10 | 7 | 23 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 30 | 148 | 18.50 | |
| = | DOUBLE DIAMONDS | 14 | + | 18 | 24 | 15 | 21 | 18 | 10 | 28 | 148 | 18.50 | |
| 3 | BOMBAY SAPPHIRES | 20 | 12 | + | 29 | 14 | 7 | 28 | 26 | 6 | 142 | 17.75 | |
| 4 | THE BIDDABLES | 23 | 6 | 1 | + | 9 | 26 | 28 | 22 | 22 | 137 | 17.13 | |
| 5 | DOUBLE TROUBLE | 7 | 15 | 16 | 21 | + | 13 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 114 | 14.25 | |
| 6 | PACK CHOICE | 10 | 9 | 23 | 4 | 17 | + | 6 | 23 | 10 | 102 | 12.75 | |
| 7 | 3 REDS AND A REBEL | 9 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 24 | + | 8 | 28 | 100 | 12.50 | |
| 8 | NEMESIS | 9 | 20 | 4 | 8 | 17 | 7 | 22 | + | 10 | 97 | 12.13 | |
| 9 | EUREKA | 0 | 2 | 24 | 8 | 16 | 20 | 2 | 20 | + | 92 | 11.50 | |
| 10 | NO TEAM | + | 0 | 0.00 |
Manchester League 2015-16 Division 7
| # | L | A | J | C | S | S | T | T | Total | Ave | |
| 1 | LASTMINUTE.BID | + | 30 | 11 | 16 | 18 | 26 | 30 | 30 | 161 | 23.00 |
| 2 | ADLAN | 0 | + | 23 | 15 | 21 | 24 | 20 | 29 | 132 | 18.86 |
| 3 | JEMS | 19 | 7 | + | 19 | 14 | 15 | 29 | 25 | 128 | 18.29 |
| 4 | CONJURERS | 14 | 15 | 11 | + | 22 | 8 | 18 | 28 | 116 | 16.57 |
| 5 |