2025 News and Results

National Pairs

Well done to Kath Nelson who finished 5th with Arthur Hughes of Yorkshire in the final of the National Pairs held online on 12-13th April.

Results are on the EBU site.

Wakefield Swiss Pairs

Congratulations to Gideon Harvey and Daniel Kelsall who were joint winners of the Wakefield Swiss Pairs on 6th April.  Results can be seen here.

Northern Pairs

Congratulations to Kath Nelson who won the Northern heat of the National Pairs with Yorkshire's Arthur Hughes on Sunday 23rd March.  Jeff Morris and David Sarabowski were second.  Both these pairs qualify for the national final finishing sixth and eleventh in the national ranking respectively.

Hubert Phillips

In an exciting clash between two of Manchester's top teams Byrne (Michael Byrne, Kieran Dyke, Fiona Brown, Ben Green) overcame Hackett (Justin, Barbara and Paul Hackett, Martin Taylor) to win the semi final of the Hubert Phillips Bowl.

There were a lot of slam deals in the 48 board match including two back to back 6C deals, one where team Byrne missed slam completely but team Hackett overreached to a no play grand slam.

After taking an early lead Byrne were pegged back and going into the final set of 8 boards the margin was just 1270 aggregate points (equivalent to about 25-30 imps).  A strong finish by Byrne meant they pulled away to win by 2410 points.

In the final Byrne will face a former Manchester team containing Mike and Sarah Bell.  Manchester has a long history of success in this event with John Holland having won 6 times in the 1980s and 1990s and Rhona Goldenfield having won 3 times in the 1980-2000s.

Thanks to Michael Byrne for this report

Peebles Congress

John Holland and Raymond Semp have been doing well at Peebles from 14-16th March.  They were second in the BAM teams with Ian Sime and Liz McGowan and then won the Friday Pairs by a good margin. In the Saturday Pairs FInal they were fourth.  Results are on the SBU web site.

Camrose

The second weekend of the home nations event took place in Northern Ireland from 7th-9th March.  There were no Manchester players but Michael Byrne was non-playing captain.  England won the event ahead of Ireland.  See the EBU web site for results.

Green Point Swiss Pairs

The Green Point Swiss Pairs was held at Altrincham on Saturday 1st March.  34 pairs entered.  With one round to go there were six or seven pairs who could win overall if they won their last match well.  In the end Michael Fay and Sue Woodcock of Lancashire triumphed, just ahead of David Sarabowski and Andy Brocklehurst with Alan Mould and Rodney Lighton third.  Leading non-expert pairs were Kevin and Celia Comrie who had volunteered as reserve pair to ensure that there were no half tables.  The event was ably run by Stuart Davies.  Thanks to him and Rhona Goldenfield for organising.  Thanks also to Alrincham Bridge club and their members who helped with setting up and clearing away.

In the Player of the Year Rodney Lighton has taken a clear lead over Rhona Goldenfield and John Hassett in the expert category, while in the non-expert category Karen Jones and Barbara Eastabrook have increased their lead over Richard Acaster.

Results are now on the MCBA events site.

Winners Michael Fay, Kevin Comrie (MCBA President) and Sue Woodcock	Second Andy Brocklehurst and David Sarabowski
Third Rodney Lighton and Alan Mould	Fourth equal Roger Hopton, Gillian McMullan, Rhona Goldenfield, Kath Nelson
Non-expert winners Celia and Kevin Comrie	Second non-expert Barbara Eastabrook and Karen Jones
Last round winners  Jeff Angove and Paul Hackett

Cantor Cup

This single session event for new and inexperienced players was held at Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday 23rd February.  17 pairs competed playing 18 boards each.  Winners were Jackie O'Donnell and Stephen Dauncey with a good score of nearly 63%.  Carol Gavin and John Dunn were second, Jean Kirsten and Julie Johnston third.  Results can be found on the Manchester Club Web Site.

Thanks to Susan Triggs for organising this event, Manchester Bridge Club for hosting and Ann Thornton for help and presenting prizes.

Ann Thornton with winners Steve Dauncey and Jackie O'Donnell	Second Carole Gavin and John Dunn
Third Jean Kirsten and Julie Johnston	Fourth Kathryn Morley and Andreas Kotsinagis

Gazette Cup

The inter clubs teams of eight event was held at Bramhall on Sunday 16th February.  There was a good entry of ten teams of which six were non-expert.  Bramhall and Altrincham each fielded three teams, Manchester two and Trafford and Ashton one each. Thanks to Irene Davies, Barbara Lewis and Alec Smalley for organising and to Jonathan Lillycrop for his excellent directing and running up and down the stairs at Bramhall to move the boards and players! 

Manchester Hassett won the event just 3 VPs ahead of Bramhall Slater.  Congratulations to John Hassett/Rhona Goldenfield, Jeff Morris/David Sarabowski, Paul Hackett/Mike Goldsmith, Justin Hackett/Martin Taylor.  They go on to represent Manchester in the Garden Cities regional final.  Trafford did well to finish fourth and win the non-expert prize.  Their team was Diana Calvert/Judith Gilder, Louise Henry/Seema Gupta, Ann Whitehead/Nicki Decent, Mel & Estelle Megitt.  Detailed results are on the online results site

The Player of the Year spreadsheet has now been updated with the results from this event.  In the expert category John Hassett and Rodney Lighton are joint leaders just ahead of Raymond Semp.  In the non-expert category Barbara Eastabrook and Karen Jones still lead.

(Kevin Comrie MCBA President), Paul Hackett, Jeff Morris, Rhona Goldenfield, Mike Goldsmith, John Hassett, David Sarabowski, Justin Hackett, Martin Taylor, (Irene Davies organiser)

Ann Whitehead, (Kevin Comrie), Judith Gilder, Diana Calvert, Seema Gupta, Louise Henry

Harrogate Spring Congress

IN the EBU congress at Harrogate from 7th-9th February Martin Taylor and Justin Hackett did well to finish second in the Swiss Pairs.  Paul Murray was fourth with Paul Hackett.

Algarve Congress

Several Manchester Pairs played in the EBU holiday congress from 3rd to 9th Feb.  Congratulations to Rhona Goldenfield and Raymond Semp who won the pre-congress pairs and Joy and Irving Blakey who won the imp pairs.  These two pairs teamed up to win the Swiss teams.  Results are on the EBU web site.

Tollemache Final

Manchester finished third in the Tollemache final at Telford on 1st-2nd February.  They were just 1 VP behind Surrey but a long way behind London.  Manchester won five of their seven matches and the two they lost were only 8-12 losses.  Congratulations to Alec Smalley/Tom Slater, Alan Mould/John Hassett, Rodney Lighton/Tom Dessain and Nicholas Greer/Phil Taylor.  Alec and Tom were our best pair on the cross imps, Alan and John also did well.  Results are on the EBU web site.

EBU Swiss Pairs

Richard Acaster and Gil Fletcher did well to finish third with 72 pairs playing in the EBU online event on 26th January.  Results are on the EBU web site.

Chester Congress

This popular event took place at Deva Bridge Club on 25th-26th January.  In the pairs on Saturday 28 pairs played with a good entry of about 13 from Manchester.  Karen Reissman and Irene Davies were top qualifiers, followed by Rodney Lighton and Tom Dessain.  The top 14 pairs played a Howell movement in the evening.  Congratulations to Tom Slater and Alec Smalley who won with a good score of 63% ahead of John Holland and Jackie Pye.  In the consolation final Boris Ewart and Tracy Sherman were second, with Gideon Harvey and Daniel Kelsall fourth.

The multiple teams event on the Sunday was won by Alan Mould, John Hassett, John Holland and Jackie Pye.  Tom Slater, Daniel Kelsall, Barbara Lewis and Alec Smalley were third.

Thanks to David Smith and Deva members for organising and to James Vickers for directing.

Results are on the Deva Club web site.

David Smith of Deva with Alec Smalley and Tom Slater

David Smith with Alan Mould, John Holland, Jackie Pye, John Hassett

Teltscher Trials

The trials for the England Senior Team took place in York from 10-12th January.  John Holland played with Jackie Pye of Lancashire.  They finished fifth in a field of 12 pairs.  Results are on the EBU web site.

Manchester  Online Weekend

The loss of the booked venue for the Manchester Congress meant that the event was run as an online weekend on RealBridge on 4-5th January.

36 pairs entered the Saturday event, 10 of whom were Manchester pairs with a handful of Manchester players also playing with partners from outside the county.

Congratulations to the winners, Dido Coley and Lily Kearney who play on the England U26 women's team.  In second place about three and a half percent behind were Alan Hayward and Alan Jarvis who were the leading Men's pair.  Highest place Manchester player was Gary Hyett who was third playing with Ros Wolfarth of Sussex.  They are mixed pairs winners.  Tracy Sherman and Chris Child in sixth place were leading Ladies pair.  Highest placed pair registered to MCBA were Eve Lighthill and Barbara Lewis in twelfth position.

Twelve teams entered on Sunday.  The event was run as all play all with four board rounds.  Winners were the Devon team of Harry Anoyrkatis, Stefan Lindors, Jim Grant and Jesper Rundin who were comfortably ahead of Paul Hackett, Diego Brenner, John Sansom and David Debbage.  Third place went to the Manchester team of John Hassett, Jeff Morris, Raymond Semp and Royce Alexander.

Detailed results can be found on Oliver Cowan's website.

The Player of the Year spreadsheet has been updated, Rodney Lighton and Tom Dessain lead in the expert category with Raymond Semp and John Hassett getting closer.  In the non-expert category Karen Jones and Barbara Eastabrook have a small lead over Richard Acaster.

Thanks to Barbara Lewis and Oliver Cowan for organisation, Ken Johnston for directing.  Hoping to be back face to face next year!

Click here for Michael's Congress Quiz.

Click here for Michael's quiz answers

Winners were Karen Reissmann and friends with 34/40, second Harry Anoyrkatis and team from Devon, third Lily Kearney.  Congratulations to all.

Tollemache Team

The following team has been selected to play in the Inter Counties Team of Eight final at Telford on 1st-2nd February.  Alec Smalley/Tom Slater, Tom Dessain/Rodney Lighton, John Hassett/Alan Mould, Nicholas Greer/Phil Taylor.