| NEXT BIG EVENTS |
On Saturday 6th July the next Midlands Mixed Teams will be taking place, on RealBridge. Applications to represent the county are welcome. Please email rec@gcba.org.uk if you are interested.
On the 20th & 21st July, we have the next Gloucestershire-Herefordshire Green Point weekend : details and entry forms can be found by clicking here.
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| BRIDGE IT'S A BIG DEAL - THE FESTIVAL |
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EBU Bridge Festival (Bridge - It’s A Big Deal!) 9th September – 15th September
The EBU is organising a national festival of bridge called Bridge - It’s A Big Deal! (BIABD) to run from Monday 9th - Sunday 15th September. It will consist of numerous bridge related events throughout the UK, with the objectives of raising the profile of the game among nonplayers, attracting new players, raising money for a worthy cause, (Cancer Research UK), and having fun.
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| Here's a video to watch |
As part of the festival, the EBU has planned some national events but see the main effort being made by local clubs planning their own events to support the festival objectives. Accordingly, it has provided ideas and resources for such activities plus lots of other relevant information on their website, www.ebu.co.uk/festival. The website also includes an events map showing details of all local events planned so far.
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CLICK ON THIS LINK FOR
ideas for your events
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We are appealing to players in Gloucestershire, to ensure that their bridge club is taking part in what promises to be a fantastic festival; ask the committee to let us know what their plans are so we can publicise these appropriately.
Many thanks
Richard Barlow
County Bridge Festival Manager
Gloucestershire
Email: richard.barlow@gcba.org.uk
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| CONGRATULATIONS |
To Andrew Bull & James Hastie for winning the AGM Pairs on 19th May 2024; winners on handicap were Jan Bailey & Patrick Shields
To the Stroud Cafe Bridge Team (Alison, Franceska, Michele) for such a successful event on 21st April, which raised £1000 for the Brimscombe-based Stroud Grace Network. A total of 32 pairs played, across four cafes.
The team of Richard Butland & Rob Stevens, Richard Chamberlain & Paul Denning have won all three of their matches to become the County KO Champions for 2024.
At the Devon County Congress the Swiss Pairs was won by Tony Hill & Alan Wearmouth (a field of 44 pairs). In the Swiss Teams, Paul Denning was in the team which came first out of 20 teams.
In the National Mixed Pairs (Portland Pairs), Ro Kaye & Arun Nanda came 18th in a filed of 102 pairs - well done.
Winners of the Newent Bowl (16 teams, all went well) : Alastair Catchpole & Tony Hill, Allan & Judy Sanis and the runners-up were Ken Haines & Sue Wickenden, Steve Lawrence & Anne Summers.
Winners of the Green Point Swiss Pairs at Bath (hosted by Wiltshire) - first of 70 pairs finishing with three 19-1 wins - Alastair Catchpole & Jack Armorgie.
Winners of the COTSWOLD CUP, by a whisker after playing the runners up in the last round, were Pam Pearce & Susan Sharp. They were followed by Ben Ritacca & Peter Waggett.
At the end of the year, the top Master Points collector in the County is Jackie Davies (who also leads nationally) followed by Patrick Shields; in second place behind Jackie on collecting Black Points is Derek Boreham, second behind Jackie on Blue Points is (equal) Frank Harsent & Trevor Howard, and on Green Points Garry Watson leads from Paul Denning.
After the November One Day Green Point event (this runs through March 2024), Jackie Davies has overtaken Arun Nanda to be the top County player in this series; Alan Wearmouth provides the County's third position.
To Alastair Catchpole whose team came equal fourth in the Swiss Teams at the EBU's year End Congress in London.
To Alan Wearmouth who, playing with Martyn from Cumbria, came second out of 88 pairs in the One Day Green Point Swiss Pairs on 25th November.
To the County Tollemache team who have qualified Gloucestershire for the final in February 2024. Well done to Butland & Stevens & Cornell, Chamberlain & Watson, Denning & McIntosh, Davis & Wearmouth, Ritacca & Waggett.
To Patrick Shields who playing with David Kendrick came 3rd of 246 in the Open Pairs at the Madeira Bridge Festival.
To Patrick Shields & Garry Watson, half of the team which won the EBU's most recent One Day GP event.
To Alastair Catchpole and Jack Armorgie who won the Swiss Pairs competition at the West of England Congress. They succeeded in a field of 84 pairs which included a number of well known international players. Well done!
Ian Sidgwick & Paul Spencer came 2nd in the morning session and 1st in the afternoon session at the Cumbria/EBU Jack-High pairs event on Sunday 3rd September. A fantastic performance - well done!
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To Andrew Bull & James Hastie for winning the AGM Pairs on 19th May 2024; winners on handicap were Jan Bailey & Patrick Shields
To the Stroud Cafe Bridge Team (Alison, Franceska, Michele) for such a successful event on 21st April, which raised £1000 for the Brimscombe-based Stroud Grace Network. A total of 32 pairs played, across four cafes.
The team of Richard Butland & Rob Stevens, Richard Chamberlain & Paul Denning have won all three of their matches to become the County KO Champions for 2024. ..........
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| BRIDGE EVENTS |
Specially for less experienced players - there is a page on the EBU website dedicated to games for you - click here to see it.
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MONDAY EVENTS
SUMMER 2024
Full details on its own web page.
On the non-bank-holiday Mondays of the month (May-August) ...
- first (not May): Open Teams, all-play-all. Live at Cheltenham BC with a 1900 hrs start.
- second & fourth : Pairs League on RealBridge with sessions starting at 1930 hrs and the allocation to division is on the Monday webpage.
- third & fifth : (not fifth May) Open Teams, with matches live at CBC
Alongside all Open Teams sessions, we will run a 9-High Teams game for those who wish to try out this form of competition. Just turn up on the night as a foursome.
You can just turn up for the Open Teams games a a foursome, but for the Pairs League you need to tell ctd@gcba.org.uk that you want to come.
There is no GCBA game on Bank Holiday Mondays.
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9-HIGH SWISS PAIRS
Full details here
- first & second series won by KINGHAM & POLHILL
- third series won by MILES & WILLIAMS
- fourth series won by ATKINSON & ATKINSON
- fifth & twelfth & 14th series won by BAILEY & MUSSI
- sixth series won by MILES & WILLIAMS
- seventh & eighth series won by POLHILL & WILKINSON
- ninth & 13th & 16th & 20th & 22nd series won by REEVES & REEVES
- tenth series won by LYTHEER & LYTHEER
- eleventh & 15th & 17th series won by BERRY & GREEN
- eighteenth series won by BROOKS & DAVIES
- nineteenth series won by MOXLEY & SHORRICK
- twenty-first & twenty-fourth series won by MUSSI & WILKINSON
- twenty-third series won by BOREHAM & JACKSON
Games on hold for now; possible restart in mid-2024; if interested email online-swissp@gcba.org.uk.
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OTHER EVENTS
COUNTY PAIRS FINAL
- On Sunday 28th April, with a 1200 hrs start, we have 20 pairs playing an all-play-all pairs event to determine the county matchpoints championship. Tjhe top pairs go forward to represent Gloucestershire in the EBU's Corwen Trophy in June.
COUNTY AGM & STEVE DARKE TROPHY
- On Sunday 19th May, the AGM of the County Association will take place at 1300 hrs in Cheltenham bridge Club, and will be followed by a **free* game of bridge for all attendees,
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| BRIDGE TEACHING & LEARNING |
Courses for Beginners and Improvers, and Play at Gentle Duplicate or Improvers Sessions. If you are offering teaching or learning additional to the below or would wish to add details please notify alan.stanfield@gcba.org.uk so that it can be added. If as a newcomer none of these suit you, fill in the form at THIS LINK and someone will get back to you with more ideas.
Courses for Beginners:
- Ian Cooke, Wotton-under-Edge BC, is running a beginners' course on Thursdays from 26th of September 2024. Contact Ian Cooke as below.
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Newent Bridge Club is running a beginners bridge course on Thursday evenings at Newent Community Centre The course started on 11th January 2024. Contact Ruth Wethey or Tom Rowland as below
- Jim Edwards, South Cotswold Bridge Club, Tetbury is running a new Beginners Course which starts in early October 2024 . Contact Jim Edwards as below
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Cheltenham Bridge Club has its 2024-2025 teaching programme. Contact Nicola Renshaw as below
Courses for Improvers:
- Ian Cooke, Wotton-under-Edge BC, is running an Improvers course on Tuesdays from 24th of September 2024. Contact Ian Cooke as below
- Newent Bridge Club is running an improvers bridge course on Thursday evenings at Newent Community Centre The course will run from September to November 2024. Contact Ruth Wethey as below
- Cheltenham Bridge Club has its 2024-2025 teaching programme. Contact Nicola Renshaw as below
Play at Gentle Duplicate / Improvers Sessions:
- Gentle Duplicate sessions at The Priory Inn Hotel, Tetbury at 7.0pm, we aim to play 14 to 16 boards in the evening and the cost will be £3 table money, non members of South Cotswold Bridge Club will be welcome with table money being £4. Contact Jim Edwards as below
- There is an Improvers group every Monday afternoon (not BHs) from 1400-1600 hrs at Fairford Community Centre - if interested to partake please contact Margaret Bishop or Steve Love as below.
- Newent Bridge Club are running 10 weeks of Gentle bridge / Supervised Play starting on 27th June (7-9pm) at Newent Community Centre. Contact Ruth Wethey as below.
- Gentle Duplicate sessions at Bourton-on-the Hill, Wednesdays 12:30 for 12:40 in winter. The contact is Alan Lamb as below
- Gentle Duplicate sessions at Wotton-under-Edge (via RealBridge) on Tuesday & Thursday afternoons. The contact is Ian Cooke as below.
- Friendly Afternoon Bridge at The Octagon, Farmhill, Stroud on Thursday afternoons. The contact is Nigel Pitel as below.
- Casual Play with Coaching, North Cotswolds BC, Friday 1000 hrs at Broadwell Village Hall, Hall. The contact is Alan Lamb as below.
- Gentle Duplicate / Assisted Play sessions at Gloucester BC on Tuesdays from 13:30 at Elmscroft Community Centre GL2 0SS. The contact is Alan Stanfield as below
- Mentored Gentle Duplicate / Improvers sessions at Willersey Village Hall (near Broadway) most Thursday mornings 10:00-12:30 (and can cater for beginners) - contact Mike Robinson as below
Teachers/Coaches in Gloucestershire:
EBED organisers of Tournament Director and Bridge Teacher training nationally lisa@ebedcio.org.uk 01296 317217
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Courses for Beginners and Improvers, and Play at Gentle Duplicate or Improvers Sessions. If you are offering teaching or learning additional to the below or would wish to add details please notify alan. ..........
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| MASTER POINT CHAMPIONS |
In 2021 County-wide top scorers were Patrick Shields (overall and Green Points), Jonathan Bailey (Blue Points) and Dan McIntosh (local points).
In 2022 County-wide top scorers were Jackie Davies (overall and local Points), Ro Kaye (Blue Points) and Garry Watson (Green points).
The 2023 figures for Gliucestershire at the end of February show Jackie Davies leading on all categories (she also leads nationally on total points).
The club champions for 2022 are now available - click here for the Gloucestershire leaders. Well done to John Skjonnemand for the highest of those scores, but also to Kanwar Rahim who came first at two clubs and was second at Cheltenham as well.
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| REGULATIONS IN ONLINE BRIDGE |
There are some key differences in online play of which players should be aware:
- The GCBA Regulations on UNDOs apply in bidding and in play, and are (EBU and others allow fewer cases):
- Please only request an UNDO for a genuine mis-click and not for a change of mind or because you were not paying attention.
- Be generous in trusting your opponents to be honest and accept as often as you can. Call the TD if you have any difficulty accepting.
- THE GCBA and EBU Regulation on Convention Cards & Notes:
- You are allowed, during an online game, to consult your own CC or notes during the bidding.
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There are some key differences in online play of which players should be aware:
- The GCBA Regulations on UNDOs apply in bidding and in play, and are (EBU and others allow fewer cases):
- Please only request an UNDO for a genuine mis-click and not for a change of mind or because you were not paying attention.
- Be generous in trusting your opponents to be honest and accept as often as you can. ..........
..... see more |
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| TEACHING YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY |
The lockdown is a wonderful opportunity for people to learn this game. Why don't you look for anyone you could teach - see if these slide shows (updated 10 May) help
If you want to illustrate the game quickly to people - this amazing 3 minutes video shows it all.
Once you have got past this introduction you might find the material at this NZ site worthwhile.
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| ON-LINE BRIDGE |
This is a great way to keep your brain active, and to keep in touch with your friends. There are three primary options available, and these are well described on the EBU pages - click here to read.
The key attributes of the options are
>> BRIDGEBASEONLINE (BBO) : there are tens of thousands playing BBO each day, and the first EBU games on 17th March had 26 tables and 21 tables and ran smoothly. The cost is $2 per 12 boards which is good value and EBU Masterpoints are assigned. There is a great variety of bridge on BBO, but in the EBU competitions (NEW fast game at 1200, 1400, 1530, 1930 and 2100 hrs daily) the majority are playing Acol and are regular players at clubs in England. You can turn up as a pair, and singletons can visit the partnership desk or play with a robot. Details on how to play an EBU game are HERE. There is lots of guidance on using BBO available from the EBU - click here - and at the Berwick Bridge Club - click here to view. If ever you have to upload prepared hands to BBO for play - here's how.
>> BRIDGE CLUB LIVE : you will need a BCL login but there is a free guest facility and a more complete service available for an annual fee. There are very attractive special offers at this moment - read here. BCL is a friendly club and is based in England, so system familairy will be high. There is also the facility for Bridge Clubs to run their own sections within BCL, and this might be attractive to allow a club's players to keep in touch with each other.
>> REALBRIDGE : offers you an audio/video interface to a Duplicate Bridge game (and to a casual room too) which has been set up by a bridge organisation. It is alittle demanding of your system/bandwidth but offers a much improved experience over other sysetms.
>> FUNBRIDGE : offers great facilities for playing bridge with robots, and you get an initial allocation of hands when you sign up, but have to pay a small amount per hundred hands thereafter. Robots are sometimes more predictable than humans, but sometimes less so; they bid and play fast.
There are apps available for BBO and FUNBRIDGE on mobile devices, and BCL is also available on phones through a browser.
Provided you are not playing competitively, the pleasure of online bridge can be serious enahnced by running alongside a video conference of the style supported by Zoom or Skype or Google Hangouts. Do try it.
If you have useful advice or experiences to relate, please email to online@gcba.org.uk and we can share this.
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This is a great way to keep your brain active, and to keep in touch with your friends. There are three primary options available, and these are well described on the EBU pages - click here to read.
The key attributes of the options are
>> BRIDGEBASEONLINE (BBO) : there are tens of thousands playing BBO each day, and the first EBU games on 17th March had 26 tables and 21 tables and ran smoothly. ..........
..... see more |
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| Latest Trophy Winners |
BREDON VALE Cup : North Cotswolds
COUNTY PAIRS : Joe Angseesing & Kanwar Rahim
COUNTY LEAGUE DIV ONE : Patrick Shields & Garry Watson, Diana Nettleton & Tom Paske
COUNTY LEAGUE DIV TWO : Allan & Judy Sanis, Brian Goalby, Tony Letts & Roger Schofield, Keith Sharp
COUNTY LEAGUE DIV TWO-A : Mike Wignall & Richard Harris, Tony Roberts & Roger Williams.
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BREDON VALE Cup : North Cotswolds
COUNTY PAIRS : Joe Angseesing & Kanwar Rahim
COUNTY LEAGUE DIV ONE : Patrick Shields & Garry Watson, Diana Nettleton & Tom Paske
COUNTY LEAGUE DIV TWO : Allan & Judy Sanis, Brian Goalby, Tony Letts & Roger Schofield, Keith Sharp
COUNTY LEAGUE DIV TWO-A : Mike Wignall & Richard Harris, Tony Roberts & Roger Williams. ..........
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| External Results |
Please email any external result to results@gcba.org.uk for inclusion here.
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The GCBA team which played in the friendly match against Essex on 29th July - and came out on top with a score of +46 imps across the four teams. Full details - click here. Well done!
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Well done to the team of Paul Denning & Garry Watson, Dan McIntosh & Rob Myers who - representing Gloucestershire (as the County KO winners+1) - have just won the Pachabo Trophy. Last year the County representatives were 3rd, and the County representatives have won the event previously in 1984, 1994, 2004 and 2008. Paul Denning also played in three of these wins.
- In the Midlands County Congress (RealBridge 6-8 Jan 2023) we can report
- Ian Sidgwick & Paul Spencer came 7th out of 34 in the Open Pairs
- Arun Nanda and partner came 13th, Jane Morton & Pam Pearce came 17th, and Roger Williams & partner 21st - in a field of 80 pairs in the Swiss Pairs
- The team led by Garry Watson (Richard Chamberlain, Paul Denning, Patrick Shields) won the 2022 run of the Gerald Faulkner Salver - the EBU Seniors Knock-Out Championship.
- The County team failed - on a split tie - to qualify in November 2022 for the final of the Tollemache Cup.
- Well done to Alison Pritchard (playing with Ollie Burgess) coming second in the 2023 Portland Pairs (British Mixed Pairs Championship) - in a field of 100 pairs.
- .... waiting for something good to happen ....
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