We are very sad to announce that Heather Westcott passed away on Jan 1st 2025.  Although we have not seen her at the club recently (first the pandemic, then moving away to Buckinghamshire), she continued to play through COVID  online and was able to continue afterwards in our WBC Pairs league, until recently, when failing eyesight made even this impossible.  Over many years, Heather (playing mainly with her sister Jennifer) was a regular player at the club, and she won the first ever Pairs Final in 1991 (with Joan Le Mesurier) and the Championship Teams in 2005, playing with Ian Leake, as well as many things outside of WBC: Heather and Jennifer won the County Ladies' Pairs three times, the Seniors Pairs once, and the Veterans Pairs twice, most recently in 2014/15.  Heather also won the County Mixed pairs with Steve Allerston in 2001/2. The picture shows them receiving the trophy for the Magpies (Heather, Jennifer, Fred, Barclay) winning League Div 3 in 2013/4, at WCBA  AGM.

Our thoughts and sympathy go to her husband Richard, and their family, and especially to her dear sister Jennifer.

On Tuesday 10th December at Hallow, fifteen teams played, with Maurice, Janet, Jennifer and Mary topping the rankings; other prizes went to Paul and Linda, George & Dev, Simon & Richard, and Martyn.  A fabulous buffet spread was prepared for us by Dev, Lynn and Freda plus lots of helpers!

On Wednesday 11th December at Claines - Nine teams played, with Paul T, Linda, Susan and Marian coming out on top; top XIMPs prizes went to Jane and Mark, and to Brenda and Chris (non-expert).  Another fine spread from Dev was served at the interval, along with plentiful mulled wine etc! 

On Tuesday 17th December, we once again ran our GB-France Simultaneous event: we played the same hands that they play at their Christmas Party event, and the scores will be amalgamated (on Friday 20th Dec!). Again we had FIFTEEN tables (bursting at the seams!), and in-room results were as follows: NS: 1st Mick/Gerald 61.93; 2nd George/Dev 55.68; 3rd Simon/Richard 55.11;  EW: 1st= Robert/Neal, Alan/Marian 59.66; 3rd Bryan/Brian 57.58;  Mick and Gerald were TOP NS pair when results were combined with the French; Alan and Marian were 2nd best EW pair, by 0.06%!

On Wednesday 18th December we held the Pairs Play-off Final; congratulations to SUE T and PETE C, who were the overall winners, and therefore take the TROPHY; the wine prizes went to Chris B and Brenda.

Our  sessions at Hallow and Claines, were part of the big C-i-N SIM events.  WBC members donated a fantastic total of over £560 (inc GiftAid) across our sessions.

RESULTS: Tuesday :Well done to Bryan and Marian, an excellent 68% in the room, and NINTH nationally, out of 1350+ pairs!

Results HERE; Commentary booklets for Tues HERE.

RESULTS: Wednesday: Well done to Paul and David, who won Wed's heat, with 63%.  Results HERE; Commentary booklets for Wed  HERE.

It's not too late to donate - here, or cash to Mike or George.

Link for payments:    ECats is fundraising for BBC Children in Need

Wednesday 9th October saw the Championship Teams contested between seven teams, with Jane, Mark, Rob and Mike coming out on top, with George, Richard, Pete and Sue in 2nd place.  Meanwhile, two teams competed for the Try-Duplicate Cup, with Russell, Lindsay, Gill and Sarah emerging victorious.  Pictures to follow below.

The "Bridge- It's a Big Deal" Festival was a great success!!  The Festival was a nationwide event, with many things happening in the County; our aims were to raise awareness of our great game, and recruit some new players, whilst raising money for Cancer Research UK.  We were featured on the EBU Festival pages, with MORE photographs and links.

We had some good publicity from BBC H&W, thanks to ELLIOTT WEBB interviewing Yvette and Mike. 

Please note that you can still make a donation;  the link below will take you to CRUK's own giving page, which also allows you to GIFT AID where possible; linked from:

LINK FOR DONATIONS TO CANCER RESEARCH UK

WBC's Café Bridge event, on Wed 11th  September, raised £412 plus some extra donations; winners were Rufus + Lorna 

WBC supported Cancer Research UK by running our normal sessions that week (Tue 10th/Wed 11th) fully in aid of the cause. A further (approximately) £600 has come in via these donations - many thanks to our members.

All of the above became part of a County-wide effort worth over £3900, as part of an impressive £100,000 nationally (and still counting!!)

Well done to Lorna and Rufus, our winners with 68%!

David + Adam were 2nd, and won the Slammers prize; Yvette and Fiona were 3rd, and Sue and Rosie were 4th.

We raised over £500 for the "Bridge - It's a Big deal!" festival, in aid of Cancer Research UK.

Pictures here
 

"BRIDGE - EVERYWHERE!"  - Saturday 7th September, Worcester City Centre

Well, we did play at EIGHT venues - The Hive, The Commandery, Cathedral Square, The Cornmarket, M&S Café, The Dice Box, Reindeer Court and finally in Crowngate, at 5pm!  The five-hour bell-ringing marathon at the Cathedral was an unexpected challenge, and the weather could have been kinder to us, to be honest, but we DID manage to play in all the outdoor venues for some of the time! and attracted quite a lot of curiosity and interest. Fifty players/volunteers from all over the County, across 8 venues and 6 hours - MANY THANKS to ALL our fabulous volunteers!

The 12 Speed Bridgers managed to play approx 24 boards per HOUR each, which many said was not possible! Well done to winners, Mike + Eddy, with 65%! And there were some great master-classes/supervised play sessions in The Hive and in M&S Café.

 Many photos to follow!

Hallow Summer Extravaganza took place on Tue August 13th.

Twelve and a half tables had a great time, with a fabulous tea served to the tables, all beautifully prepared for us by Dev, with help from Lynn on the day. The Pimms supply was drunk dry, whilst some chose prosecco, or tea! Prizes went to Bryan and Marian (open), Angela and David (9-high) Denise and Linda (5-high), and Maurice and Janet (closest to 50%) Pics to follow.

Meanwhile, seven and a half tables had great fun at our Summer Special at Claines, on Wed 24th July.

The Pimm's flowed at the interval, along with excellent strawberries, cream, meringue and shortcake  prepared for us by Linda. We were entertained by John with an ode to the characters of WBC! Prizes went to Geoffrey and Mike, leading pair, to Peter and Sue, the highest placed non-expert pair, and to Maureen and Marian, closest to 50%. See picture.

Wednesday night (14th) saw the Teams event take place with 6 entries. The winning team, pictured, was Stewart, Joyce, Chris and Mike.

Nine Mixed Pairs (and an all-male pair!) contested the Mixed Pairs Trophy on Wed 10th July.

Congratulations to Jane and Dick, who won by a comfortable margin, with Jane + Mark in 2nd place, and Linda + Paul in 3rd. Pic to follow.

Thanks are due to Paul H and Geoffrey for Directing, scoring and ensuring we did not have a sit-out!

Twelve teams competed for the wine prizes on Tue 16th July, a good turn-out!

Winners were John S, Peter F, John D and Mike; with the XIMPS pairs prize going to Bryan and Brian Well done to all! 

Next teams event will be in September.

Six teams (main section) and two "Try" teams competed on Wednesday evening for the wine prizes. 

The main section was won by Mike, Alan, Jane and Rob, while the Try-Teams event was won by John, Sarah, Sue S and Chris B.

Next Wed teams event is set for 14th August with a "Try" section as usual. "Try-"players should note that there will also be a Try" pairs section on Wed 24th July on the night of the :Summer Special.

Many thanks to all who have completed GDPR forms; we now have nearly all members' forms completed now. Trish won the prize for the first completed one!

What GDPR means for you is summarised on WBC Privacy Policy Summary which you can find here, and our full policy can be viewed here.

If you have not yet completed a form, you can download the  blank PDF from here; First SAVE the PDF to your desktop, then RE-OPEN it, tick the boxes and fill in the details. Then email back to Mike (mike1958v@mail.com).

Members might like to know more about the Roger Bowles Bridge Library.

After Roger's tragic death in Dec 2015, his widow donated his extensive collection of Bridge books to us; it was agreed that these should be managed by the County Bridge Association, and they are stored by Martin Gill.  The full list of some 125 titles (both educational and humorous) can be found here, along with Martin Gill's contact details.

https://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwol/bw.cgi?club=worcestershire&pid=display_page65

We have a small "taster" selection at Claines for people to see, and books can also be booked out from there, using the notebook to record borrowing and return.

Get reading!!

♠ If you are looking for a game of Duplicate Bridge, we would like to think you have come to the right place...♥ 

♦ Just click HERE for details on how to start playing at Worcester Bridge  Club!♣ 

We play:

at Claines Royal British Legion, Cornmeadow Lane, WR3 7PL, every Wednesday

Start time 7.00 for 7.10pm.   

and at Hallow Parish Hall, Hallow Worcester, WR2 6PE, every Tuesday

Start time 12-50pm for 1pm.

Please pre-book, with Mike for Wed sessions, and with Ian for Tuesday sessions

Currently, we do not have a host, but we can often pair up singles in advance.