Blackpool Year End Congress
Congratulations to Manchester Chairman Jeff Smith who won the
Swiss Pairs playing with Jackie Pye of Lancashire.
Jackie Pye and Jeff
Smith receive the trophy from Michelle Brunner
Santa
Claus Pairs
Manchester Bridge
Club's annual festive event was won by Rhona and Bernard Goldenfield
on Sunday 17th December.
Ben Franks
Took place at
Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday 10th December. A triumph for
the management team at Manchester Bridge Club, last year's winners
were second. Twenty one pairs participated with the top four
pairs qualifying for the Corwen Trophy to be held at Kettering over the
weekend of 2nd-3rd June 2007.
1st David Debbage and Jeff Morris 58.42%
2nd Peter Jones and Peter Foster 58.14%
3rd Mark Bass and Frank Brown
56.09%
4th Peter and Jean Hand
55.89%
5th Jim and Jenny Morris
55.78%
6th Sam Herman & Barbara Lewis
54.58%
7th Dave Pennington & Rod Franks 53.71%
8th Eddie Humphrey & Gordon Hadfield 52.23%
9th Karen Reissmann & Irene Davies 52.15%
10th Geoffrey Fink & Sid Travers
51.37%
Gold Cup
Final - Manchester lose close match
The Manchester team of Michael
Byrne, John Holland, Michelle Brunner, Bill Hirst, John Hassett and
Alex Morris won their semi-final in a close match, but lost an incredibly
close final to a Scottish team by 2 IMPs. The final sets were very
exciting to watch with about 1200 spectators viewing on Bridge Base Online.
They were only 1 IMP behind going into the last set. Obviously
any of several boards could have swung it to the Manchester team. Congratulations
on getting so far and commiserations on not quite winning.
Tollemache
Qualifying
Manchester won
their group and qualified in comfort for the final of the Tollemache,
in the qualifying weekend held at Kettering Leisure Centre on November
25th/26th.
The team of Michael Byrne/Andrew Woodcock, John Hassett/Bill
Hirst, David Debbage/Michael Newman, John Holland/Michelle Brunner,
David Barton/Alan Jones, with Jeff Smith as NPC, won all their matches
and were leaders from start to finish. Their group contained some
strong counties such as Warwickshire, Gloucestershire and the North
East, and local rivals including Lancashire.
The final is also being held in Kettering in February.
International
Selections
The following
Manchester players have been selected for England teams. Tom
Slater and Andrew Murphy (Channel Trophy), Mark Reeve and David
Collier (Junior Camrose). John Holland with John Armstrong
of Derbyshire (Camrose Trophy). Congratulations to all. Details of events and venues are
on the EBU web site. I will try to remember to post reminders if
the matches are to be broadcast on BridgeBase Online.
Michael Byrne
has been selected as non-playing captain for the Channel Trophy
and Peggy Bayer Trophy (U20 Camrose), Michelle Brunner and Rhona
Goldenfield are reserves for the Lady Milne.
Cheadle
win NICKO Plate
Many congratulations
to Cheadle Hulme B: (Derek Gray, Mary Costagliola, Peter Hodgson,
Norman Southern) who beat Monday Club 'A': (John Williamson,
Malcolm Grimston, Mark Cast, Angela McCready, Alan Powys) by 8
IMPs in the final of the NICKO plate on Saturday 28th October at Coventry.
This is, I believe, the first national win for three of the
team. Norman Southern won a national title very many years
ago (see the history page). Royce Alexander played in earlier
rounds.
The victorious
team at Cheadle Hulme Bridge Club
Norman
Southern, Mary Costagliola, Peter Hodgson and Derek Gray
Junior
European Trials
Manchester's
Tom Slater (23) and Andrew Murphy (24) scored a tremendous victory at the
weekend when they won the Junior European Squad trials by a phenomenal 79
imps.
The trials were held over the weekend at Lougborough and
comprised 9 board matches against all the other 10 pairs.
Tom and Andrew won almost all of their matches and their final total
of 116 imps was one of the highest ever recorded.
This victory qualifies them for the Junior European squad,
where they will join 3 of the other pairs from the weekend who will
fight it out for a place in the Junior Europeans in July (rumoured
to be held in Russia).
Other Manchester players playing were Alex Morris who finished
5th with new partner Fiona Brown, formerly of Australia and now of
Harrogate, and Mark Reeve/David Collier who finished further down the
field.
Tom and Andrew were an integral part of Manchester's Junior
Northern League winning team this year and have previously won the
Junior Camrose Trophy (the home nations tournament) in 2005.
Gold Cup
Congratulations to Michael Byrne,
Alex Morris, Bill Hirst, John Hassett, Michelle Brunner and John
Holland who have reached the semi-finals of the Gold Cup, the first
time for Michael/Alex and the first time in ten years for the other
four.
On Friday night (27th) they won a 64 board match against
Paul Hackett, Tony Waterlow, Ian Panto, Gerald Haase, and Victor
Silverstone by 40 imps.
They took an early lead in set two when they outscored
the opposition 31 imps to 1, and then steadily added more before
being 50 up going into the final set.
The semi finals are being played on the weekend of the
9th and 10th of December in Peebles, in the next round Michael's
team face either Ian Sime (Scotland), Tony Forrester or Simon Gillis.
In the final
weekend of the Northern League (28th Oct) Manchester held on to
win the A division, capped by a fine performance by Michael Newman
and Dave Debbage. The rest of the team was Mike Ardron/Mark Halliwell
(Captain), Alan Nelson/Kath Nelson and Dave Barton/Jeff Smith who stood
into play as last minute reserves in addition to directing.
Also thanks to the many other players that helped Manchester
win this prestigious inaugral event - Michelle Brunner, Rhona Goldenfield,
Alan Jones, Dave Barton, Bernard Goldenfield, David Adelman, Michael
Byrne, Andrew Woodcock, Jeff Morris and Bill Hirst.
Manchester also finished 1st in the Junior division,
despite allowing Yorkshire to claim a 20-0 victory for the second
match of the league held in
August (which had been declared a friendly practice event),
Manchester acquiescing as a show of good faith.
They finished 3rd on the final day, (with North East
A winning) and had a comfortable 10 VP cushion over the 2nd placed
team.
Congratulations to the team (Michael Byrne, Jon King,
Simon Mattinson, Jennie Marvin) and to all of the players that stamped
Manchester's authority as the breeding ground for good young players:
Tom Slater, Andrew Murphy, Mark Reeve, David Collier, Edward Levy,
Amy Stout, Richard O'Connor and David Barratt.
Camrose
Trials
Congratulations to the Manchester Players who competed
successfully in the England Open Trials on 14th-15th
October.
In first place were Manchester residents Justin and Jason
Hackett, second was their father's team Paul Hackett, with MCBA
selector John Holland partnering John Armstrong of Derbyshire. In
fourth place was Michael Byrne's young team (Andrew Woodcock, Ben Green
and Duncan Happer) which rose from second bottom after the first weekend.
The trials were held over two weekends and will be used
in selection for the Camrose Trophy. The team will be selected
in November by the England selection committee.
Full results on the EBU web site.
Great Northern
Pairs
Congratulations
to Andrew Woodcock and Michael Byrne who won the Great Northern
Swiss Pairs on 7th-8th October in fine style.
They scored 181 out of a possible 220, and had won
the event with a match to go - then they increased their lead by
winning the final match 20-0.
The event is held annually at Risley and was won previously
by Michael in 2001, then aged just 20.
In 2nd place was Manchester's premier mini-bridge
teacher David Adelman playing with Alex Hogg from Derbyshire,
whilst Dave Pennington and Rod Franks were well placed at table
one in the final match but a 20-0 loss to the leaders saw them slip
to 11th place.
Several MCBA members helped the England under 20 squad
this weekend by transporting them to and from Risley, contributing
towards the encouragement of junior bridge - our thanks go to Barry
Hobden, Ray Ashleigh, Neil Thomas and Jeff Morris.
Full results
on the EBU web site.
Senior
Success for Rubber Bridge Players
John Hassett and
Bill Hirst, one of the county's most long standing and successful partnerships have reached
the final of the Seniors' knock out
competition
for the second year running. They beat the Midlands squad captained
by David Jones by 10imps,
leading a very close match throughout. They face Ian Monachan's squad of London professionals
in the final. Strangely
they aren't seeded for next years competition.
Junior Success for Manchester
Pair
David Collier
and Mark Reeve finished second in the Junior Camrose trials held
at the weekend. Although they led the event for
the most part they were consistently at the top and ended only a few imps behind
first placed Susan Stockdale and Dave Cropper.
Mark and David
are keen supporters of the county. They finished third in the Manchester Congress teams held last
January and have also represented Manchester in the Northern League Junior
division which they currently lead.
Mark and David met at Manchester Bridge Club and were
encouraged to play
together in events such as the Higson Cup, Manchester League, and Congress. They play a complicated strong
club system that often baffles themselves as well as the opposition and have previously
represented England in the Channel trophy, though not in a Junior
Camrose.
Other Manchester
pairs to compete in the event were Alex Morris who played in a one off partnership with Simon Cope
and did well to finish 4th (having won the event in 2002, 2004 and 2006),
and Tom Slater/Andrew Murphy who finished halfway having won the event
in 2005.
Dr Maurice Super
1936-2006
Maurice Super
died on the 20th September following a long illness. Many
bridge players attended the funeral at Cheadle cemetery. He was a keen and strong bridge
player who competed regularly at Manchester Bridge Club and also
a good supporter of MCBA events. He continued playing bridge
despite his illness and won the last duplicate that he played in at
Manchester in August. He was a former newsletter editor and match
secretary of the MCBA. He was a fine cricketer and tennis player.
Professionally he was a Consultant Paediatric
Geneticist working at
the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital since 1979, specialising in
all aspects of cystic fibrosis in which he was a world expert.
Our sympathies go to his wife Anne and all his family.
Tollemache Selections
The selection committee
has chosen the following pairs to represent Manchester in the inter
counties team of eight competition.
Michael Newman/Dave Debbage, Michael Byrne/Andrew
Woodcock, John Holland/Michelle Brunner, John Hasset/Bill Hirst,
Alan Jones/Dave Barton NPC: Jeff Smith
The qualifying round is on 25-26th November.
Manchester beat Derbyshire
The Derbyshire
Match held at Spondon on Sunday 3rd Sept was won by Manchester
by 107 IMPS.
The team was Caryl Bloch & Peter Hodgson with
Dave Audley & Frank Brown who gained 60+ IMPS, Pat Burrows &
Steve Mattinson with Rod Franks & Mary Costagliola who gained
49 IMPS, Dave Pennington & Howard Stubbings with Gill McMullen
& Neil Thomas who gained 18 IMPS and Peter Foster & Dave Berrisford
with Joyce & Bill White who had a negative score!
The match was played in a friendly spirit and an
excellent buffet was enjoyed by all the participants. Although
it was never close nor the result ever in doubt, the match was enjoyable,
particularly by county debutants Steve Mattinson and Dave Berrisford.
European Championships Warsaw
Congratulations
to Michelle Brunner and Rhona Goldenfield who won a bronze
medal in the Women's event. This qualifies them for the World
Championships. Barbara Hackett also qualified for the German
team who were in 4th place.
Cath
Jagger, Martin Jones (captain), Michelle Brunner, Sarah Teshome,
Rhona Goldenfield, Heather Dhondy and Nicola Smith
Partially visible
behind Michelle is Chris Duckworth (coach)
Northern League
Congratulations
to the various Manchester players that represented us in the Northern
League on 30th Sept.
In the Junior division Manchester scored 49 out of 60
vps, including a satisfying 20-0 whitewash of Yorkshire, to win
the match comfortably and
leave them well placed for victory in the final weekend.
Well done to Tom Slater (Captain) /Andrew Murphy, Simon Mattinson/Richard
O
Connor.
In the A division Manchester won by a few VPs to
leave them with an enormous margin of victory going into the final
match.
Well played to Jeff Smith (Captain)/ Bernard Goldenfield,
Bill Hirst/Michael Newman, Rhona Goldenfield/Michelle Brunner, Michael
Byrne/Andrew Woodcock.
In the B division the team had to trek all the way to
Darlington, and our thanks go to Dave Audley (Cap) Mark Bass, Raymond
Semp/Denis Robson, Mark Halliwell/Mike Ardron, Bob Cooke/Peter Jones.
They finished 3rd, but gained valuable points on league
leaders Yorkshire who were 4th.
In the C divison many of the team competed for the first
time but an enjoyable match was had at Brierfield. The team was Dave
Matthews(cap)/Anne Thorton, John Parsons/Graham Winn, Karen Reissman/Irene
Davies, Di Lyons/Barbara Drewry.
Northern League
The Northern
Counties Bridge League held on Saturday 26th August at Manchester
was again a roaring success.
In the A division the Manchester team won 4 of their
5 matches (and drew the 5th one with Cumbria of all teams!) to head
the table comfortably. The team was Byrne/Woodcock,
Barton/Jones, A Nelson/J Morris, K Nelson/Adelman.
In the B team Smith/Klein, Lighthill/Travers, Blakey/Blakey
and Hailliwell/Ardron recovered some ground after an early bashing
by Yorkshire
to end in 2nd place.
In the C division Manchester got off to a good start
but slipped away at the end to finish 5th. It was the first cap
for many of the pairs and our
congratulations go to Bruce and Pat Cannon, Steve
Mattinson and Di Lyons, Valerie and Barry Hobden and Lance Bloohn
and Karen Sandler.
The Junior division didn't have a formal match, but
played a friendly match against 4 vastly more experienced students
from Yorkshire.
Overall Manchester is placed 1st, 3rd, 2nd and 1st.
At Manchester A Teams
Overall position
Manchester 71
141
Yorkshire 52
101
Lancashire 49
94
North East 49
103
Cumbria 44
86
Merseyside 35
75
At Keighley B Teams
Yorkshire 89
150
Manchester 67
111
Lancashire 62
107
Cumbria 62
90
Merseyside 52
121
North East 44
94*
Lincolnshire 44
77
At Blackburn C Teams
Lancashire
60
98
Merseyside 53
112
Cumbria 52
95
Yorkshire 51
98
Manchester 47
104
North East 37
96
Gold Cup
Congratulations
to John Holland, John Hassett, Bill Hirst, Michelle Brunner, Alex
Morris and non playing captain Michael Byrne who reached the
quarter finals of the Gold Cup, by beating the number
4 seeds Armstrong (Simpson, Price, Steel, King, McGann) by a nail
biting 6 imps last Friday. In the next round they play a local derby
with Paul Hackett's southern sextet.
NICKO Plate
Congratulations
to the Cheadle Hulme B team (Derek Gray, Mary Costagliola,
Norman Southern and Peter Hodgson) who have reached the final of
the NICKO plate, beating Swindon"A" by 62 - 52 imps in the 32
board semi-final. They will play Monday Club "A" from London
in the final.
Brighton Teams
Congratulations to Michael
Byrne and Andrew Woodcock, who achieved a phenomenal success in Brighton
by winning the Four Stars Teams Championship, one of the most prestigious
competitions in the country. Playing with Dave Bakhshi and
Glyn Liggins from London they qualified comfortably by finishing 3rd
out of over 200 teams, then on the Sunday they swept the field and won
all of their matches to cruise to victory by a comfortable looking 15
VPs.
Michael (25) and Andrew (26) are both members of
MCBA, Andrew having defected recently from his native Lancashire,
and are representing
Manchester in the Northern League this weekend.
This is a tremendous result
for the pair, who have previously come 3rd on separate teams, Michael
in 2003 and Andrew back in 1996 when he was 17.
Andrew
Woodcock, David Bakhshi, Glyn Liggins and Michael Byrne
President's Cup
There were 9 Teams
in the competition on 29th-30th July at Sheffield.
Manchester, Staffs, Yorkshire, Lancashire, N.Wales,
Cumbria, Merseyside, Derbyshire, Isle of Man
Jeff Smith-Mark Halliwell, Michael Byrne-Andrew
Woodcock played both days.
On Saturday, Michelle Brunner-Rhona Goldenfield
and Alan & Kath Nelson played
On Sunday, David Adelman-Raymond Semp, Alan Jones-David
Barton played.
After a solid start on the Saturday afternoon,
Manchester had a slender lead but a poor performance in the evening
left them 4th overnight. The Sunday saw a recovery in the first 4
matches to climb to second place but a heavy defeat against Yorkshire
effectively ended our chances and the team finished a creditable 3rd
place on 100VPs behind Staffordshire and Yorkshire.
Simultaneous Pairs
Manchester players
did exceptionally well in the recent Simultaneous Pairs competition
on Monday 24th July held in more than 130 clubs. Ian Kane and
Ken Hassell at Altrincham club look to have won the event with
74.4% followed closely by Michael Byrne and Sid Travers at Manchester
Bridge Club lying 3rd on 71.9%
Bridge and Golf
The annual bridge
and golf event was held at Chorlton Golf Club on 13th July. A
boiling hot day at Chorlton was enjoyed by all, nice course, good
meal and of course great organisation on the bridge front from Boris
Ewart.
Overall winner Keith Sowerbutts.
Runner up Michael Clarke.
Golf winner. Colin Birtles
Runner up Paul Beckwith.
Bridge Winner Howard Melbourne.
Runner up Tracy Capal
Risley Green Point
Weekend
The Manchester
County Green Point Swiss Pairs was won by two England
Juniors, Andrew Woodcock and Michael Byrne, both of Manchester.
They won all of their 7 matches, including winning the crunch match
5 against Andrew's parents, legendary Swiss Pairs specialists Nick
and Sue Woodcock 19-1. In their final match they needed only to
score 8 out of 20 Vp's to finish ahead of Under 20 squad members Tom Dessain
(North East) and Ed Jones (Leics) who had travelled up for the weekend to
compete in Risley.
This was a first Risley Swiss Pairs win for
Michael Byrne, who has finished 2nd several times including
at the last Risley Swiss Pairs in May, and also for Andrew who
has also recently finished 2nd in the first Risley Swiss Pairs
of the year in March. First 20 places below, full results
on EBU web site.
Swiss Pairs Sat
15th July
1st Pair 17
Michael Byrne & Andrew Woodcock ............
120.0 VP
2nd Pair 3
Tom Dessain & Ed Jones .....................
114.0
3rd Pair 13
Tim Prior & Chris Cooper ...................
107.0
4th Pair 11
Gordon Hadfield & Eddie Humphrey ...........
106.0
5th Pair 29
Tracy Capal & Boris Ewart ...... ...........
104.0
6th Pair 27
Ronald Stedman & Pat Crooks ................
101.0
7th Pair 15
Ian Kane & Ken Hughes ......................
98.0
8th Pair 4
Mike Cragg & Barbara Heaton ................
96.0
9th= Pair 31
Sue & Nick Woodcock ... ....................
94.0
9th= Pair 60
Janet Easter & Adrian Goulding .............
94.0
llth Pair 34
Angela Booth & Peter Radley ................
88.0
12th Pair 51
Ruth Barker & Tony Harden ..................
87.0
13th Pair 19
Liz Commins & Warwick Horspool .............
84.0
14th= Pair 9
Andrew Petrie & Jeff Smith .................
82.0
14th= Pair 47
Sheila Shea & Wyn Williams .................
82.0
14th= Pair 66
Barry Jones & Paddy Murphy .................
82.0
17th= Pair 1
Richard Taylor & Heather Harvey ............
81.0
17th= Pair 57
Peter Greaves & Raj Gupta ..................
81.0
17th= Pair 63
Brian Irlam & Megan Taft ...................
81.0
20th= Pair 58
Joy & Irving Blakey ........................
80.0
Swiss
Teams Sun 16th July
1
Sue Woodcock, Nick Woodcock, Andrew Woodcock, Craig Fisher
2
John Morrell, Marianne Farr, Mike Nicholson, Paul Williams
3
Heather Hobson, Roy Garthwaite, Angela Booth, Peter Radley
4=
Tracy Capal, Bill Niccol, Brian Cornelius, Gary Hyett
4=
Ian Kane, Ken Hassell, David Olliver, Ray Semp
6
Rod Franks, David Pennington, Pauline Lang, Steve Mattinson
7
Mike Bell, Jon King, Jennie Marvin, David Collier
8=
Michael Byrne, Kath Nelson, Bryony Youngs, Susan Stockdale
8=
David Strawbridge, Babs Matthews, Bill White, Joyce White
10= Bernard
Kaye, Marlene Kaye, Roger Waddington, Daniel Miller
10= Bernard
& Rhona Goldenfield, Richard Fleischman, Michelle Brunner
12 Andrew Petrie,
Giles Foster, Jackie Pye, Jeff Smith
13= Brian
Irlam, Megan Taft, David Briggs, Alan Kenyon
13= David
Clarke, Roy Edwards, Jane Stirton, Judy Stevenson
15= John
Hampson, Paul Roberts, Joan Marray, John Leather
15= Jenny
Morris, Jim Morris, Ron Steedman, Reg Bowdler
15= Barbara
Serres, Rob Roberts, Avril Lee, Roger Allison
18 Daniel
McIntosh, Rob Myers, Ben Paske, Mark Reeve
19= Sheila
Shea, Liz Commins, Wyn Williams, Warwick Horspool
19= Tony
Harden, Ruth Barker, Chris Harris, Gita Knudu
Seniors' Congress
Congratulations
to John Holland and Erika Slatcher (Isle of Man) who won the
championship pairs at the Summer Seniors Congress at Eastbourne
on Saturday 15th July.
Birth Congratulations
... to Irena
Grugulis, who on July 18th gave birth to a baby girl at St. Mary's
hospital in Manchester. Both mother and baby are doing fine,
and we wish them the best of health.
Harrogate Seniors Congress
Manchester players
took most of the honours on the weekend of 1st-2nd July.
Congratulations to Kath and Alan Nelson who won the
pairs, Joy and Irving Blakey, Rhona and Bernard Goldenfield
who won the Swiss Teams.
NICKO
Manchester 1B
have reached the semi finals of the Nicko, the first appearance
in the final stage by a Manchester team for over 10 years. Michael
Byrne, David Debbage, Craig Fisher, Michael Newman beat Lytham
A (who conceded with one set to play 55imps down) on June 25th to
reach the last four. They have previously beaten three teams
from Deva, a Sheffield Team and also, in a local derby, a team representing
Cheadle Hulme.
In the next round they face the winner
of the match between "77 Bridge club" in Hendon and County
Bridge club in Leicester. The other semi final is between an
Oxford team, and the winner of Horsham and Farnham.
World
Championships Verona
The World Open Pairs Championship,
the World Women Pairs Championships, the World Mixed Teams
Championship and the Rosenblum Teams took place in Verona,
Italy from 9th to 24th June.
John Holland and Michelle Brunner finished a
creditable 14th in the Mixed Pairs. Justin and Jason Hackett
were 9th in a very strong World Pairs Championship field.
Pachabo
2006
The Manchester
team of Michael Byrne, Michael Newman, John Hassett and Bill
Hirst finished a creditable 6th out of 30 teams in the Pachabo
final at Kettering on 11th-12th June. Full results are on
the EBU web site.
Michael
Byrne's 25th
To celebrate reaching the age of 25 and
therefore no longer being qualified as a Junior, Michael Byrne
held a party at Manchester Bridge club on 3rd June. The
guests included a large selection of England's finest Junior
players, and many of Manchester's bridge playing community. There
were even a few non-bridge players; Michael claimed at least
10. The absence of many people aged between 30 and 50 was notable.
An excellent party was enjoyed by all - and not a pack of cards
in sight. Kath Nelson got busy with a digital camera, click
on the links below to see photos.
Pictures from the party.
Warning - large files, may take a long
time to download
Photos
1 Photos 2 Photos 3 Photos 4
Killarney
2006
Not strictly a Manchester event, but many
Manchester players cross the Irish Sea to enjoy the Bridge,
Golf , country and hospitality. The congress is held every
May at the Lake
Hotel. Thanks to Kevin Comrie for the photos and results.
2nd Place Ladies Teams
Rhona Goldenfield and Celia Comrie
|
Winners Mixed Pairs
Celia Comrie & Bill Hirst
|
2nd Place Mixed Teams
Joy and Irving Blakey
with team mate Bill Hirst
|
2nd Place Men's Teams
Kevin Comrie and Bernard Goldenfield
with team mates
Paul Casselles (London) and Jim Luck (Wales)
|
3rd Championship Teams
Bernard & Rhona Goldenfield,
Bill Hirst and Jim Luck
|
2nd Place Championship Pairs
Joy and Irving Blakey
|
View of Killarney
|
More Killarney
|
|
League
The final league
table of the season is now posted. Congratulations
to Isolated Menaces (Michelle Brunner, Boris Ewart, Rhona and
Bernard Goldenfield) who win yet again. Special mention to the young team
of The Kids (Amy Stout, Jennie Marvin, Simon Mattison et al.)
who won Division Four convincingly. Thanks to Boris Ewart for running the
League and Cup and for supplying regular updates for the web
site throughout the season.
Garden
Cities
Manchester's
representative team in the Garden Cities Trophy, (Manchester Bridge Club
A), won their qualifying heat easily to advance into the final of the national
club teams of 8 championships. The qualifier, consisting of 9 teams, was
held at Bradford Bridge Club on Saturday May 20th, with the top two teams
advancing. Manchester was represented by Michael Byrne/Michael Newman,
John Hassett/Boris Ewart, Mike Goldsmith/Craig Fisher and Jeff Smith/David
Adelman.
In 2nd place was a team featuring many
Manchester Players representing South Shrops Bridge Club,
including former Manchester member Gary Hyett. "They just
outplayed us in the 2nd half" he was heard to say about the Manchester
team, who overtook South Shrops in part due to a comfortable
15-5 victory over them.
The National Final will be held on June
17th at Kettering Leisure centre, Manchester have won the trophy
twice previously and finished 2nd last year.
Risley
Green Point Weekend
Swiss Pairs Saturday
13th May
Manchester pairs did well. Congratulations
to winners Tracy Capal and Boris Ewart, second were Michael
Byrne and Michael Newman, in eighth place were Steve Mattinson
and Pat Burrows.
Swiss Teams Sunday 14th May
1st Paul Hackett, Justin Hackett,
Brian Cornelius, Gary Hyett
2nd Ted Reveley, Ralph Churney, Tracy
Capal, Bill Niccol
4th Michael Byrne, Kath Nelson,
Jeff Morris, Alan Nelson
7th Jenny Morris, Jim Morris,
Ron Steedman, Reg Bowdler
Full results of both events
are on the EBU web site.
County
Cup
Byrne makes
it four in a row
The Manchester County Cup, the qualifying
event for the Pachabo, has been won for the 4th year running
by Michael Byrne's team, breaking the record previously
set for consecutive victories.
Byrne's team (who haven't lost a match
in the competition in nearly 5 years) was Michael Newman,
John Hassett and Bill Hirst, all of whom were part of the team
that won last year.
The losing finalists, who led throughout
in the final until the final board were Jeff Smith, David
Adelman, Michael Clarke and Martin Braid, with Dave Barton in
previous rounds. The match was played in a very friendly spirit,
and all the parties involved managed to convince themselves that
the bridge had been of a good quality!
This year a new scoring system was
used, that of "point-a-board" where every board is either
won (giving you 2 points) or lost (giving you none). This meant
that the price for going off in a doubled slam missing two aces
and a trump trick, (as happened to team Byrne in set 3) was the
same as for missing an overtrick in a cold game (as happened
to team Smith in set 3).
The Pachabo is the annual competition
for counties to send the winners of their knock out competition,
and is being held in Kettering on June 10th.
Northern
Bridge League
The first of this year's Northern County
League matches were held on Saturday May 6th at various venues
around the country.
At Brierfield the A team were represented
by Newman/Debbage, Brunner/Goldenfield, Smith(Cap)/Goldenfield,
Jones/Barton and are leading comfortably having won all but
one of their matches.
At Deva Bridge Club the B team were represented
by Lighthill/Travers, J Blakey(Cap)/I Blakey, R Semp/D Oliver,
T Capal/B Ewart and recovered some ground after a disastrous
start to leave them lying 4th out 6.
At Manchester the C team were represented
by P Buxton(Cap)/A McKillop, B Beever/E Thornton-Chan, D
Matthews/B Hobden, and G Mc.Mullan/J Fitzgerald and are lying
2nd, only 2 vp's behind first place.
Also at Manchester the Junior team was
represented by M Byrne (Cap)/E Levy, A Stout/J Marvin, S
Mattison/R O'Connor, M Reeve/D Collier and they won all three
of their matches heavily to leave them top out of the 4 teams.
Every team enjoyed themselves and felt
the format and organisation were top-class, the C team all
commented on how friendly and pleasant the bridge had been,
and the visitors were all impressed at the welcoming atmosphere
of Manchester Bridge Club.
The Juniors were treated to a brief post-bridge
magic show by 17 year old Tom Whigham from the North East team,
which entertained everyone who saw it.
County
|
A
|
B
|
C
|
U25
|
Total
|
Manchester
|
70
|
44
|
57
|
53
|
224
|
Yorkshire
|
49
|
61
|
47
|
39
|
196
|
Merseyside
|
40
|
69
|
59
|
12
|
180
|
North East
|
54
|
-
|
59
|
16
|
179
|
Lancashire
|
45
|
45
|
38
|
-
|
158
|
Cumbria
|
42 |
38 |
43 |
- |
153 |
Lincolnshire
|
-
|
43
|
-
|
-
|
173
|
Note: Each match is out of 20 victory
points, with the maximum being 100, or 60 for the juniors,
where teams have been unable to send a team then they have been
credited with an average number of victory points.
Dates
& Venues for 2006 (No. of Teams in Brackets):
Sat
6th May
Brierfield (5)
Chester (6)
Manchester (6)
Manchester (4)
Sat
26th Aug Manchester
(6) Keighley (7)
Blackburn
(6) Blackburn
(4)
Sat
30th Sep Bradford
(6)
Darlington (7)
Brierfield (6)
Bradford (4)
Sat
28th Oct Manchester
(6) Manchester
(7) Darlington
(6) Darlington
(4)
Michael Byrne (Match Secretary)
is the main organiser from Manchester.
Spring
Fours
Michael Byrne's
team (Andrew Woodcock, Ben Green, Duncan Happer) were
the last unbeaten team in the EBU's double elimination event.
This gave them a bye to the semi-finals, but they lost to Wolfarth
who they had previously beaten. An excellent result for
a young team who clearly have a great future in the game.
Visit the EBU site for full
results.
Byrne and Hassett Win National
Pairs
Congratulations
to Michael Byrne and John Hassett who won the National Pairs
held at Kettering Lesiure Centre on 22nd/23rd April. John adds
this to his already impressive CV, becoming the only Manchester
player past or present to have won all of Crockfords, Nicko,
Hubert Phillips, Gold Cup (1987) and now the National Pairs,
whilst Michael at 24 is one of the youngest ever winners. This
was a fine achievement for the pair who came from 5th position
at the start of Sunday morning to score 62% in set 6 and 64% in
set 7, ending with an average of 59% to just pip the overnight leaders
Dhondy and Pagan.
John Hassett
and Michael Byrne with the Northern Pair's Trophy
MCBA Annual General Meeting
Was held at Manchester
Bridge Club on Thursday 27 April 2006. The
most interesting topic was whether the MCBA should purchase
a duplimate machine with some of the £9,000 that it
has in the bank. Would your club be interested in computer
dealt hands for its duplicates, with print outs of the deals
generated? Could regular simultaneous pairs be held within
the MCBA? Let the MCBA Officers know your views.
Club
Tournament Director Course
Congratulations to Steven Mattinson and Peter
McWhirter who passed the EBU course with distinction and
Richard Acaster who passed. More details on the EBU web site.
Kevin's
65th
Congratulations to popular local
player, teacher and vice-chair of the association Kevin
Comrie who was 65 recently, pictured here celebrating with his wife,
Celia.
National Newcomers' Pairs
A heat of this event was held
on Sunday 26th March 2006.
The following pairs were
successful
1st Yvonne Barnes - Gunter
Berzins 65.65% (2nd nationally - well done)
2nd Karen Reissman - Irene
Davies 62.78%
3rd George Leigh - Ann Turner
59.97
Pictured are Manchester Grammar
pupils Daniel Perks (facing) and Tom Beach,
playing
against heat winners Gunter Berzins and Yvonne Barnes
Lady
Milne
Congratulations
to Michelle Brunner and Rhona Goldenfield who were members
of the victorious England team in the Ladies Home International
event in Northern Ireland on 1st and 2nd April.
Northern
Pairs
Congratulations
to Michael Byrne and John Hassett who were comfortable
victors at the Northern Pairs Championship held at Bradford
Bridge club on Sunday 25th March. They led throughout and finished
on 64%, three whole boards clear of second place - who were also
a Manchester pair, Dave Audley and Frank Brown.
55 pairs took part in the competition,
which is used as a qualifying event for the National pairs,
with the top 8 pairs going through. Of the 8 qualifiers,
three of them were Manchester partnerships, the 3rd pair being
the transatlantic pairing of Frank Mc.Carthy and Neil White.
The final is being held in Kettering
on April 22nd/23rd.
North
West Green Point Events
11th-12th March at Risley
Swiss Pairs
1st Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield
2nd Ollie Burgess and Andrew Woodcock
3rd Joy and Irving Blakey
Swiss Teams
1st Dave Debbage, Jeff Morris,
Kath Nelson, David Adelman
2nd Tracy Capal, Boris Ewart,
Jeff Smith Andrew Petrie
3rd Michael Byrne, Ollie Burgess,
Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield
Full results on EBU web site
Commonwealth
Games Bridge
Silver for England
The English team
finished the round robin stage in third place. However,
they lost a tight semi-final KO match against an Indian
team by 15 IMPs after leading by a slender margin at the half
way stage. This was for the Gold/Silver medal as only
National teams were eligible for medals, they then went on to
win the third place play off by defeating an Australin team by 1
IMP.
The Commonwealth
Games Bridge Event took place in Australia from
7th-12th March. Click here for the web
site. Playing
for England are Michelle Brunner, John Holland, John
Hassett and Bill Hirst.
Junior
Camrose
Congratulations
to Michael Byrne and Alex Morris members of England's
victorious Junior Camrose Team on 18th-19th Feb. See
the EBU web site for results.
European Selections
Congratulations to John
Holland and John Armstong (of Derbyshire) who
received a call up to the Team for the European Championships
to be held in Warsaw this August. Although they lost in final
of the Open Trials John and John were rewarded with a spot
in the highest standard competition in Europe. Many
consider this event to be tougher than the Bermuda Bowl, for
which it is a qualifying event.
The rest of the team are
Townsend/Gold and Price/Simpson from London. Surprisingly
Justin and Jason Hackett, the country's leading pair and
the anchor pair at the last European, Olympiad, and Bermuda
Bowl are only reserves.
In the Ladies Rhona Goldenfield
and Michelle Brunner were once again selected for
their 4th consecutive European to be held alongside the Open
event, they will be hoping to build upon their Gold medal
from 2001, and their Bronze from 2002. Their team mates will
be Nicola Smith/Heather Dhondy and the inexperienced partnership
of Sarah Teshome/Catherine Jagger.
Cantor
Cup
The 8th Annual
Cantor Cup was held on Sunday February 26th at Altrincham
Bridge Club. This event is for improving bridge
players and those inexperienced in tournaments.
22 pairs took part and had
an enjoyable and successful afternoon.
Many of the Cantor family
came and Martin Cantor presented the prizes together
with one of his nephews. The Cantor family donated
£140 in prizes, together with trophies for the winners
(who also get to keep the Cup for a year), complemented by
further prizes from MCBA.
Results
1st
Peter Bailey and Frank Wetton 64.55%
2nd = Irene Davies and Karen
Reissman 63.41%
2nd = Josie Johnson and Joyce
Bateson 63.41%
4th Joyce
Downie and Margaret Kelly 61.14%
5th Michael
Cull and Pauline Cull 54.77%
Full list of results on the
results page.
Peter Bailey and Frank Whetton
between Martin Cantor (right) and nephew (left)
Bridge
in Oz
Manchester Players Enjoy Round the
World Success
In the prestigious Surfers
Teams competition held annually in Surfers Paradise,
Australia, John Holland and Michelle Brunner, playing with
Paul Marston, Hugh McGann, John Armstrong and Howard Melbourne
won the competition for a 2nd year in a row.
This tough competition takes
the format of a Swiss teams, with the top 4 teams from
200 going through to the knockout stages. The Holland team
managed to avoid losing a single set in the whole event, going
from strength to strength and leaving all behind them in their
wake.
In addition, Kath, Alan
Nelson and Boris Ewart, along with Peter Hardyment
from the South narrowly missed out on qualification for the
knockout stages. They more than made up for it by winning
the Consolation event, an excellent achievement considering
that they weren't in regular or first choice partnerships
Gazette Cup
Congratulations
to Manchester A who won the Gazette Trophy held on
Sunday 5th February. They scored 89 out of a possible 100
victory points and were clear victors by over 30 vps.
This is the 4th year in
a row that Manchester A has won the Gazette trophy, they will go
on to represent the county in the regional final to be held at Bradford
Bridge Club in May, and earn a chance to play in the national
final of the Garden Cities trophy, in which they have finished
2nd (2005) and 1st (2003). Second were Altrincham with
Bramhall A third of six teams.
Golfprint
Trophy
Congratulations
to Dunham Golf Club who won the qualifying heat of
the Golfprint Trophy held at Manchester Bridge Club on
Thursday 3rd February.
The Golf print is a competition
open to Golf clubs that play bridge, and is limited
to one experienced duplicate member per team.
Dunham was represented by
Nathan Marks and Geoffrey Fink, who first won the Manchester
Teams Championship in the 1950's, and County President and
Life Master Eve Lighthill playing with Murray Sherman.
They will go forward to represent
Manchester in the regional final to be held on February
25th.
National
Swiss Teams
In the National
Swiss Teams competition held 21st-22nd January in Kettering (in
a change from the usual Leeds venue) all the Manchester teams
competing acquited themselves well. Although Audley
(Dave Audley, Jeff Smith, Pete Foster, Peter Jones) lost their
first match 19-1 they came back strongly and were in the top 5
during the last day, dropping slightly to 10th place, shared equally
with Monachan, containing John Holland and Alan Mould. Slightly
ahead of them were Michael Byrne, Gary Hyett, Justin Hackett, John
Hassett and Brian Cornelius in 8th position.
83 teams took part,
and the event was won by a team from Amersham, who
are current holders of the Nicko. See EBU site for full results.
Farokh Engineer scores his first
hundred at Lord's - at BRIDGE!
MCC members and
guests took part in an inaugral teams of four
bridge competition in the famous Long Room at Lord's
on Sunday 22nd January. 24 teams took part during
six hours of intense competitive play in the magnificent setting
of Lord's Long Room.Farokh partnered Manchester Bridge Club proprietor
Jeff Morris and their team mates were London players actor,
James Smith, and Simon Cocheme. They scored exactly 100
international match points (imps) to win the event 3 imps in front
of the second place team consisting entirely of MCC members.
Farokh, who played
cricket for India and Lancashire and is one of the
few honourary Life Members of the MCC, was bowled over
by the result - he had never won a bridge competition before!
Members of the MCC stood, cheered and applauded when
the result was announced by the Chairman of the MCC Bridge Society,
Brian Wardlilley.
James Smith has been
resident in Manchester for the last three months whilst
rehearsing and performing in the acclaimed Royal Exchange
production of "Harvey". He took the role of the psychiatrist
Dr Chumley. He is currently appearing on TV playing
the Senior Political Assistant, Glenn Cullen, in the award
winning satirical comedy 'The Thick of It' which is now being
shown on Monday nights on BBC 2. Whilst in Manchester
he managed to fit in a number of bridge sessions at Manchester Bridge
Club where he was introduced to Farokh Engineer by club proprietor
Jeff Morris.
Farokh has played most
of his bridge socially and it has only been in the
last year or so that he has started to play in competitions.
He has become a very enthusiastic player and despite
his inexperience he rose to the big ocassion with a level
of play and concentration surpassing anything he has done
in bridge before.
Simon Cocheme, James Smith, Brian
Wardlilley, Farokh Engineer, Jeff Morris
Cantor Cup 2006
1st Peter
Bailey and Frank Wetton 64.55%
2nd = Irene Davies and Karen Reissman
63.41%
2nd = Josie Johnson and Joyce Bateson
63.41%
4th Joyce Downie and
Margaret Kelly 61.14%
5th Michael Cull and
Pauline Cull 54.77%
6th Peter Jackson and
Jenny Birchall 54.55%
7th Sue Howorth and Judy
Godwin 51.82%
8th Mandy Cohen and Marcia
Joseph 51.59%
9th Anne Eddleston and
Barbara Vaughan 51.36%
10th Myrna Essayan and Eileen
Campbell 50.23%
11th = Lawrence Slack and John Jones
50.00%
11th = Martin Crowther and Dave Welsh
50.00%
13th Gordon Kershaw and Jean
Kershaw 49.32%
14th Yvonne Brooks and Betty
Hesp 47.50%
15th Val Godlieb and Michael
Quinn 47.27%
16th Margaret Harris and Jonathan
Harris 46.59%
17th Maureen Walker and Barbara
Horn 46.14%
18th Yvonne Ellis and Joan
Kelly 41.82%
19th Jean Heap and Jean Robinson
41.59%
20th Eileen Harris and Marjorie
Ray 39.09%
21st Sandra Hutterli and Pat
Lockey 37.91%
22nd Brenda Swales and Barbara
Dickie 35.91%
Manchester Congress 7th-8th January
