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Channel Trophy
 
Congratulations to Manchester participants in the Channel Trophy at Utrecht on the weekend of 21-23 December against The Netherlands, Belgium and France.  Jennie Marvin playing with Elizabeth Roberts in the Under-25 Girls competition and Adam Hickman in the under 20s team both won their events.  Michael Byrne was non-playing captain of the under 20 team.
Mike Bell and Alex Morris representing England in the Under 25 Open event came third.

There is a link to results on the EBU site.

The Ben Franks Pairs at Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday 2nd December was won by Michael Newman and Michael Byrne to complete a great weekend for them.  Second were Alan and Kath Nelson with David Debbage and Jeff Morris third and Fred Bell and John Roberts fourth.  These pairs will represent the county in the Corwen Trophy.
David Berrisford and Pat Burrows won the ascender's prize.

David Debbage, Michael Newman, Michael Byrne and Andrew Woodcock

Congratulations to Bernard and Rhona Goldenfield upon winning the EBU Autumn simultaneous pairs.

Also to Graham Winn and Susan Triggs who came second in the David Boston Yorkshire simultaneous at Manchester Bridge Club.  Their prize money was £80 (unfortunately Bernard and Rhona only received a pen from the EBU!).

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Congratulations to John Holland who has been selected to play with John Armstrong for England in the second Camrose weekend (8-10th March 2008), following their third place after the round robin stage of the trials. Team mates were Paul Hackett and Tony Waterlow.  John H and John A are also the reserve pair for the first weekend.   This will be John Holland's seventh appearance for England in Open events only a few behind Gary Hyett and Alan Mould.

The trials  now continue with a knock out stage  for the top four teams for selection for next year's European championships.  Armstrong's team have reached the final with a narrow win over Liggins on 10th-11th November.


Congratulations to Mike Bell and Alex Morris who are selected to play in the Junior Camrose to be held at Chancellor's in Manchester on Feb 15th-17th 2008.

See the EBU web site for further details.

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The B Team - David Pennington, Robert Jones, Joyce Jones, Gill Griffiths,
Peter Foster, Peter Jones, Mike Ardron, Mark Halliwell

Congratulations to the whole host of Manchester juniors who have been selected to represent England in the forthcoming Channel Trophy to be held in the Netherlands on 21st-23rd December.
 
In the Under 25s Alex Morris and Mike Bell are playing, Adam Hickman is playing in the Under 20's (captained by Michael Byrne), Jennie Marvin and Liz Roberts are in the Girls Under 25s team.
 
The Channel trophy is a double round robin between England, France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The England Under 25 trials on 13th-14th October were won convincingly by Alex Morris and Mike Bell by over 30 imps, scoring +172 imps, a record performance in this event.  
After a steady start they pulled away on the Sunday morning, and were deserving victors. This was the first time they had competed in the England trials together, both having represented England Juniors many times before in previous partnerships.
 
In 2nd place were Ed Jones and Ben Paske, who will be well known to Manchester players after their appearances in Risley and the Manchester Congress.

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In the Great Northern Swiss Pairs held on 6th-7th October, Manchester had a good showing. Michael Byrne and Andrew Woodcock were 2nd, Mike Bell and Dave Collier were 3rd, John Hasset and Bill Hirst were 6th, Ian Kane and Ken Hassell were 11th out of 100 pairs.
 
Just as last year, many juniors were present and Manchester County members helped out by giving them lifts to and from the places they were staying - thanks to John Hassett, Dave Pennington and Steve Mattinson.

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Congratulations to Bramhall Bridge Club members Peter Greaves & Raj Gupta who were 4th out of 80 pairs in the Derbyshire Swiss Pairs One Day Event at Spondon on Saturday, Sept. 29th.

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Congratulations to Barbara Hackett (nee Stawowy) who won a silver medal playing for the German Ladies.  The German team lost the final to a very strong USA team.  Germany beat France narrowly in the semi-finals (with Barbara and partner Pony Nehmert playing 5 of the 6 sets) to reach the final against the clear round robin winners USA 1.  Germany finished second in the qualifying and beat Canada in their quarter final match.

Rhona and Bernard

Manchester B has reached the final of the Nicko by beating Cambridge A by 6 imps. Michael Byrne, Andrew Woodcock, Michael Newman, David Debbage and Kath Nelson have all reached the final for the first time.
The match was close through-out with the Manchester team leading by 4 after the first set, 16 after the second set, 6 after the 3rd set, with the last set being level at 16-16 to leave them victors by only 6imps.

This was the game that sealed the match:

A108643         K7
AK              8743
J               KQ1093
K1054           76

For Cambridge Chris Jagger/Julian Whitewick bid to 3D and went one off.
Newman/Debbage played in 4S, but a 4-1 trump break and AQJ of clubs over the King should have doomed this contract. However after a heart lead and winning the Ace of diamonds the North player played another heart. Now cashing the Ace and King of spades ending in dummy Newman cashed enough diamonds to throw 4 clubs away before South could ruff in.

The rest of the team was Catherine Jagger and Jonathan Mestel. In the final Manchester B face Cheltenham J (Stanley, Rue, Shields, Denning, Chamberlain, Butland)

Manchester played Derby at Whitefield Golf Club on Sunday 9th September.  The match was played in very good spirit and Manchester were absolutely hammered by a better team.
Our line-up was Neil Thomas/Frank Brown, Gordon Rice/Lance  Bloohn, Howard Stubbings/Dhun Daji, John Parsons/Sue Richmond, Gillian McMullan/John Fitzgerald, Judy Stelfox/Peter Green.

The starring pair were John Parsons/Sue Richmond who despite one disaster in the second set had a good card highlighted by the following board.

Sue is North and Dealer at Love all on the following hand:-

                                             4
                                             J96
                                             AKQJ762
                                             AK

                                             AJ86
                                             A84
                                             98
                                             QJ93

Bidding  (No oppo intervention)
1D                              1S
3D                              4N  (RKCB)
5D (3 or 0)                 5H  (Queen ask)
6C (Yes and CK)      7NT

Elsewhere the hand is played 3 times in   3NT +4
                                                     once          6D   +1
                                                     once          6NT +1

Thanks to Bernard Kaye for npc duties, report  and photos.

Frank Brown and Neil Thomas	Lance Bloohn and Gordon Rice
John Parsons and Sue Richmond	Howard Stubbings and Dhun Daji
Gillian McMullan and John FitzGerald	Judy Stelfox and Peter Green

The National Women's teams was won by the English Team (Michelle Brunner, Nicola Smith, Rhona Goldenfield, Cath Jagger, Sarah Teshome, Heather Dhondy) on 7-9th September.
They will be competing in the Venice Cup in Shangai later in the month, more information to follow.

Congratulations to top placed Manchester pair Pat Burrows and David Berrisford and to Dave Debbage and Edward Levy who won the teams with Andrew Woodcock and Catherine Draper of Lancashire.

Swiss Pairs Results - Saturday (60 pairs competed)

1    John Hampson    Paul Roberts      
2    Richard Silcock    Bill Niccol      
3    John Armstrong    John Holland      
4    Pat Burrows    David Berrisford      
5    David Strawbridge    Babs Matthews      
6    Alan Nelson    Jeff Morris      
7    David Ambler    Geoffrey Nixon      
8=   Christine Benson    Richard Acaster      
8=   Vinay Bhusan    Stuart Clarke      
10   Bill Hirst    Bernard Goldenfield      
11   Catherine Draper    Andrew Woodcock      
12=  Andrew Petrie    Jeff Smith      
12=  Dale Strawn    Bobbie Sissons      
12=  Bernard Kaye    Sid Travers      
15=  Liz Wattleworth    Bill Wattleworth      
15=  Craig Fisher    Rodney Lighton      
15=  Jimmy Ledger    John Sansom      
18   Michelle Brunner    Rhona Goldenfield      
19   Alan Purdy    Roger Allison      
20=  Max Richman    Sandra Richman      
20=  Neil Thomas    Peter Foster     

Swiss Teams Results - Sunday (27 teams competed)
 
1    Catherine Draper, Andrew Woodcock, Dave Debbage, Edward Levy      
2    Barry Jones, David Stevenson, Paddy Murphy, Tim Prior      
3    Bill & Joyce White, Babs Matthews, David Strawbridge      
4=   Joy & Irving Blakey, Kath & Alan Nelson      
4=   Jeff Smith, Andrew Petrie, Gareth Hyett, Raymond Semp      
6    John Holland, John Armstrong, Michelle Brunner, Rhona Goldenfield      
7    John Halliwell, Peter Mollart, Ann & Jeffrey Wilkins      
8=   Frank & Janet Springett, Philip Nuttall, David Armstrong      
8=   Dieter Salden, Tony Coley, Peter & Brenda Greaves      
10   Pauline Lang, Steve Mattinson, Rod Franks, David Pennington  

Full results on the EBU web site.  

Jeff Smith, Mike Clarke, Martin Braid and Alan Nelson scored a tremendous victory to reach the last 16 of the Gold Cup on Sunday by beating Dave Walker's team who were seeded number 1. Going into the last set it was very close and they emerged victors by only 7 imps. In the next round they face the winners of Jeff Morris (Dave Debbage, Michael Newman, David Adelman, Alex Morris) vs Duncan Happer, being played this Sunday. The other Manchester team in the Gold Cup (Michael Byrne, Andrew Woodcock, Michelle Brunner, John Holland, Bill Hirst and John Hassett) limped (a magnificent victory according to another member of the team) into round 6 the previous week where they face the winners of Hillman vs Gillis.

The AGM was held on 31st May.  Gordon Rice and Steve Mattinson retired from the committee and were thanked for their hard work over the years with presentations.  Michael Newman is the new secretary.

New regulations for the league will come into force next year in an attempt to avoid teams leaving the arranging of matches to the last month or two.

The selection committee elected was David Debbage, Michael Byrne, Sid Travers, Kath Nelson and Bob Cooke.

Eve Lighthill presented league trophies to team captains who were present.

Gordon Rice - retiring secretary examines his gift	League One - Kath Nelson
League Two - Jeff Smith	League Three - Bernard Kaye
League 4B - Ron Steedman	League 5B - Colin Cull
League 6A - Irene Davies (in background is league secretary Boris Ewart)	League 6B - Bev Pardoe
Newcomers - Haidee Schofield	Newcomers team members - Juliet Rocca, Sue Richmond, Haidee Schofield

Kim Lester the long time secretary of Besses bridge club died on the 28th May.  

Kim was a most hard working and influential member of several charitable organisations in the Manchester area and in acknowledgement was honoured by the Queen (being awarded an MBE).
 
He will be greatly missed by many who relied upon his work.

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The final league tables for 2006-2007 are now published  (25th May).  Many thanks to Boris Ewart for his hard work in running the league and cup - a mammoth task.  Also thanks for the regular updates for the web site which are well received - the number of visitors to the web site always increases significantly from March to May as the final positions become clearer.

Jeff Smith's team (David Barton, Martin Braid and Michael Clarke) beat Raymond Semp (Denis Robson, Joy and Irving Blakey) in the final of the County Cup. They will represent Manchester in the Pachabo final in June.

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Manchester Bridge Club came second in the regional final of the EBUs inter club team of eight at Bradford on 20th May, thus qualifying for the national final.
The team was Andrew Woodcock, Catherine Draper, Michael Byrne, Craig Fisher, Mike Bell, David Collier, Michael Newman and David Debbage.

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Pairs

1st Catherine Draper & Andrew Woodcock 108 VPs
2nd Cedric Cockroft & Alex Hogg                 104 VPs
3rd Steve Mattinson & Kevin Higgins             96 VPs
 
Ascenders' prize was won by Geoffrey Roberts & Margaret Worth
 
Non-expert prize was won by Adam Hickman & Jonathan King (both Juniors).

Teams

1st Catherine Draper, Andrew Woodcock, Sue Woodcock, Nick Woodcock
2nd Jenny Morris, Denny Wade, Jim Morris, Jim Wade
3rd Neil Thomas, Peter Foster, Peter Jones, Frank Brown

Full results on the EBU web site

In the final of the Crockfords Cup the English National Teams Championship on 12th-13th May Michael Byrne's team (Andrew Woodcock, John Holland, Michelle Brunner, John Hassett, Bill Hirst) finished fourth (Andrew Woodcock and Bill Hirst did not play in the final). The winners were Justin and Jason Jackett playing on Janet De Botton's team.


A successful England debut for Michael Byrne and Andrew Woodcock.  Playing with Tom Townsend and David Gold of London they finished in third place in this invitational event.
The England team finished a close second in their group in the round robin.  The top team in each group in the round robin played a final while the remainder carried their scores over into a Swiss event, which England won.

Gary Hyett playing with Geoffrey Wolfarth of Sussex and Bulgarians Valio Isporski & Vladi Kovachev won a series of incredibly close matches to reach the final of this prestigious competition, played at Stratford over the May Bank Holiday weekend.  In the final they lost to Liggins by four IMPs, but only after Liggins  had exercised his right to eight extra boards as the only undefeated team.

Full results are on the EBU web site

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Congratulations to David Collier and Mike Bell who finished 2nd nationally in the event on Wednesday 11th April, playing in the Manchester Bridge Club heat .

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Manchester players dominated in the championship pairs at Blackpool.  Andrew Woodcock won playing with Catherine Draper of Kent, Joy and Irving Blakey were second and John Holland playing with Greer Mackenzie was third.  At London Paul Hackett won with Ross Harper.  In the Swiss Pairs at Blackpool David Berresford and Richard Acaster were first equal.  Full results on the EBU web site.

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Bramhall bridge club held a very successful teams of eight competition for the Bramhall Salver (kindly donated by Steve Mattinson) on Sunday 18th March.  A full house of seven invited local clubs provided representative teams to play in an event that it is hoped will become an annual feature. It was played in good spirit and, although there was a false start, nobody minded too greatly. The event was designed to generate no profit (entry fees funding the total costs of the competition) and the non commercial feel of the occasion added to the atmosphere. Quality refreshments (including hot "help yourself" style food) were provided midway by club members and the competition was ably directed by Fred Bell who also became resident photographer.  An extra touch of a glass of wine whilst the scores were collated went down well and there were opportunities for the teams to mix and mingle socially. Ron Steedman (Chairman) introduced the event and presented the trophy and £80 prize money at the end to the winning team, Marple Duplicate Bridge Club.
Results: (out of 120 VPs)
 
1st Marple  86 VPs (P Booth, J Jones, P & J Clarke,J & R Bayley, S Massey, H Potts)     
2nd Prestbury 75
3rd Cheadle Hulme 66
4th Altrincham 64
5th Worth    
6th  Bramhall
7th Brookdale

The Northern Pairs Trophy remained in Manchester hands when John Holland and Michelle Brunner won the regional final at Bradford Bridge Club on 25th March.  Last year Michael Byrne and John Hassett won the event and then went on to win the National Final.  Something for John and Michelle to emulate!  Jeff Smith also qualified for the final playing with Andrew Petrie of Lancashire; David Pennington and Rod Franks are first reserves.  Full results on the EBU web site.

Congratulations to Monica Bolton and Alan Mould who were married on 17th March at Manchester registry office.  They have been partners (in life not bridge, Monica doesn't play) for 20 years.  We wish them a long and happy life together.

David Welsh & Martin Crowther

The Cantor Cup Competition at Altrincham Bridge Club

In the Junior Camrose and Peggy Bayer Trophies over the weekend of 17th-18th February the England teams won both events.  Congratulations to Mark Reeve and David Collier of Manchester who were in the Junior Camrose team.  Michael Byrne was npc of the England Peggy Bayer winning team.

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Another fine result for the young(ish) team of Michael Byrne and Andrew Woodcock (Manchester), Ben Green and Duncan Happer (somewhere in the Midlands), who won the National Swiss Teams at Kettering on 20th-21st January.
Full results are on the EBU web site.

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