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NEW
DIRECTORS
The directors courses have now
finished and the following NEBA
members completed the
course successfully:
Distinction - Ian Eckford
Bev Godfrey, Alan Lester, Fred
Robinson, Mike Stanbury, Simon
Watson, Tony Watson (NOE).
Pass - Dr Andrew Cornish,
Allan Davies, Jocelyn Gordon,
Jenny Grist, Jenny Holmes,
George Irwing,Trevor Lorton,
Alison McConnell, Ted Murdoch,
Fritz van der Lee.
Congratulations to them all.
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NATIONAL SENIORS KNOCKOUT SUCCESS
In the
semi final of the National Seniors Knock
Out for the Gerard Faulkner Salver the
team captained by Clive Owen beat
Telscher (non playing captain) by 19
imps over 40 boards. The losing team
included Colin Simpson and David Price
who are currently World Senior teams
champions together with Willie Coyle and
Robert Sheehan both previous Gold Cup
winners.
The other members of the winning team
are from Manchester John Holland John
Hassett and Jeff Morris. |
NORTHERN PAIRS SUCCESS
John
Atthey and Julian Gibson won the
Northern Pairs (Northern Heat of
the National Pairs) over the
weekend and Brian Lumsden and
Norman McTaggart just missed out
by finishing 9th. The top 8 qualified for the
National Pairs final.
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ENGLAND SELECTS THREE JUNIOR
INTERNATIONALS FROM THE NEBA
For
the first time ever England
juniors had 3 members from the
North East representing them in
the Junior Home Internationals
held at Ayr on the 18/19th of
February.
In the Junior Camrose for under
26 players Chris Owen fresh from
winning the Tollemache partnered
Tom Dessain and in the Peggy
Bayer for under 21 players Basil
Letts partnered Shivam Shah from
Middlesex. Both teams won their
respective trophies. It is not
so long ago when we had our
first junior international so to
have 3 in one weekend is quite
an achievement.
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TOLLEMARCHE SUCCESS
The
Tollemache Cup Final 2011
In this, the 75th
year of NEBA, The Tollemache
Trophy has been brought to the
North East. The Tollemache is
the EBU teams of eight
championship and is considered
to be one of the very top events
in the EBU calendar. It is
thought the best position we
have achieved previously was 4th.
The trophy was originally
donated by the Tollemache family
who were then owners of the
Tolly Cobbold brewery in East
Anglia.

The team of Bill March, Val
Gibson, Clive Owen, Malcolm
Oliver, Martin Kane, Damian
Hassan, Julian Gibson, Chris
Owen and John Atthey travelled
to the Hinckley Island Barcelo
Hotel, with some confidence with
two of the strongest English
County Associations, Middlesex
and London, having fallen at the
first hurdle at the qualifier in
November.
We were also fortunate to have
the calm and supportive presence
of Margaret Owen, who acted as
an honorary ‘chef de mission’.
The format of the competition is
a 14 board Round Robin with 4
matches for teams of 8 on
Saturday and 3 on Sunday. The
matches are scored on cross
imped lines thus poor boards are
doubly punished but of course
good results doubly rewarded.
Imps are converted to VP’s with
a maximum of 20 for a win by
over 100 imps.
Confidence was dented more than
somewhat, when in our first
match against a strong
Manchester squad we succumbed,
with a 17-3 beating. This was
however a weekend event and with
6 more matches to go all was not
lost. The following matches
yielded 51 VPs out of a possible
60 beating Cambs & Hunts 19-1,
Kent 17-3 and Gloucestershire
15-5 to see us leading narrowly
on Saturday night with Cambs &
Hunts and Surrey 2 VP behind and
Manchester a further 2 VP
adrift.
Kent and Avon were quite a
distance behind but not
completely out of contention
with Gloucestershire and
Hertfordshire probably not going
to get back in the running.
Sunday morning dawned and all
the team gathered for breakfast
in good time and the selected
team lined up against Avon at
the unearthly bridge playing
time of 10.30, emerging victors
14-6, a further modest victory
against Hertfordshire, who were
cemented at the foot of the
table, by 12-8 saw us going into
the final match against a strong
Surrey team but with us needing
to lose nothing worse than 15-5
making us strong favourites. A
good all round performance at
all four tables saw the NEBA
victorious by 14-6 VP thus
finishing 13VP ahead of runners
up Manchester.
The long trip home saw all team
members faces aching with the
fixed smile, which is going to
take some time to wear off.
Clive Owen
Full result of the final
here
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SUCCESS IN THE NATIONAL KNOCKOUT
TEAMS FOR SENIORS
A team captained by Clive Owen
has reached the semi finals
beating a Coventry team
captained by David Jones in the
quarter final. The other 3
members are from the Manchester
area John Holland John Hassett
and Jeff Morris.
The 'Gerard Faulkner' is
the National Knock Out Teams
competition for Senior Teams.
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MIDDLESBROUGH BRIDGE CLUB SUCCESS
Middlesbrough, had more success
in the recent BGB event held on
Jan 11th. Their married couple
Anne and Andrew Welsh finished
5th out of a total of 1,905
pairs. Congratulations to them
both.
Gail Saunders, Chairman,
Middlesbrough Bridge Club
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ENGLAND SELECTION
Chris Owen and Tom Dessain have
been selected for
the
following
Junior International Events.
Junior
Camrose, Ayr,
Scotland
18th-20th Feb.
Channel Trophy
Under 25
Lille, France 17th-19th Dec.
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2010 TOLLEMACHE QUALIFIER
The NEBA County team did well at
the weekend, by finishing 2nd in
the qualifying round of the
EBU's Tollemache competition,
and thereby qualified for the
final in February.
The team
were: Julian Gibson & Damian
Hassan, Malcolm Oliver & Martin
Kane, Val Gibson & Bill March
and Chris Owen & John Atthey.
AND
John
Atthey and Chris Owen topped the
Butlers - quite an achievement
at the Tollemache. |
SCHOOL SIMS
PAIRS HEAT
All - We
shall be
running our
usual autumn
term School
Sims Pairs
heat on Sat
11th Dec @
St Georges
10.00am
start,
finish
12/12.30.
Prizes (not
big ones)
and
refreshments.
Any
attendees
requested to
arrive
9.45am
latest.
To those
not
familiar
with
this
event,
it is an
EBU
thing
played
at
various
schools
throughout
England
over a
period
of 3/4
weeks.
Hands
are all
the
same,
the
scoring
is both
local
and
national,
so there
is the
opportunity
to win
the heat
and/or
the
national
event.
We have
managed
the
latter a
few
times,
so there
is the
opportunity
for the
youngsters
to get
their
names up
in
lights.
Both
Real and
Mini
bridge
is being
run and
all
standards
are
welcome,
even
parents
or other
interested
parties.
Please
spread
the word
to as
many
schools
etc that
you can,
all will
be
welcome,
just
give me
a hint
on
numbers.
This
plea is
particularly
directed
to
clubs/club
secretaries.
If you
know of
any
schools
or youth
organisations
please
acquaint
them of
the
event.
Even if
you
don't
know of
anybody
please
try and
out.
Regards
Ken
Pattison
Tel No;
+44(0)1325526125
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PEEBLES SUCCESS
Congratulations to Malcolm
Oliver and Clive Owen who
won the championship teams at
Peebles,
playing with Charles and Vi
Outred of Glasgow.
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NEBA TOLLEMACHE TEAM
The North East team to represent
the county
in the Tollemache in November
will be
John Atthey
Julian Gibson
Val Gibson
Damian Hassan
Martin Kane
Bill March
Malcolm Oliver
Chris Owen
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WESTMORLAND CONGRESS
SUCCESS
Westmorland held their first
ever one day green point event
at Kendal on the 26th October.
Ably directed by Ken Johnson the
first winners leading virtually
throughout the event were
Margaret Owen and Clive Owen. |
IAN MUIR
It is with great sadness that we
have to report that Ian passed
away peacefully on Saturday 11th
September 2010.
Ian's funeral will take place on
Tuesday 21st September, at 1.30
pm, at Whitley Bay Crematorium.
OBITUARY
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DIRECTORS COURSES
The EBU will be holding a series
of club directors courses at St
Georges starting in October. The
Courses run from about
10:30-16:00 and full details can
be found on the EBU website.
The full details are
Essentials
16th October
Book Rulings
20th November
Judgment Rulings 29th
January 2011
Assessment 26th
March 2011
Every place a club books they
get another place free
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NICKO SUCCESS FOR HURWORTH
Congratulations to the Hurworth
B team of Dave Broadhead, Damian
Hassan, Malcolm Oliver, Martin
Kane, Clive Owen and Chris Owen,
who have reached the final of
the NICKO Plate beating a team
from Welwyn Garden City in the
semi - final.
They will play a team from the
Young Chelsea club in the final.
We wish them every success in
this prestigious final!
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WILLOWS SUNRISE
Just to add a bit of visual
interest and colour you
understand!
If you like landscapes
photography graphics or art,
there is more on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aiston/
Just space to report that all
Bridgeweb clubs web sites were
down this morning Thurs. 12th
August.
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BRIGHTON SWISS PAIRS
Tom
Dessain (NEBA) and Tugrul Kaban
(Hertfordshire) had a successful
run in the Brighton Swiss Pairs
finishing 14th out of 352 pairs
with 182 VPs. The event was held
over 3 days and comprised of 14
eight board rounds. The majority
of the pairs we played from
round 4 onwards were very
experienced (including
international players) most of
whom we managed narrow wins
against. I think one of the most
pleasing boards was when our
agreement about how we proceed
if the opponents double a fourth
suit forcing bid helped us on
our way to bidding a making
slam. The full results can be
found at
www.ebu.co.uk/results/2010January-July/Brighton/SwissPairs_000.htm
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24 HR BRIDGEATHON
The 24 hour Bridgeathon held in
Wearside Bridge Club in May
raised £10,200.02 for Macmillan
Cancer Support.
Congratulations to Margaret
Reid, Durham Elvet Rotary Club
and Wearside Bridge Club for
organising such a successful
event
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SUCCESSES AT PEEBLES
North East players performed very
well in the Scottish Congress at
Peebles.
The main event was the Teams and
the final was won by Clive Owen,
Malcolm Oliver and Chris Owen from
the North East with Charles Outred
from Glasgow. This is is a
remarkable run of successes by North
East players as it is the third year
in a row the winners have been 50%
or more from the area. Last year it
was won by Clive Owen, Malcolm
Oliver, Charles and Vi Outred and
the year before by Chris Owen, John
Atthey, Liz Reese and Liz Muir.
Chris Owen has now won the last 3
Multiple Teams finals at Peebles in
which he has played in 3 different
teams.
No player has ever achieved this
before . Not bad for someone who is
still a junior.
The
successes did not end there.
The teams of Brian Lumsden, Kathy
Pike, Rosemary Gray & Mary Page and
Jean & Noel Bailey, Bill Brumby &
Jacqui Taylor also reached the final.
Clive Owen and Malcolm Oliver
finished second in the Consolation
Pairs Final.
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NICKO SUCCESS
Hurworth B have reached the semi final
of the NICKO Plate by beating the strong
International quartet from Manchester -
John Holland Michelle Brunner John
Hassett and Bill Hirst.
The team was David Broadhead Damien
Hassan Clive Owen and Chris Owen.
In earlier rounds Malcolm Oliver and
Martin Kane have also played. |
A BUSY WEEKEND FOR NEBA PLAYERS
On Saturday 3rd July, the
following two teams are representing
NEBA in the Northern Bridge League
competition.
NEBA ‘A’ - Clare & Robin Zigmond,
Norman Gray & Fred Robinson, Gill
Gold & Ray Green, Ian Rankin & Mike
Stanbury
NEBA ‘B’ – Pauline & Nigel Durie,
David Joy & David Milner, Ted
Murdoch & Tony Wardle, Sue & Dick
Davies.
On Sunday 4th July, the
following two teams are representing
NEBA in the annual Scottish
‘friendly’ match.
NEBA ‘A’ - Steve & Georgia Ray,
Chris & Clive Owen, Janet & Frank
Springett, Brian Lumsden & Norman
McTaggart
NEBA ‘B’ - Eve Hatfield & James
Ewington, Margaret McCabe & Marion
Curran, Phil Smith & Dom Maloney,
Ian Rankin & Mike Stanbury.
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DID YOU KNOW?
If
you enter the EBU website and go
to 'Members login'
Enter your EBU number and
password (sent to you 5 years
ago!)
OK . . . so. . . . click on
'forgotten password' ( they will
quickly send you one - which you
can change to one that you can
remember) and then you can see
ALL the bridge sessions that you
have played in since P2P and how
you have done. -
Anne Hauxwell - from the
Newcastle home page
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Bishop Auckland Bridge Club
members enjoyed perfect weather
on their trip to the Farne
Islands on 21 June 2010 - the
longest day. Due to popular
demand, this was a repeat of
last year’s trip again superbly
organised by Club Chairman Fred
Aitken.
The Arctic Terns were even more
annoyed than ever and launched
many stinging attacks upon the
intrepid group. All members
survived the sortie intact,
although one or two had hats
splashed with material in the
style of a Jackson Pollock
painting.
Having run the gauntlet of the
Arctic Terns, the group was able
to enjoy the sights, sounds (and
smells) of countless numbers of
Puffins, Kittiwakes, Guillemots,
Razorbills, Fulmars, Sandwich,
Common and Arctic Terns, Shags,
Eider Ducks, Rock Pipits,
Turnstones, Oystercatchers,
Cormorants, Black Headed,
Herring and Lesser Black Backed
Gulls plus offshore views of
Gannets. Oh yes and a large
breeding colony of Grey Seals.
It was a real privilege to see
all these magnificent creatures
at exceptionally close quarters
in their own environment, intent
on raising the next generation
of their species, and all in
such crystal clear light which
showed off their spectacular
colouring in rarely seen detail.
After returning to Seahouses,
there followed the now customary
fish and chip supper when
stories of the day's events were
recounted and tales of derring
do were shared. - John
Dobson
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ENGLISH BRIDGE MAGAZINE
The
front cover design for
the June edition of 'English
Bridge' is the 5th design by
your webmaster.

Yes they got my name wrong last
month!
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2010 YORKSHIRE CONGRESS
This proved to be a good weekend
for NEBA players particularly from
Whitley Bay and even more particularly
for Ajit Shivdasani who won the
consolation pairs (Chairman's Plate)
with Brian Marlow from Leicester
(formerly from this area).
Ajit was also runner up in the final of
the John Colley Trophy for multiple
teams playing with Brian Marlow and
Elaine Purvis and Pat Tuff.
They were only one point behind the
winners.
Runners up in the Scarborough Trophy (C
Final Multiple Teams) were the Whitley
Bay team of Laurie and Joan Monkhouse
playing with Pam Gladwin and Mary
Gilbert. Frank and Janet Springett
were 5th in the main green pointed pairs
final. Congratulations to them all! |
BGB SIMS PAIRS SUCCESS
Congratulations go to two
members of Middlesbrough Bridge
Club. Ted Murdoch and Tony
Wardle, finished 3rd in the BGB
Simultaneous Pairs competition.
1624 pairs participated from 94
clubs in 5 countries.
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2010 KEMPSON CUP
In a
close and keenly contested final the
team of Clive Owen, Malcolm
Oliver, Bill March, Damian
Hassan and Martin Kane beat Chris Owen,
John Atthey, Dominic Maloney and
Tom Dessain by 22 imps. The match could
have gone either way and indeed Chris
Owens team was leading at half time.
David Broadhead had also played in
earlier rounds for the Clive Owen team
but was unable to play in the final.
Two new records were achieved Bill March
winning the competition for the 18th
time and Clive Owen having the longest
gap between first winning the event
a period of 36 years beating Len Woods
record of 35 years. |
2010 JERSEY CONGRESS
Bob Watts
and Clive Owen won the Seniors
Pairs competition at the Jersey
Congress
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PORTLAND BOWL
1. The Durham University team of
Tom Dessain Dom Maloney and the Jones
bothers lost by the narrowest of margins
(1 imp ) to Oxford University in the
semi finals of the Portland Bowl - the
UK University knock out Championship. |
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2010 CZECH OPEN
Dear sports friends,
Let us invite you most cordially to the
21st International Chess and Games
Festival CZECH OPEN 2010. More detailed
information about our festival should be
found at
http://www.czechopen.net/index.php.
You can find regulations of bridge at
http://www.czechopen.net/bridge/index.php.
With best regards
Jan Mazuch
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SCOTTISH CUP SUCCESS
A team including Clive Owen and
John Atthey from the North East
have reached the final of the
Scottish Cup. The final over 64
boards ( 4 sets of 16 ) will be
played in Dundee on the 16th
May. Although the SBU consider
this to be their premier
knockout event it is played
under slightly different
conditions than the Gold Cup in
that although you can have a
team of 6, only 4 can play in
any particular match. The other
team members are Charles and Vi
Outred from Glasgow and John
Holland from Manchester.
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HUBERT PHILLIPS BOWL
The team of Malcolm Oliver, Clive Owen,
Val Gibson, John Atthey and Bill March
has reached the final of the Hubert
Phillips a national mixed pivot teams
event knockout event. The last 4 named
beat the London team of Richard Hillman
in the semi-final. In previous rounds
the team has beaten teams containing
Brian Senior, Paul Hackett and John
Holland. The final is against the Surrey
based team of Francis Hinden.
This is a superb achievement & we all
wish them well in the Final.
The North East has been successful once
before in this competition as a team
including Steve Ray, Georgia Ray, Liz Muir,
Ian Spoors
and Dave Roberts are amongst previous
winners.
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TOLLEMACHE FINAL 2010
The
NEBA team finished 5th in the
final of the county
championships which is probably
the best position ever achieved
by our county. We started well
and after 3 rounds were leading.
Unfortunately we were well
beaten by the 2 strong teams
Middlesex and Manchester. On the
brighter side we beat Suffolk,
East Wales and Bedfordshire and
drew with Berks and Bucks. To
move further up the list we need
to be better in the slam zone
and more accurate in competitive
bidding. - Clive Owen
The
Tollemache team to compete in
the final was Bill March, Damien
Hassan, Dave Roberts, Chris
Owen, Clive Owen, John Atthey,
Julian Gibson, Malcolm Oliver,
Martin Kane, Steve Ray and Val
Gibson.
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HUBERT PHILLIPS BOWL
The team of Malcolm Oliver, Val Gibson,
Bill March, Clive Owen and John Atthey
has reached the semi final of the Hubert
Phillips Bowl.
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JUNIOR CAMROSE SELECTION
John Atthey and Chris Owen have
been selected to represent
England in the forthcoming
Junior Camrose
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TOLLEMACHE SUCCESS
I am pleased to report that the team
of John Atthey, Julian Gibson, Val
Gibson, Damian Hassan, Martin
Kane, Bill March, Malcolm
Oliver, Chris Owen and Clive Owen
qualified for the final of the
Tollemache the inter county
championship. Those who follow the
fortunes of the North East will know
we have been far more competitive in
recent years and this is the third
time in 6 years we have reached the
final. Probably the best run ever
achieved by the North East.
We were always in contention and our
worst match was a 6 -14 defeat. We
would have done even better if two
50% ish slams had not cost us 52
imps in one match and 44 imps in
another when the switch of one card
would in both cases have meant we
gained the same number. Such are the
vagaries of the game.
Damian Hassan and Julian Gibson
played particularly well and
finished 3rd & 4th in the Butler
Scoring. -Clive Owen
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