Author: Pat Lucas

The Pairings for the teams have now been allocated and are shown below. The number in brackets is the ranking for each pair according to their club averages, either as a pair or by combining their individual averages if they don’t normally play together on club nights. There has also been a little bit of juggling with the rankings to mix up the pairings from previous years.

Dave and Sally (1)       Michael and Jayne (20)

Barry and Lesley (2)    Neil and Kathy (19)

Tina and Pat (3)       Helen and Sue (18)

Charles and Fiona (4)     William and Tom (16)

Nigel and Pat (5)      Rosie and Sheila (12)

Tony and Jean (6)     Andrew and Geraldine (14)

Liz and Sheila (7)      Ross and Rachel (17)

Corinne and Dorothy (8)   Fred and Jayne (13)

Alan and Jo (9)         Debbie and Veronika (15)

Andy and Roger (10)    Margaret and Suzanne (11)

Div A                                    Div B

Dave                                    Barry

Charles                                Tina

Tony                                    Nigel

Liz                                        Corinne

Andy                                    Alan

The League will be played in two divisions of 5 teams, giving all teams two Home matches and two away matches. The two division winners will play off to decide the League Champions

Please consult with your team members and decide a captain/contact/organiser and then let me know.

Calling all our beginners and improvers

A reminder that Bridge lessons start again on Wednesday 29th April.

The Beginners Group are looking at opening 2NT and how to respond to that bid whilst the Improvers will be focusing on the importance of Counting to build up a picture of the opponents hands.

Thursday 30th April will be a Gentle Duplicate Session and we urge people to come and give Duplicate Bridge a go. We have many experienced players who will be happy to partner you if you would like and give you the benefit of their advice.

This is the last call for Pairs to enter our social League and Knock Out competitions.

At the moment we have 9.5 league teams so I’m desperately looking for one more Pair to complete the final team which would give us 2 divisions of 5 teams as last year. Please consider entering this competition if you are at all interested.

The Knock Out has 8 full teams but can easily accommodate more so get in touch if you would like to take part.

The draw for the teams will be organised after Bridge next Thursday. It is not random but pairs are matched together to ensure a fair competition.

1. Thursday 23rd April. A very busy evening. Please arrive by 6.30pm for the AGM. This is also the first evening of our Random Partners Competition. We will draw for partners on arrival and the committee strongly urge everyone to participate and get to know other people better and maybe pick up some hints and tips about playing the cards. We will of course accommodate anyone not wishing to enter the draw. It is also St Georges day and we urge you to dress appropriately and partake of themed refreshments.

2. Wednesday 29th April. Bridge Lessons for both Beginners and Improvers will restart after our prolonged Easter Break. Improvers will start with a lesson entitled “The Importance of Counting” with tips about interpreting the lay of the cards from a few simple counting strategies.

3. Thursday 30th April. This, being a fifth Thursday will be a “gentle duplicate session” where we encourage our learners and less confident players to try out their skills at duplicate Bridge. The pace of the evening will be slower than usual with time for feedback and analysis. Anyone wishing to be partnered by an experienced player should make it known to Pat Lucas or Pat Haslam. We have many willing volunteers happy to partner and advise.

With last years competitions all sorted apart from the forthcoming Individual final it is now time to start thinking about next years teams.

Bassingham bridge Club has a proud tradition of friendly and sociable matches held in peoples homes where we play 20 board matches and enjoy drinks and refreshments together. We have a League competition, last year we had 10 teams of four playing in two divisions so each team played 4 matches, 2 home and 2 away, and we have a Knock-out competition, last year we had 8 teams with the number of matches dependent on winning each match.

People generally enter as a Pair with teams being selected by the committee to make the competitions as even as possible. If you would like to enter these competitions then please give your name to Pat Lucas by the end of April. We would strongly encourage our newer members to give it a try, it’s an ideal way to get to know your clubmates and have fun. The club has a complete set of equipment that can be borrowed in order to host the matches.

Thursday saw the last duplicate pairs evening of the Bridge year and this meant that many of our competitions have been decided.

Pairs trophy Winners Sheena and Brian. Runners up Dave and Sally

Pairs Averages Winners Dave and Sally Runners up Derek and Pat

Handicap Trophy Winners Liz and Sheila Runners up Helen and Julia

Slam Trophy Barry and Lynda are currently top of the leader board with 10 apiece but this could be decided by next Thursday’s individual evening result.

League Finalists Team Braithwaite v Team Marwood

Knock Out Trophy Finalists Team 4 v Team 8

Congratulations to all our contestants and thanks to everyone for making Bridge at Bassingham Bridge Club such a pleasant experience for all.

Competition Change for 2026/27

Next year we will be running a “Random Partners” competition. This will have the same format as our current Individual competition but the winner will be the person with the lowest total (best 6 scores) at the end of the year.

An Individual Competition will be held one Sunday afternoon (in place of one of the Random Seeded Teams events) where each person will play just one board with as many of the other contestants as possible. Those who play at Heighington will be familiar with the format.

The Improvers session this week will cover Bridge Conventions that may prove useful in playing some hands.

We will look at Fourth Suit Forcing, often used to decide if your partnership can play in No Trumps or not.

Then we will cover Michaels Cue bidding and the Unusual Two No Trumps, both overcalls used to convey a two suited hand to your partner.

If you are interested in this session then come along at 7.00pm this Wednesday to the Tower Room

As the Bridge year enters it’s final month our competitions are close to being decided.

Last night was the penultimate round of the Individual play-off deciders and the battle for the 8 places in the final is very close. Lynda, Pat H and Pat L have already qualified but there are quite a few contenders for the other 5 places and they won’t be decided until the final round is completed.

The Individual Final will be held on Sunday 12th April at 2.00pm. Venue to be confirmed. If you are one of the contenders for the finals please make yourself available on that afternoon.

The Knock-out Trophy finalists have been decided with Pat, Nigel, Chris and Ian ready to do battle with Ross, Rachel, Charles and Fiona.

Division A in the League Trophy has been completed with honours going to Team Braithwaite. There is a top of table decider to be played in Division B before the winners of the two divisions battle it out for the title.

Please try and complete all outstanding fixtures as soon as possible so that we can all regroup and start afresh next year

Congratulations to our League Teams for being very efficient in organising their matches this year before the end of February deadline. There are currently only four more matches to be played to decide the Division winners and most of these have already been scheduled.

The Knock Out competition is also nearing completion, Well done to Rachel, Ross, Charles and Fiona for reaching the final. They are currently awaiting the completion of the other semi-final.

This year we have reinstated the Roy Hughes Founders Trophy (Handicap Pairs) To qualify for inclusion in this trophy you must have played at least 14 times on duplicate pairs nights and then the average of your best 14 results will be added to your Handicap to decide the overall winners. The Handicap is decided by how your average score from last year compares to our best players average score so hopefully we will be rewarding Pairs who have made a marked improvement over the year. Your current best 14 scores can be found on the website and your handicap is below

Dave & Sally 0, Pat & Derek 3, Andy & Derrick 3, Charles & Lynda 4, Nigel & Pat 5, Tony & Jean 6, Brian & Sheena 6, Barry & Lesley 7, Alan & Mari 9, Roger & Tony 9, John & Monica 9, Corinne and Dorothy 9, David and Jim 9, Terry and Ian 9, Jean & Rosie 10, Liz and Sheila 11, Chris and Ian 12, Andrew and Geraldine 13 , Tina & Sandra 13, Alan & Peter 13, Fred & Jayne 13, Debbie & Veronika 14 Jackie & Salma 16, Tom & William 16, Diane & Jane 16, Rachel & Ross 17, Helen & Julia 19 Margaret & Jo 20, Janine & Rick 20

If you haven’t got a handicap it’s because you didn’t register enough results last year

Happy New year from Bassingham Bridge Club. We hope you enjoyed your Christmas break and are ready to start playing with us again.

Bridge activities restarted on Tuesday 6th January with a our social Tuesday afternoon sessions.

Bridge Lessons for both the beginners and Improvers will restart on Wednesday January 7th. The schedule for the Improver sessions is on the website under Learning Bridge.

A reminder that the first Thursday session will be the “December” Individual competition so please come and join in with that.

Happy Bridging