Three Honorary Members-
At the AGM the County was delighted to confer honorary life membership on three members. Two of the members were Drene Brown and Elaine Proctor. The third recipient was not at the AGM, so shall not be named at the moment in order not to spoil the surprise!

All Change at the County
Following the AGM there have been a number of personnel changes in the Management Committee. After serving the maximum period of three consecutive years which the constitution imposes Alan Andrews and Bill Parsons resigned as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively, to be replaced by Glynn Elwick and Guy Grainger. Having been Competition Secretary for seven years, Stuart Knox has stepped down and has been replaced by Vic Llewellyn.

Paul Wokes
Unfortunately our County Secretary, Paul Wokes, has had a traumatic time and broken his pelvis! We all wish him a speedy recovery. By the way, had it not been for his accident Paul would doubtless be reminding everybody about the County AGM which takes place on Sunday 26th June at Dunholme (1:30pm) - Free Bridge afterwards for the Bill & Eileen Herbert Trophy.

Tim Walker
It is with much regret that we announce the death of Tim Walker, the Chairman of Lincoln (Eastgate) Bridge Club. He died suddenly on Thursday 16th June. Tim was well known as a solicitor in the Lincoln area, but more recently, after his retirement, he became involved in tournament directing; in fact he directed the first Champions' League event on Tuesday 14th June. Always charming, both at the Bridge table and away from it, Tim is going to be very sorely missed. Our sincere condolences go to his family.

Bassingham Bridge Day
On Monday 5th September there will be a Bridge Day at the Hammond Hall, Bassingham. Coffee and home-made biscuits from 10am. Bridge starts at 10:30am. Lunch is included within the ticket price of £13. The day is in aid of the St Barnabas Hospice. Further details from Roy Highes on 0.1.5.2.2. 7.8.8.2.5.6. The organisers will guarantee that there shall be no half tables, and that single players will be accommodated.

New Affiliated Club at Louth
Newly affiliated to the EBU, the recently formed Brackenborough Bridge Club consists of a friendly group of individuals who enjoy and are passionate about the game of duplicate bridge. You will find us in the Brackenborough Arms, just off the A16 at Cordeaux Corner, on the outskirts of Louth. We are within easy reach of Grimsby, also nearby for those living in towns and villages between Grimsby and Louth. For those living towards the East Coast, the route, although a little longer, consists of main roads which are well maintained during those long winter months.
The Brackenborough Bridge Club meets every Monday and Wednesday evening, 6.45 for 7pm, in a well appointed room just off the foyer and near the bar, where tea and coffee is available. Some of our members have eaten in the bistro before the evening's bridge commences and have commented on the quality of the fare available.
For those less able bodied, the Brackenborough has a Disabled parking space and wheelchair ramps. The staff are very friendly, approachable and courteous, providing table service if required.
If you would like to join us but need a partner, we have a partnership finder service run by Sue York, who can be contacted on 01507 477122.

One of our founder members - David Stoddart - runs a Tuesday Night Group, for beginners and improvers, which is supervised. You do not need to have a partner to join this group as David acts as a host.
Phone David on 01507 480407.
We also have a web site for information
and results at www.bridgewebs.com/louthtuesdaybrackenborough/
We extend a very warm welcome to those wishing to join us for a lively game of bridge and look forward to meeting you.

EBU Clubs' Bulletins.
Suzanne Gill, who is the East of England EBU rep has sent out a couple of "Club Belletins". The November Bulletin covers the situation in the East of England concerning club affiliation, and also discusses some restrictions on county events and sim pairs. The December issue concerns Master Point allocations and opens a discussion about flighted events.
You can download the November issue by clicking here, and the December one by clicking here. Acrobat reader is required for this. If you cannot download either of them then use this link for November and this one for December. (RTF Files which your wordprocessor can read)

Women's Teams 2009
We have received the following email from Nicole Cook on behalf of the EBU, the contents of which are self explanatory.

Hello to you.
The 2009 Women’s Bridge Teams is just 9 weeks away. Sarah Teshome and I are doing our best to encourage women from all over the country to enter. Please will you help us by adding a link to the event website on your county homepage, and give it a prominent mention.
We are going to try and make this year special – we’ve taken care of food, goodies and activities for all – so we are really hoping lots of players will come and join us for a fab weekend of bridge, relaxation and personal challenge. Plus, we are very optimistic that there will be a very special new prize for the highest place team where all players are members of the same county.
The event website is www.womensbridge.co.uk. Take a look. There is plenty to do there – Players can even hire a coach to get them in bridge shape for the weekend if they’d like to!
If your members don’t have a partner, or are still looking for teammates we are confident if they register their interest we will do our best to help them.
If you have any questions or queries please ask Sarah or myself.
Have a fantastic week, and I thank you in advance for helping us promote the only remaining women’s event in the EBU calendar.
Nicole

Nicole Cook (on behalf of the EBU and event organisers)

New Secretary Required
As most people know Drene Brown has agreed to continue as Secretary for another year, however she is not going to continue after the next AGM. Is there anybody out there who can take on the job? If you are interested, or need to know a bit more about what is involved please contact our Chairman, Alan Andrews, or email him on chairman@lincsbridge.org.uk

Wall Team wins Lincoln Gold
This season's Lincoln Gold was won on Friday 22nd May by the team captained by Ron Wall, which included Keith Stewart, Andrew King. Alan Brown and Brian Smith. The team defeated Glynn Elwick, Mike Llewellyn, Roy Hughes and Andrew Green by just 11 IMPS - a small margin for a 48 board match. Congratulations to Ron's team and commiserations to the losers, who will nevertheless have the consolation of representing Lincolnshire in this year's Pachabo in June.

Roy Hughes Receives Dimmie Fleming Award
In a short ceremony at the Annual Championships on Saturday 9th May, Peter Stocken, immediate past chairman of the EBU, presented Roy Hughes with the Dimmie Fleming Award for services to bridge. Roy has devoted many years since the 1960's to bridge in Lincolnshire. Before this he played in Leics. He still continues to enjoy success in county events and has won all the trophies over the years that he is eligible for. Roy was Lincolnshire’s County Secretary for 13 years until 2004 and County Captain for 20 years. He continued as their Vice Chairman in 2005 having served as Chairman in the early 1980's. Since 'retiring' he has organised Bridge For All in his home village.
Over the years Roy has represented the county at all levels, including the Tollemache qualifying (probably about 20 times), the Midland league for many years (organising the Lincs players and the catering for home matches), giving some players their first taste of bridge away from their clubs, and participates in the newly formed Northern league. Roy has also directed some county events.
The intent of the Dimmie Fleming award is to recognise publicly those people who do not hold an official (ie EBU) office, but have, for a long time - say, 20 years or so - worked hard for bridge, usually at County and/or Club level.
Click here for photo

Waitrose Trophy
The closing date for this year's Waitrose Trophy is 7th June. The Waitrose Trophy is presented to the pair which has scored the highest percentage duplicate score in a year, from 22nd June 2008 to 7th June 2009. The duplicate session does not need to be at an affiliated club, but must consist of eight or more tables. Please phone your highest pair's score to Adrian Underwood on 01673 860270

Margaret Balch
It was with deep regret that our Chairman, Alan Andrews, gave the news at the Vincent Competition that one of our honorary members,Margaret Balch, had recently died. At 92 years of age Mrs Balch was one of our oldest members, having played in county events for many years. In fact the Veteran's Trophy, which is the next County event, was generously donated by her. Mr Andrews said that she would be sorely missed in the local bridge area. A minute's silence was observed.

Return of Trophies
So that the trophies may be engraved in time for the AGM, would those members who were fortunate enough to win one last season please arrange to have them returned, either directly or via Club Reps, by May 9th (Annual Championships)

EBU Sim Pairs
Congratulations to our Chairman, Alan Andrews, and his partner Harry Coates, who won the EBU Autumn Simultaneous Pairs. Alan and Harry beat 1802 other pairs, posting a massive score of 74.97% - a full 1.86% ahead of the runners-up. Click here for the results

League and Cup Draws
The draws for the Gold, Davy and the League fixtures have now been made. Within the next few days team captains will receive all of the details, but click here if you can't wait to see who you've drawn

County Team for the Tollemache Qualifier
Following the closed trials held on Sunday 9th September, the Captain's Committee has selected the following to represent Lincolnshire in the Tollemache Qualifier on 24/25th November. Alan & Drene Brown; Glynn Elwick & Mike Llewellyn; Andrew Green & Dennis Mellor; Andrew King & Ron Wall; Maurice Ladlow & Mo Parsons; npc Stuart Knox

Barbara Maplethorpe
Lincolnshire Bridge lost one of its most popular members on Monday 30th July when Barbara Maplethorpe died suddenly from a heart attack. Barbara had been playing bridge since the mid seventies. She was a keen supporter of all County competitions, this year winning the Lucy Orborne Trophy at the Annual Championships with her partner Helen. She also donated the Gold Cup Plate Trophy to the County. Barbara had a bubbly personality and was well liked by everyone. Her local clubs were Horncastle and Heighington. At Horncastle she had been a committee member since 1981 and the Treasurer since 1995. Barbara will be sadly missed by everyone. The funeral service will be held at 1pm on Wednesday 8th August at Billinghay Church.

EBU Strategy Document

The following email has been sent to Club representatives

Congratulations to Dennis Mellor and Andrew Green who won the 2007 Corwen Trophy for Lincolnshire. Here they are pictured having just been presented the trophy by EBU Director Graham Jepson. (Dennis is on the left and Andrew on the right) Dennis and Andrew fought their way into the lead after 3 rounds, and were able to consolidate their position in the final round to end up winning by more than 0.5%. Our other Lincolnshire representatives, Mo Parsons and Maurice Ladlow also finished well, in 28th place out of 102 of the nation's finest. Click here for the full result.
Right click photo for download options (8KB)

EBU Club Membership - Important News
Some club secretaries might have recently received a confusing email from the EBU. The County Committee decided that this year it would not pay the EBU subscriptions for affiliated clubs. If you have not yet paid your affiliation fee then you should contact Eileen Maunder at the EBU her email address is Eileen@ebu.co.uk Eileen will advise you the amount due and arrange the appropriate documentation. Please note that your club's membership of the EBU entitles you to issue Master Points, play in certain County events (eg Garden City Heats) and host some Sim Pairs events.

How can we increase entries to County Events?
Some of our restricted events are suffering in terms of entrants. Probably it's the time of year, but our Restricted Pairs event had just 5 pairs entered, and the Lincoln Imp was competed for by just 3 teams. Apart from it being uneconomical to run such an event, we really must find ways to increase numbers. Perhaps the qualification levels are set too low, and we need to consider changing the upper limit to one which encompasses a larger number of potential entrants. Your Competition Secretary will soon be drawing up a Calendar for next season, and would like suggestions to help with this problem. Please email him at competitionsecretary@lincsbridge.org.uk with your ideas.

Important information about entering County Events
Some new guidelines have now been drawn up to make it easier to enter County Events. These are designed to reduce the probability of a pair arriving to play and then finding that their entry has not been received. Click here to see the guidelines.