WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Westmorland and Cumbria

Bridge

Leagues

February Newsletter

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Contents Congratulations to All Winners in the January Schedule ...... 3 A Word from your Organiser ...... 5 February Schedule ...... 6 Teams and Pairs Leagues ...... 6 Teams Events ...... 7 Cumbria Inter-Club Teams of Eight ...... 7 A Word from the Players...... 8 From Ken Orford ...... 8 From Jim Lawson ...... 10 From Ken Orford ...... 12 Final League Tables ...... 16 Westmorland Teams League ...... 16 Westmorland Pairs League ...... 17 Cumbria Inter-Club Teams of Eight Leagues ...... 18 Join the Facebook group “Westmorland Bridge Leagues” ...... 19 Final Summary...... 19

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Congratulations to All Winners in the January Schedule

Westmorland Teams League - Division Winners (Schedule 06)

Division 1 Winners Michael Cox, Glenda Lloyd, Jill Rushton, Gillian Whyte Runners-up Michael Rothwell and Sally-Ann Rothwell John MacLachlan and Robin Rose

Division 2 Winners Alan Farmer, Carolynne Farmer, Tim Farmer, Phil Hine Runners-up Paul Davies, Phil Young Terry McCarron, Harriet Dinwoodie

Division 3 Winners Leopold Lehninger, Joan Taylor Pat Downes, Ina Gray Runners-up Brian Smith, Tim Harrison Richard Brazier, Geoff Maskall

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Westmorland Pairs League - Division Winners (Schedule 07)

Division 1 Winners Wendy Owen and Alan James Runner-Up Jane Eyre and John Robinson

Division 2 Winners Brian Smith and Gillian Whyte Mike Rothwell and Sally-Ann Rothwell

Division 3 Winners Felicity Kay and John Wilmott Runner-Up Pat Downes and Ina Gray

Division 4 Winners Frank Underwood and Nigel Morgan Runner-Up Ray Gregory and Irene Gregory

Division 5 Winners Paul Tharagonnet and Trevor Duddle Runner-Up Harriet Dinwoodie and Phil Young

Division 6 Winners David Owen and Janet Owen Runner-Up Barbara Jeffrey and Mary Anne Peden

Division 7 Winners Jill Howarth and Pat Crompton Runner-Up Elizabeth Moreton and June Gartside Clare Parker and John Renton

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

A Word from your Organiser

Welcome to the fifth newsletter from the Westmorland and Cumbria Bridge Leagues.

Online bridge is still flourishing during lockdown. It is still providing a real alternative to the normal face to face game.

RealBridge is now being used for an increasing number of competitions. It is proving more versatile than BBO especially when running teams events.

Other bridge groups have been developing their on-line bridge. Dowker Lane Bridge Club. Now has six tables per week, playing on a Tuesday at 2pm. Casual bridge is played on BBO. South Lakes U3A are now running a duplicate pairs , on BBO. The next tournament is planned for 12th February 2021.

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

February Schedule

Teams and Pairs Leagues

The next schedule of the Leagues will start on Monday 1st February.

The schedule will run from 1st February through to 14th March.

The WTL (Teams) will consist of fourteen teams in three divisions. The top two divisions will have five teams and Division 3 will have four teams. The top team in divisions 2 and 3 have been promoted to a higher division. The bottom team in divisions 1 and 2 have been relegated to the division below.

The WPL (Pairs) will consist of seven divisions. Divisions 1, 2, 6, and 7 will have eight pairs, divisions 3, 4 and 5 will have seven pairs.

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Teams Events

Cumbria Inter-Club Teams of Eight

We have successfully completed the first three rounds of The Inter-Club Teams of Eight competition, which includes teams from Arnside, Barrow, Carlisle, Grange, Kendal, Keswick, West Coast, and Windermere. The next round of matches is been scheduled to be played on Friday 26th February. The matches will be: Kendal v Barrow Keswick v Carlisle West Coast v Grange Windermere v Arnside

The Club Representatives are: Club Contact Arnside Alan Farmer Barrow Trevor Ward Carlisle Ken Johnston Grange Sam Norman Kendal Chris Wilkinson Keswick Gaynor Williams West Coast Paul Davies Windermere John Ellwood

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

A Word from the Players

The contributions have been received from some of our players.

From Ken Orford

Being Competitive by Ken Orford A couple of months ago there was an incident in a WPL match that triggered a whole chain of thoughts that I’d like to share with you. In the match I made a misleading bid – I mislead my partner probably more than anyone. I won’t go into details, but 6 Hearts was the right contract. I bid it and my partner, because of the misunderstanding converted it to 6 Spades. At this point I realised the error and decided that 7 Hearts one off was a better score than 6 Spades several off. So I bid it. During the play, one of the defenders, confused by dummy and the odd bidding, made a mistake and the contract made. At the end of the match we had a “chat” discussion about the hand and the result was I offered to, and was happy to contact Mike and get a judgement. I subsequently sent an email to Mike, which I copied it to the other three players, with screenshots of the board, the bidding and the chat. One of our opponents replied to the email, thanking me for a good summary of the situation. I replied saying it wasn’t a problem and that “it’s not like we’re playing for the world cup”. I was then (quite rightly) firmly put into my box, with a comment that it was about “fairness” not about winning. Of course, I agreed and apologised. In the end the board was ruled in our favour, but what struck me later was my offhand comment. It got me thinking. I have always been a competitive person – ridiculously so. Whether it was playing cricket, board games (another passion), skiing, cycling, or any other sport/pastime I’ve taken up in my three score years and ten, I like to do well. And I like to win. What does winning and doing well actually mean? When I was fourteen or fifteen, I was at my local youth club – remember those? A guy I knew vaguely (he was a year older than me and went to a different school), asked if I wanted a game of table tennis. I was okay at table tennis but 8

WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

nothing special. However, I was having a good day and it was a really good game. When it got to 17-17 I noticed there were quite a few people watching, but I didn’t think much of it. I was a bit annoyed when I lost 21-19. But then people started congratulating me – apparently my opponent hadn’t been beaten for two years and I gave him a real scare. So I went from being disappointed to have lost, to quite pleased with myself (it was a fluke – he’d have clobbered me any other time). So it’s not the winning that makes you feel good – it’s how well you’ve competed. I could beat my four year old grandson at just about anything – except maybe dinosaur identification. But I wouldn’t feel good about it. So it is with Bridge (no I haven’t taught my four year old grandson – yet). Back in the day (mid 70s) I was lucky enough to play against Omar Sharif at a convention. I think we got a couple of averages – and I’ll take that any day. So it’s the same playing at Kendal. There are some people we’re happy to get an average against, not mentioning names Mike and Sally-Ann, because they’re better players than us. And coming 3rd or 4th is satisfying – of course we aspire to win, but we’re realistic. We know there are at least a dozen better pairs than we are. So week in and week out we compete against ourselves. To do better than we think we should. A final word on the WPL incident and fairness. I was shocked to read the EBU banned someone for cheating. Not shocked they were banned, but shocked someone would cheat. Why? What satisfaction is there in that? There would have been no satisfaction in winning a WPL match if it wasn’t a fair result. So I/we just got lucky that we got away with a mess up. And that’s okay – because for every time you get lucky, you get a bottom because someone else got lucky against you.

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

From Jim Lawson

NO TRUMP

The above title, apart from the intended double entendre and topicality, has no relevance whatsoever to what I am about to write, unless one chooses to see Bridge as an exercise in political strategy. Well, reading Martyn’s in-depth analyses of hands, it might just be. Russian politicians have reputedly called on Chess Grandmasters as consultants - and Boris’s name has a Russian ring to it! Well, that introduction probably reflects my bridge playing, flights of fancy, occasional astute observation and a pre-occupation with what ifs! Where did it all begin? A schoolboy in north London, my home housed the practice of my father, a dental surgeon. Two of the rooms were used as surgeries, the kitchen was the staff rest room, the dining room was the waiting room, the hall was the reception room, and the bathroom housed the X-Ray fixing fluids. The consequence of this was that my bedroom served as a sanctuary, to where I could disappear and allow my imagination to run wild. Playing cards featured greatly in this world. I played all types of patience, clock patience was my favourite, but also built huge edifices with carefully balanced cards, till an accidental nudge, a teasing sister or an over-friendly cat toppled them. My mother, who played Bridge regularly with a group of friends, played gin rummy and hearts (black widow) with me and my sister. Unsurprisingly, ‘Deck of Cards’ sung by Wink Martindale, remains one of my favourite songs! Bridge started casually at University. I remember reading a book by Terence Rees early on; I think he was seen as a Bridge guru by many. After graduating, I remained living in and, over 40 years, established a regular evening of Bridge with a group of chums. Rubber Bridge was played. A quick count up of the value of honour cards (4,3,2,1) plus 3 for a void, 2 for a singleton and 1 for a doubleton, none of this rule of 20 stuff! One opened with 13+ points, and if partner had 13+, there would always be a jump bid, crude but reasonably effective. Bridge took place at each friend’s home on a rotating basis. The host provided food and drink, well cans of beer to be more precise. More chat and laughter featured than Bridge normally, (I sometimes wonder how far things have really changed), and a fun evening was had. Over time, the games themselves took on a new dimension in that losing a Rubber was avoided at almost any cost, often requiring extreme and costly sacrifices. A clearly unsustainable situation, it was agreed that the points incurred by the losers should 10

WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

be monetarised, the accumulated pot to be used at Christmas for some further form of hedonistic activity. However, the realisation of the cost implications of this decision fairly quickly resulted a swift adjustment, with Rupees rather than Sterling becoming the designated currency. A thousand Rupees goes a long way in Bridge sacrifices! To Cumbria in 2003 and retirement in 2008, space opened up in my life and I found myself becoming one of Phillip Wraight’s protégés; his commitment to developing Bridge in Kendal is rightly acknowledged and applauded by so many of us. Since then Bridge, and Kendal Bridge Club, have become a significant part of my life. So why Bridge? Well, I like games and sport, I like people (several members of KBC have become good friends) and I like a challenge. Most of all, however, I welcome the intellectual stimulation of Bridge, this arguably being the biggest loss I experienced when stopping work. That said, Bridge has not become an obsession for me, rather one of a number of favourite pastimes. For one thing, I’m not sure that I could ever develop the profound analytical skills displayed by experts, both at the club and in the EBU magazine. But I like to think I’m mostly fairly steady in my play and bidding, capable of occasional acts of inspiration, sadly more than counter balanced with moments of crass stupidity! My partners will bear me out on this self-assessment. Finally, I come to the on-line stuff. This has been a godsend in many ways, given the tedium of reduced and constrained activity due to lockdown. To those who organise it, my sincere thanks. With the passage of time, I also find myself playing Rubber Bridge again with my old Bristol chums on Trickster, an active WhatsApp chat running alongside on propped up mobiles. Alas, my attempts to explore and/or introduce new bidding systems has met with a sharp rebuttal. Do I care if I go five down, doubled and vulnerable? You tell me!

Jim Lawson 28 January 2021

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

From Ken Orford

The Games People Play by Ken Orford I have always loved playing games. When I was about eight years old and we visited my grandma, I used to get a book from her bookcase and study it avidly. It wasn’t just any book, it was a book of card games. I think the main reason I loved it was because it was printed in colour – well, red and black. The book was littered with little red hearts and diamonds. I loved it. I guess I inherited my grandma’s love of cards. I used to drive her every Tuesday to her Whist Drive, which she attended until her mid nineties. On the drive home, she’d recite the interesting hands to me: “So I led the knave and it was covered by the queen and …” So, it was hardly surprising when I was introduced to bridge in my first year at University that I became hooked. But it isn’t just card games I love. I suppose it started when I was given a “Waddington’s Buccaneer” game for my ninth . I loved it and fortunately I had an equally fascinated schoolfriend. So Buccaneer was followed by , Totopoly, Risk, Zoo Quest, Careers and, unfortunately, Monopoly. I hate Monopoly. To understand why will give you some hints as to why I like the games I do. Nobody will ever convince me there is any skill in Monopoly. Allegedly, and I’m not entirely convinced of this either, a player can adopt different strategies. But the ability to implement a strategy is dependent on the roll of the dice. Luck. Anyway, enough of the “M” word. Over the past fifteen years or so we have developed a family tradition. Every Christmas I will buy a new . So what I’d like to share with you is a couple of the ones we liked most, so that you can liberate your families from the dreaded M virus. In selecting the annual Christmas game I usually look for the “Speil des Jahres” – the “Game of the Year” or GOTY. (The Germans are very big into board games by the way). All these were either 1st or 2nd in their year.

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Camel Up This game is genius. It is now our “go to” game if we want a short, sharp bit of fun. Essentially, it’s a camel race. But you don’t own a camel. Each round you try to predict which camel will be leading or in second place. At any point you can also make a prediction of which will ultimately win and which will come last. But the genius of the game is the way the camels move. Imagine the green camel is one square behind the blue camel. The green camel rolls a one (I know, I know it’s a dice), so it moves forward one space and sits on top of the blue camel. Now the blue camel rolls a three and moves forward three spaces – carrying the green camel with it! So with five camels galloping round, with the potential of a stack of camels moving (only taking the camels above you in the stack), the game is a mixture of luck, skill and timing, because you don’t know in which order the camels move. The game takes about half an hour to play, so it’s quick, but seldom do you play only one game. The winner is the player with the most money – generated by correct predictions. Kingdomino This is one of a category of games that board games players will know as tile placing games. The most famous tile placing game is probably Carcasonne, which was GOTY way back. In Kingdomino each player has to build a territory by selecting from the tiles available and laying it in his/her territory – normal “domino” rules apply (water next to water, mountain next to mountain etc.). The winner is the one whose territory is the most fruitful when all the tiles have been laid. Simple? Yes, but the clever thing is the way the tiles are selected. For example, in a four player game, four tiles are available each turn. But the selection mechanics mean that the player that got the highest value tile in the last turn will get the final choice next round. But sometimes a low value one is the one you want for domino reasons – so you get a double whammy – a tile you want,

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

and first pick next time. As players see each others’ territories, it’s also possible to pick a tile just to mess up another player. Like most good games, a simple concept very well put together, and highly recommended. Again, it’s all done within an hour. Pandemic This was GOTY about eight or nine years ago. It was a very tight decision between this and “Ticket to Ride” for my third choice. Pandemic gets the nod because it’s topical, but also it’s a completely different style of game. It’s not player vs player, it’s all the players (a team) vs the game. I have already implied that my family are pretty experienced board game players. It took us three attempts at the simple level to win. There is an element of luck in terms of how the viruses spread, but hey, that’s reflected in what we’ve seen over the past year. Anyway, each player has a role (Researcher, Scientist, Medic, Logistics etc.) and the objective is to find cures for the viruses before they get out of control. So it’s about suppressing the spread while the science guys do their stuff and get the vaccines (sound familiar?) This game is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. Some people just don’t like working together, but there is great satisfaction when the final vaccine is developed and the team is victorious. At the hard level it is incredibly hard, and even the easy level can trip you up. But all in all, it’s a really good game … and it’s tense and exciting.

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Pictures This is the 2020 Game of the Year. It is incredibly simple. Sixteen pictures are selected at random from the 200+ in the game. Players are secretly allocated a photo to reproduce. Each player has one of the five sets of tools: couple of laces, some wooden blocks, sticks and stones, 3x3 matrix of coloured cubes and some picture cards. The tools move from player to player each turn and you get points for a correct guess of another player’s picture and a point for everyone that guesses yours.

Simple – and a huge amount of fun.

Other Contenders Other games I wholeheartedly recommend are: Ticket to Ride – building railway connections across Europe (not a short game) – rob a train in the Wild West - great and hilarious fun. – Filling your zoo with animals. A seven or eight year old could play it. Settlers of – tile based trading and building game Imhotep – Building monuments in Egypt

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Final League Tables

Westmorland Teams League

WTL Schedule 06 Results Final Results as at 15:34, Saturday 30 January 26 results received out of 26

Rank Division 1 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st Michael Cox 4 3 0 1 49 12.3 2nd Mike Rothwell 4 2 0 2 44 11.0 3rd Wendy Owen 4 2 0 2 42 10.5 4th Gaynor Williams 4 2 0 2 39 9.8 5th Trevor Ward 4 1 0 3 26 6.5

Rank Division 2 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st Alan Farmer 4 4 0 0 60 15.0 2nd Paul Davies 4 3 0 1 48 12.0 3rd Phil Rowland 4 2 0 2 39 9.8 4th Joan Kershaw 4 1 0 3 33 8.3 5th Chris Banks 4 0 0 4 20 5.0

Rank Division 3 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st Leopold Lehninger 3 3 0 0 43 14.3 2nd Brian Smith 3 2 0 1 41 13.7 3rd David Bolton 3 1 0 2 24 8.0 4th Frank Jenkinson 3 0 0 3 12 4.0

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Westmorland Pairs League

WPL Schedule 07 Results Final Results as at 18:35, Sunday 31 January 190 results received out of 190

Rank Division 1 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st Wendy Owen+Alan James 7 5 0 2 85 12.1 2nd Jane Eyre+John Robinson 7 5 0 2 75 10.7 3rd Trevor Ward+Christine Ward 7 4 1 2 72 10.3 4th Robin Rose+John MacLachlan 7 3 1 3 69 9.9 5th Mike Howse+Martyn Harris 7 3 0 4 68 9.7 6th Chris Wilkinson+Chris Walker 7 1 1 5 65 9.3 7th= Glenda Lloyd+Michael Cox 7 3 1 3 63 9.0 7th= Rosemary Jackson+Joan Mossop 7 2 0 5 63 9.0

Rank Division 2 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st= Brian Smith+Gillian Whyte 7 4 0 3 80 11.4 1st= Mike Rothwell+Sally-Ann Rothwell 7 5 0 2 80 11.4 3rd Wendy Ellwood+John Ellwood 7 4 1 2 77 11.0 4th Chris Banks+Mike Ollerton 7 3 1 3 76 10.9 5th Steve Douglas+Ken Orford 7 4 0 3 71 10.1 6th Jean Bagley+Mary Sapsford 7 4 0 3 68 9.7 7th Leopold Lehninger+Joan Taylor 7 3 0 4 64 9.1 8th Gaynor Williams+Bill Richardson 7 0 0 7 44 6.3

Rank Division 3 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st Felicity Kay+John Wilmott 7 5 0 2 96 13.7 2nd Pat Downes+Ina Gray 7 5 0 2 83 11.9 3rd Jim Lawson+Robert Boyd 7 4 0 3 73 10.4 4th Hilary Storey+Jacky Truelove 7 3 0 4 70 10.0 5th Estelle Savage+Bill Hubbold 7 3 2 2 68 9.7 6th Vanessa Cordwell+Sue Chapman 7 3 1 3 64 9.1 7th Mike Dunstan+David Sheppard 7 2 0 5 54 7.7 8th Joan Kershaw+Guy Kershaw 7 1 1 5 52 7.4

Rank Division 4 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st Frank Underwood+Nigel Morgan 6 5 0 1 77 12.8 2nd Ray Gregory+Irene Gregory 6 4 1 1 74 12.3 3rd Sarah Bullock+Jan Ellwood 6 3 0 3 60 10.0 4th= Jean Parsons+Jackie Beavon 6 3 0 3 56 9.3 4th= Sharon Gadsden+Carole Williamson 6 2 1 3 56 9.3 6th Keith Bainbridge+Allen Brown 6 1 1 4 55 9.2 7th Barbara Casey+Sheila Alcock 6 1 1 4 42 7.0

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WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Rank Division 5 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st Paul Tharagonnet+Trevor Duddle 6 5 0 1 74 12.3 2nd Harriet Dinwoodie+Phil Young 6 4 0 2 71 11.8 3rd Paul Davies+David Hanabury 6 3 0 3 66 11.0 4th Charlotte Casson+Judy Rayner 6 3 0 3 59 9.8 5th Jean Dale+Laura Watson 6 2 0 4 55 9.2 6th Shirley Williams+Nina Waite 6 2 0 4 49 8.2 7th Sam Rayner+Mike Casson 6 2 0 4 46 7.7

Rank Division 6 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st David Owen+Janet Owen 7 5 1 1 83 11.9 2nd Barbara Jeffrey+Mary Anne Peden 7 5 0 2 81 11.6 3rd Roger Kaye+John Hindle 7 4 1 2 76 10.9 4th Joyce Hoggarth+Audry Cunningham 7 3 1 3 72 10.3 5th Peter Lord+Janice Beardsell 7 4 0 3 68 9.7 6th Christine Lomas Whittle+Marie Metcalfe 7 2 0 5 63 9.0 7th Steve Morris+Jenny Morris 7 2 0 5 62 8.9 8th Penny Henderson+Hanna Burke 7 1 1 5 55 7.9

Rank Division 7 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st Jill Howarth+Pat Crompton 8 3 1 4 94 11.8 2nd= Elizabeth Moreton+June Gartside 8 5 1 2 92 11.5 2nd= Clare Parker+John Renton 8 5 0 3 92 11.5 4th Jane Harper+Margaret Lister 8 3 2 3 89 11.1 5th Judy Fry+Josephine St John 8 5 0 3 88 11.0 6th Dorothy Marsh+Audrey Whittle 8 5 0 3 84 10.5 7th Jane Pilgrim+Anne Urquhart 8 2 1 5 65 8.1 8th Jennie Pates+Margaret Douglas 8 2 0 6 60 7.5 9th Isobel McCretton+Freda Dixon 8 3 1 4 56 7.0

Cumbria Inter-Club Teams of Eight Leagues

Inter Club Teams of Eight Results as at 21:28, Friday 29 January 12 results received out of 28

Rank Division 1 Played Won Drawn Lost VPs Ave 1st West Coast 3 3 0 0 48 16.0 2nd Windermere 3 2 0 1 32 10.7 3rd Keswick 3 2 0 1 31 10.3 4th Barrow 3 1 0 2 30 10.0 5th Arnside 3 2 0 1 27 9.0 6th= Carlisle 3 1 0 2 25 8.3 6th= Kendal 3 1 0 2 25 8.3 8th Grange 3 0 0 3 22 7.3 18

WBL February Newsletter 1st February 2021

Join the Facebook group “Westmorland Bridge Leagues”

Please consider joining the Facebook group, especially created for use by all bridge players and friends in the Westmorland and Cumbria area. The group is administered by Brian Smith ([email protected]) and is called “Westmorland Bridge Leagues”. Please look and join.

Thirty-six players from Cumbria and Westmorland have joined this group.

The group is updated with the latest news and views about bridge in the Counties.

Final Summary

I hope you have found this newsletter useful. If you have, please tell your friends. I would welcome contributions to the March Newsletter.

Thank you All Brian

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