English Bridge Union

The team of Janet de Botton, David Bakhshi, Espen Erichsen, Glyn Liggins, Artur Malinowski & Tom Townsend lead the First Division after the first weekend of the Premier League. They ended the first round-robin with a 13.85 VP lead over the team of Jeff Morris, John Hassett, Tom Slater & Alec Smalley (Catherine Draper and Andrew Woodcock will join the team in later rounds).

The Second Division is being led by the team of Paul Fegarty, Catherine Curtis, David Kendrick & Mike Scoltock (Paul Barden and Jonathan Mestel will join the team in later rounds).

James Thrower, Ali Ahmed, Petar Ivanov & Todor Tiholov lead the Third Division (Fiona Brown will join the team in later rounds) - however that division is playing two round-robins (not three) and the first round is yet to be completed.

The second and third weekends take place on 27th/28th October and 3rd/4th November.

In addition to this being a prestigious competition in its own right, it serves as a trial with the winners of the First Division earning selection to represent England in one weekend of the Camrose Trophy.

• Competition information; Results

The EBU is looking for a new full-time Communications Officer to be involved with all aspects of our publications and communications strategy, with our membership as well as in the wider community.

Candidates should have good literacy and numeracy skills, be able to communicate effectively with both the written and spoken word, and be self motivated and able to plan and organise. They should be IT literate and able to use IT, including social media, confidently for communications purposes.

Some weekend working may be necessary to ensure media coverage of some special events. A reasonable knowledge of the game of bridge would be a significant advantage.

A fuller job description is available here.

The successful applicant would primarily work in our Aylesbury office though some off-site work would be required and some working from home might be possible. The successful applicant will ideally start in the role in late October, with a starting salary in the region of £30,000, depending on previous experience.

Applications should be made by 9am on Monday 24th September - please submit a CV and covering letter to Office Manager, Karen Durrell - karend@ebu.co.uk

The first stage of the trials to represent England in the European Mixed Teams Championships has been completed, with the Hinden team going through as top seeds.

Frances Hinden, Graham Osborne, Sally Brock, Barry Myers, Michael Byrne & Fiona Brown will have the first choice of opponents in the semi-final stage. The semi-final and final will take place on 8th-9th December.

The three teams joining them in the semi-finals are:
Catherine Seale, David Gold, Claire Robinson & John Atthey;
Anita Sinclair, Peter Crouch, Helen Erichsen, Espen Erichsen, Simon Cope & Marion Robertson;
Sarah Bell, Mike Bell, Alex Hydes, Yvonne Wiseman & Heather Dhondy.

The European Mixed Teams Championships are in Lisbon in February.

• Results
• Trials information and entry list

Congratulations to Mike Bell, winner of the Player of the Year Championship for 2017/18.

The Championship awards points for finishing in the top positions of major competitions, and Mike topped the table after winning the Premier League and Spring Foursomes, and high finishes in the Gold Cup and National Point-a-Board Teams.

The leading players were:

The full list of points scorers, and information on the 2018/19 competition, which restarts in October with the finals of the Gold Cup and the Two Star Pairs at the Autumn Congress, can be seen via www.ebu.co.uk/poty