Nick Doe

I have a Law degree and qualified as a Solicitor more years ago than I now care to remember. I retired for the first time in my late 30s and came to work for the EBU as Secretary to the various Committees. After nearly 8 years I returned to practising as a Solicitor, but retired for the second time after the financial crisis hit.

I returned to work for the EBU in February 2017 to take over from the much-missed Peter Jordan on the Competitions desk – that was a hard act to follow!  In July 2019 I look over from Ian Mitchell in my old job as Secretary to the Laws & Ethics Committee, which currently takes up all my working time.

I learned to play bridge when I was about 9. My mother was of the generation which was taught bridge as a social skill, but she cordially hated it, and as soon as my father thought I was old enough he taught me the rudiments and I started to play in the social (kitchen) bridge games they had with a neighbouring couple. My father was keen and although he played duplicate only about twice in his life, he continued to play regularly at his local U3A bridge club until he was 97.

I started to play duplicate at school and have never stopped.  Before lockdown I played once or twice a week for most of the year, at several clubs in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire, and in most of the EBU knockout competitions.  I’ve had some success in County competitions and EBU Congress events.  I’m currently playing online in various knockout competitions, but otherwise I don’t play much online.

I’m married to Katherine, who is a Chartered Accountant working in the charity sector. We recently moved to a village just outside Hereford and are looking forward to exploring the area more thoroughly as soon as we are allowed to. Katherine plays bridge (Peter was her first teacher), but not much at the moment, although I’m hopeful of persuading her back.  We managed to win the Berks & Bucks Married Pairs twice – a delightful event (just think of a bridge event in which every single player is married to his or her partner!) which is sadly no longer in the calendar.

Away from bridge we enjoy walking and have quite a large new garden to get stuck into.