Yorkshire Schools Cup/Osborn Trophy Sunday 25th January at York Bridge Club
4th December 2025
Click here for a flyer for the Yorkshire Schools Cup/Osborn Trophy Sunday 25th January at York Bridge Club. We have had to modify the tournament a little to accommodate the number of beginners attending.
The format will be:
Students to arrive and register at 12.00
Play/tuition to begin at 12.30
High Tea to be served at 2.00
Play/tuition to resume at 2.30
Day ends at approximately 4.00
There will be 2 levels of competition:
Pairs competition for Advanced/Improvers consisting of 24 boards. (Yorkshire Schools Cup)
which will run from 12.30 – 4.00 (with break)
Teaching for 2 sessions for 1.5 hours to include activities. Lunch break followed by further 45 min teaching. This would then be followed by a minimum 6 board competition. 12 beginner boards consisting of 1NT and 1 of a suit opening hands would be prepared but not all would necessarily be used. (The Osborn Trophy).
This competition held on 26 th / 27 th November as competed by 150 pairs in 9 Yorkshire bridge clubs. The winners of the handicapped event (5 th in scratch rankings) were Andrew Suter and Catherine Laverack from York bridge club. They are donating their £125 prize money to St Leonard’s Hospice in York.
The second placed pair were Penny White and Angela Roberts from Doncaster bridge club. They are donating their £75 prize money to the Alzheimer’s Society. Achieving a scratch score of 54.2%, their high handicap took them from 37 th to 2 nd in the rankings.
Very well done to both pairs.
Thank You Stuart Davies
22nd November 2025
Thank You Stuart Davies
Stuart has announced he is retiring from his distinguished role as a Tournament Director having directed his last event on 28th September 2025 at this year’s Great Northern Swiss Pairs, at the Weetwood Hall, Leeds.
Stuart has had a long and distinguished career, covering the best part of 40 years both as a player and a tournament director at a most senior level.
His first event was for the EBU on 13th January 1984 in the Swiss Teams at the Queen’s Hotel, Leeds. Thereafter he started directing for the YCBA. As a national tournament director there are not many events he has not directed both in Yorkshire and nationally.
As a player he has won most of the Yorkshire events but a national event has eluded him. Perhaps now that he has stopped directing there will be one to be won.
Stuart has also acted for many years as tournament secretary for the YCBA. He continues to take entries for our tournaments and congresses and has recently made space in his home by getting rid of the tables/boards etc that the YCBA use at congresses! His knowledge of who has entered what and managing to keep track of the monies associated with those entries is second to none, long may it continue.
He has already been recognised for all his work with a Dimmie Fleming award from the EBU and as recognition of his service to the YCBA, he has received free entries in congresses/competitions for a year.
Stuart, we hope you enjoy your retirement from directing but look forward to your continuing contributions on the tournament committee.
Videos from Members Meeting 15-Nov-2025
15th November 2025
The YCBA Members’ Meeting on Nov 15 2025 consisted of presentations on bridge technology.
The meeting was recorded as a morning video and an afternoon video.
Morning Video
0 mins to 28.30 mins Presentation of new developments on Pianola by James Ward.
28.31mins to 55.29 mins Discussion from two Yorkshire Clubs on their experiences with each introducing a tablets system for bridge result scoring.
Once again, by popular demand, the YCBA are running a Club Tournament Director Training Course
This is supported by the YCBA Bridge Development so the entry is FREE.
The Wetherby course will be run by Jim Edwards to be held at Wetherby Bridge Club.
This is a 3-day course which will run on 3 Mondays, the 2nd, 16th & 23th February, starting at 10.30am and finishing at 5.00pm with a break for lunch.
Tea and coffee will be provided but attendees will be responsible for their own food.
If you wish to attend please contact:
Jim Edwards at TD@ycba.co.uk
Yorkshire qualify for Tollemache Final
10th November 2025
Yorkshire qualify for Tolle Final
For the first time since 2016, Yorkshire have reached the final of the Tollemache Cup, the EBU’s premier competition for teams of eight representing counties. Congratulations to the players and selectors.
30 counties entered the qualifying competition played online on RealBridge over the weekend of 8th and 9th November. The teams were divided into two groups of 15 with each playing a round robin of seven board matches against all the others in the group, with four from each group to qualify for the final. Yorkshire were off to a fast start defeating one of the strongest teams, Kent by 18-2, and they went on to win seven of the eight matches played on Saturday, the only reverse being a 0-20 defeat by the eventual group winners, Surrey. At the end of the day Yorkshire were second and 32 points clear of the fifth placed team.
Things didn’t go so well on Sunday with only one win and two 10-10 draws from six matches. However, there was only one heavy defeat against a strong London team, and Yorkshire never looked in danger of losing their second place, eventually finishing 14 points ahead of third.
Yorkshire’s team comprised five pairs, who all played well – Dave Robinson (captain) & Tony Sowter, Alan Hayward & Steve Raine, Paul Brereton & Frank Dixon, Alan Brosgill & Robin Jepson, and Richard Pike and David Waxman. Steve, a native Scarborough lad, made a welcome return to the Yorkshire fold. Dave Robinson and Richard Pike were also members of the 2016 finalist team. The selectors are Alan Brosgill, Dave Robinson and Nichola Cockerill-Smith.
The final will be played face-to-face in Cambridge over the weekend of 31st January and 1st February. Good luck!
Podcast 2: Promoting Duplicate Bridge in Yorkshire
6th November 2025
YCBA are set up to promote duplicate bridge in Yorkshire, and the encouragement of inter-club, inter-county, and national competitions. YCBA are also responsible, as a not-for-profit organisation, for deploying its funds to best effect.
But how do our objects translate to practical actions? The attached podcast hopefully brings this to life for you.
ENTRIES ARE OPEN FOR THE WINTER 2026 ONLINE YORKSHIRE LEAGUE
5th November 2025
This popular competition returns for its winter season with three match days on Sundays, 4th and 18th January and 1st February. There are three 8 board matches each day, played on RealBridge and BBO. The entry fee is just £16 per team and you’ll find an entry form by navigating from the Leagues tab above.
Entries are made by clubs, so, if you would like to play in the competition, contact your club secretary if you have not yet heard from them. Entries close on 30th November and the fixture list will be published shortly thereafter.
Yorkshire win B division of the Northern Bridge League
16th October 2025
Yorkshire win B division of the Northern Bridge League
The final round of matches in this year’s NBL took place on 11th October, and the Yorkshire team has won the B divisions by the convincing margin of 34 victory points ahead of Lancashire. They will compete in the final of the National Inter-County League competition next summer.
Yorkshire teams finished equal third in the A division, and also third in the C division.
The match days for the 2026 NBL have been announced. They are Saturdays 11th July, 15th August, 12th September, and 17th October.
YCBA Podcast – Café Bridge In Wetherby
1st October 2025
To keep our members and clubs well informed, we are launching our own YCBA podcast programme
Our first podcast, (click for audio file) gives the insider experience of our successful August Café Bridge day and is an invaluable 14 minutes listen for any club that is thinking of holding their own local event.
