2009-2010
1-Sep-2010
Leslie Dodds Final 2010
Buttons 'A' beat Stock Exchange 'A' in high-scoring final, 95-70. Congratulations to Bill Linton, Tim Pelling, Liz Clery and Ken Barnett. Commiserations to Peter Cogliatti, Stuart Leigh, David Hull and Jimmy Strauss who were on the losing side last year too.
20-Aug-2010
Captains of last year's teams have been contacted with an email entry-form. Entry to next year's league and Knock-out is by email only. Aside from that, there have been a few small changes, see the 24-Mar item below.
If your team hasn't had an email from us, get in touch – .
16-Aug-2010
2010 Gainsborough Plate
Well done London Underground (Maxine Etkin, Audrey Hartley, John Levy and Gerry Weston) who beat ICL 83 - 7 in the final.
26-Mar-2010
2010 Selfridges Pairs
Congratulations to Mark Nichols & David Reuben who gathered two out of every three matchpoints on offer. Nigel Stuttard & John Bernard were second, Dean Swallow & Carlos Dabezies third. Check the full results.
24-Mar-2010
The committee meeting on Monday 22-Mar discussed several matters, the following is a brief digest:
- We will move to team-based fees next year, removing the notion of a club subscription. The fees will be, per team, subscription £15, discounted to £5 at the AGM, £15 league, £5 knockouts. The cost for a single team playing both competitions and attending the AGM will be £25 compared to the current £26. However institutions fielding multiple teams will play slightly more.
This change, motivated by the gradual decline of multi-team firms and confusion about pricing at the AGM, is principally for simplicity and raises no extra revenue. We retain a fee for registration to persuade captains to attend the AGM, an incentive that has proven successful. We will however allow KO-only teams making reasonable efforts (e.g. by proxy) to arrange their first-round match to pay just the £5 registration (plus £5 KO fee of course). - We will join the EBU this April to preserve continuity for the current year (2009-10). However we remain committed to our promise to present the choice of EBU affiliation at the coming AGM in September.
- We will issue paper Master-Points for the last time at the AGM in September. Depending upon the decision at that meeting, if we remain within the EBU, we will collect EBU numbers and make electronic submissions in the future.
- We will offer a choice of mementos for winners in 2009/10. Captains of deserving teams will be contacted before the AGM. The choice will include the existing mugs or replica trophies and perhaps glass or pewterware. We invite suggestions.
- We emphasise: IMP ties in KO matches should first be resolved by referral to aggregate. This has always been the case (it resolves matches without extra boards when last trains may be leaving the station). Only if aggregate is tied should three (one eighth match length) boards be played; repeating the procedure, IMP then aggregate comparisons, until the tie is broken.
- Carol Regulski is stepping down as treasurer since moving to full-time employment. The committee is very appreciative of her stabilising work and influence and we invite you to extend your thanks.
During the meeting it became apparent that some results had been submitted but not posted. It transpired that between 11-Mar and 23-Mar web-form submissions were not reaching the mailbox despite sending acknowledgements. This in turn, was due to an attempted fix the problem noted on 9-Mar below. The original was restored on 23-Mar.
As of today, with help from Mark at ECats, I hope I've got a solution. The results are up-to-date but if you submitted a result between 11-Mar and 23-Mar that does not appear, please re-submit. Sorry.
9-Mar-2010
Email acknowledgement of results: there's a problem at the server end and some addresses are rejecting the mail. This tends to be for recipients who are very rigorous in authenticating the email sender, particularly government addresses. Sorry – the guy at the host company is looking into it.
16-Feb-2010
Beginning with supper at 6.00pm, with play starting promptly at 6.30pm. The cost is £5.00 per person including buffet. For location, see: http://www-5.ibm.com/uk/locations/sbnk.html.
To enter email and copy to ensure speedy access to the IBM building.
6-Feb-2010
Well done new team USA-B Dodgers and captain Ellen Davidson – the first to finish all their matches.
7-Jan-2010
Happy New Year!
Ah, reading the words below (11-Dec) I realise I offered up a hostage to fortune: my new computer started misbehaving and though eventually fixed, Christmas descended. So there hasn't been much movement on results or the cup until today…
Cup and Plate Draw
I have done the Leslie Dodds Cup and the Gainsborough Plate draws and will be writing to captains shortly - links from the left now active. I've made the format a little prettier and removed the 2008-9 from the left-hand margin to 'Past Years' as a general tidy-up.
11-Dec-2009
We're back! I gave up with my old computer and bought a new one. The process of transferring is not pain-free but it has gone reasonably well and after two days (not full-time) I'm back to regular updates of the website.
I can see one glitch; my change to the default date format in Windows has made the date interpretation in the 'scorecard' format of results wrong - matches appear to have been played in 1905! I'll get round to that in a bit but everything else looks OK to me.
I'll be doing the Cup Draw - somewhat overdue because of the disruption - for Monday.
30-Nov-2009
The file that controls the web-form and the display of line-ups for played matches was corrupted on 25-Nov. This was another manifestation of the problems I've been having (below though now not confined to graphics). The script I use to generate the results failed mid-way but I couldn't see anything wrong and continued. Unfortunately a close-quote was missing and the file would not load.
If you submitted a result between 25-Nov and now, please resubmit – I would be grateful if you'd use the web-form and not send emails.
22-Nov-2009
Apologies for the delay in posting recent results - I've entered an outer circle of computer hell. If anyone knows anything about updating Radeon 8500 Video drivers then get in touch!
9-Oct-2009
The Surdoc Trophy was held last night and attracted seven teams. It was narrowly won by Buttons, featuring three of the four that were runners up in the Champions' Cup; Roland Gronau, Ryan Stephenson, Tim Pelling and Bill Linton. Well done to them.
| Team | But | LSE | Sto | YC | Ath | IBM | Liv | IMPs |
| Buttons | - | 3 | 6 | 3 | -9 | 4 | 39 | 46 |
| LSE-Imperial | -3 | - | -10 | -3 | 15 | 18 | 26 | 43 |
| Stock Exchange | -6 | 10 | - | 15 | 12 | -5 | 2 | 28 |
| YC | -3 | 3 | -15 | - | 0 | 19 | 13 | 17 |
| Atheneum | 9 | -15 | -12 | 0 | - | 14 | -8 | -12 |
| IBM | -4 | -18 | 5 | -19 | -14 | - | 19 | -31 |
| Livesey | -39 | -26 | -2 | -13 | 8 | -19 | - | -91 |
6-Oct-2009
Each year the winner of the Premier League is invited to play in the LMBA Champions' Cup, a multiple teams even for winners of leagues involving London players (some from quite far afield). Buttons 'A' won last year and represented the LBHCBA finishing second; well done Roland Gronau & Chris Watkinson, Bill Linton & Tim Pelling just behind the London League, featuring some familiar faces from the LBH skirmishes in the past. Full Results.
24-Sep-2009
We have the first result of the season! One of the new (and obviously keen) USA teams registered a narrow win: USA-B Dodgers beat RAC 'C' 7-5 in VPs. The League is therefore under way.
As ever more changes to contact details have come to light and I will be issuing (another) updated copy to captains shortly.
Surdoc Trophy – annual one-session teams
As previously announced this will be held on Thursday 8th October, 18:30 at IBM South Bank. would like your entries by Monday 5th October please. Note that at the AGM it was agreed that teams need not be limited to one per club (as in the past) not indeed, to members of the same club.
The entry includes a buffet at IBM – be prompt at 6:00pm, it's very popular – and represents great value. Carol has offered to form teams so if you are a pair and would like to play, email .
9-Sep-2009
What happened at the AGM…
Well it was great fun – you should have been there. Actually it was commendably brief and well attended. We welcomed three new teams to the League, KPMG, USA-A Diamondbacks and USA-B Dodgers the last two being from the International American Duplicate Bridge Club.
From the introduction of those two teams you'll gather that the response to the Policy Email on the question of admitting teams from bridge clubs (as opposed to those that work there as is the case with the Young Chelsea Staff who have played for some time) was favourable to their admission. In fact, no-one who expressed an opinion opposed the idea. Likewise the reorganisation of the League into six vertical divisions – as opposed to the 'West-East' structure in the past. This seems to have met with wide approval which is just as well for the die is now cast.
Also adopted were firm recommendations on start times which were enshrined in the Bye-Laws of the association. Those and the Rules were confirmed by the meeting with only a technical change so the copies mailed to captains earlier are acceptable working documents.
One proposition from the Policy Email was put to the meeting; should teams that are slow to start play be censured by a fine in Victory Points? There was a clear majority in favour and from this year, if a team has not played three matches by 31-Dec, it will be docked two VPs per match unplayed below three. The fine is automatic and the committee will waive only in obviously extenuating circumstances.
Lastly the stipulation that only registered players should play was emphasised. This is not a prohibition on substitutes but a requirement to inform the opposing captain that this is happening. Most teams have already responded to the request to list active players and these will be taken as the starting line-ups. It is hoped that some future web development may easily reveal the players each team can field.
That's pretty much it: the new season is active from the left hand menu but for a while I will leave easy access to last year so you can check how your opponents fared last season.