The Millennium Trophy

by Susan Hollingworth and Peter Beavan

This Open Pairs competition, substituted for the usual Jubilee Pairs, was run by the Balsham Club on behalf of the County and in support of The Save the Children Fund, the EBU's charity of the year.

Whilst it was good to see our efforts reported in English Bridge magazine, their headline "Club goes-it-alone" was - to coin a phrase - a bit over the top! It hardly conveyed the huge support provided by the 17 clubs who ran heats and then rallied round to provide equipment and last-minute substitutes when a qualified few pairs could not make the final.

In all 203 pairs took part in heats and 42 pairs contested the semi-finals and finals at Fulbourn on Sunday, 11th June. This event, which comprised 3 semi-finals and A & B Flight finals, was organised and directed in masterly fashion by Giles Woodruff. It also threw up some interesting results for, whilst star players dominated the heats, good club players came through in the finals.

Winners of the A Flight final were Sheila and Ken Barker of Blinco BC with 63.3%, followed by Tapan Pal and Rod Oakford with 60.45%. The B Flight final winners were Barbara McWhinney and Ken Everett of Ely BC with 62.5%; second were Brenda Day and Philip Jones with 60.31%.

For a little relaxation while Giles was devilling away on his computer to provide the results before all went home, Fiske Warren produced a quiz which caused a good deal of good-humoured banter and head-scratching among participants!

We are indebted to all who took part and helped, not least the sterling support from Balsham Club members on the refreshment front, and proud of the fact that £1,048 was raised for Save the Children, a very good proportion of the EBU's £30,000 target for the whole country.

Addendum, from Margaret Jude: I wonder if many people who attended the final of the Millennium Trophy feel, as I do, that the Fulbourn Community Centre made a great venue for a county event. Not only is it in the centre of our region, but it is a very pleasant site. It has plenty of parking, plenty of space and a decent heating system. It has to be beneficial to everyone’s play to be in a spacious room where you do not find that you are having your feet frozen while, at the same time, your head is being fried.