On Friday 17th May, the 2019 Interschools Bridge Tournament took place and EBED is pleased to announce that the event was a great success with around 56 participating children, over 10% up from 2018. There was representation from 8 primary and secondary schools, including St James, Weald Community Primary, Sevenoaks Primary, Sevenoaks, Sackville, Skinners’ Kent Primary, Tonbridge Grammar School and Weald of Kent Grammar School.

The event itself was the 3rd year of the competition and we are hoping that it continues to grow in 2020, with more schools and more players. Once again Weald Community Primary School played host. Most of the success should be attributed to the volunteers who assisted with the logistics, the directing, the break time refreshments and all the “in-session” assistance. The Chairman of the Kent Bridge Association (Malcolm Lewis) and the Head of Weald Community Primary (David Pyle) were on hand to launch the competition and Richard Banbury provided excellent tournament direction throughout the afternoon. Helen Erichsen, one of Kent’s top players, was on hand to present trophies to the winners and runners-up, and medals were given out to all other participants. Feedback from all participants was encouragingly positive. Particular thanks should be given to Anton and Jessica Mauve for organising and making this event possible.

Here is a list of the prize winners:

• Secondary Schools Bridge Overall Winners: Tanya Gupta and Bhavana Ratakonda from TGS. Runners Up: Antoinina Mauve and Amelia Mauve from TGS and WoK respectively.
• Primary Schools Bridge Overall Winners: Max Mitchel and Alex Glencross from St James. Runners Up: James Edwards and Mia Harrop (for the second year running) from St James.
• Minibridge Overall Winners: Ben Wild and Theo Marchal of Sevenoaks Primary. Runners Up: was a tie between Toby Williams and Dana Chang and Carla Burton and Namira Nasir all of Sevenoaks Primary (a clean sweep for the school in this section).
• Prizes for “Quiet Assassin” were awarded to, Maya Bower, Arthur White, Hannah Teckoe, Alex Glencross, Antoinina Mauve and Max Mitchel
• Sportsmanship prizes were awarded to Connor Scott, Jonas Tan, Tanya Gupta, Bhavana Ratakonda, Finlay Harrison, Sabrina Sheik Farid, Roan Remijn, and Amillia Healey.

Although 8 schools participated, only three dominated the winner’s podiums. This reflects the emphasis put on Bridge training at those schools as well as the fact that each of the 3 schools entered a squad of 10 players. Mini-bridge was won by Sevenoaks Primary; and Primary School Bridge was a clean sweep for St James School of Tunbridge Wells. The most fiercely contested trophy was the Secondary School Bridge which was won by Tonbridge Grammar, with both second and third places going to pairs comprising a Weald of Kent player in partnership with a Tonbridge Grammar player.

Congratulations to all of the participants – you are developing skills in mathematics, statistics, strategy, memory and communication, and learning the world’s most loved and played card game. Hopefully the children will participate in future Youth Bridge events, which now include weekend bridge breaks at venues such as Bowles Rocks (6-7th July) and the Junior Teach-in (30th August -1st September). For more details, please contact Giles Ip at giles@ebedcio.org.uk