Fifteen players have signed up to the new league season,with three divisions: Division One: Martin Barkwill John Horton John Oxley Keith Gill Division Two: Mike Snowdon Chris Humble Alan Hind Richard Rowland Jon Isbell Don Irving Division Three: Andy Moran David Griffiths Judy Hughes Nick Leon Kev Dalkin Divisions One and Two are 11-point matches, playing one match against each opponent. Division Three are five-point matches, with people playing each other twice.

Pete Cain walked away with the winner’s trophy and a place at the TWI early next year after defeating Fraya Dravern in the final at the weekend’s Newcastle Intermediates tournament. Meanwhile, Pat Brooks won the Lindisfarne Trophy in the consolation event beating George Kyriazi, while the Hadrian Trophy went to Sean Broadie in the last chance event, with Derek Murphy the runner-up. Denby Pettitt won the Alan Masters travel board and Mark Baker the Friday night freeroll, while the doubles event was won by Ruth Flack and Keith Gill. As runner-up in the main event, Fraya wins a place in… Read more: Cain able to succeed

John Horton is the first division champion for the second league competition of the year. Congratulations to John along with Maryna Zasukhina and Chris Humble who won the second and third divisions respectively.

Ten players took part in our monthly meeting at St John’s Church in Kingston Park, with Kevin Stebbing defeating club chair Rikki Blythe in the final. Richard Rowland (left) won the consolation event, with Lawrence Jones the runner-up.

The dates for our monthly, Saturday meetings upstairs at St John’s Church in Kingston Park have also been confirmed for 2026. If anyone would like to be TD (tournament director) for October/November then please speak to Graeme, Keith or Mike. Parking is available at the Metro Park and Ride car park which is only a couple of minutes’ walk away.

Next year’s dates for our club nights at the Gosforth Hotel have been confirmed by the venue. As this year, we’ll be meeting on the second Tuesday and fourth Wednesday of the month in the upstairs Sumner Room, at 6.45pm for a 7pm start.

Seventy four players descended on Tyneside for the 8th Newcastle Open – and it was Aniel Ciobanu who was crowned the new champion, winning the title on a four-cube game against Kev Jones. Meanwhile, representing a strong Scottish contingent at the event, three-times champion Alastair Woods defeated Merrin Rose to win the Lindisfarne Trophy in the consolation event. The host club – NEBA – provided both finalists in the last chance event, with Kevin Stebbing taking away the Hadrian Trophy, with Lewis Fairfax as the runner-up. The Scottish pairing of Billy Williamson and Graeme McPhee won the doubles competition, with… Read more: Aniel wins 8th Newcastle Open

Congratulations to our secretary Keith Gill who has been awarded Tournament Director of the Year by the UK Backgammon Federation at the UK Open last weekend. Keith was presented with a certificate by UKBGF Chair Julia Hayward. The award marks Keith’s work in running the Federation’s Club Championship in York over the last two years, as well as setting up our new Intermediates Tournament. He has also agreed to run next year’s West Yorkshire Open.

Here are the latest standings in our club league competition, which are held twice a year:

In the second of our club v club matches against Harrogate, NEBA made it all square in the return match at St John’s in Kingston Park. Seven players represented each club, with NEBA eventually coming out on top with a 17-11 match win. Martin Barkwill, Graeme Turner, Rikki Blythe, Mike Snowdon, Richard Rowland, Marina Zasukhina and Chris Humble represented NEBA, while Harrogate fielded a team comprising: Alex Hannam, Chris McCooke, Tony Tilstone, Stuart Whittingham, David Clarke, Andrea Tilstone and Jo Bell. Pictured is Alex Hannam handing over the trophy to Martin Barkwill.