We have now booked our new venue at Kingston Park until early next year. Following successful days at the upstairs meeting room at St John’s Church at Kingston Park, NE3 2HB (near the Metro station), the following Saturday dates have been added: August 17, September 7, November 9, December 7, January 11, February 8. August 17 will be our Autumn Cup, November 9 will be the Winter Cup and January 11, the club’s Anniversary Cup. There will be no Saturday meeting in October due to the Newcastle Open being held that month.

Here are the current standings for the NEBA league, with games to be completed by the end of July:

Some key dates for your diary: Wednesday, June 19: Club night at Old George, Newcastle. 6.45pm Saturday, July 6: Day tournament at St John’s, Kingston Park. 10.45am (£5 reg. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.) Wednesday, July 17: Club night at Old George, Newcastle. 6.45pm Saturday, August 17: NEBA autumn cup at St John’s, Kingston Park. 10.45am (£10 reg, £20 entry) Wednesday, August 21: Club night at the Old George, Newcastle. 6.45pm. Saturday, September 7: Day tournament at St John’s, Kingston Park. 10.45 (£5 reg. Tea, coffee and biscuits provided.) Saturday, November 30: Club match v Scottish Central team at Berwick… Read more: Club meetings

Six members of NEBA travelled to Aberdeen at the weekend for the Scottish Open – the first time the tournament has been held for 12 years. Keith Gill and Mike Snowdon reached the finals of the Consolation and Last Chance competitions but fell at the last hurdle. This Saturday sees the latest club meeting at St John’s Church in Kingston Park. This was the venue for one of our regular one-day events a couple of weeks ago. Saturday’s meeting is a trial event – to see if there is interest among members for it to become the date (the first… Read more: Close, but not close enough

Andy Debenham came out tops in our latest one day tournament. Eighteen members took part in the NEBA Summer Cup at Kingston Park, part of our quarterly one-day tournaments held through the year. Runner-up in the main event was John Horton, with Keith Gill winning the consolation event and Dave Gallagher the victor in the last chance. Alan Hind and Richard Rowland were runners-up in those two events. Pictured is Andy being presented with the Summer Cup trophy from club teasurer Graeme Turner.

It’s England 1 Scotland 1 in the second part of a bi-annual tournament between the North East Backgammon Association (NEBA) and a team from Central Scotland. It the autumn, the Scottish team romped to victory in the first match between the two teams, but NEBA were able to turn their fortunes around yesterday, coming out 27-21 winners. The teams were made up of 12 players, with four rounds of five-point matches. It was all square after the first two rounds, but NEBA opened up a four-point lead after Round 3 and extended that to six in the fourth and final… Read more: Revenge for NEBA at Berwick

From May, we will be moving our monthly meetings at The Old George to the third Wednesday of the month. However, the next two meetings will still be held on the third Tuesday of the month. The confirmed dates are: The next two meetings are on Tuesdays: March 19, April 16. After that we move to Wednesdays: May 15 June 19 July 17 August 21 September 18 October 16 November 20 December 18 January 15, 2025 February 19, 2025

The 2024 NEBA new league has been set up. There are four divisions of four players, with three matches of 11 points. Games need to be played by the end of July.

Club treasurer Graeme Turner was the winner of the NEBA anniversary tournament held at the Gateshead Bowling Green Club yesterday. Fourteen players took part in the one-day event, with Graeme, Richard Kuby and Huu Chi Tran winning the three categories. The final results were Main Winner : Graeme Turner Runner up : Rikki Blythe Consolation winner : Richard Kuby Runner up : Keith Gill Last chance winner :Huu Chi Tran Runner up Don Irving A big thankyou to everyone that turned up to play and thanks to TD Keith Gill & assistant TD Rose Gallagher

We got the new year off to a flying start, with a new Monday night meeting. Last night was the first time we have organised a Monday night meeting at the Gateshead Bowling Green Club. Fourteen members attended, with players split into two groups. The winner of each group was Eamon Devlin and Keith Gill winning their respective groups, with Keith coming out as the winner in a 3-point decider. We will be returning to the venue twice in the next month: On Saturday we are holding a one-day event starting at 11am and then on the first Monday of… Read more: New monthly off to a flying start