Bridge With The Hacketts - Past Successes

February saw us at the Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast, Australia. Our team of Roger O'Shea, Derek Paterson, Jason, Justin and Paul finished third where we were presented with a painting each by Aboriginal artist, Janet Golder.

Our foreign trips to Indonesia, China and Spain produced two wins for Jason in Oviedo and Cordoba.

There were two big disappointments as David Mossop, Alex Hydes, Diego Brenner, Jason, Justin and Paul lost their God Cup match by 2 IMPs to the Black team who were the eventual winners. Three days later Sandra Penfold, Norman Selway, Brian Senior and Paul lost the final of the Gerard Faulkner by 1 IMP.

The year ended better for Paul, winning the Open Aesean teams tournament in Manila with his Norwegian friends and then winning the Teltscher trials with David Mossop, Gunnar Hallberg, John Holland and Brian Sennior. This enables the team to represent England in the Teltscher Trophy due to be held in Edinburgh in April.

Justin and Paul won the Imp Pairs at Deauville.
Jason and Justin, Alex Hydes, David Mossop, Colin Simpson and David Price won the Premier League.
Paul was in the winning team in the Aesean Championships in Bangkok
Paul and David Burn won the Pairs at the Year End.
Jason and Justin have been selected to represent England in the European Championships in Budapest and Paul is Captain of the Senior team.

England

won the Camrose comfortably and Jason and Justin’s Premier League team played in the second weekend

Justin, Alistair Kent, Kevin Castner and David Gold won the National Point-a-Board
Jason, Brian Senior, John Holland and Gunnar Hallberg won the NEC Cup in

Japan

Jason and Dan Crofts won the Premier Grand Masters
Paul, Stewart Duguid, BJ O’Brien and Terry Walsh won the Belfast Senior teams.
Paul and Tom Hanlon picked up the $10000 second prize in the Yeh Bros pairs, held in Shanghai, China.
Justin and Paul, Margaret Wort, Darren Evetts and Brian Senior won the Warwickshire League.
Barbara, Justin, Paul, Dan Crofts and Ed Levy won the Staffs Cup.
Jason and Justin in the Open and Paul in the Seniors will be representing England in the Bermuda Bowl and D'Orsi Cup in Chennai in October.

November 2014

Brighton teams 2nd Jason and Justin, Andrew McIntosh and Alistair Kent
Cavendish Ladies Pairs B Final winners Barbara and Matilda Poplilov
Crockfords winners Jason and Justin, David Mossop, David Price and Colin Simpson
Commonwealth Games winners Justin, Jason and Paul, David Mossop, David Bakhshi and Andrew McIntosh
Senior World Championship Bronze medal Paul, John Sampson, John Holland and Christian Mari

July 2014

Paul won a Gold medal in the Senior Europeans at Opatija playing with David Mossop and Jason and Justin were in the England Open team which won bronze. All three now go on to play in the World Championships in Chennai in 2015.

At the Pakistan Invitational in March Jason and Justin, together with Mike Bell and Alex Hydes won the teams.

In Bankgok in April Paul and Eric Saelsiminde and his Scandanavian friends were the teams winners.

Jason and Alex Hydes won the pairs in April at Cascais, Portugal.

For the first time Justin and Paul have won the triple in the three leagues in which they play. Team mates in the Warwickshire League were Margaret Wort, Darren Evetts and Brian Senior. Staffordshire team mates were Dan Crofts, Barbara, Graham Weir and Edward Levy. In Manchester they were assisted by Barbara, Darren Evetts and Martin Taylor. The Warwickshire team also retained the Warwickshire handicap.

Roger O'Shea, Jason, Justin and Paul finished second in both the London and Norfolk Congress teams with Roger and Paul third in the pairs.

Winners of the Hamilton Cup in Stratford-Upon-Avon were Jason and Justin playing with David Mossop, David Price and Colin Simpson.

In the European Championships being held in Croatia Jason and Justin will be on the Open teams and Paul will be playing for the Seniors.

Paul, Eric Salsaminde, Lim Teong Wah and David Law finished second in the Bangkok teams and Eric and Paul were third in the pairs.

Roger O’Shea, Jason, Justin and Paul won back-to-back teams tournaments in the London and the Norfolk Congresses.

Margaret Wort, Darren Evetts, Brian Senior Justin and Paul won the Warwickshire Handicap.

Dan Crofts, Edward Levy, Michael Goldsmith, Barbara, Justin and Paul did the double winning the Staffs and Shropshire League and also the Cup.

Alec Hydes, Ben Handley- Pritchard, Richard Probst and Jason finished second in Budapest.

Paul won the Crockfords Cup with Tony Waterlow, Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, Peter Lester and Ian Panto.

Martin Taylor and Justin finished second in the February Harrogate Congress, while John Sampson and Paul were second in the teams.

In the June Harrogate Congress Rob Myers and Jason were second in the pairs and they were joined by James Thrower and Paul in the teams where they were also second.

May 2012
The Asuka Cup Yokohama 2nd Justin, Paul, Hugh McGann and Tom Hanlon
The London Congress teams 1st= Jason, Justin, Paul and Roger O'Shea
The Easter Festival Pairs, London 1st Jason and Alex Hydes
Warwickshire 1st division winners Justin, Paul, Margaret Wort, Darren Evetts and Brian Senior
Staffs Cup winners Barbara, Justin, Paul, Dan Crofts, Edward Levy and John Parsons
The same team finished second in the league
Manchester 1st Division and Roy Higson Cup. 2nd in both events were Justin, Paul, Martin Taylor and Darren Evetts.
English Senior trials winners. Pual, John Holland, Gunnar Hallberg, Tony Waterlow, David Price and Colin Simpson. They will represent England in the Senior Europeans and also the Mind Sports Olympiad.

August 2011
Paul won the Silver medal at Posnan in the Seniors Teams at the Open European Championships with Tony Waterlow, David Price, Colin Simpson, Gunnar Hallberg and Hans Gothe.

Paul was second in the Mixed Pairs at Deauville with Katia Lormant.

Justin and Paul, together with Tom Hanlon and Hugh McGann, reached the semi finals of the NEC Cup In Yokohama, Japan.
Justin continued by finishing second with Masuru Naniwada in the Asuka Cup, the pairs event.

Jason finished second in the Cwmbran teams with Glynn Preece, Edward Levy and Alex Hydes.

In October the World Open Championships were held in the US. Following on from the Senior's World Championship last year Paul Hackett continued his success at world level by winning the Rand Cup, the Senior's event.
The other members of the team were John Holland and Gunnar Hallberg with Americans Reese Milner and Garey Hayden.

In the Bearn, the qualification for the Corwen, Edward Levy and Paul finished 2^nd and went on to finish 4^th in the Corwen.

Dan Crofts, Edward Levy, Michael Goldsmith, Justin and Paul won the Staffs Cup and have qualified for the Pachabo.

Janet De Botton, Nick Sandqvist, Artur Malinowski, Andrew McIntosh won Crockfords and was the unbeaten team in the Spring Foursomes.

Paul and Olivia hosted a bridge cruise in conjunction with Fred Olsen and the EBU.

Ross Harper, Gunnar Hallberg, John Holland, Malcolm Lewis and Pat Collins won the Senior Camrose trials proudly wearing the new shirts from Pharon Independent Financial Advisers.

Jason and Justin have been selected to represent England in the European Open teams. Teammates will be David Gold, Andrew McIntosh, Nick Sandqvist and Tom Townsend. Jeremy Dhondy will be captain and Simon Cope is the coach.

Paul and his Senior team, Gunnar Hallberg, Ross Harper, John Holland, David Price and Colin Simpson, winners of the Gold Medal in Brazil, won the trials and Peter Baxter, captain in Brazil, will be captaining them in the Senior teams in Ostende.

Paul and Jason finished third in the pairs in the year end Congress in London and Paul went on to win the teams with Jonathan Davis, Gunnar Hallberg and Graham Osborne.

It has been an interesting year with Paul finally winning the coveted Gold Medal in the D’Orsi Senior World Championships.
The moving of the Autumn Congress to the Metropole at Birmingham persuaded Jason to enter the pairs with David Burn, which they duly won.
The Staffordshire league was won by Dan Crofts, Edward Levy, Paul, Jason and Justin. Tony Waterlow and Paul won the one day pairs at Deauville, winning a break at the Royal Hotel
Jason and Justin did the double in Donegal by winning both the pairs and the teams.
Paul was eliminated in the semi finals of the Gold Cup and Jason and Justin lost in the quarter-finals.
It is several years since Jason and Justin have played in the American nationals, but they returned this autumn to the Fall Nationals in San Diego where they had a top 10 finish in both the Blue Ribbon Pairs and the Reisinger teams, perhaps the two toughest tournaments of the year.
The Santa Claus Pairs in Manchester only lost three tables due to a severe snow storm.
This meant Paul had to find a new partner at the last minute but Mike Bell joined him to win the tournament.

Justin and Paul with team mates David Gold and Tom Townsend finished second in the round robin of the Yeh Bros Cup and were beaten by the eventual winners, The Netherlands, in the KO stage.

Jason and Justin with Janet de Botton and Nick Sandqvist won the North Wales Teams.

Dan Crofts, Edward Levy, Mike Goldsmith, Barbara, Paul and Justin won the Staffs and Shropshire League.

Dan Crofts, Gary Hyett and Paul retained the team’s title in the Shrewsbury Congress with Barbara as this year’s fourth player.

Justin and Jason won the Gold Cup for the fourth time in an exciting finish coming from behind with two boards to go and winning by 1 Imp.

Paul had an excellent American Nationals, played in Boston in November, by getting to all the finals and having a top ten finish in both the Blue Ribbon Pairs and the Reisinger.
Paul's new regular partner for foreign events is Tom Hanlon.

Jason and Justin were members of the English Open Team who won a Silver Medal in the Mind Sports Games at Beijing.
This is one of England's best results in international competition for many years.

The death of John Armstrong shook our family to the core. Much has been written about him but he was an integral part of our lives. We miss him very much

Jason and Justin won the trials and will be in the English team for Beijing. Their teammates are Artur Malinowski, Nick Sandqvist, Tom Townsend and David Gold.
Barbara will also be there,playing for Germany.
Paul, together with Tony Waterlow, Peter Czerniewski and Ian Panto won the Swiss teams at Brighton.
In the first weekend of the Premier League Paul, Tony Waterlow, Michelle Brunner and John Holland scored 138 points to build a substantial lead.
Paul captained the victorious European team in the Buffett Cup (Europe v USA).

June 2008

Paul together with Dan Crofts, Gary Hyett and Edward Levy won the Shropshire teams at the Shrewsbury Congress.

Paul partnered Ross Harper together with team-mates Tony Waterlow, Ian Panto, Gunnar Hallberg, John Holland and Captain John Williams represented England in the Senior Camrose where they were convincing winners.

Roy Moore, Edward Levy, Justin and Paul with occasional help from Susan Stockdale and Brian Senior did the double by winning the Warwickshire League and the Handicap.

In Staffordshire Dan Crofts, Edward Levy, Justin and Paul won the Staffs Cup and finished second in the League.

Jason and Paul lost the money prize in a split tie in Croatia. Team-mates were Ross Harper, David Levy and Richard Probst.

In Moscow Justin celebrated with Andrew Gromov as they watched Manchester United winning the Champions League.

Jason, Justin and Paul joined by Tony Waterlow, John Armstrong and John Holland with Captain Bill Hirst and coach David Burn are in Pau representing the English team in the European Championships.

Paul, Ross Harper, Tony Waterlow, Ian Panto, Peter Czerniewski and Gunnar Hallberg won the Senior trials and will be representing England in the Senior Camrose to be held at the Oxford Spires Hotel, Oxford from the 30th May-June 1st.

Justin and Jason together with Janet de Botton and Nick Sandqvist won the Welsh foursomes at Llandudno.

Paul partnering Tony Waterlow and Irish teammates Tom Hanlon, Hugh McGann, Tommy Garvey and John Carroll have qualified for the final of Crockfords.

Justin and Paul with Jim McMahon and Jim Forsythe lost in the semi finals of the Scottish Cup to last years winners the Brian Short team.

Paul has qualified to play for England in the Europeans in Pau in June with John Armstrong, Tony Waterlow and John Holland. Jason and Justin have been invited to join the team.

Together with John Armstrong, Paul won $10000 finishing second in the Yeh Bros cup in Taiwan. 4 more Imps would have won the $20000 first prize.

Jason won Cwmbran together with Ed Levy, Alex Hydes and Robert Myers.

Coming up soon - in May the Spring Foursomes in Stratford on Avon followed by the Southern Regionals in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Then in June the European Championships in Pau, France followed by the Biarritz congress in July, then to North America for the Nationals in Las Vegas with the Chairman's Cup in Jonkoping, Sweden completing a busy spring and early summer for the Hacketts.

For the second year in succession Paul and John Armstrong together with Jack Mizel and Brian Senior qualified for the final of the Reisinger held this year in San Francisco and considered by many as the world's toughest event. In the fourteen team final they improved on last year's performance to finish in the middle of the field.

Jason is unfortunately suffering from Deep Vein Thrombosis. This has forced him to rearrange his travel plans so he will be missing the NEC Cup, the Yeh Cup and poker tournaments in Prague and Melbourne as well as joining the Barmy Army for the Tests just passed In Sri Lanka and the upcoming New Zealand series.

Barbara won her second Silver Medal in the Venice Cup in Shanghai, the world's Ladies Championship. Her tally is now 1 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.

Paul won the Pairs at the October Peebles tournament partnered by Jonathan Davis.

Paul and Ross Harper won the pairs at the Easter London Tournament

Jason and Justin, Janet de Botton, Nick Sandqvist, Artur Malinowski and David Burn won Crockfords.

Justin, Janet De Botton, Nick Sandqvist and Artur Malinowski won the Hubert Phillips

3rd in the NEC Cup Japan (Jason, Justin Paul, John Armstrong and Geir Helgemo)

2nd in the Asaka Cup. Paul, John Armstrong plus the Australian National team.

1st in the teams in the Gold Coast Congress, Australia.(Jason, Paul, Tom Hanlon and Bill Hirst).

In the Yeh Bros Cup in Shenzhen, China England+ (Jason, Justin, Paul, John Armstrong, Geir Helgemo and Tor Helness) got to the quarter finals and John and Paul went on to win the $6000 first prize in the Pairs.

Paul second with John Armstrong in Life Master Pairs at American Nationals in Honolulu

Jason and Justin won the Camrose Trials (England selection) with Nick Sandqvist and Artur Malinowski (npc)Janet de Botton.
Paul finished second with Tony Waterlow, John Armstrong and John Holland.

Jason won the Pairs, Teams and the Victor Ludorum at Drogheda.

August 2006:
The first week of August was an excellent week.
In the Presidents Cup Brian Cornelius, Gary Hyett, Craig Fisher, Ian Pendlebury, Dave Smith, Barbara, Justin and Paul finished 2nd representing Staffs and Shropshire.
The Ruia Cup was retained by Brian Cornelius, Michael Alexander, Justin and Paul with Gary Hyett helping out in an early round.
The team that won Cwmbran in 2004, Craig Fisher, Brian Cornelius, Gary Hyett and Paul went back again for the first time since their victory and repeated their success winning by a clear 10 V.P. margin.

It has been quite an unusual year. In the trials Paul beat Justin and Jason but failed to win the final. The Commonwealth Games saw John Armstrong and Paul winning the pairs. They then went on to Taiwan to play the Yeh Bros Cup with Justin and Geir Helgemo. We won the round Robin in convincing style but failed to capitalise in the knock out stage.

Paul won the Shropshire Congress with Ross Harper while Justin and Barbara joined Brian Cornelius and Gary Hyett to win the teams.
For the fifth year in a row Brian Cornelius, Brian Senior, Justin and Paul won the Warwickshire League. Brian, Gary Hyett, Justin and Paul won the Staffordshire Cup, but failed to impress in the finals.

The World Championships in Verona saw Jason and Justin finishing 9th, while Paul and Tony Waterlow finished 11th in the seniors.

The support of Warren Buffett, who recently gave 31 billion dollars to the Melissa and Bill Gates Foundation, as well as Denis Robson and the Irish committee of Joe Moran, B.J.O’Brien and Paul Porteous, helped to put on a match between Europe and the USA. Called the Warren Buffett Cup, Paul is the captain of the European team, while Jason and Justin are members of the 12 man European contingent.

Barbara is our sole representative this year in the European Championships, representing Germany in the Ladies.

On a more personal note Jane and David Powell gave birth to a son, Erin May on the 3rd March.

Also Susie Hackett got a first in nutrition from Manchester University. As she has taken a job nearer her parents, Alison and Sam, we hope she still keeps in touch.

Olivia’s sister, Mary and her husband Arthur celebrated 50 years of marriage and we were delighted to join them at the Koh Samui on their special day.

Earlier in the year we met for the first time Rae and Norm Clarke, who live in Melbourne, distant relatives who have been helping me with the family tree.