Jeffrey Allerton won the European and World Junior championships in 1994/5, followed by his first Camrose appearance in 1996. While half the junior team became bridge professionals, Jeffrey qualified as an accountant and tax advisor (and married Frances). Working in practice in south west London, Jeffrey has found time to win various bridge trophies including the Hubert Phillips Bowl three times, the Gold cup twice, the Camrose twice, the Spring Foursomes, and the English Premier League in 2012. He enjoys listening to classical music and skiing, and is a keen cricket fan supporting Lancashire & England. See Jeffrey’s EBU profile.
Michael Byrne lives in Manchester, where he teaches bridge full time as part of the MSB teaching school. He had a highly successful junior bridge career winning the Junior Camrose three times and playing on the Under 25 team in two European and one World Championships. In the open game he has won the English Premier League, the Camrose Trophy, the Brighton teams championship (twice), and the prestigious Lederer memorial trophy in consecutive years. He was on the team that won the 2014 Chairman’s Cup and In 2015 he won the main Brighton Swiss pairs playing with Kieran Dyke. Michael is also a highly successful NPC for junior teams (and was in action at the Junior Camrose event last weekend). See Michael’s EBU profile.
Jon Cooke’s parents taught him to play when he was about eleven and he played with a school friend at their local club in the Nuclear bunker of the local Council. At university, he met the rest of his Spring Foursomes team and (he claims) learned to play properly – Tom Townsend bought him a book on bidding and issued rollickings every time he made a stupid opening lead until he stopped doing it. Jon has won Crockfords, the Spring Fours, Hubert Phillips, Pachabo, Nicko, Corwen and the Brighton Pairs all with different partners and has played for England in the Champions Cup and Camrose. He lives in Cambridge with his wife and two young children, plays a lot of poker, and will be coaching the England junior team in Salsamaggiore later this year. See Jon’s EBU page.
Kieran Dyke is a native Australian and has played as a professional since 1998. He has over 30 Australian national championship wins, including the Gold Coast Teams (1996), Australian Open Pairs (2001) and National Open Teams (2005). He won a bronze medal in the European Open Teams in 2015 and (playing with Michael Byrne) won the Brighton Swiss Pairs. He was on the London team that won the Tollemache in 2016 and 2017.
Frances Hinden learnt bridge from her parents, but only started playing seriously at Cambridge University where she won the Junior Camrose and gained a silver medal in the first European Universities Championship. Far more importantly she also met Jeffrey Allerton, who first convinced her to play a strong NT, then to play attitude leads, and finally – a few years later – to marry him.
Since then she has won a number of titles, including the Gold Cup and the Camrose twice each, the Spring Foursomes and the Premier League. She and Graham played for the England Open Team at the World Bridge Games in 2016.
Frances is the youngest member of the Laws & Ethics Committee and is an occasional writer for English Bridge. When not playing bridge, Frances runs the Treasury operation for one of the UK’s largest companies. See Frances’s EBU profile.
Graham Osborne is based in Surrey. After retiring from working in the financial markets he now plays bridge professionally.
Recent successes nationally include winning the Gold Cup, the English Premier League and in 2015 the Spring Foursomes and the four stars teams at Brighton for a second time. He has won the Camrose twice in 2012 and 2013.
International successes include two bronze medals in the European Mixed Teams and 2nd place in the NEC tournament in Japan in 2014. He and Frances played for the England Open Team at the World Bridge Games in 2016. See Graham’s EBU profile.
Lederer Trophy 