"Ae Fond Kiss - and Then We Sever"

by Liz McGowan (GBR)

The British Ladies have more to be sad about than the way they played during the qualifying rounds. This was their last outing as a team. The division of Great Britain into three unequal parts means the demise of the Dhondy/McGowan Anglo-Scottish partnership which has been remarkably successful over the last five years.

Even worse news is that Pat Davies has announced her retirement from international bridge, signalling the end of one of the most successful partnerships of all time. Pat hit the European scene with the then Sally Carpenter in Elsinore in 1977, when GB Ladies won the silver medal. Her next outing was with Michelle Brunner in the Valkenberg Olympiad in 1980, which added a bronze medal to her collection.

Nicola Gardener was even then a cornerstone of the British team. She first played in Lisbon in 1970 with Dorothy Shanahan, then won the European Championship twice with Rita Oldroyd. By 1977 she was playing with Sandra Landy. Valkenberg was the start of two new partnerships in her life: she agreed to marry Jonathan Smith, a union which was to produce two much-loved children in Catherine and Joshua, and she decided to play with Pat Davies.

Their first outing was in 1981, when they set a hard standard to follow by winning the European Community Championships, the European Championships in Birmingham, and the World Championships in Rye. This was the start of twenty glorious years during which they have taken three silver medals at the Olympiads in Seattle in 1984, Venice in 1988 and Salsomaggiore in 1992. They won the Venice Cup for a second time in 1985 in Sao Paolo after taking silver in the European Championships that year. And they anchored the British Ladies to victory in the European Championships in Montecatini in 1997, and to the last gasp Miracle in Malta in 1999. Their list of successes in other events is too long to mention here. Suffice it to say that not only have they earned world-wide admiration and respect for their play, they are two of the most popular people on the world circuit.

As a partnership they have shown tremendous resilience and rapport through thick and thin. This hand from their match against Hong Kong (Round 17, Board 17) illustrates the depth of their mutual trust.

After a spirited competitive auction Pat led the queen of diamonds against 5© doubled. Nicola won the ace and switched to a low club. Declarer gave this a look, and eventually fell victim to the aura of invincibility that surrounds Nicola when things are going well. She rose with the ace and entered dummy by ruffing the king of diamonds to take a trump finesse. Nicola followed with the nine of hearts, a suit preference signal. When Pat won her king she confidently underled the ace of spades, allowing Nicola to win, cash the king of clubs and give her a ruff for three down.

I treasure memories of their support, their tolerant acceptance of less-than-par results and their ability to laugh when things went wrong. To misquote a Scottish toast:

'Here's to you. Wha's like you?
Gey few - and they're a' deid'.