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Matthew & Elisabeth HOSKINS

 Matthew Hoskins nacque nel 1961 era originario del Sussex e viveva con la moglie Elisabeth a Shoreham, una cittadina sulla Manica non lontana da Brighton.

 Entrambi ottimi giocatori, hanno riportato diversi piazzamenti a livello nazionale e diversi successi a livello regionale.

 Matthew ha anche fatto parte della Nazionale del suo Paese, agli Europei del 2003 e nella Rosenblum del 1998 quando sfiorò il podio. 

 Appassionato di ippica, Matthew era molto conosciuto per il suo fine umorismo al tavolo ed era solito dire che avrebbe scambiato volentieri alcuni dei suoi tanti lusinghieri piazzamenti per una vittoria!

 Matthew è scomparso prematuramente il 1 febbraio del 2011 a causa di un infarto.

   Matthew Hoskins had been an ever present and well known figure in the Bridge world for over 25 years. 

Bridge had been a significant part of his life from his days at Whitgift School onwards.

Matthew was a Premier Grand Master and prolific master point winner and won the Annual Master Point Award when sponsored by Macallan. He had numerous domestic tournament successes in Sussex where he won the Spring Congress twice, the County Pairs three times and the County Teams on five occasions in addition to representing the County in the Tollemache. His successes on the tournament circuit included the BBL Isle of Man Teams, a number of EBU One Day Events, the Scarborough Pairs with his wife Liz, the Porthcawl Congress Pairs and Teams, Autumn Congress Satellite Pairs and the National Swiss Teams. 

At Brighton he won the Mid-week Knockout teams several times, the Mixed Pairs with his wife Liz, twice the Mixed Pivot Teams, had frequent appearances in both A & B Teams Finals and finished third in the Main Pairs in 2010. 

He and Liz were also third in the Portland Pairs. In knockout events he was twice a Crockfords finalist, once being runner up and less than a month before his death he was on the Horsham Team which won the 2009-10 National Inter-Club Knockout claiming a number of significant scalps along the way.

In tournaments abroad he had reached the knockout stages of the Rosenblum in 1998 in Lille losing to the eventual bronze medallists. In 2003 in the European Open in Menton he was on a team reaching the last sixteen of the knockout phase before losing to Sabine Auken.

Always courteous at the bridge table, he was one of the nominees for the inaugural John Armstrong Award in 2009.

He would always make sure of welcoming players to the table and of encouraging newcomers to the tournament world.

Away from the bridge table he had a keen interest in horse racing and was proud to have been in the Winners Enclosure after the 2009 Grand National won by Vida Bingham's horse Mon Mome.

Whilst Matthew loved teams play especially knockout events Matthew was also a careful Pairs player and in one season had second places in the Easter Guardian Pairs and the National Pairs in addition to the Crockfords second place. He often joked about exchanging those seconds for a win!

Matthew was a popular figure through his competitive but fair attitude to the game allied to a fine if occasionally cutting sense of humor and a keen eye for a practical joke. 

Matthew, who lived in Shoreham with his wife Liz, prematurely died on the 1st February 2011 at the age of 51 of a heart attack.