From Cambridge comes the news that winkers Steve Drain and John Pehhallow wore taking their winks east into the U.S.S.R., and it was rumoured that they had plans to play in Red Square. Unfortunately, no details of this feat have been received, so the Russian response to winks is still unknown.

In the other direction, members of E.Tw.A. continue to cross the Atlantic; in recent months Penny Gardner (Aberystwyth and Wales), Stuart Bennett (Battersea C.A.T.) and John Breeze (C.U.Tw.C.) have all gone to Canada, and Rosie Wain and Phil Villar (London U.) to the U. S. A. In addition, Charles McLeod, who has been at Waterloo, Ontario, now the centre of Canadian winks, is moving further west. A brief report on North American winks appears elsewhere in this issue.

At home, interest in tiddlywinks has been shown in an entirely new quarter—the Chartered Accountants Students Society of London, where Roger Lee is starting the game. An article has appeared in “Contra”, the Society’s magazine, which has a circulation of 12,000, entirely in London.

Two records have been broken since the last edition of WW—speed, and the unofficial marathon record. Stephen Williams of Altrincham G.S. is the new holder of the speed record, with a time of 21.8 seconds. The mnrathon, though an unofficial record, is an extremely popular feature of Rag Weeks, and was broken by eight members of the Lanchester College Tiddlywinks Group during Coventry Rag Week. The eight players played as two teams of four, continuously from 10.30 a.m. on Monday to 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday, a total of 55 hours. A further attempt has been made on this record in Waterloo, Ontario, on 13th October, but no result is yet known.

Details of the Commission paid to E.Tw.A. by Merchant Games has just been received; for the year ending 31.8.66. this amounted to £9 17s. 6d., At 3d. a set this means that the sales during the year 1965/66 were 790 sets, beating the previous highest sales, 560, by more than 200 sets. This is at least partly due to large orders from North American teams.

The finances of British teams are not airways in such a happy state; Bristol University Tw.C. reports that their Union has cut down on financial aid, and they would be particularly glad to hear from any nearby team who would play them as they can no longer afford long journeys.

Cambridge winker Bungey Wells reports on an experimental version of the game for three players, provisionally called “Triddlywinks”. WW has few details, except that the fourth colour is arranged round the pot and can be used by any of the players. The game was evolved because “three goes into more numbers than four”, but it did not have official support, and it is not known whether or not it is still played.

The Marchant Trophy match between the holders and Altrincham G.S. which should have taken place in May, had to beea cancelled at the last moment because one of the Altrincham team had been taken ill. Exams then prevented the arrangement of another match, either with Altrincham or Nottingham U.T.S., the other challengers.

N.A.Tw.A. Garry Calvert of Waterloo University College writes of the publicity tiddlywinks is receiving in North America—“we have had many newspaper clippings, a large article in a weekly magazine, and a television interview for my club alone”. The club is also considering a trip to London next spring; if possible they hope for a sponsor, but otherwise they are prepared to earn money and pay for the trip themselves. Other members of N.A.Tw.A. are also hoping to visit Congress. Garry writes: “The biggest event to date is an invitation by the Canadian National Exhibition to hold an annual international tournament. All costs, prizes and trophies will be handled by the C.N.E. This year on August 27th, 1966 it is planned that the current top four teams in North America will compete

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(University of Waterloo, Harvard Medical School, Waterloo University College, and Harvard College)…….. We expect 200,000 people to look in at some time during the day to observe the match and find out how the game is played. The publicity will be phenomenal.”

Michael Gottesman, Secretary of N.A.Tw.A, was in England during the summer, and a meeting took place between him and the Secretary of E.Tw.A.