Maggie Pyner

Expert Overview

Born in Letchworth Hertfordshire, Maggie, or Maggs, moved to Coventry when her dad (a design engineer for Commer Trucks) moved when the company became Chrysler UK Ltd. She graduated at Swansea University, undertook a PGCE in Science and Maths and then taught for 4 years at Secondary Level before having her children.

After leaving secondary teaching in 1983 (hard work!), Maggie set up children’s nurseries in Coventry, employing over 40 staff. She studied for a Master’s Degree in Early Years Childcare then went on to lecture at tertiary level and also became an Ofsted Inspector for early years.

Maggie started learning bridge in 1980 but didn’t play much when her children were small. She played with her future husband, John Pyner, at Congress level for several years and reached the level of Life Master– and will hopefully become a Premier Life Master but now mostly playing only at club level.

Maggie's husband was a National Director for the EBU and she joined the EBU panel as a director to work, for the most part, alongside him. They worked for EBU running congresses and on cruises. They have worked for several holiday organisations – their favourite hotel and holiday was the 5-star hotel Barut GOIA in Side where they had up to 80 guests and no dealing machine: taking all morning to deal two sets of boards from the hand records that they took over with them!

Maggie and her husband trained on the EBU teaching weekend course but never started teaching beginners bridge as the EBU asked them to train and assess club directors, which they did for many years. They retired to Norfolk in 2018 and were asked to play for the county on many occasions

Maggie's husband’s health sadly declined and he passed away in 2022. Maggie has returned to live in the Midlands, moving to a lovely ‘Crumbly village’ close to her daughter.

Maggie is chief TD of her local club, Coventry, and helps to train the club’s directors in-house. She loves meeting new people and working for First for Bridge has been so enjoyable for her.

Her hobbies, apart from bridge, are gardening, ballroom dancing, keeping fit, walking her daughter’s dog and looking after her chickens. Maggie loves to be outside and can often be seen on her electric bike. She also owns an electric car so spends much of her time trying not to get range anxiety!