Dear all,
This is my first communication as Bridge Chair, I have lots of news to relay and I am looking forward to a busy year ahead. We do have a variety of bridge on offer including our regular Duplicate sessions, Friday teams, Rubber bridge, Match play, Supervised practice and Pauls teaching classes. So, something for everyone and I look forward to seeing you in one or other of these sessions.
The AGM was held last Monday 18th October and approximately 40 Members attended. At the meeting we thanked the outgoing Chair; Kate Blake and committee member – Val Lanceley for their hard work and commitment. We welcomed a new Member to the committee – Fiona Pollard. The full committee membership for 2021-22 is/will be posted on the noticeboard along with the minutes of the meeting.
In response to the recent survey, the committee have decided to move the BBO session from Wednesday afternoon to Wednesday evening at 7.30pm. Effective from 3rd November. To be reviewed again in January.
Last Sunday, 22 teams competed for the Swiss Teams trophy over 6 x 6 board matches. Dinner and a prize giving followed and a very good time was had by all. A big thank you goes to Belinda Stone for organising the event. The winners were the ‘Muppet cricket club’ (Nigel Clayton, Richard Cumming Bruce, Peter Donovan, Pralab Barua) who had previously won this event in 2018.
However, the Roehampton Club team – ‘Bridgemates’ (Kate Blake, Sue Norgate, Maria Wiehe and Julie Bacon) came a very respectable joint second.
Here we are celebrating over dinner …
Roehampton Club retained the Queen’s Centenary Cup which is an annual bridge competition for teams of 8 played over 32 boards between the Queen’s Club, the Hurlingham Club, Cumberland Lawn Tennis Club, All England Tennis Club and Roehampton Club. The winning team of Peter Bonnor-Moris, Paul Ambrus, Viv Harris, Malcolm Bricknell, Danny and Sally Gesua, Peter Hardyment and Ralph Evers won with an impressive winning margin. Congratulations to them.
The Annual Ladies Teams of Twelve vs Hurlingham took place at home with a solid win for Roehampton of 51imps. Congratulations to Kate Manners, Jeanette Reid, Marion Tamblyn, Viv Harris, Wendy Gilbert, Sandra Fox, Felicity Irlam, Diane Bricknell; Kate Blake, Sue Norgate; Maria Wiehe and Julie Bacon.
I am pleased to be able to announce that Loulou has kindly agreed to recommence her supervised practice sessions in the bridge room on a Tuesday at 2pm from 9th November.
Please be aware that the usual Bridge Room Covid policy applies, so anyone planning on attending who has not previously supplied evidence of double vaccination will need to e-mail to me a photograph of their vaccine card/app. You will only need to send this to me once. Anyone not double vaccinated should provide a photograph of a negative lateral flow test for the day in question.
You can now find all the session times on the bridge calendar page of the Members’ website which will be updated weekly. Some Christmas dates to note here –
Saturday 4th December: 6.30pm Christmas party
Thursday 16th December: 6pm Social Duplicate Christmas Special
Friday 24th December: Christmas Eve Bridge Party
Finally, I must end on a very sad note to report the death of a popular member of our bridge section, Tony Dundas. Tony had been ill for some time, and he died peacefully on 18th October with his wife Susan and his family at his side. The committee has sent messages of condolence and flowers to Sue and the family.
