HISTORY OF THE CROUCH END BRIDGE CLUB

The club was started in 1983 by Reg Barzey and Ron Robinson (known affectionately as the Kray twins) after they took bridge lessons at Tetherdown and then discovered they had no place to continue playing. The YMCA in Crouch End was the original location. Tuesday was established as the most convenient day, it cost £0.50 to play and there were between 12 and 20 members in the first year. Ron’s wife wrote to bridge clubs/tournaments and asked for used cards and a number kindly provided them. The club grew when the word spread about a friendly and low key club. Of course, rubber bridge was all that was played.

In the mid-1980’s, the YMCA had some work done in the room used and the club temporarily moved to the other YMCA location on Tottenham Lane. The club moved back when the work was completed but the YMCA weren’t able to guarantee the use of the room every Tuesday evening. During this time, several members competed in the Cancer Bridge Tournament. Reg and Ron played in the final the first year they played! At that time spectators could go along and watch, so a couple of members did. Club membership increased when members told those they met in the Cancer Tournament about the Crouch End Bridge Club.

The next move was to the Earl Haig Hall, using a large room on the right side of their bar. This was ideal for a while but then the Neighbourhood Watch starting meeting there every six weeks. This meant that the club was re-located to a quite small room up rickety stairs. It was very crowded and the venue (and the stairs!) didn’t suit some of the members.

So the club moved again, this time to Abyssinia Court, a sheltered accommodation where Reg lived. This was good for the club and also for the residents as they could use the rent money for outings. In previous venues tables had been available, but now the club had to purchase bridge table -and the club still uses some of those original tables.

In the mid-90’s Reg had a stroke and moved to residential care. The club continued at Abyssinia Court for about another year but it was felt the club had to find another location. (Ron had recently died and handed over a substantial sum of money that the club had collected during his and Reg’s time running the club.) As well as two lovely gentlemen, they were excellent organisers and bridge players and left the bridge club a lasting legacy. When Reg sadly died the club passed into the capable hands of Carol Jones who strove to ensure that it survived into the new century. The millennium was to bring many changes.

Luckily the club had two members (Judy Roose and Barry White) who were also members of Coolhurst Squash and Tennis club. Their membership allowed the club to hire a room there each week. And so the club moved to its sixth venue in 2002. The membership continued to grow and the club now regularly had 10+ tables. Alan Whitehouse kindly took on the responsibility of organising the weekly bridge sessions.

The club continued playing Chicago. Those who played there will remember Tony Mitchell, who announced the Chicago results the following week by saying, “the most generous person was...” Duplicate was then introduced and at first it was once a month, then twice, three times and finally on all Tuesdays -at the request of the most of the members. The club attempted an additional Thursday afternoon session but it was not well attended and closed after several months.

During this time the club had a team who played in the London League for a few years and also had a team playing in the Southgate league for one year.

The club stayed at Coolhurst throughout their renovations but the club had again outgrown the available space, and so, after 10 happy years at Coolhurst, once again it had to move. 

Since the club was still continuing to grow in size, finding a new location was a challenge. However, in 2014 the club moved to the North London Cricket Club. This fulfilled the requirements of a larger room, parking facilities, and the availability of food and drink to which members had become accustomed whilst at Coolhurst. Indeed, a bridge supper club was started by Yvette Echelle before play.

Then in December 2017 the club made another move, again partly because of increasing numbers, this time to the Bounds Green Bowls and Tennis Club.

Mention must be made at this point of the sterling work done for the club by Alan Whitehouse and Carol Jones. Alan was director for many years and organised the bridge sessions. His tuition enabled players to develop and the very high standards of polite behaviour he encouraged made it the friendly and welcoming place it is today. Carol performed much work behind the scenes, probably unnoticed by most members, but essential to the smooth running of the club. Both were made Life Members in recognition of their services as they retired from duties in early 2018.

The club joined the 21^st Century by starting to use internet-based bridge technology in 2012: the BriAn bridge scoring app and a dealing machine.

In 2018 we celebrated 35 years as Crouch End Bridge Club. From a beginning membership of 12+, we now have over 90 paid up members and regularly have between 12-16+ tables.

The club has an annual Summer party that is combined with the AGM. There is a more formal Christmas party. These parties are subsidised as a thank you to members for continuing support. The club also holds a charity event each year. Over time the club has evolved to having a committee to provide for management and administration. The club also now has a paid director. An internal club League was introduced and currently nine teams participate. There are also two individual Ladders, one running from January till the end of May and the other from June till the end of November. Prizes for the League and Ladder are awarded at the Summer and Christmas parties.