TROUGHERS

Troughers, our popular Gourmet evening, as from this month will now take place on every THIRD Saturday evening of the month.

BRIDGEMATES

Since the last newsletter we are becoming familiar with playing duplimated boards and using the Bridgemate scoring system.  Despite a few minor teething problems the majority of players seem to have embraced the use of the Bridgemates.  They have proved to be simple to use from the players’ point of view and certainly save hours of time for the TDs., scoring up from bits of paper after a session.  It has also been possible to upload each night’s results to the Bridgewebs website immediately so that players can see their individual results against each other pair.  Also we have been experimenting with sending the Duplimated Hands for each evening as an attachment to the results email.

We acknowledge that there are some people who have some difficulty reading the Bridgemate screens sometimes, this is an issue we are attempting to address with an alteration to the settings on each Bridgemate, but this takes time.  Please bear with us.

Phil and Sue held an evening just before Christmas, when a majority of the TDs were trained in the use of the computerised scoring system, so again they need time to become fully fluent with its use. 

Your continued punctuality arriving for each session will make life much easier for all concerned when preparing the technology for each evening.

However, please continue to be vigilant by checking the Bridgemate at each table to make sure you are at the correct table and about to play the correct hands.  There have been one or two blips, where this has not happened and consequently the scores have been difficult to resolve.

And Finally!  If there is a problem with the technology on a particular evening, your patience whilst it is resolved is greatly appreciated. 

WEBSITES

As most members will be aware, in addition to the League website, www.bridgewebs.com/rugbyleague, we now have a Rugby Bridge Club site. www.bridgewebs.com/rugbylimited - thanks to Liz Edwards.

Bridgewebs was chosen as it is a website designed specifically for bridge clubs and is used worldwide.  Bridgewebs is one giant website shared between all the clubs registered with Bridgewebs.

The new site has many features, the most beneficial being that it links with our new Bridgemate system enabling us to have instant access to the results.

ANNUAL DINNER

The annual dinner will take place on Monday, 24^th January, at the Masonic Hall, more details from Chris Cooper- it’s not too late!  Names by 17^th January please.

JULIA MILLS ONE DAY EVENT

The Club will be holding the annual one day event, playing for the Julia Mills Trophy on Sunday, 10^th April 2011, at the Railwaymens Club, Hillmorton.  The Trophy is awarded to the top scoring Rugby Bridge Club pair in the event.  This year the profit will be donated to the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.

CHARITY SIMULTANEOUS PAIRS

A session of the Charity Sims Pairs event in aid of UNICEF will be held on Wednesday, 26^th January, at Clifton.  No master points will be awarded for this event.

MEMBERSHIP

We welcome two new members, Margaret and Dick Holdsworth.  We hope you enjoy your bridge with us.

Birthday congratulations and best wishes to Rom Ecker, who celebrates his 90^th birthday this weekend, and Mary Price, one of the founder members of Rugby Bridge Club, who reaches the milestone of 100 this week.

After successful operations, we welcome back to the bridge tables Chris Cassin, Helen Foster and Wendy Pattinson.  Marjorie Davies is now home and looking forward to rejoining our bridge games.  It will be so good to see her back with us.

We sadly said goodbye to two members of the Club:

Kate Kirton lost her long and courageous battle against cancer.  She was a remarkable lady.

Les Tottman, a longtime member of RBC, died suddenly before Christmas.

OUR ROVING REPORTER

Continuing the theme of exposing the inner secrets of our illustrious long serving members, Peter Langley managed to corner Peter Augustus, our Vice Chairman, and after some gentle persuasion this was the result.

How long have you been a member of Rugby Bridge Club and why did you join?

About 8 years.  I took it up when I had retired early and thought I would need something to pass the time.  I never got round to the golf and sailing!

Which bidding system do you use, and why do you like it?

Bridge bidding is a game of communication to your partner and to your opponents.  I am a strong believer that we should not be trying to confuse the opposition with systems they do not understand.  There is also a danger that your partner will not understand either.  I think it is good to practice other systems in order to be able to follow what other partnerships are up to.  Keep asking what they mean by their bids, if we keep asking what they mean by their multi 2D they may get fed up and drop the system.  There was a time, a few years ago, when the EBU tried to get the multi 2D banned from level 3 ACOL but, as with masterpoints, the old fogies got their way and nothing happened.

What tip would you give to a budding young bridge player (if such a person could be found)?

If it looks as if there is a good contract on in hearts for the opposition then there is likely to be a contract for you and your partner in spades.  It is not all about points.  A word of caution though, this approach has often led to my downfall so look to see who is vulnerable.

Do you have a favourite bridge writer?

I haven’t read enough to say and wouldn’t want to condemn any author by association with my play.  However, I did manage to read “The Right Way To Play Bridge” by Paul Mendelson all the way through several times.  I enjoy the articles in Mr. Bridge and when I could read the bridge articles from The Times on-line for free, was a follower of Andrew Robson.

Not everyone will know that you are quite a frequent visitor to a gym.  In view of your high level of fitness, what does bridge contribute to your life?

Bridge is a great social event for me.  I enjoy the company of the many friends that I have made through the game but regret that under the pressure of the time constraints on a Tuesday we can be just passing strangers.  I may visit the gym but am not pounding away on exercise machines or lifting weights on my own.  I do group classes in circuit training and weight training as well as a strength and stretching class called Body Balance, a mixture of yoga, tai chi and pilates.  I also do stretching on my own at home.  If evolution has taught our cat that it is good to stretch then that is good enough for me.  Cats and dogs were stretching before man decided to call it yoga and I enjoy it.  I also enjoy bridge, it makes me stop and think and shows me immediately the results of not thinking enough.  As with the gym activities there is good feedback to measure how I am doing.  I look forward to Bridgemate technology progressing to a level where each individual player sees what the terminal is displaying about what results were obtained on the other tables.

What other games, sports or hobbies do you enjoy?

In my youth I was a keen rugby player.  At the age of 17 my girl friend introduced me to athletics, mainly so that I could transport her to training in Coventry and to competition around the country on my motor bike.  I did some jogging before jogging and fun runs were invented.  Sue and I married, she retired from running and I got dragged into running every day by a work-mate.  I was road and cross-country running, with very little natural ability, and joined what was then AEI Harriers, which became Rugby Athletic Club.  I was coaching the youngsters organizing road races, building a Clubhouse and campaigning for an athletics track, becoming Treasurer and then President.

Sue and I go swimming twice a week at Rugby School and I join her on the occasional walk with the Rugby Ramblers.  My old bike is my main mode of transport around the town, it is quick, I enjoy it and there are no parking problems.  On a Sunday I get on my best bike and go for a longish ride with a pub stop.

I come from a generation where DIY was not a hobby but a necessity.  This philosophy also came in part from working in research where we had to build our own equipment, self sufficiency was part of the job.

What do you most and least like about Rugby as a place to live?

I came to Rugby from Poole in Dorset, at the age of 16, to join thousands of other youngsters working in Industries around the area.  I love Rugby, it is a nice size of town big enough to support a wide range of activities and with a cosmopolitan population.  I would hate to live in the sort of village where your grandparents had to be born there for you to be accepted and where you couldn’t go to the pub because they wouldn’t like it at the church.

The search for premises for Rugby Bridge Club has been a long and frustrating one.  Where do you think we should go from here?

I could give a diplomatic response trotting out the same old platitudes that you have heard over many years but I won’t.  When people said “we want our own clubhouse because the lighting is poor at the Sacred Heart” I went out and bought and fitted some new tubes - problem solved.  I often wonder if some of the people demanding that the committee supply them with their own clubhouse would be prepared to do the work to keep it running.  The thing about bridge players is that they want to keep playing bridge, discussing bridge and even playing on line when they are not out at the Club.  The other thing is, they never retire from bridge to put anything back into the game.  Our experience with RTJFC showed us a group of retired footballers and parents of footballers putting all their efforts into building facilities and organizing the game for youngsters who only want to come along and play.  As a bridge club we have many oldies who only want to come along and play and are never going to be in a position of wanting to put something back into the game.

At last year’s AGM our retiring Treasurer gave an expert assessment of our ability to build and run our own Clubhouse.  This may have fallen upon deaf ears but the mood of the membership has moved towards the position of Clubs such as Coventry and Kenilworth who have shared premises and the members did support the proposed deal with RTJFC which fell through because of a risk aversion and desire to protect the Development Fund.  I fear that this attitude will mar any other collaborative scheme.  I sense that your directors are moving towards the idea of making improvements towards more readily available opportunities rather than day dreaming about a clubhouse.

Apart from premises, what do you think are the main improvements we could make to the Club over the next ten years?

A relaxed, social atmosphere for all our members should be the main aim of the Club.  Each player is of equal value to the Club whatever their level of skill.  What we want is for them to keep coming back.  We must ask if people are getting the respect that they deserve.  Time and time again we hear of people who have been put off by the rude and boorish behaviour of some of our members, tell me if it is me!

The Hosting service is working really well since Val took over recruitment for Tuesdays.  If all players take their turn they only have to host once a year.  Hosting is a great way to get to know other members, I can recommend it.  Even players who have a regular partner and only want to play with that partner should realise that hosting brings in more players and improves their own chance of having people to play against.  Why not look out for the day when your partner will be away and offer to host that day.

What's your view on the recently introduced Bridgemates?

Bridgemates are great and when we have got more used to them we will all speed up.  It is good that we have taken the pressure of scoring away from the TDs who should now be able to join us for a drink after the event instead of going home to burn the midnight oil scoring up. However, we must have more help for the people running the computer system.  Scorebridge now gets all the information it needs to give us a full set of results which we can read on the Bridgewebs website.  I am told that analysis of the hands and the play would help me improve my bridge!

What has been your biggest bridge disaster?

Disasters are great, if only we can learn from them, trouble is I keep making the same mistakes.  Assessment and thinking before I play should be the answer but do I have the time?

What is your idea of perfect happiness at the bridge table, and how often do you achieve it?

Happiness is knowing I have got it right and communicated successfully with my partner to get in the right contract.  Winning is often down to other people getting it wrong.  I will never get it all right, but that is the good thing about bridge, we have to keep coming back to try again.

Thank you Peter….both of you.

And finally a note from Malcolm-

DIRECTORS‘ CORNER

PSYCHIC BIDDING

A psyche is legitimate as long as it contains the same element of surprise for partner and opponents alike.  An infraction occurs only if partners adjust their bidding after a potential psyche.  However TDs have been approached privately and are aware that some members, who are upset by the use of such bids, would like something to be done about them.  We cannot prohibit psyches but, if necessary, we can register them.  Consequently we have produced a form to be completed when a psyche is reported and the TD will also ensure that an entry is made in the ‘psyche’ register.  Members must realise that this is only effective if the psyche is reported immediately so that the accused pair can give an explanation of the bid and its presumed fielding.  We cannot take action on hearsay some time later.

Well not quite finally…

EDITOR’S COMMENTS

I hope you are enjoying the newsletters.

I am not quite sure how or why I came to be involved because, as a mathematician, writing does not come naturally and I am sure there are many other members who would make a better job!   I rarely manage a letter /postcard to my friends.  Any volunteers???

I would welcome comments and views which perhaps could be published in the form of ‘Letters to the Editor’ in the March edition.

My thanks to Peter Langley, Anne Carrington, Liz Edwards, Sue Osborne, Phil Shorey for their contributions and to Chris Cooper for her valuable assistance in publishing and distributing this newsletter.

Wendy Pattinson 

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