NEWSLETTER No 15

        APRIL 2014

Last week I despaired and had sleepless nights worrying about the lack of material for the newsletter (not really).  I need not have worried!  Lots of lovely members have sent articles and notices this week, so enjoy!

SEARCH FOR PREMISES

As you all probably know, our bid for the Royal British Legion Club, sadly failed.  There was no way we could match the successful bid of £140,000.  Our thanks go to all those who spent an enormous amount of time preparing the detailed and persuasive bid, in particular to David Hicks and Phil Shorey.  We will keep looking.

MEMBERS’ NEWS

We welcome back Jean and Howard Kirk.  Good to see you.

VAL WORMLEIGHTON

(Val, blame Liz for the photo!)

Happy Birthday Val!

Val Wormleighton starts her ninth decade on April 1^st.

To sum her up is difficult – but there is one word that sums it all up for me, Val is my friend!

Always willing to contribute, always willing to take an unpopular view, always forthright, and more importantly always incredibly kind.

One of my earliest recollections of Val was when I first partnered her in a Coventry League Division 6 (yes there were six divisions in those days) and we were discussing systems – she told me that she always had at least ten points if she changed suits at the two level.  “Fair enough” I thought.  The very first hand I opened and she bid two of the suit – I eventually became declarer and Val promptly plonked a nine point dummy on the table!  “Ah” she said afterwards “it was a very good nine points!”

Having said that Val is always a pleasure to partner and on the rare occasions when there may be a disagreement (and I have to admit Val and I do clash sometimes) there are no recriminations.  One of Val’s most endearing qualities is that she never holds a grudge.

Her golf is legendary and her gardens are always a delight to see even to someone as lacking an interest in gardening as me!  She is outspoken, generous and someone that I am very lucky and proud to know.

Happy Birthday Val – you now only need a one diamond contract to make your century – we all hope to be with you to join that celebration!

Chris Malthouse

And a word from Val’s usual partner-

Val is a strong contender for the most sociable person in Rugby Bridge Club.  She knows everything about everyone (that’s scary thought sometimes!) and is first on hand when ill health or other misfortune strikes.  She is a great friend to have.

Val cares very deeply about her bridge and works hard at it with the infallible aid of her son Christopher.  She is quite a demanding partner regularly beating herself and her partner up for momentary lapses.  Most of the time, however, she has a wonderfully cheery demeanour at the bridge table and her enthusiasm is infectious.

There is one area in which Val is unrivalled and that is when we pick up our hands and contemplate our first bids, she can nearly always be relied on to start a discussion about something totally unrelated to bridge.  It is just a reflection of her perception that bridge is a social event not just a game.  Long may she be on hand to cast a conversational spell over the proceedings.

Peter Langley

LIONEL FRANKLYN

We were saddened to learn of the death of Lionel.  He died on January 31^st after suffering ill-health for a number of years.  He and his wife Pat were enthusiastic and active members of Rugby Bridge Club from its early days.  Pat was my bridge partner for several years (she didn’t play with Lionel because they did not always agree) until her sudden death in 2001. Rod and I have many happy memories of Pat and Lionel who I first met when he was a lecturer at Rugby College of Engineering Technology.  Some of you may remember that institution, later to become Lanchester Polytechnic and then Coventry University.  I recently reminisced with Lionel about those days, playing bridge in the staff common room, fancy dress parties and Monday evenings at the Dirty Duck.  After the death of Pat, Lionel and his partner Odile Lavault became regular players at RBC.  They were part of the Gambits league team and later members of the Discards team.

Lionel loved playing bridge and when he no longer was able to come to the club he was delighted when a few of us organised a game at his house.  He was a kind, gentle man with a great sense of humour.

Wendy

FRIDAY SESSION

Friday afternoon sessions are proving very popular, even reaching the dizzy heights of 10 tables on occasions!

Another afternoon session is being introduced in September. Watch this space.

EBU PROMOTIONS

Congratulations to the following members who have been recently promoted, particularly to John Drake who has risen up the ranks to 2 Star Premier Master and to Pam Southern who is now a 1 Star Master.

We have also seen the promotions to District Master of Pat and Sid Downton, Mary Kerridge, Wendy Crees and Peter Langley with 1000 Master-points.

John Bolton, David Hicks, Jeff Stafford and Felicity White became Area Masters (500 points) and Pat Exelby, Maria Smyth, Ron Finch, Dick Holdsworth and Don Prowse are now Club Masters (200 points.)

Well done also to Chris Ursell, Phil Beagley, Keith Langley, Jane Smith, Theo Schilderman and David Phillips who have started on the ladder as Local Masters.

GRAHAM CLARKE

We are delighted to learn of the success of one of our members.  Each county has annual awards and of those Leicestershire players ranked District Master and below, Graham Clarke won the most master-points in 2013.

Graham is now ranked as a County master so in 2014 he will be competing against all other players ranked between County and Advanced master, a tougher test.

PAIRS LEAGUE SCORING AND POSITIONS AFTER ROUND 3 ON 31^ST MARCH 2014

The Divisions continue to take shape.  John and Craig are sitting on top of Division One and are not really being challenged.   Debbie and Peter who lie second are closely followed by Alan and Chris who had an excellent evening and once again are mounting a challenge after a slow start, with Val and Peter not that far behind.

In Division Two Wendy and Sue have strengthened their grip on the top and have a healthy lead over those in second where Anne and Mike had a good evening to grab second place, closely followed by Anne and Ken with Pam and Phil shadowing them.

In Division Three Paula and Neil are clinging on to first place with a strong challenge from Robert and Derek with Marion and Clare still maintain a challenge for a top place.

Thank you all for making it another successful evening and again a special thanks to Phil for all the preparatory work and to Alan again with the scoring.  I will have to get him a ladder or some high heels  because he is challenged when it comes to writing the scores up on the board..

David Hicks

RUGBY and DISTRICT BRIDGE LEAGUE

Drawing to a close Rugby & District Bridge League have had another successful and enjoyable season.

In Division One Rugby Discards (Captain – Wendy Pattinson)  are leading but being closely chased by the Rugby Gambits (Captain – Graham Lightfoot)

In Division Two Rugby Rabbits (Captain - Pam Southern)  are triumphing and looking for promotion next season, closely followed by the Village Cavaliers (Captain – Christine Cooper)

In Division Three our new teams Daventry Donuts (Captain – Peter Baines) and Rugby United (Captain – Dave Owen)  have been battling for first place and both look guaranteed to be promoted.

Our new team Rugby United (Captain Dave Owen)  are this year’s winner of the Handicap Competition, many congratulations to them.

In the Open Cup Daventry Dragons, Rugby Rabbits, Rugby Eroes and Rugby Discards are all through to the semi-finals.

Special thanks this year to Daventry Bridge Club  for their great effort in putting forward two new teams into the league.

Our popular End of Season Event will be held on Sunday 15^th June 2014 starting at 2:00pm at the Ex-Servicemen’s Club, Hillmorton.

Please contact Jane Carrington jane.carrington@hotmail.co.uk who is taking names for teams, and will be happy to find partners and make up teams for the event if you can pass names on.

Raffle prizes for the event would be very welcome, please pass them on to any member of the committee. Thanks

Our AGM will be held on Monday 7^th July 2014 at the Ex-Servicemen’s club, Hillmorton, followed by bridge.

Thanks to everyone who has participated this year and we are already looking forward to the 2014/2015 season.

Liz

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

ANNUAL MATCH V LUTTERWORTH

The annual match against Lutterworth will take place on Monday 23 June 2014 at Sacred Heart, more details later, watch the web page.

RUBBER BRIDGE COMP

The Rubber Bridge competition will commence in June. Players of all standards will experience an informal and most enjoyable competition.  If you would like to know more please contact David Owen for details.

BRIDGE IN THE STREET

This year’s Bridge in the Street will be held in the Clock Towers shopping mall (near Wilkinsons) on Saturday August 23rd from 10.00 until about 2.30 pm.  It is designed to attract new members to the club - particularly those who would benefit from attending our Beginners programme starting in September.

It consists of two teams of four players taking part in a competitive match while two other members interact with any passing shopper(s) who show any interest.  If you are interested in being either a player or an engager then please contact Terry Bradbury via winesof.quality@virgin .net before May 14th or, later than this, either in person or on 890556

IMPROVING PLAYERS

Rugby Bridge Club is planning a series of seminars for the Club’s better and improving players.  The standard will be higher than at Saturday morning teaching.  The seminars are likely to be held on Wednesday evenings at Townsend Memorial Hall, Clifton, probably starting in May.  They will cover a wide variety of aspects of bidding and play, and will be run by a range of people from both inside and outside the Club.

An introductory session will be held on Wednesday 14^th May to outline the approach and discuss the topics to be covered.  All who are interested in attending the seminars should try to come to that session.  However if you cannot attend but are interested in the seminar series please let Peter Langley or Chris Malthouse know.

CZECH WEEKEND

Following last year’s very successful weekend in the Czech Republic, it is being repeated this year on the last weekend in August.  Everyone who went last year is keen to repeat the experience and those who are still wondering whether to go, should wonder no longer, it is a great experience.

Details from Wendy, Sue or Phil.

Full details of all events can be found on our website www.bridgewebs.com/rugby

HOSTING

The hosting system is on the whole working well.  We, as a club depend on the willingness of all our members to involve themselves in the day-to-day running of the club and hosting is one way of contributing, which most do.  If a member uses the hosting system it is only right and it is expected, that they volunteer to host.

In addition it is important that members, in particular those expecting to use the host system should arrive at least 10 minutes before the start of play.

Perhaps the following, is appropriate:-

A Little Story

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.

Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job.

Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn’t do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody, when Nobody did what Anybody could have done!!!

Peter Augustus

Julia Mills Trophy

The annual Julia Mills Trophy event for charity took place on the 13^th April and once again was a very successful event attracting 26 pairs from a number of different clubs and over £500 being raised for charity.

Marion Dixon and Lyn Hilton took first place closely followed by Wendy Crees and Terry Bradbury with Lo Tolbutt and Graham Lightfoot coming third.

 A special thanks to Janet and Wendy for organising the food and to those who provided the lovely dishes and the ‘feedback’ was that the food was even better than before.  And finally thanks to Chris Malthouse for his efforts in organising the event.

The Charity Challenge Simultaneous Pairs evening on 20^th March 2014.

In this national challenge event where over 1100 pairs competed Sue Osborne and Wendy Pattinson were the highest placed pair from our club and finished 96^th overall.  The event raised over £9,000 for charity

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I hope you have enjoyed reading this newsletter, which has turned out to be full of interesting facts.  Please, please send me your news, jokes, comments, views for the next edition.

Wendy Pattinson