NEWSLETTER No 16                                                                                                                      

                                                                                                  JULY  2014

Welcome to our latest newsletter.  What a wonderful July we are having now.  Well, some of us are enjoying the sun while others just long for cooler nights and rain for the gardens.  It is never right.

I had a dreadful start to this week with an operation being cancelled due to clerical incompetence and my laptop died.  This was potentially very serious because the newsletter was almost finished and of course like everyone else, I had no back-up copy.  I ended up buying a new laptop.  Contributions would be appreciated!

MEMBERS’ NEWS

We are delighted to welcome, Robert Bates, Diana Turner, Steve Royston, Gordon Stewart and Andy Robinson to Rugby Bridge Club (RBC).  Carole Richardson has also re-joined.  Enjoy your bridge.

You may have noticed how much calmer our Tuesday evening sessions have become, since not showing the rolling results on the computer.  A few weeks ago a vote was taken at our 3 weekly sessions, as to whether to show the results during play.

The result of the vote was that we would not have the rolling results on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but to show them near the end of the session.  Fridays decided to show the rolling results all the time.

FUTURE EVENTS

A new duplicate session will be starting on Monday 15^th September.  It will be at the Townsend Memorial Hall Clifton, 1.15pm for 1.30 start.  The sessions will be held every Monday except the 2^nd Monday of the month.  We look forward to seeing you there.            A host system will be in place.

We are intending to organise a competition for players who have less than 1000 Master Points.  The better players get all the kudos and we feel it is time for beginners and improvers to show what they can do.  The competition will take place in November on a Saturday evening, with a ‘bring and share’ supper.  The date will be fixed later.  If you are interested please contact Sue Osborne or Wendy Pattinson.

A DIARY NOTE: The third annual match against Daventry Bridge Club will take place on Monday September 29th.  This will be our home match but venue has still to be decided.  It is a crunch match as victories are currently shared one apiece.

Peter Langley is picking our team so anyone wishing to play should contact Peter in the second half of August after his holiday.  The Daventry team is likely to contain a few very familiar faces as several of our members play in their weekly Wednesday session and Terry Bradbury is organising their attack.

BRIDGE IN THE STREET

Our annual recruiting drive, Bridge in the Street, is scheduled for Saturday August 23^rd.  It is held in the Clock Tower shopping mall (opposite Wilko’s) and consists of two teams of four playing a competitive team match while two others engage any passers-by who show any interest.  The objective is to recruit new members particularly to the Beginners sessions which start in September.

The event is divided into two halves.  The first runs from 10 am until approximately 12.15 and is immediately followed by the second session which ends about 2.30 pm.  It is a fun experience and, in the past two years, has resulted in the recruitment of several new members.

VOLUNTEERS WANTED!  Terry Bradbury is organising the event and needs ten volunteers for each session.  Please let Terry know ASAP if you are prepared to play (with or without a partner) or are interested in being an “engager”.  He can be contacted on 890556, at winesof.quality@virgin.net or in person.  Please indicate which session(s) you can accommodate.

Please come along and help.  The running of the club always falls on the shoulders of the few and it would be nice to see a few more members becoming involved.

We need to recruit new members and this is one way you can help.

TEACHING SESSIONS

Lessons for beginners will begin on Saturday at 10am on the 20^th September 2014 at the Townsend Memorial Hall, run by Wendy and Peter.  If you have partners, friends or neighbours who might be interested, please encourage them to come along and have a go.

Our Improvers sessions will be continuing at the same time and place as the beginners’ class, led by Sue and Chris.

You don't need to have a partner for these sessions nor make any commitment to coming each week.

There is a relaxed, informal atmosphere and more experienced players are on hand to discuss bidding and play.

We would very much like to hear from you about any topics you would like to cover or revisit.

We are including many more set hands in these sessions so that members get a greater opportunity to put into practice what they have learnt.  The cost is £2.50 per week as per our other club sessions.

PAIRS LEAGUE

The Pairs League will start again on Monday 8^th September at the Sacred Heart, beginning at 7pm.  It will be run as a County event as agreed at the AGM.

As you all know this is a larger room than the venue used previously and Graham Lightfoot will be hoping to attract enough bridge players to have 12 tables.  Graham will be a non-playing Director and David Hicks will be there to support the rounds, not playing but available should someone not be able to play at that time.

Currently sixteen pairs have expressed a wish to play, one member is seeking a partner and we need another pair to get the number up to 18.

Please contact Graham Lightfoot for details.

NEW SEMINAR SERIES GETS UNDERWAY

The new series of seminars for the Club’s better players got off to a promising start on 25 June with a session on ‘Strategy’ from Craig Hutton.  With the aid of hand-outs, Craig brought out very clearly the differences between strategy at Teams and Pairs and in the process revealed some of the secrets of his own successful partnership with John Drake.  We will all be a little wiser next time we play them!

Although attendance was slightly disappointing – nine excluding Craig himself – a lively and interesting discussion developed about a wide range of aspects of both bidding and play.  It can be fairly said that the aim of these seminars is to promote fresh thinking rather than to teach new material as such.  Most of us are more set in our ways than we realise, and Craig certainly succeeded in illuminating some of the most important choices we have when we sit down to bid and play a hand.

Craig and John also place heavy emphasis on discussing the evening’s hands, usually over a pint in the pub immediately afterwards.  If bridge is a learning process, a proper discussion when the hands are still fresh in your mind must be far superior to a perfunctory discussion at the end of each hand or a casual look at the results a day or two later.  Speaking personally, I’m very lazy about this.  All I want to do at the end of an evening’s bridge is get home to bed, and it’s hard to find the time thereafter to do justice to the hands.  But that’s how you improve.

We are very grateful to John Drake for organising the seminar series and to Craig for leading the first one.  The next seminar will be on Wednesday 30^th July at 7pm at the Townsend Memorial Hall, Clifton, where the subject will be ‘Odds’.  It’s open to all so why not come along and give it a try?

Peter Langley

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Annual General Meeting for 2014 was held on the 10^th June and there were 44 members in attendance.

The Chairman reflected on the year that had passed and in particular the mentioned the disappointment of the clubs unsuccessful bid for the Royal British Legion Club at Hillmorton and sadly the passing of Margorie Davies, who for many years had been instrumental in raising funds to enable the club to purchase its own premises.  He confirmed that this effort will continue unabated.

He reported that the membership had been growing steadily for a number of years and stood at around150 members and this increase had been reflected in the numbers attending the various bridge sessions that were held.

At the meeting there were four proposals listed for discussion, one concerned a slight change to the Constitution which was carried, proposed changes to the annual Awards and Trophies arrangements, the continuation of the Pairs League and a proposed increase in session fees.

The proposed to changes to the Awards and Trophies, were approved, with one exception and this included a decision that there would be no monetary awards apart from the Julia Mills Trophy and the Pairs League.

So far as the Pairs League was concerned the voting was in favour of it being run as a County event.

A proposed increase on session fees to £3 was agreed.  A Committee proposal tabled at the meeting to increase the annual membership fee to £10 was also approved and ot was agreed that both changes would be with effect from April 2015.

T Members of the committee standing for re-election were voted in and comprise:

Peter Langley – Chairman;       Wendy Pattinson – Vice Chair       David Hicks – Secretary

 Phil Shorey – Treasurer  Anne Carrington – Membership Secretary;          Janet Chappell – Officer

Terry Bradbury – Officer        David Owen – Officer            Graham Lightfoot was voted in as a new officer with special responsibility for running and developing the ‘Pairs League’ and was congratululated on becoming Senior Tournament Director  following Peter Iredale’s decision to stand down from this role, who was thanked for having undertaken this role for a number of years..

The Chairman thanked Chris Malthouse for his tremendous work and commitment over the last 20years.

The Chairman reaffirmed that the principle aims and roles of the committee are set in the strategy document a key element of which is to promote and develop the Club.

David Hicks

PAIRS LEAGUE RESULTS

The final round of the second series of the Pairs League was concluded on the 16^th June 2014.  Congratulations to John and Craig who won Division One with a grand total of 410.  I cannot say they were closely followed by Debbie and Peter who scored 313 but they were closely followed by Val and Peter who scored 311.

In Division Two Sue and Wendy comfortably finished first with 345, despite the late surge by Anne and Ken who finished second with 324.

In Division Three Paula and Neil finished in first place with 330 but were pushed all the way in a very tight finished by Marion and Claire who were only one point behind in second place.

And finally a huge thank to Phil for providing the movements cards and scoring sheets, to Marion and Claire for the Boards and to all those who helped on the session evenings.

AUTHORS WANTED

I am sure we all have a peep in the Advertiser and the Observer to see our names in print and I know friends and family also follow our progress.  It is also a good way of advertising the club and its events to the public.

One of our scribes, John Bolton has left us and we are looking for a replacement.  It really is not too onerous and only involves reporting results and comments every three or four months.

Many thanks to John for all his work and for the interesting and unique reporting style he brought to the column.

SARAH TESHOME

Many members who read a profile of Sarah Teshome on Page 41 of the June issue of the E.B.U. magazine might not have realised that she was once a member of this club.  She came to Rugby to take a Two Year Management Trainee course in that part of G.E.C. which also employed me and while she was a club member she also played in my team in one of the lower divisions of Coventry Bridge League.  Whilst I realised at that time that her playing skills were better than that of many, if not all, of our other members I did not appreciate that she had international potential which clearly developed after her short spell in Rugby.  I did however once meet her again briefly during my period as Vice-Chairman of Warwickshire Contract Bridge Association when I was involved in organising an international match against Southern Ireland and she was one of the players.

We can of course bask in reflected glory and say that we helped to develop an international talent but somehow I think that she would not necessarily agree although she would be too polite to say so.

Malcolm

ANNUAL EVENT

I am sure you will recall earlier this year you voted to have a Carvery/Quiz night as the annual event.  The venue will be Newbold Rugby FC, Parkfield Road on Friday 19^th September 2014 starting at 07:00pm.  After keen negotiation this will be at a cost of only £20 per person for a three course meal with a vegetarian option.  The venue will be free of charge with the proviso that all drinks are purchased at the club.  An advert will appear on the website shortly detailing the menu.  Phil Shorey will prepare/conduct the quiz which will be for teams of up to six persons.  Would members planning to attend please contact Dave Owen at dave-alex@hotmail.co.uk or phone 01788 577559 and kindly remit your payment in full to Phil Shorey upon registering.  A raffle will be held, please donate prizes, the proceeds of which shall be donated to a charity, so all come along to enjoy this event.

Dave Owen

COVENTRY BRIDGE LEAGUE

The first division of the Coventry Bridge League was won by Ma Brown's.  The Rugby Gambit's team of Graham Lightfoot, Craig Hutton, Lo Tolbutt, Richard Smith and Robert Spencer although finishing bottom, achieved the highest points ever for a Rugby team.  Rugby E'roes having obtained 23 points in the 2003/04 Season.

COVENTRY BRIDGE LEAGUE DIVISION ONE

Rugby A's team of John Drake, Clare Dixon, Chris Malthouse, Marion Dixon, Alan Webb, Chris Cassin, Paul Dorrington and Peter Baines won Division Three with 99 points.

Congratulations to them.

COVENTRY BRIDGE LEAGUE DIVISION THREE

In the 2013 National Rank master team's event held at Hinckley Level C winners were: - Graham Lightfoot, Richard Smith, Lo Tolbutt and Alan Webb with 6 wins from 13 all against teams of Grand Masters.

The Rugby Gambits reached the Semi-Final of ‘The Goodman Cup’ (Warwickshire Teams of 4 County Championship) and the Quarter Final of ‘The Broke Cup’ (Northamptonshire teams of 4 County Championship).

John Drake was promoted to Regional Master, giving Rugby its best ever with 5 Rank Master.

For the coming season a team has been entered in the ‘Gerald Falkner Cup’ and are due to play Peterborough away later this month.

Graham Lightfoot

EDITOR’S COMMENTS

During my long membership of Rugby Bridge Club I have had the pleasure of meeting some lovely people.  Sadly bridge seems to attract a very few (more often than not they fall into the ‘grumpy old men’ category) who find it difficult to be pleasant to their partners and opponents.  Why? I often ask myself is this?  I can only assume that they are like this in their life away from the bridge table.  Don’t they realise that being unpleasant/officious can ruin the pleasure of other members?

A few members spend a great deal of their time running this club, it does not run itself.  You may not agree with all the decisions made by the committee but they are all made with the good of the club at heart.  As I have pointed out, the club would benefit enormously if every member took on ONE task per year.  So how about volunteering to help, for example with Bridge on the Street?

One more plea, would you please send all articles for future newsletters as Word attachments in Times New Roman 11pt font.  I will send back anything not in that format in future.  So there!

Despite all the problems I have encountered over this last fortnight, AND I have had grandchildren staying (many of you will appreciate what that entails), I have managed to put together this newsletter.  I hope you have enjoyed it and found it informative.

Wendy Pattinson