Beginners' 1 consists of 10 two hour sessions, usually at the same time each week. It is run up to three times a year.

No previous knowledge of bridge, or even card games, is required. This introductory course covers:

The course is for players who want to take things right from the beginning so you do not even need to have played cards before.

The lessons are designed to take you at a gentle pace through the things you need to know to participate in a game of duplicate bridge.

You will be given a folder and will build up a volume of colour hand outs and quizzes.

By the end of the course you will know enough to join our Wednesday morning novice/social practice session. We would suggest that you then play weekly in that session until you feel ready to take some more lessons in our "Fundamentals of ACOL (Bridge 2)" course.

• Playing cards: suits, ranks, dealing, sorting
• Duplicate boards: how to use them
• Following suit; play in no trumps and with trumps
• Declarer and defence play introduction
• Evaluating a hand using high card points
• The bridge auction: using bidding boxes, meaning of bids
• Opening 1NT, responses with balanced or unbalanced hands
• Opening 1 of a suit; limit responses
• Change of suit reply; limit re-bids
• Non-vulnerable scoring; part score and game bonuses
• Simple overcalls

Players are welcome to attend the first session without obligation. Please see our fees section for costs, and the calendar section for lesson schedule.