We are now running lessons for Beginners and Improvers

PLEASE NOTE: 

THE BEGINNERS' EVENING LESSONS WILL NOW BE HELD ON MONDAYS FROM 7.00 - 9.00 P.M.

Online Bridge

While the Club is closed, it is possible to play online bridge in friendly and safe surroundings from your own home.

There are a number of online clubs and ways of playing.

Bridge Base Online

Click here to play at Bridgebase.com

This is our preferred site.  We've set up a virtual bridge club (see left) with two other clubs and are playing at least four times a week: Sunday mornings, two sessions on Mondays and Friday evenings.   If you are interested, please contact us by email stretfordbridge@gmail.com and we'll do the rest.  We'll talk you through setting up your id and how to play.

Manchester County Bridge Association are holding sessions for free several times a week.

Details can be found here.

Bridge Club Live

Click here for Bridge Club Live

You can play social bridge on the site, as well as chat with many friends from around the area. 

A number of clubs, including Trafford and Sale, Larkhill and Altrincham have also signed up to promote the Club.  This club can be accessed on desktops, laptops, and iPads.  It can work on smart mobile phones but with such a small screen, it is not really viable.

There is an offer at the moment to try the facilities for 30 days for £1.00.  Stretford Bridge Club is now registered under the Members heading and then selecting Clubs, and if, when you create your profile, you select Stretford as your Club, you will be able to compare your scores against other members.  Once you have set up your i.d. and profile you can set Stretford as your club and receive results on matches you play.

There are daily competitive tournaments, but the main areas are the Social Bridge room and the daily DIDO (Drop-In, Drop-Out) tournaments.  You set up a table and if you play a minimum of 16 boards, you appear on the Score Boards.   Another advantage is that most players here play ACOL based systems and there are directors around if you need assistance. If you need a hand setting yourself up on the site, contact club Secretary Dave Tilley on 07984529673 and he’ll help you.

There are other ways of playing bridge.

Funbridge

https://www.funbridge.com

The benefit of this site is that you don’t need to have a partner and it works well on an IPad. 

You can play a limited number of boards free of charge against computer players,

and if you set your preferred bidding system it will cope with it (and by clicking on

opponents’ bids, etc., you’ll see what their bids mean as well).

There are facilities to play with a partner as well.  Again, there are tournaments, 

and some of these have entry fees (you buy a virtual currency called diamonds) and

carry masterpoints for the best scores.  

Dave Tilley

Club Secretary

MORE VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED!

At the 2018 AGM we decided to change the name from ‘Host’ to ‘Standby Partner’ for the role of being available to play at club sessions on Tuesdays,

Wednesdays and Sundays, when someone arrives without a partner. The name ‘hosting’ seems to have deterred some members who believed that the role involved a bigger responsibility.

This is a recap of what is involved:

• Putting your name on the rota to be a standby partner
• Turning up on the day and being willing to play

bridge with any member or visitor who arrives to play without a partner

• This will usually involve playing simple systems
• Being prepared to leave without playing if no standby partner is needed. This also happens when an even number of people arrive without a partner.

The standby partner does not pay table money for the day if required to play and if not needed, will be given a voucher to play free at a future session.

The scheme has been running for a number of years and is very important as an encouragement for new players to come along to sessions and so that existing members know they can continue to play if their regular partner is missing for a while.

At the AGM we also discussed what we could do to share out the role more evenly among members.  Ken and Irene had taken the bulk of the hosting role over the previous year.  Members did not agree that being a ‘standby partner’ once a year should become a requirement of membership, but we did agree we would make more effort to encourage members to share in that club responsibility.

I agreed to take the role on the committee of coordinating the standby partner rotas. If you’d like to take part, you can:

• Put your name on the rota on the notice board,
• Give me a ring if you’d like to know more, or you’d like me to put your name on 

the rota if you don’t often call into the club.

Richard Aubery, Tournaments & Stand-By

Partner Organiser. 0161 718 2663

READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! 

E B U News

The English Bridge Union has today published its

annual list of club champions who were awarded most Master Points in 2018.

Our Club Champion is

ANN REES

Well Done, Ann!

We are sad to hear that Peter Shepherd, one of our stalwart members, passed away at the weekend after a long and brave fight against cancer.  Our thoughts and prayers are with Margaret and their family at this sad time.

Our recent A.G.M. saw our long-standing Treasurer (and MUCH more) Irene Cooke step down (or rather, sideways to the position of Chair). Her past and ongoing service to the Club is greatly appreciated. As a small token of this appreciation, (retiring) Chairman Ken McCarthy, presented Irene with a bouquet.

Have you ever wanted to learn to play bridge?   It's a great game and can be played by people of all ages from 10 to 100.  It can help with sharpening the memory and honing other skills.  The Club has members aged between 14 and 91!

Our Club runs regular lessons with several top EBU tutors.  We are able to run fast-track courses (held over a couple of weekends and suitable for those who have played the game a little before) as well as a traditional three term, nine-month courses.  If you are interested in learning, please complete the form below and we will contact you by return.

We finished our successful Festival of Bridge with a really exciting evening featuring our first Trophy event, the Stretford Shield.

The tournament was won literally on the last card with Brenda Begley and Nick Aves being pipped by Brian Irlam and Pam Cox.

Congratulations to Pam and Brian, commiserations to Brenda and Nick but also to everyone else who took part.  A fantastic evening!

The September Charity event took place recently in aid of the Pendleside Hospice and the clubs raised the magnificent sum of £400 which will be passed to the hospice as soon as possible.

We will have further events on the last Saturday of each month, plus the annual E-Cats Children in Need SIMS events throughout the autumn and winter.

Please support these worthwhile events!

The Children In Need Simultaneous Pairs, held on Tuesday 12th November, was well attended (13 pairs).  Winners here (65.24%) were Clive Coleman and Liz Martins (who are also 21st Nationally).  In second place here (62.92%) were Andrew Jackson and David Fussell.  WELL DONE!

We've held our annual SIM Pairs sessions in aid of BBC Children in Need and despite a glitch with the BBO software on Monday, we have raised around £750 for the cause.   Thank you so much!

**********

Click Here for the national results from the Wednesday session, see how you did against all the other players!

Click here for the commentary on the hands and see whether your bidding and play was as good as it could have been!

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Click Here for the national results from the Thursday session, see how you did against all the other players!

Click here for the commentary on the hands and see whether your bidding and play was as good as it could have been!

Out of 11 pairs competing on Sunday 29th September 2019, we'd like to congratulate John Reeves & Bill Fishwick for their win, with 60.12%.  Runners-up Vivienne Veitch & Don Monks scored 57.81% and third-placed Irene Cooke & Sylvia Rigby were hot on their heels with 57.14%.  Well done everyone!

Chairman Ken McCarthy stepped down to the position of Vice-Chair.  Irene Cooke retired as Treasurer and was replaced by Don Monks.  Irene was elected as Chair.  Secretary David Tilley was re-elected, as were Committee Members Richard Aubery, Chris Collison, Bernice Hadfield and Sheila Reynolds, with the addition of John Reeves.   

Membership fees are increased from £20 per year to £25, with £12.50 for full-time students, and free membership for under 18s; Table Money from 1st November will increase to: £3.00 (Members), £5.00 (Guests) and £1.50 for full-time students/under 18s.  

Mike Hickling started running another of his popular Improvers' and Refreshers' Courses at the Club on Saturday

28th September 2019.  Each lesson starts at 1.30pm and the list of topics covered is shown below.  You can join for the rest of the course, or attend individual sessions.

Please sign up at the club or email stretfordbridge@gmail.com to add your name to the class. 

Cost is £10 per lesson or £75 for the full course.

This year's topics:

Playing suit combinations for maximum effect

Going with the odds when playing the cards

Being destructive overcalling the Opposition

Defending - Making sure Declarer doesn’t make their contract

Signalling and Discarding so your partner knows what you want

Communication problems – ducking, overtaking, unblocking & creating  entries

Competitive bidding – when to push the opponents too high or ensuring your contract to obtain the best score

Trump control problems – when to draw trumps, keep trump control and establishing your side suit

How to count the suits – discovering successful end-play strategies

Planning your Play – the structure for winning bridge

Places are sure to go fast - sign up soon!

Manchester League 2018-19 Division 5 – Final League Table

                                                           M      L        S        R       T       T       W      O        J            B       Total        Ave

1       MONTON MISFITS                 +      20     16     18     22     15     19     25     27         28     190          21.11

2       LASTMINUTE.BID                10      +       28     25     30     7       20     22     17          23     182          20.22

3       STRETFORD SABRES          14       2        +      21     15     28     12     25     11         30     158          17.56

4       RADBROKE BANDITS         12       5        9       +      14     18     24     17     22          16     137         15.22

5       THE BIDDABLES                     8       0      15     16     +       14     11     18     25          26     133          14.78

6       THE ENIGMAS                       15     23        2     12      16     +         7     13     23         19     130          14.44

7       WINNING WAYS                   11    10     18        6     19     23        +      19     16            2     124          13.78

8       OVERTRICK LUNATICS         5       8         5      13     12     17     11     +       21         30     122         13.56

9       JEMS                                           3     13      19         8       5       7      14     9       +           13        91         10.11

10    BOMBAY SAPPHIRES             2       7        0       14       4     11     28      0      17            +        83           9.22

Back in summer last year, four of us thought it would be fun to enter a team back into the Manchester League.  We applied and were a little bit surprised to be placed in Division Five, but as it turned out it was a good move and we played some really enjoyable matches against some superb teams.

As you can see from the final League Table, we finished in third place after being in second spot for most of the season.  A good thumping from Adam Wiseberg’s team, lastminute.bid in the last but one match of the season meant that we dropped a place.

It was quite challenging at times having to get teams together and we had to deal with last minute cancellations, including a trip out to Macclesfield on a very icy and snowy evening, although we eventually played the game when the weather improved.  We also had team members including myself having to work at short notice, which caused a few stresses and strains too.

After bowing out of the cup in the first round to the eventual Division winners, Monton Misfits, the team made steady progress through the Plate competition and we reached the final, which is soon to be played. We’ll update you with the result after Sunday's final.

Thanks to everyone who played this season:  Wei Che Tham, Daniel Kelsall, Richard Aubery, Don Monks, Tony Yates, Ofelia McCabe, Ann Rees, Linda Williams, Frank Eade and Chris Collison.

Maybe next year we could enter a second team.  If you are interested speak to Richard Aubery or myself and we’ll help you get organised!

Thanks also to Kath Nelson and Adam Wiseberg for patiently guiding me through the etiquette and logistics of running the team.  We’ll certainly be playing next season!

Dave Tilley

Team Captain

OUR NORMAL SESSIONS

Sunday Afternoons at 1.00 pm

Monday Evening tuition/play at 7:00 pm

Tuesday Afternoons at 1:15 pm

Wednesday Afternoons at 1:00 pm

Friday Afternoon Supervised Pairs at 1:15 pm

Last Saturday of month Supper Bridge from 6:30 pm

Most sessions have a stand-by partner if you are without one.  

If you are coming without a partner, or are new to the Club, we ask that you come 15 minutes before the advertised start time.  We recommend you speak to the Director on arrival.

From Monday 1st March, all evening sessions will start at 7:15 pm.  We need you to be logged in 15 mins beforehand, please.

We will always try to find you partners, but please give us as much notice as possible.  Recently one or two players have arrived in the last few minutes and expected us to find a partner.  It's not always easy.

An individual event held on Sunday 26th January.

The results were:

1st 66.88% Kath Mills

2nd 63.75% Ann Rees

3rd 62.50% Hilary Black

VERY WELL DONE, LADIES!

The Club hosted a heat of the Bill Hughes Simultaneous Pairs event on Tuesday afternoon.

This popular event is run by clubs not only in this country but also around the world, and a is a great chance to see how you fare against players from all around the globe.

At our heat, David Fussell and Andrew Jackson triumphed with Liz Martins and Don Monks second, and Richard Cross and Frank Eade third.  However when hands not played and sit-out scores are considered, these may adjust nationally.

You can see the latest national scores here.

These results will evolve as sessions are played during the week. 

Full results and hands will be displayed at the weekend once all results are in.

Our A.G.M. will be held this Saturday, 30th October at 10.30 a.m. at the club (time will be given from 10.00 to go through minutes and other documents given out, which will also be emailed or posted out to members in advance, when available).

Please come along if you can (despite lower attendances at the club recently, we hope to have enough attendees to be quorate - 15). It would be helpful if you could let us know if you can/can't make it. 

Please wear a mask if you can, for the safety of everyone. We will take forehead temperatures and may also check your vaccination status (if we haven't already).

Thank you.

We have had some sad news about two of our members.

Jack Smith, who regularly played with Arthur Barrow on Tuesday afternoons, recently passed away, a few days before his 96th birthday.

Our thoughts and sympathies go to Jack's family and the Club will make a donation to the family's chosen charity.

We've also heard that Tony Mortimer has recently passed away.  Although he hasn't played at the club for a few years due to ill health, many members will remember him. Again, our sympathies go to his family.

The Rigby Trophy 2019 was won by:

Irene Cooke & John Reeves, with 53.39%    

2nd: Frank & Maria Eade, with 52.25%

3rd: Marjorie Robinson & Ann Ward, with 51.69%

(average percentages of those pairs having played enough times to qualify)

The Tuesday Afternoon Quarterly Prize 2019 was won by:

Irene Cooke & John Reeves, with a score of 21

Joint 2nd: Andy Jackson, also Roger Jones, with 16

WELL DONE EVERYONE!

Full lists are available in the hallway.

We had another of our popular Hotpot Suppers on Saturday 27th April, thanks to our Secretary, Dave Tilley, for organising. 

Congratulations to Frank Eade and Ken McCarthy who were the winners of this year's Marie Kane event (random partners chosen)..  Linda Williams and Don Monks were runners-up and Bernice Hadfield and Lewis Magid third.  Well done to all!

Kindly prepared by Vera McKeon

The Club reopened on Tuesday 17th August and it was good to see friends that we haven't seen in person for some time (and Fred's ponytail!). 

For the time being, the club will open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Sunday afternoons.  The Friday Supervised play session will be re-introduced at a later date.  As you will appreciate, we will have to bring in a number of new ways of running the session, and the club.

THERE WILL BE A STANDBY PARTNER FOR THOSE COMING TO THE CLUB WITHOUT ONE THIS TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY 28th and 29th

Members can also call us on the club number 0161-865-2846 (it will divert at no cost to you) at least 24 hours in advance and we will try to arrange a partner beforehand. 

A leaflet has been sent to members by post and email.  We ask you to study this carefully and to let us know as soon as possible if you have any specific requirements.  if you haven't received this, please let us know.

The Club is committed to ensuring that sessions take part in the safest environment possible and this needs the understanding and support of all members.  Please work with us and we can all enjoy our bridge safely.

THE ONLINE SESSIONS WILL CARRY ON AS NORMAL 

On Saturday 27th June, we held our first Charity Bridge Event between the three Clubs to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease.  

A very enjoyable evening was had by all the players and I'm sure the large number of spectators watching must have enjoyed it too! 

We raised a terrific sum of around £300 for research into this devastating disease.  We were also thrilled by a very substantial donation from one of the local officers of MCBA.  Our grateful thanks to this lovely lady.

Our next Charity event is on Thursday 9th July when we are hosting the ECats National Kidney Research Simultaneous Pairs.  Why don't you come and join us?

Non-members are always welcome to play in our Charity events for the same charge as our regular players.  All you have to do is let us have your BBO user name(s), and an email address.  We'll tell you how to register to play on the day and come and have an enjoyable session with our lovely members.  Email stretfordbridge@gmail.com and we'll be in touch.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 

.

Winners of the President's Trophy 2020 are

David Tilley & Richard Aubery with 64.76%.

Runners-up are Chris Collison & Sheila Reynolds with 61.90%

In Third Place are Ann Rees & Brenda Shaw with 60.48%

WELL DONE EVERYONE!

The Club recently held two Simultaneous Pairs events.

On Tuesday we played a session in aid of the EBU Education Charity - EBED.   Irene Cooke and John Reeves finished top with a healthy 64.17%, with Chris Collison and Ann Rees second, and Dave Tilley and Richard Cross third.  

Here are the national results and as you can see here, Irene and John are currently second nationally! A fantastic achievement.

The national results do look slightly different from our scores, but this is because overall scores are adjusted based on the number of boards played at each club, and sit-out boards, etc.  

If you would like to see what contracts you should have been in and what you could have made, click here

Last week we held another Sim Pairs event to raise money for the RNLI with ECats Bridge.  This time, Richard Aubery and Ron Booth came top with  Richard Cross and Ron Jones as runners-up.

You can see where you came world-wide here.   You can see what you should have bid here.

The students at the latest EBED Teaching Course at Stretford Bridge Club were surprised to discover two members of the popular quiz show Eggheads were at the club at the same time. Eleven students from local and far-flung places (two from Guernsey and one from Scotland!) were all learning to become EBU bridge teachers, under EBU tutor Mike Hickling (centre), and were being well fed and watered by Stretford BC Catering Manager Sheila Reynolds (far right).

The two TV quizzers: Pat Gibson, currently the top quizzer in the country and the world and Dave ‘Tremendous Knowledge’ Rainford were taking part in the Quizzing Circuit monthly American Grand Prix quiz under the proctorship of Club Secretary Dave Tilley.  If you are interested in quizzing and would like to come and try a British or American Grand Prix quiz (held in Warrington on the first or second Saturday), contact Dave at tilsit@btinternet.com.  Entry is free for first-timers and many of the popular TV quizzers take part in the local heat from time to time.

Following feedback from players, we have decided to defer the option to have breaks in our sessions.   

Whilst our games are not governed by the Display Screen Equipment (DSE) Regulations it's worth thinking about the effects of playing in front of a computer screen for long periods.

• Try to have good ambient light in the room when you are playing, either daylight or artificial light, but avoid strong reflections off your screen.
• Whenever you can try to take your eyes off the screen and if possible focus on something further away such as out of a window. This could be when you’ve finished your round with a little time still on the clock or whilst you are dummy.
• Try not to use such time to do other things on your screen such as checking emails.
• Consider getting a pair of glasses set for computer or screen distance especially if it is different from your normal reading distance.
• Stand up and move around whenever you can.  Short stretches are good for preventing cramps, etc.

If you need advice or support about this then feel free to contact us.  Email stretfordbridge@gmail.com if you have any comments or queries.  We can put you in touch with Norman Cope who is the IT Manager at one of our Clubs and is a retired optometrist.

All our Members were balloted recently on this subject (by email or post, on 20^th and 21^st November 2020, with the close of voting being midnight on 12^th December 2020).

Asked whether to hold our Annual General Meeting as soon as practicable (using an online platform such as Zoom), or to wait until a normal face-to-face A.G.M. could be held (timescale then unknown, with Officers and other Committee Members remaining in post until then).

The result, after counting and recounting, is a majority decision to wait until a face-to-face A.G.M. can be held.

With Covid-19 vaccines now coming online, this could be fairly soon, the date to be decided by the incumbent Committee.

Thank you for your replies.

The 22 votes were:      

3   Abstain           

3   Either     

11 Face-to-face            

5   Online

It is with the deepest sadness that we have to announce that Don Monks, one of our most popular members and our Treasurer at Stretford, passed away recently.

Don played most sessions at the Club and was one of the most friendly and keenest players at Stretford.  He was also a keen supporter of our MCBA and EBU bridge league matches.

Everyone at the Club is deeply saddened at his passing and we all send our thoughts and love to his family at this sad time.