Upminster has a long history of bridge clubs, in particular Upminster Bridge Club playing in St. Laurence Church Hall was a thriving club for many years and only folded in 2011.

In fact the local area has many other successful and busy clubs but none that took up Upminster's mantle as the primary club in the area and the only one that was EBU affliated. Upminster offered Friday night competitive bridge that was also welcoming and friendly, although never developed as either a teaching club or expansive club most bridge players in Upminster and the surrounding areas of Cranham, Hornchurch, Rainham and Romford played there sooner or later - at one time non-members would have to be turned away due to lack of space. But the facillities were not great, the venue was a little dark, parking was difficult and the non standard tables awkward. There were members who taught though and many local players learnt through excellent teachers still based in the area. Then some time after Upminster's demise our friends at Upminster Bridge School formed an introductory club at the old venue and brought some new players into the game. After a move to these lovely premises at Cranham Social Hall and a switch away from the established and traditional Upminster night this left Friday nights vacant once again.

So we felt it was time to reintroduce a fully EBU affliated, vibrant and social yet competitive club back into the scene. We'll have all the normal stuff associated with a bridge club, including our own teaching program plus something a little different from time to time and an active social side. We aim to appeal to those players who do this just for fun as well as those who are keener on the competitive and compelling nature of this wonderful game. 

We welcome all standards and types of players, we encourage  you all to come along and enjoy our fantasic game however you wish.

Play with Upminster & Cranham - 'We play with finesse'

 This has been a very difficult year indeed but we have remained a very 'together' group thanks to modern technology and our collective desire to keep things ticking over. We are very pleased to say we are still going strong. 
So our thanks for your continued support and our very best wishes go out to each and every one of you, member, guest, visitor and/or player, each of you have had to stay away but have helped keep our community together.
We sincerely wish you all the very best Christmas possible and a happy but above all healthy 2021!

We will be back on BBO on 6th January and very much look forward to seeing you all then!

In the meantime our daily Funbridge games continue and our WhatsApp group is always available so please do stay in touch.

A new beginner's class and our first improver's class will both start on Friday 13th March 1pm -3pm in Cranham.

If you wish to imrove your game or you or someone you know enjoys playing cards but hasn't played bridge then why not consider one of these courses?

For those new to the game playing bridge offers an enjoyable few hours entertainment, a mentally stimulating experience and an opportunity to make new and lasting friendships as part of a growing social scene. The first lesson is a free 'Taster Lesson' and you only sign up for the course if you wish to continue. Come alone or with a friend, bridge is an all-encompassing pastime.

These courses include an up to date course book, handouts, EBU and UCBC memberships, they are full courses and not rushed or intensive, they allow plenty of time to learn at a comfortable pace.

For more details or to register your attendance contact Tony French via email or on 07957 406088.

Our Xmas Party Night will be on Friday 13th December!

We will stuff our faces, drink wine, play some silly games and generally have a lovely festive evening!

This evening is free for members with guests/visitors also being most welcome for normal table money. You are also welcome to bring anything
to contribute should you wish but we do not expect you to do so, Christmas attire however is very strongly encouraged.

 The club would like to wish all members, guests and visitors a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and wealthy 2020!

We'll be back on 3rd Jan and look forward to seeing you all then!

Congratulations to our two teams of four who together won the recent 3-Club Challenge hosted by Bishops Stortford Golf Club (Bridge Section) at their beautiful venue.

Upminster Blue (Mike Jones & Peter Redman with Maggie Longman & Jennifer Cross) finished in 2nd place on +6 imps and Upminster Red (Anne & David Gillespie with Dave Brand & Mike A Jones) finished in 3rd place on +1 imp meaning their combined totals won the event for our Club!

Hutton Red including Caroline & David Norris who had wickedly absconded from our teams was the winning team on +14.

Very well done to all of our players in what was a very enjoyable event!

The results can be found in the list to the left or on the club's noticeboard.

On the 14th November we're sending a team of our students to play in a 3 team match against
Bishops Stortford and Hutton Bridge clubs.

Our team is: Dave Brand, Mike Jones, Mike A Jones, Anne & David Gillespie,
Maggie Longman, Jennifer Cross and Peter Redman.

It'll be the first taste of team bridge for them so let's hope they have a good time
and do well but most importantly enjoy themselves.

Good luck team!

On Sunday 27th October the club entered 2 teams of 4 into the ECBA Cup for Clubs competition and we'd like to congratulate our teams on their excellent 2nd & 4th place finishes.

A commendable outcome in our first club team event and so we would also like to warmly thank Geoff Wootton, Nigel Stuttard, Angela Fenton, Nobby Clark, Dave Clark, Jackie and Malcolm Tyler for their splendid efforts and giving up their time.

If you'd like to see the results a copy is on the club's noticeboard or online here.

The Club was very pleased to entertain Jonathon Lillycrop from the EBU as a visitor to a recent club night.

As part of his role as Club Liaison Officer Jonathon's visit was introductory and a chance for us to discuss ideas for development. There's no doubt bridge in the area has been rejuvenated by our arrival on the scene and Jonathon was very impressed with our setup. He wishes to thank everyone for an enjoyable evening, he remarked that we are a 'friendly, welcoming club with a good range of abilities that bodes well for the future'.

The cheque's in the post Jonathon! We hope to welcome you back again soon.

Round 3 of our popular World of Bridge series takes us to Turkey!

We'll be visiting the excellent Shish Meze in Hornchurch for Round 3 on Tuesday 29th October. As always tables
are limited so please book early to avoid disapointment. The details are here.

Do you have some gaps in your bidding knowledge? Have you completed a beginner course but like to refresh it? Have
you recently returned to the game or are you thinking of doing so?

Upminster & Cranham Bridge Club are running a 10 week course called 'Brush up your bidding' starting in October
with just these people in mind, more details are here.

Update: 11 participants are booked onto this course due to start on Friday 25th October, please contact us promptly if you wish to join us.

Event 2 of 'World of Bridge' took us to the USA in the form of the Miller and Carter restaurant at Lakeside.

40 players stepped on board the steamboat for a splendid day of bridge and food, the event itself being narrowly won by Dorothy and Alaric Cundy. A short report and the results can be found here.

Event 3 of the popular series will be announced soon!

A hugely enjoyable first World of Bridge event will be followed by a trip to the USA in the form of a visit to the Miller and Carter Steamboat at Lakeside.

Event 2 at this very popular restaurant on the lake will take place on Tuesday 3rd September, please book early as places are once again limited. The details are here.

Please note that due to essential maintenance work our venue will be unavailable for the next 2 weeks (16th & 23rd August) and we will temporarily re-locate to:

Cranham Community Centre
115a Marlborough Gardens
Cranham
Upminster
RM14 1SR

The start time for these 2 sessions will be 19:00 due to the need to finish earlier at this venue, please try to arrive by 18:45. There is more than ample parking at the rear of the building.

We will be back to our normal home on Friday 30th August.

On Saturday 13th July several members of the club decamped to Gidea Park Church for a charity night jointly held in support of BBSI Trust and Wanderers Haven. The evening organised by club member Kath O'Connor with the support of Tony & Sue raised well over £500 shared between the charities and was a hugely enjoyable success. Kath, Tony & Sue would like to thank all those who supported the event especially those who provided generous donations of raffle prizes and food.

The evening's results can be found from the results menu option on the left.

Upminster & Cranham Bridge Club is the hottest club around, but in this exceptionably hot weather we're also very cool!

The hall in which we play has a very effective airconditioning system keeping us comfortable and in addition to the usual offerings we now have squash available, you can also use the fridge in the kitchen to keep any drink you bring with you cool during the evening.

Please do take care to keep hydrated and cool during this very hot weather.

Many thanks to the four pairs who represented us in June at the ECBA Club Pairs event at Barleylands. All the pairs aquitted themselves well and helped highlight our club's progress:

Ann Savory & Angela Fenton
Anne Clark & Nobby Clark
Mustapha Rahaman & Nigel Stuttard
Kath O'Connor & Peggy Rodrigues

Thank you for your support we hope you enjoyed the day!

A hugely enjoyable first World of Bridge event in the lovely Osteria Due Amici in Upminster was won by Carol McCue and Paul Stevens.

The full results can be seen from the menu option to the left and a brief report is here.

Event 2 had been slightly delayed but arrangements are close to being finalised and details will shortly be announced.

Regretably the improvers 'Guilty Secrets' seminar on 13th July is now fully booked. As we have had a number of people interested who we were unable to accomodate on this occasion we will try to find another date to run it again.

Congratulations to Mary Putt on her Masterpoint promotion to Club Master.

Our club night on Fridays will include a relaxed supervised play section subject to demand, we're expecting a couple of tables from our tuition group but others are most welcome. Please contact us for details.

The results for the recent MiniBridge Sims are now finalised and our students Vee & Dave Brand are to be especially congratulated on an excellent 60.13% and 9th place nationally!

All our students aquitted themselves well but Vee & Dave were chased home by another UCBC pair; Jennifer Spearman & Pauline Collier who with 55.48% finished 14th.

Very well done guys!

 On Sunday 9th June at Barleylands the Essex County Bridge Association will be holding it's Club Pairs Competition and we'd like to have up to 4 pairs represent us.

The event is restricted to players up to C-Squad level, so the very top strand of players may not enter, but the competition still attracts a reasonable field although many clubs also field up and coming or inexperienced pairs. As a new club we would like to begin our representative efforts and would idealy like to enter a copule of experienced and a couple of inexperienced pairs. 

If you would be willing to play for us Tony would be delighted to hear from you.

Event 1 of our weekday 'World of Bridge' lunch inclusive competition will be on Monday 25th March and it's proving to be very popular!

This first event of  the series will take place at the lovely Osteria Due Amici in Upminster. Booking is required, space is limited and filling fast - full details here.

Update - we're sorry as we are now fully booked but we are working on event 2.

Our intrepid group of students played in their first ever event; a MiniBridge Simultaneous Pairs competition organised by EBED at our venue on Friday 1st March.

Many congratulations to our winners Vee & Dave Brand (N/S) and Lisa Chapman and Jennifer Cross (E/W). In fact a very well done to all our players for an enjoyable, smooth, fun and competitive event, clearly progress is being made.

No, not Marie Antoinette, but Kath O'Connor!

After some lovely cupcakes and home made biscuits over the last couple of weeks from Sue French, Kath baked some splendid Lemon Drizzle cake and brought it along for us this week.

Thank you ladies, playing at this club is proving to be quite bad for the figure.

Lessons for beginners got underway at the club at the start of February.

The 'Class of 19' comprises of 14 newcomers and they are shown on the right getting to grips with the finer points of Minibridge. One or two already show early promise so the rest of us will have to brush up our skills when they start to filter into the club in the coming months.

We wish each and every one of them every success and much fun as they begin to enjoy our wonderful game mind sport.

It's not too late to join the course especially if you have a little experience or want to refresh your knowledge, see the 'Bridge Tuition' menu option to the left.

A new beginner's class will start on Friday 1st February 1pm -3pm in Cranham, so if you or someone you know enjoys playing cards why not consider learning to play the greatest card game in the world?

For those new to the game playing bridge offers an enjoyable few hours entertainment, a mentally stimulating experience and an opportunity to make new and lasting friendships as part of a growing social scene. The first lesson is a free 'Taster Lesson' and you only sign up for the course if you wish to continue. Come alone or with a friend, bridge is an all-encompassing pastime.

For more details or to register your attendance contact Tony French via email or on 07957 406088.

While Jon & Geoff were plotting their way to the top last week (congrats gents) the rest of us were busy admiring our History of Hornchurch DVDs courtesy of member Mike Jones, thank you Mike, we nearly forgive your football tastes!

Many congratulations to Mustapha Rahaman who with his partner finished joint 2nd in the Jack High Swiss Pairs at the London Congress!

Please click here to see his result.

Our Xmas Party Night was won by Dennis Humberstone and Jon Ward while the majority of us just had fun, stuffed our faces and drank wine!

Christmas crackers passed around the room and an impossible game of bingo was given away rather than actually won - more work needed on that in time for next year's party night.

 The club would like to wish all members, guests and visitors a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and wealthy 2019!

Hello? I miss you. I have your glasses to remind me of you but I'd imagine you're having a hard time reading this and I’m having a hard time writing it – I can’t believe you left me.

If you’ve reconsidered the abandonment and now miss me as much as I miss you I'll be waiting for you next Friday night, anxiously.

I’ll keep your glasses safe until then but if you reject me the glasses get it!

Failing that contacting the club may put my mind at rest.

Update - good news, the glasses have survived the threat as the case has been reclaimed!