Tony Veran's team (Tony, Remi, Phil, Stuart and Andy Barker) have won the  2012West Essex League. They seem to win this competition more often than not. This year they won seven matches out of  seven. Well done the Foresters!

Not as successful but still deserving of congratualations are Winnie Godber and John Stimson. Playing with Chris and Sue Taylor they came second in the East Essex First Division.

These days the Essex Leagues are great fun. It is easy to enter at the correct level. If  club members want to put a side together they would be very welcome. Just visit The Essex County Web site for details.

Our current Sectetary, John Stimson, will be stepping down at the end of May. For a number of reasons he is unable to continue as Secretary. He will continue however as Secretary until the end of May and, when required, will continue to score.

The club now needs to look for a replacement. Is there anybody out there who could take on this role? Please do consider this. Your Club Needs You.

I and all the members would like to thank John for all his hard work, especially in helping to establish a friendly atmosphere in the club.

Winnie Godber  29 April 2012

Note from John Stimson.

I am sorry to be stepping down as Secretary. I would like to thank Alan Custerson for all his support and hard work;we are so lucky to have him as Treasurer. I should also like to thank Winnie for her support and for understanding why cicumstances mean that I can no longer continue in a secretarial role.

In the 3 - 4 years I have been Secretary it has been good to see membership and attendance up again. A few years ago we could sometimes find less than three tables turn up- Individuals and Teams replacing pairs. These days we normally manage 4-6 tables. I think there are two reasons for this: the existanceof  the website and secondly the Monday Host Rota. The Website may act primarily as an elctronic noticeboard but it does represent a contact point and does allow results to be posted. The Monday host means that people can turn up knowing they can get a game. Partnerships have also been established through the host system. Thanks to John Francis, Colin Elliott and Winnie for giving their time to hosting. I like to think that another reason for the improvement in numbers is because we have become such a welcoming club. I am sure this will continue.

If I had one recommendation to make on stepping down it would be that the club look at a 19.15 start. A recent straw poll found just two, perhaps three, members who would find this start time difficult. However a 19.15 start, while not necessarily allowing more than 21 boards, would make for a much less hurried, more pleasant atmosphere. Perhaps the club could look gain at this proposal

Well done to Winnie Godber aand John Stimson for coming equal first (with two other teams!) in this event. In fact Dhondy's team were declared 'official' winners on matches won. Nevertheless 99 VPs (out of a possible 140) represents a very good result.

The results posted for Monday night are only indicative.

Two name slips were did not show any pair numbers and one pair has only scored 8 rounds where 9 rounds were played. 

I will need to look at the movement cards after next Monday to clear the error.

Andrew

Well done to Ken Rolph and Phil Mattacks scoring 80.56% on the Thursday 29th March session. They managed two clean sweeps, both against respectable opposition and 10 complete tops out of 21 boards. Very impressive!

Infomation re playing at the club.

Members pay £2.00, non members £3.00. We meet Monday and Thursday evenings (at 7:15 for a 7:30 start).

On Monday there is always a host available. However it is always possible there may be a partner on Thursday so please phone the Secretary if you don't have a partner on that night but would like to play.See Secretary's number below .We finish around 10:30.

You will need to have played some bridge before. We can refer you to a teacher if you wish to have lessons.

Interested? Then please come along and see us on the night. If you have any questions ring John Stimson, Secretary, on 07973 880080.

Waltham Forest teams did well in The Hellier this year.

The event played 19th February at Mountnessing, and smoothly run by Tournament Director Nichole Cook, attracted 22 teams. 

Congratulations to Colin Elliott/Martin Baker with John Stimson/Winnie Gober  who were first, well clear of the field.

Well done  too to the other Waltham Forest team: Ken Rolph/Phil Mattacks with Stuart Dunstan/Tony Veran who were 7th.

First placed secured the Hellier Trophy. However the event also decides who goes forward to represent Essex in the Garden Cities. Unfortunately we just missed out on qualification for this being pipped by Thorpe Bay.

Janet Bruce has asked me to confirm that smoking is not allowed anywhere on the Quakers' premises. This includes the car park. Could all smokers please respect this restriction.

John Stimson, Secretary, January 2012.

Well done to Winnie Godber and John Stimson for coming first in this event. The Swiss Pairs was played at Mountnessing. There was an entry of 30 pairs.

Following a committee discusion, as many of you know, we have looked into bringing forward the starting time to 19.15. We have canvassed over the last two weeks and so far a comfortable majority have said they can make the earlier start. If we are to get in a minimum of 21 boards we do need to think about an earlier start.

However there have been objections from some long-standing, much valued, members. It has therefore been decided to defer any decision regarding bringing forward the start time. This does mean however that we must start sessions on time. Directors will also need to be firm in ensuring players finish rounds on time and where necessary this may mean not allowing all boards in a round to be played.

Winnie Godber: Chair

John Stimson Secretary.:                                          6  December 2011

Well Done to the Fletcher team of John Stimson-Winnie Godber, Anne Catchpole-Colin Elliott, Ken Rolph-Phil Mattacks, Stuart Dunstan-Tony Veran.

Waltham Forest came 2nd in this event out of 9 teams.

The 2011 Thursday Ladder has been won by John Stimson. In second place was Colin Elliott with Winnie Godber in third. John's win was a relatively comfortable one, especially given how close the results have been in recent years.

In terms of the outright average percentage John again came out on top, with Anne Catchpole just behind and Winnie and Phil Mattacks in third and fourth place.

For those of you interested in such things the top four Strike Rate* positions were John (60%) Winnie (50%) and Anne and Colin (both around 30%).

The best score over the period of the ladder was that of Ian Yeats and Paul Hickson. This was an impressive 80%. The lowest score was 15%!

* The Strike Rate refers to the percentage of results where either 1st or 2nd place  was achieved.

Well done to David Sherman, a winning member of the team that won the Essex  'George Curtis' teams event on the 19th June this year.

David's team got very much the better of Stimson (with Winnie Godber, Martin Baker and Peter Richardson) but this Waltham Forest team still managed third place out of thirteen teams.

Well done to both teams.

When to Alert Doubles

There is still some confusion regarding which doubles are alertable and which are not. The rules were changed in 2006 (coming into effect 2007). However even at the highest level people are not getting it right (although this may in part be because they are inclined to reject the changes that were introduced).

Take this simple sequence, one that comes up quite often.

North   East   South   West

1S          P       1N          X

Should West's double be alerted? You might think , "no", it is clearly a Take Out of Spades. In fact it is alerted because the rule now is that all doubles of (naturally) bid No Trumps are assumed to be penalties unless alerted. Interestingly this week while bidding one hand the above auction took place and I duly alerted partner's double. When the bidding had ended my Right Hand Opponent asked me why I had alerted. When I explained that the alert was because it was not penalties but for Take Out she told me I was wrong. "Everyone in this part of the world treats it as take out of Spades. There is no need to alert." She was quite wrong.  Not about how the double is normally treated but about the need to alert. She was a current England International. (And the idea that alert of doubles can be based on local custom is not likely to go down well with the EBU!). The fact that an international can get this wrong simply highlights the current confusion. Especially as this was a very  common situation.

Basically the rules state:

1. All doubles of naturally bid No Trumps are assumed to be for penalties unless alerted as something else.

2. All doubles of suit contracts (at the 1, 2 and 3 level) are assumed to be Take Out and not alerted unless intended as penalty doubles. If they are penalty doubles then they must be alerted.

It is this  rule that is most missunderstood. Some penalty doubles 'are obvious.' Maybe they are but the rules say they must be alerted.

3. A double of a conventional bid suit (for example  a transfer bid over 1NT)  is assumed to show that suit and  only alerted if something else.

I have some sympathy for the 2006 rules. They attempt to simpify the way doubles should be alerted. However there are many people who don't like them and either forget, don't fully understand, or just don't feel inclined to follow the new regulations. However those of us who direct do have to see they are applied.

It is very easy to allow oneself to play the wrong boards where a Howell movement is concerned. Where only 3-5 tables are in play it is not always easy for the scorer to adjust misplayed boards so that no pair is damaged. PLEASE CHECK BOARDS before each round.

Asking for  Results of an Event to be Checked

The EBU recommend that results are forwarded to them as they are scored. They are then left on file for three days or so to allow for any ammendment to be made by the club. It is therefore very important that you let the scorer know of any error in scoring you may have spotted within three days of it appearing on the Website. Scorers really do not mind checking scores and if necessary altering them if a score is  incorrectly entered.

Basil Carpenter  24^th December 1925 - 11^th January 2010

An Appreciation

When I set out to write this appreciation I wasn’t quite aware of how much Basil had done for the club. I do remember when I joined the club how he came up to Winnie and myself to welcome us. This welcoming behaviour, and his kindness to others is a feature that many club members have mentioned.

The club started with Basil. He quite simply was the club. It will never be the same now he has gone. His contribution to the club has been nothing short of immense.

But first, something of the man. Basil had many fields of interest. He was a long time member of his beloved Foresters. He did much work for their many charities. He was a member of the Sea Cadets. He was a great traveller. At an already impressive age he took up and mastered IT skills. These he put to good use for the club. He was a founder member of the club and guided it on its sometimes difficult path for over 40 years.

The club was originally known as the Rectory Manor Bridge Club. Basil’s notes on the history of the club say that at that time there were 20 members. They must have been an enthusiastic lot as they entered teams in both the West Essex Bridge league and the Tottenham and District Bridge league. Stuart Dunstan is pretty sure Basil was instrumental in starting the latter league. 

In 1970 the club moved to the Wadham  Lodge Sports Ground and renamed itself the Wadham Lodge Bridge Club. There are still members today who say they are from ‘Wadham’. That they do this as a slip of the tongue, or because in their hearts they still see themselves as Wadham lodge  members is hard to tell. Old habits die hard I guess.

I remember well the 1987 AGM when a change of name was discussed yet again. Basil as secretary ran that AGM. He was always very polite when speaking to members even when views were being freely expressed. However Basil was not one to be distracted from the agenda. The meeting proved highly emotional. A past Chairperson spoke passionately about identification. He wanted to retain the Wadham name. But the proposal was there to be discussed and Basil helped the meeting to look at another aspect of identification important in bridge, that of potential visitors and potential members knowing exactly where the club was.

The discussion changed. Falling membership required us to find a more appropriate geographical name and ‘Waltham Forest’ arrived.

In 1980 Basil got our first newsletter going. These days we place interesting hands and general news on the web-site. This wasn’t available then so attempts would break out from time to time to produce a bridge type magazine. I see in one old copy there are contributions form ‘Oldman’ Bloomfield ,from E Blum  and Gareth Dykes, members I can just remember from way back. Another reference mentions  Nicola Elliot, Colin’s mother. Together they came 4^th in the Regional Heat of the National pairs.

Another attempt at bringing out a bridge quarterly came 10 years or so later, ‘The Titanic’ but unfortunately this did not last very long. However it is in the Titantic that we first hear of how the club was formed. Originally Basil attended lessons at the Lea Valley Social Club. A small social bridge group grew out of these lessons (much as happened with the Woodberry Bridge Club many years later). When this group failed to last Basil set about forming his own club, the one that eventually became Rectory Manor.

By the 1970s Basils’s efforts were bringing high rewards. In 1974 the club won the Essex Club trophy for the first time. There were now four teams in the West Essex League and by 1978 membership had reached over 80.

The club inaugurated the Wadham Lodge Swiss Teams at the Foresters Hall (where else?).

The 70s and 80s were probably the hey day of the club. Membership numbers were high. Nevertheless the 90s saw an impressive number of very good players represent the club. In 1990 the club won the Fletcher Trophy for the first time (current members who played in that event include Andy Dodds, and Winnie Godber) The Fletcher was won again in 1992 (Winnie, Phil and Keith Mattacks and Andy , again, being involved). The Helliar has been captured three times, an impressive record for such a small club.

Throughout all this success Basil must have felt very proud. He was not without success himself. He was part of the victorious West Essex Champions team more than once. I played with Basil for a short while; we won the Tony Kelvin Trophy (I can’t quite remember the year), playing with Winnie Godber and Robin Cookson. Just looking at the results at Waltham Forest and Woodberry I see that in the last four months he won twice at both clubs. Not bad for someone in their eighties!

If there is one characteristic that I would choose regarding Basil it would be, as already mentioned, his kindness. He was always welcoming to whoever came to the club. I have written a fair bit about the history of the club so it is only fair to mention what some of the newest members have said. Eileen Bart on hearing of Basil’s death said simply, ‘such a nice man, he always encouraged me from the start’. Janet Spendlow, another new member, said of him that he never failed to offer advice, “always pleasantly so”. Adam is full of praise for his generosity and for the advice and kindness Basil offered him over the last few months. Esther Lack who played with Basil at Woodberry for 15 years was another who mentioned just what a good, and forgiving partner , he was. Peter Richardson, who has recently resurfaced at the club  after some years away, says that Basil's welcome of his return was as warm as he remembers when he first joined.

For me, all I can say is that since taking over the position of Secretary from Basil he was nothing but helpful, and understanding. I cannot hope to be anything like the success he was but at least I was lucky enough to have his support for a short period.

Basil, you will always be remembered, always missed. The club will not be the same now you have gone.

John Stimson, March 2010

Bridge Classes with Ann Catchpole

Janet Spendlow completed Ann's Bridge classes last year.This is what she has to say:

"I started Bridge classes in February last year at the Waltham Forest Bridge Club. The course was run by bridge teacher Ann Catchpole a very experienced bridge player. I found the course very easy to follow and it was presented excellently by Ann.

She was a very sympathetic and understanding teacher answering all our queries and constantly in attendance. I am now able to play bridge in the club along with experienced players

I enjoyed the course so much I would recommend it without hesitation".

The club is more than happy to welcome new players. In fact Ann's classes take place right next door to where the club holds it sessions.

If you are interested in joining ring Ann on 0208 521 8642

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