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On 22nd October, we welcome M Alain Gillier, Hon President of the Bridge Club Romorantin in the Loire Valley: he will be visiting with Steve and Marie, who made the inital contact with us, seeking a Bridge "Exchange" partnership.
M Gillier, Steve and Marie will stay from Monday till Thursday 25th, during which time they will play three sessions of Bridge, and on Wed 24th, we will have a formal signing of accords between the two clubs at Claines RBL.
The intention thereafter is to arrange visits of a few days, where travellers (from Romorantin or from Worcester) will be hosted in families and play some Bridge, as well as sampling some local fare and doing a little tourism!
On TUESDAY 23rd OCTOBER, we plan to have a meal at The Olive Branch, Worcester (8pm) with our visitors - all members, especially those interested in taking part in an exchange trip, are welcome to attend. For the locals, the format will be "go Dutch". If you would like to join the party, contact John Dowbiggin (jdowbiggin@talktalk.net) to reserve a seat, by Friday 19th October at the latest.
A VIDEO message from M Gillier can be viewed below:
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| WBC in Romorantin, France! |
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1st WBC visit to Romorantin: PRESS!
See HERE for coverage of our visit (with the predictable "bridge" pun) in "Nouvelle République"
-we're back!
-we played three sessions of Bridge (French-style) so far (Tue evening, Thur afternoon and Fri afternoon)
-we visited Chenonceau in the rain, and had a "visite des caves" to Vouvray on Wed
-visite guidée de Romorantin on Thursday am - the sun returned!
-we ate "cuisine chinoise" on Friday evening
See pics above...
Pics from the October 2018 event can be found here; a VIDEO greeting from M Gillier can be viewed here.
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| Christmas SIM pairs with Romorantin 2019 |
Thanks to the efforts of Steve Garry in France, we played a devilish set of simultaneous hands, both at Hallow on 17th Dec and in Romorantin on 19th Dec. Then after a pause whilst Mike deciphered the French score-sheets and processed them, we came to a combined result, from 19 tables! The French top two pairs (with 63.96% and 63.90%) took the first two places, with Mike and Ian in Worcester just behind in 3rd place on 63.04%. Results can be seen on our results pages. The general consensus was that it was a fun thing to do, but too many slams!!!
After the French event, they had a toast to THEIR 35th Birthday, combined with OUR 30th Birthday, even managing to use elements of our cake to enhance their cake!
And we finally got a spot in English Bridge this month - see p58 - pic doesn't match the caption; to see that photo, click here to EBU Club Focus.
https://www.ebu.co.uk/newsletters/?id=47&page=14
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| The French in Worcester! |
The first full visit of our French Exchange partners from Romorantin was a great success; there were three full Bridge sessions (Monday at WCBA night, Tuesday at Hallow and Wednesday at Claines RBL), with excellent results for the visitors, as well as plenty of good food, bubbly and cakes! The President also played at Bromsgrove BC on Tue evening, with Steve Garry, the originator of the Exchange link, and with Mike at the Barnt Green Cafe Bridge event!
On the extra-curricular side, we had various meals at Janette/Peter/Mike's houses, as well as traditional pub fare at The King's Arms in Ombersley and afternoon tea and scones at Brockencote Manor, after an excellent guided tour of Harvington Hall. Photos above of all these activities!
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