1973 Acacia Bridge club was founded by Mrs Pat Adams, who had long wished to start her own bridge club. The club was initially run out of a hall in Acacia Grove, New Maldon, from where the club sourced the name that it retains to this day.
1976 Mrs Adams indicated early in the year that she wished to relinquish day-to-day management of the club. At the first Annual General Meeting in May a committee was nominated by the members and duly elected.
In August, Mrs Adams became very ill and died.
The club decided to inaugurate an annual Club Pairs Championship with the winners to be presented with a trophy: “The Pat Adams Cup”.
1977 The club was running five tables per week.
It was decided that the Club Pairs champion would be decided by a monthly competition running on the second Wednesday of each month between September and April, with each competing pairs’ four best scores to count towards the final result.
The first winners of the Club Pairs championship were Mr & Mrs Perry.
Don Butt was elected to the committee.
1978 The hall could only comfortably hold nine tables and the club membership reached thirty six so a waiting list was started.
A second trophy was purchased, the “Victor Ludorum”, to be awarded to the person that earned the largest number of Master Points in one year.
At the AGM, Dip Dasgupta proposed that smoking should no longer be permitted at the club. The proposal was not carried.
The first Christmas party was held.
1979 The club’s membership remained healthy although some people moved away so two people from the waiting list were invited to join.
Benign finances enabled the club to purchase a full set of new boards.
The AGM agreed to award the winning pair a prize of 20p each (i.e. free entry the following week).
1980 The hall was vandalised.
New cards were purchased.
Provision of refreshments during the evening ceased.
The first winner of the Victor Ludorum was Barbara Keppler. Due to irregular attendance it was decided that the Victor Ludorum would become an Individual cup.
Table money for members and visitors increased to 25p and 35p respectively.
1981 Barbara Keppler, the club’s Treasurer since the committee was first established, stood down as she was moving away. Mrs Rene Willis was elected as the new Treasurer.
Membership numbers declined and the waiting list was cleared.
1982 Membership was still below complement.
Club finances were very poor with almost nothing in the bank.
The Annual membership fee was raised to £2 per year.
Table money for members increased to 30p.
The prize of 20p each to each week’s winning pair was abolished.
1983 Although the club was averaging six tables per week, more members were still needed.
The annual subscription was raised to £3, second raise in two years.
Table money for visitors increased to 40p.
Dip Dasgupta was elected to the committee.
1984 The EBU introduced individual membership rather than through one’s club.
Don Butt won the Individual championship, the Victor Ludorum, for the third time in four years.
1985 Membership numbers down and attendances erratic so table money for members and visitors increased to 40p and 50p respectively.
1986 Rene Willis moved away so Alan Leaf took over the role of Treasurer.
Dip Dasgupta presented the club with a third trophy subsequently known as “the Dip Cup” to be presented to “Selected Pairs”.
1987 Dip Dasgupta and Ethel Thorp were the first winners of the “Dip Cup”.
Dip and Judy finished second in the Mary Edwards Trophy, Surrey’s competition for Club Pairs champions.
Rumours that Acacia Hall was to shut either permanently or for long term renovations were first mooted.
1988 Membership numbers were static.
The question of smoking at the club was again raised at the AGM; it was agreed to continue to permit smoking with no restrictions,
Dip stepped down from the committee.
The club were compelled to leave their hall in Acacia Grove.
1989 The club moved premises to Cuddington Church Hall, The Avenue, Worcester Park.
Increased hall hire costs and falling membership necessitated the annual membership fee to be increased to £5, the first increase in six years; members’ table money increased to 50p.
The “Dip Cup” was not awarded this year.
Bob and Peggy Field, who had been, respectively, Chairman and Secretary since the club’s committee was first established, relinquished their roles as they moved out of the area.
Long serving committee member Don Butt was elected as the new Chairman.
Pauline Perry was elected as the new Secretary.
1990 Alan Leaf resigned as Treasurer and was replaced by Mrs Pickering.
The “Dip Cup” was reinstated.
Dip Dasgupta became the first person in the history of the club to win all three available cups in the same year.
The club premises were shut for six weeks while repairs were carried out to the church organ. The club relocated to the Conservative Hall in Acacia Grove, New Maldon for the duration of the closure.
1991 It was agreed that there should be a minimum of four tables in play on a Club Pairs evening in order for the result to count towards the Club Pairs championship.
Rumours circulated that the church hall was to be shut either permanently or for an extended period for rebuilding purposes.
1992 The EBU discontinued group insurance so the club was compelled to take out its own Public Liability Insurance for the first time.
Mrs Pickering resigned as Treasurer and Andy Rajpold temporarily filled the role.
The Annual membership fee was raised to £6.
1993 Despite having a membership of thirty six, the club were averaging only five tables each week.
Table money for visitors was raised to 75p.
The issue of smoking was again discussed at the AGM and it was agreed that no smoking was to be allowed between 2030 & 2100, and after 2200.
1994 It was confirmed that Cuddington Church Hall was to be demolished.
It was decided to trial Teams events.
A decision was taken to ban smoking during the evening at the table, but a ten minute break at 2100 was introduced to enable those who wished to smoke to have time to do so away from the table.
1995 The club moved to Ewell Court, Ewell, initially on a temporary basis while demolition and rebuilding work took place at Cuddington, but a vote of the membership at the AGM agreed to make the move permanent.
Membership numbers decreased slightly.
The Annual membership fee was increased to £8.
Table money for members and visitors was increased to 80p and £1.20 respectively.
The “Individual Cup” was not awarded but instead was presented to the inaugural winners of the club’s “Teams of Four” competition.
Eileen Butt became only the second club member to win all three available club trophies in one year.
1996 The move to the new location proved popular: significant numbers of new members were seen now the club was based in Ewell; it was necessary to start a waiting list.
Despite the growth in numbers, the increased cost of hall hire necessitated an increase in table money for members and visitors, for the second consecutive year, to £1 and £1.50 respectively.
The “Teams of Four” cup was not awarded.
Pauline Perry decided to step down from the role of Secretary and Mrs J. Death was elected as her replacement, assisted by David Betts.
1998 Hall rental rose by 25% with a further increase anticipated. However, the healthy state of club finances meant no increase in fees was necessary.
Membership numbers again rose with an average turn out of six and a half tables.
A debate was held on whether to continue running Simultaneous Pairs competitions and a vote at the AGM was in favour 20 - 8.
It was suggested that the club should invest in bidding boxes, but this was decided against on cost grounds.
Andy Rajpold decided to step down as Treasurer and was replaced by David Betts.
The “Unusual Pairs” trophy was not awarded.
1999 The club’s bank balance was adversely impacted by an inadvertent double payment of the annual booking fee for the hall.
The club was running five tables per week.
A decision was taken to increase table money for members and visitors to, respectively, £1.50 and £2 per week. These significant increases were offset by a decision to reduce the Annual Membership fee from £8 per year to £6.
Due to the increasing number of Simultaneous events being played at the club, it was decided to cease subsidising these events, and members would be expected to pay the full fee.
2000 Ownership of Ewell Court passed from Epsom & Ewell Borough Council to Crown Hotels, a private concern.
The club had 37 members.
The maximum turnout in the year, including visitors, was nine tables.
Twenty four new packs of cards were purchased.
After a vote at the AGM it was decided, for a six month trial, to penalise both pairs at the table for incorrect traveller completion.
2001 Club Secretary Mrs J. Death passed away and was replaced by Geoff Clements.
The club had thirty five members. Advertising for new members in local libraries commenced and attracted a few new members.
Club finances were healthy.
It was decided to continue to penalise both pairs at a table when a traveller was incorrectly completed.
The club again debated whether to purchase bidding boxes but decided against the idea.
Only the Club Pairs trophy was awarded this year.
2002 Don Butt decided to step down as Chairman after thirteen years in the role, and twenty five years on the club’s committee. He was replaced by Dip Dasgupta.
The number of club members fell to thirty one, but there were an average of five and a half tables in play each week (with seven tables seen on eight occasions), indicating a very high proportion of club members attend every week.
Penalising of mistakes on travellers continued, but the number of such instances had fallen dramatically.
The club purchased bidding boxes.
2003 The club had twenty five members and averaged five tables per session.
It was decided to discontinue the half time break.
2004 Club numbers increased to over forty and an average of seven tables per week were in play (with ten tables being played on one occasion), the highest number for some years, if not ever.
David Betts decided to stand down as Treasurer and was replaced by Peter Rogers.
A new committee role of Membership Secretary was created and Brian Carlisle was elected to be the first holder of this office.
David Betts was presented with a “Life Membership” plaque.
It was decided that Master Points would be issued electronically.
The winners of the Club Pairs competition were presented with engraved commemorative plaques.
2005 The club had fifty members, and averaged seven and a half tables per week.
It was decided to trial Teams events, in various formats, through the year.
Dip Dasgupta indicated this would be his last year as Chairman.
2006 Dip Dasgupta stood down as Chairman and was replaced by Club Secretary Geoff Clements.
Andrew Jenkins replaced Geoff as Club Secretary.
The club had over fifty members and an average turn out of seven and a half tables each week.
The club entered a team in the National InterClub Knock-out event (NICKO) for the first time.
It was decided to continue running Teams events using the “Aggregate IMPs” format.
Pauline Perry and Joan Ridgeway were presented with “Life Membership” plaques.
2007 Day to day management of Ewell Court passed back to Epsom & Ewell Borough council. Room hire fees increased by 27% almost immediately.
A committee meeting was held for the first time.
Brian Carlisle stood down as Membership Secretary and was replaced by Wendy Jordan.
The club had 37 members with an average weekly turn out of 6.5 tables.
Fees were increased: annual membership up £2 to £8, member’s table money up 50p to £2, visitor’s table money up £1 to £3 - the first increases since 1999.
It was decided to instate a “host” system on a trial basis.
Two club members passed away during the year: Pauline Perry and Martha Fleischer.
The club held a Swiss-style Teams championship with a new trophy for the winning team.
The “Victor Ludorum” trophy was recovered from Mrs Perry’s estate and awarded for the year’s best individual performance to Andrew Jenkins
Don Butt was presented with a “Life Membership” plaque.
2008 A total of three committee meetings were held throughout the year.
Peter Rogers stood down as Treasurer and was replaced by Brian Carlisle. No other committee member was chosen to replace Brian.
Hall rent remained static so there was no increase in club fees.
Club membership was 54 at the AGM with an average weekly turnout of 7.5 tables.
There was a record turnout of 10.5 tables in April.
The “host” system was formally instated.
Don Butt won the “Victor Ludorum”, playing with Richard Rothwell won the Club Pairs, and Don & Richard playing with Geoff Clements & Wendy Johnson won the Club Teams championship.
An “Individual” event was played for the first time and was won by Shirley Feinmesser.
2009 One committee meeting was held throughout the year. It was decided to instate a formal club Constitution, a decision that was ratified at the AGM.
Hall rent for the original room increased by 13%, but increased club income meant that, even with the hire of the back room, there was no need to increase club fees.
The Club Pairs Championship was won by Jacky & Adrian Boulding.
The Club Teams Championship was won by Jacky & Adrian Boulding playing with Tracey Tibos & David Sims.
David Sims won the Victor Ludorum for the year’s most consistent individual performance.
Two club members passed away during the year: Charles Jordan and John Beresford.
Belmont Bridge club closed in late February 2009. 18 former Belmont members attended Acacia at least once between March and May, of whom 12 attended regularly.
The average weekly turnout for the entire year was 9.24 tables. However, in the first six months of the year the average turnout was 8.5 tables; in the second half of the year the average turnout was 10 tables. In the last two months of the year the average weekly turnout was 12.13 tables. In April a record turnout of 15 tables was seen. By contrast, in a week of very heavy snowfall in February, only 3.5 tables turned up.
Club membership increased from 54 people to 67 people – 23 new members joined, but 10 did not renew for various reasons. Given the highly unusual circumstances described above, in early March 2009 the committee took the decision to not allow anybody else to join Acacia until at least the AGM, to give time for matters to settle down.
Again given all of the above, the committee also decided to hire the smaller back room at Ewell Court, initially on a short-term basis.
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2021 We are playing at Bourne Hall, Ewell but Covid had stopped us being able to play for the early part of the year. Understandably we were not getting as many tables each week with the threat of Covid still about and even though we were all vaccinated the threat was still there. Our finances had taken a hit due to covid and we hoped attendance would pick up and restore them, sadly it was not to be quite that simple but we managed to keep going.
2022 All started well and we were getting by but there was talk of the fees at Bourne Hall going up which would have made things harder for us and they doubled the parking charges which put a few people off coming. We decided we should start looking for a new venue and one of the members knew of a Local retirement home which had just been built and after investigation it seemed ideal. The home thought it helped their profile to have a Bridge Club there every week their residents could use, so they let us use it free of any charges! We played there quite well for a couple of months but none of the residents joined in and some started complaining that as we drove away we interrupted their sleep so the management decided to stop us playing there
.2023 We played for a short while at a tennis club while we looked for a more permanent place and after looking at many halls in the Ewell and Stoneleigh areas a member suggested Banstead Community Centre. When we came to look it was perfect! We have been there ever since, their charges are more reasonable and we are finding old members who had drifted away at Bourne Hall started coming back and we also have had a few new members join.
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