Our last face-to-face afternoon session at Costessey will be on Thursday 5 June as we are moving to a new venue at the Harford Community Centre for a one month trial.

This decision has been reluctantly forced upon us by the need to reduce costs as we lost over £900 last financial year due to low table numbers which have never recovered after Covid.

The new venue has offered us an initial free period and, if we decide to continue, can accommodate us at a lower cost yet to be negotiated than the Costessey Centre. The trial month at Harford begins on Thursday 12 June.

We appreciate that this is a big change but would strongly encourage you to give it a go. The location may well be more convenient and accessible for members living in the city. And we would be able to break even on costs with fewer tables, though we still need enough players to provide an enjoyable afternoon’s bridge if we are to continue. Fewer than three tables are certainly not acceptable due to long sit-outs and the results cannot be registered with the EBU.

The new address is : Harford Community Centre, 10 The Lastings, Hall Road, Norwich NR4 6ET.

Free parking for four hours is available at the Asda supermarket: Hall Road, Norwich NR4 6DP. Access from the car park involves either around 24 steps or a long gentle slope. (If you may have to stay longer than four hours you give your name and registration number to security at the front of Asda or, failing that, to customer services).

For disabled drivers there is a layby in front of the Community Centre site for four blue badge holders, badge to be displayed.

Your committee will also look into holding occasional all day F2F events – both social such as summer strawberries and cream and more serious blue-pointed throughout the year.

Fifteen out of 28 pairs successfully achieved sought-after blue points at ABC's latest All Day event which was won by Steve Dannell and Paul Darby with John Dennis and Mark Hill hard on their heels as runners-up. Congratulations to both pairs who achieved 61% and 60.72% respectively.

It was a pleasure to see the Stafford Hall with all those tables laid out ready to go in our biggest turnout since Covid. Congratulations also to the organising team - our Competitions Secretary Barbara Baker, who worked her socks off to encourage half the county to play, Val Bobbins who organised the excellent Ploughmen's Lunches, Mike Sabberton who had to take over at short notice setting up and running a complicated movement and scoring and Peter Cotes for directing. A huge thank you to them all.

Sarah Chamberlin said she had greatly enjoyed the day - and it made the case for face-to-face events. "It was so good to see people there I hadn't seen for a considerable time," she said. "And I thought the food was really good and so well presented."

You will be pleased to hear that the hard work organising the event hasn't put Barbara off. "I'm looking forward to doing it all again in 2025," she said.

Congratulations to Bogdan Drobny and Paul Darby who won the Wendy Gee Charity Pairs in aid of Myeloma UK and took home the coveted rosebowl presented to the club by Wendy's husband Ron. Photo L-R ABC Chair Jane Scarfe, Bogdan and Paul.

There were six and a half tables - plus generous gifts from members unavailable to play - bringing the total donation to Myeloma UK to just over £150. All monies are going to the charity without deductions. Players included several welcome guests to the club and we look forward to seeing them again on future Thursday afternoons.

Thank you to everyone who supported the event in aid of a form of lesser known blood cancer. The charity was suggested by Jan Wells whose husband Alan is being treated for Myeloma.

The hunt is on for a gourmet thief who not only stole food from the Stafford Hall fridge last Thursday afternoon during the Wendy Gee charity bridge match but picked upon a delectable treat which Val Bobbins had stashed away to enjoy later.

It was one of Sainsbury's scrumptious millefeuille pastries which she almost tearfully described in mouthwatering detail. "There are layers of puff pastry and custard with icing sugar on top," she said. "I can't even go and buy another one as it was the last one there. I was looking forward to enjoying it when I got home."

The heinous crime took place between 1.30 and 4.30pm on Thursday 15 August. The pastry had disappeared leaving only the empty carton behind. Scotland Yard has been alerted and CCTV is being scrutinised. If you spotted anyone with custard round their mouth or a satisfied smirk on their face please notify the club immediately.

They tried to cancel our Election Day bridge because the Costessey Centre Stafford Hall was needed as a polling station. No chance!

Martin and Jan Pooley galloped to the rescue and volunteered to host us at their beautiful home in Eaton. A big thank you from ABC for their hospitality. As you can see, it's smiling faces all round.

But let us just hope that everyone still remembered to vote!

It can all feel rather daunting.

Some of us, for whatever reason, didn't take to playing bridge online. With lockdown and shielding that might mean you haven't picked up a card for two years. 

We understand. And we hope we've come up with a solution to ease you back gently into the game we love. The ABC committee has members on standby to partner you and help you get your confidence back up again. It's like riding a bike. Give it a try and it will all come back to you - and we promise not to get impatient if it's a slow process!

Just go to the bottom right Find a Partner item on this page and say you need a Back to Bridge partner.