Bring your Children to the bridge table event

Link for the AM session HERE and PM session HERE

An exciting initiative being organised by Nicola and Eileen to encourage younger generations to have a go at playing cards during the October 1/2 term week

Come along and have some fun. It's FREE and there are prizes to win.

When? - Wednesday 29th October 2025

Where? - Heightington Village Hall DY12 2XU

What? - Opportunity to experience playing cards both F2F and on-line 

Why? - it is FREE and FUN................with prizes

Time? - 10.00am - 12.30pm and/or 1.00pm to 3.00pm

please confirm your attendance to Eileen eileen@oakleydevelopment.co.uk 

07974 743575

Bring your Children to the bridge table event

Link for the AM session HERE and PM session HERE

An exciting initiative being organised by Nicola and Eileen to encourage younger generations to have a go at playing cards during the October 1/2 term week

Come along and have some fun. It's FREE and there are prizes to win. ..........

For the last two months I have been offering ACOL based coaching seminars suitable for Intermediate players. We have a group of 8, mainly my former students, meeting on Monday evenings 7:15 – 9pm approx. The format is still evolving but it is proving useful to review problem deals from the previous week for an hour or so, followed by practice supervised play and/or the opportunity to play them again.

I’ve been alternating these with a more formal presentation and we have covered such topics as Strong 2C openings (including when not to!), 4^th seat bidding and extending the use of the Losing Trick Count.

Further bidding topics may include, competitive bidding strategies, a defence to artificial 1C openings, how to escape from 1NTX, Cue bidding, Two suited overcalls (unusual NT and Michaels). I can obtain access to many practice hands on these topics made available by my full membership of the EBU teacher’s hub.

These sessions are delivered online on Realbridge and we can play the hands out just as we do in the club sessions with the “advantage”? of me looking over your shoulder. This enables us to expose defensive errors and signalling methods. Copies of Powerpoint presentations and hand commentaries are made available after the session.

An overarching theme of these seminars is to help you replace guesswork (AKA intuition) with reliable, accurate partnership bidding using a more nuanced understanding of modern ACOL.

All welcome to attend for lively discussion and a fun, informative take on this fascinating game.

Contact Richard rmgreenwood8@gmail.com for further details if you’re interested.

For the last two months I have been offering ACOL based coaching seminars suitable for Intermediate players. ..........

It would be really great to have a team for this event on Sunday - anybody interested? You get lunch as well :)

The Worcestershire and Herefordshire Inter Club Teams (Healey Cup) is being held on Sunday 9 November at Ombersley Memorial Hall starting at 11:00am and finishing at approximately 5:00pm.

The entry fee of £30 per team will be funded by Bewdley Bridge Club.

A buffet lunch costing £10 per head may be pre-ordered or you may bring your own food.  Coffee and tea will be available for all participants at the interval.

It is a friendly event for club players.  Top county players will not be participating.

Please let me know if you wish to represent Bewdley Bridge Club in this event and if so whether you require the buffet lunch.

Kindest Regards,

David Halford

It would be really great to have a team for this event on Sunday - anybody interested? You get lunch as well :)

The Worcestershire and Herefordshire Inter Club Teams (Healey Cup) is being held on Sunday 9 November at Ombersley Memorial Hall starting at 11:00am and finishing at approximately 5:00pm. ..........

Dear Member

I am contacting you to provide an update on activities provided by Bewdley Bridge Club and to invite you to renew your subscription for the six month period from October 2025 to March 2026.

The club will continue to provide a diverse programme of online bridge using the excellent RealBridge platform.  All three of our weekly duplicate sessions - Monday afternoon, Wednesday evening and Thursday evening - remain popular and provide the opportunity to play friendly but competitive bridge.  We have developed our programme so that it includes Simultaneous Pairs in partnership with E-Cats Bridge, Swiss Pairs and Swiss Teams.  The Club Handicap competition is a far more significant part of the club calendar, played over four quarterly Thursday evening heats throughout the year.  We continue to look for innovative opportunities to develop the club calendar for the enjoyment of members.

In addition, the club provides morning social and teams sessions which remain very popular and which have helped to develop new players to join our ranks.  Table numbers for these sessions continue to grow and these sessions have helped newer players become familiar with duplicate bridge.  Many thanks to Eileen, Sue, Candy and others who have helped to develop these sessions.

We will have periodic sessions of Face To Face Bridge at the lovely setting of Wharton Park Golf Club.  The next such session will be on Wednesday 1 October 2025.  The Club Christmas Party will be held on Wednesday 10 December 2025.  The sessions at Wharton Park are free of charge to club members.  RealBridge sessions will be provided on those Wednesday evenings when we are playing at Wharton Park for those members unable to attend Face To Face.

The club will be undertaking a trial of Tuesday afternoon Face To Face Bridge during November and December 2025.  Further details will be supplied in due course.  No charge will be levied upon those club members attending these sessions.

The club will be staging a taster session on Wednesday 29 October 2025 aimed at involving children and young people.  This is a very exciting initiative and is clearly extremely important as a means of securing long term sustainability for our game.  Many thanks to Eileen and Nicola for developing this project.

Club membership remains at a very satisfactory level - 117 members - with every prospect of further membership growth over the coming year.

Many thanks to Eileen for providing the most progressive teaching programme in Worcestershire.  New initiatives will continue to be developed with the aim of widening bridge participation.

The club will also encourage members to represent the club in external competitions including those run by Worcestershire CBA and is pleased to fund relevant competition fees for our participating players.

This all points to a thriving club.  Our table numbers have remained stable for Wednesday evenings and continue to grow for Thursday evenings.  Fun Bridge continues to grow and Monday afternoon duplicate provides a good setting for improvers to participate in a longer bridge session.  I wish to extend my thanks to all club members for their loyalty and support.

In particular, I wish to thank everyone who continues to assist with club management, not the least those members who have directed online bridge - a thankless task but always delivered professionally.  If any club member wishes to volunteer to join our panel of club directors they would be most welcome and be supported whilst they gain familiarity with the role.

I am immensely grateful for the support of a superb committee and would wish to thank Eileen, Ian, Sue, Alan, Jonathan and Candy for their hard work and encouragement.  I am delighted to report that Nicola Downes has been co-opted to the committee to assist with the club development programme and to liaise with the Worcestershire CBA.

Club finances are in excellent health and have been expertly stewarded by both our past Treasurer, Belinda Morgan and our newly elected Treasurer, Ian Darch.  In the context of the strong financial position, I am delighted to report that subscription rates can remain unchanged for the period from October 2025 to March 2026.  Club reserves are strong and remain available to support either unexpected capital expenditure or to support development of new initiatives such as the event aimed at introducing children and young people to bridge.  As with previous six month periods I am inviting you to make a single subscription payment which will cover all bridge to which you have subscribed.

You can choose to purchase a single or multiple weekly subscription for club duplicate sessions.  Also you can purchase single or multiple subscriptions for morning sessions.

The subscription rates for online bridge for the next six months are as follows:-

Duplicate Single Weekly Play £20

Duplicate Multiple Weekly Play £40

Morning Single Weekly Play £5

Morning Multiple Weekly Play £10

So the maximum subscription which would cover every online activity provided by the club would be £50 (which equates to approximately £2 per week).  Your Committee considers that this represents excellent value for money and a statement of our appreciation for the loyalty and support from club members.  I really hope that you will renew your subscription.

Please will you pay your subscription to Bewdley Bridge Club.  The account is a business account and its number is 10301671 with sort code 20-82-70.  Please when making a payment put your name as the transaction reference.

In summary, I wish to repeat my thanks to all club members for their support and I look forward to you renewing your subscription and continuing to participate in the progression of our club.

Kindest Regards,

David Halford

Dear Member

I am contacting you to provide an update on activities provided by Bewdley Bridge Club and to invite you to renew your subscription for the six month period from October 2025 to March 2026. ..........

Since being diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer in my liver four years ago, I have cycled over 4000 miles. In August 2021 I bought an electric Brompton for nipping about Cambridge. I regularly cycle to hospital for treatment, 7 ½ miles return, much quicker than by car. Its longest trip was to London by train, visiting Southwark and St Paul’s cathedrals and returning via residential streets in Islington, (where I got lost in drenching rain), North London parks were easier and St Albans (overnight) to Cambridge (75 miles in total).

I am fundraising for Maggie's as they are a fantastic charity, set up to support people and families living with cancer. They offer practical and emotional support for anyone with any type of cancer, at any stage, for free. They receive no government funds and rely on funds raised by their supporters.  In July 2023 I cycled a total of 162 miles to raise money for Maggies cancer care charity and this year I’m seeking sponsorship for my upcoming trip, planned for 14-18 July.

Here is a link to the full story of my cycling journey so far and the JustGiving website.  Any donation you can make to help me reach my target of £250 would be much appreciated.

Many thanks, Richard.

.. 

Since being diagnosed with metastatic bowel cancer in my liver four years ago, I have cycled over 4000 miles. In August 2021 I bought an electric Brompton for nipping about Cambridge. I regularly cycle to hospital for treatment, 7 ½ miles return, much quicker than by car. ..........

A reminder to club members that our duplicate sessions on Monday 7 July, Wednesday 9 July and Thursday 10 July will comprise Simultaneous Pairs events.  The event on Wednesday 9 July follows after the online Annual General Meeting of the club.  The sessions will be held on RealBridge and just follow the usual links to play.  SIMS are sessions where identical boards are played at all the bridge clubs that have entered the event - usually at least 20 clubs nationally and internationally.  They therefore represent a great opportunity to play competitive bridge in the relaxed setting for which Bewdley is renowned.  The SIMS are managed by E-Cats Bridge, with whom the club has an established long term relationship.

The SIMS sessions are charitable and look to raise funds for very worthwhile causes.  Funds raised from this programme of SIMS will be donated to Kidney Research UK and The British Heart Foundation.  E-Cats suggest a donation of £3 per player per session but clearly the amount paid is entirely at the discretion of players.

Full details of how to make charitable donations appear on the E-Cats Bridge website.  Please do not make payments directly to either E-Cats Bridge or Bewdley Bridge Club.

I would encourage every member to participate in these sessions which represent one of the highlights of the club year.  These are not elite competitions - far rather they are aimed at maximising participation by club bridge players and maximising funds for good causes.  You are welcome to play in as many of the SIMS sessions as you would like, regardless of the club subscription which you hold and regardless of the sessions in which you usually play.

I wish everyone playing in the SIMS the very best of luck and look forward to seeing some excellent scores by Bewdley players.

Kindest Regards,

David Halford

A reminder to club members that our duplicate sessions on Monday 7 July, Wednesday 9 July and Thursday 10 July will comprise Simultaneous Pairs events.  The event on Wednesday 9 July follows after the online Annual General Meeting of the club.  The sessions will be held on RealBridge and just follow the usual links to play. ..........