The club began in 1974. David Foster, 16, with two friends, Jeremy Ilic and Bob Ginger, all at Borlase school, were keen to play bridge. David asked Bert Adcock to be their fourth. About the same time, Bert’s wife, Joyce, was having bridge lessons with Keith and Merle Jarrett. After a while, David decided to start a club. He hired a small room at the Community Centre and invited other pupils at his school to join him. Bert invited Joyce and others in her class. These included Colin and Dorothy Shergold, Sybil Gray and Roy Kane. Colin became the first Chairman and David was initially the first Secretary and Treasurer. Some time later Dorothy became Secretary and when David went to University in 1977, Sybil became Treasurer. Delia Ridgely was an early committee member and was very popular as she provided many puddings for our Christmas parties. Unfortunately, she died in a road accident while riding her bicycle, hence the annual teams competition being named after her. Roy Kane was a stalwart of the club. He was the driving force behind the introduction of our two annual open competitions – the Foster Cup and the Swiss Teams, named in his honour. At the time there were very few weekend events and they attracted large attendances, 30 to 40 tables. John Williams directed these events in the early days. Early members were John Tucker and Phil Clark, both teachers at Desborough school. They introduced some of their pupils to the club. Other early members were George and Judy Dean, Pete Wells, John Brant and Eddie Holmes. Eventually, the club outgrew the rooms available at the Community Centre. It moved to Abbotsbrook Hall around 1977. |