As those of you who receive Village Life and the Rothley Post will know, the Rothley Parish Council will be handing the keys to the Rothley Centre to new trustees from the village on 1 January.

The Centre has been abandoned for the past few months and there has been no access to it, so the new trustees don’t yet know what state it will be in and what assets will have been left there.  They are expecting to take over an empty shell but to have it up and running by mid-January. 

CBT's new term starts on 26 January and, although we very much hope to be back 'at home' in the Centre by then, our current venues have been booked into February to ensure that we aren't homeless if there's a delay in reopening.

The trustees are getting some grant assistance and the Club has committed £500 to help them buy equipment to get the Centre up and running.  Bradgate Bridge Club has made a similar £500 commitment. 

The trustees have also set up a small fund-raiser for locals and those with an interest in the centre to help with funding.  This fund-raiser is about to be more widely publicised, but the link to it is here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/rothley-community-centre  if any of our students want to support the project.

Year 3:Term 1 at Rothley library

You will all, no doubt, be aware of the issues surrounding the Rothley Centre, the normal home for our Year 3 classes, which has necessitated a move in the short term, to an alternative venue – Rothley Library.

For those not familiar with Rothley Library, it is situated next to the playing fields on Mountsorrel Lane, about 150m from the Rothley Centre on the opposite side of the road and is well signed. On-site parking is limited to 9 places (+ 1 disabled) and there is some on-road spaces outside. However, there is ample parking at Ivanhoe Tennis Club, about 100m away accessed down the side of the library and of course the Rothley Centre car park. For those who like to know these things the post code is LE7 7PS.

CBT  Spring Bridge Break 2026

“When shall we all meet again?

In thunder, lightning or in rain”.

Well, we can’t control the elements but what we do know is that it will be:

May 7^th 2026 at the Doubletree by Hilton

Stratford-upon-Avon

And we can confidently forecast that, whatever the weather, there will be a warm welcome, relaxed atmosphere and lots of no pressure bridge throughout the weekend.

For further details and to book your place visit

CBT Spring Bridge Break 2026

under "Bridge weekends away" on the contents bar on the lefthand side.

THE ROTHLEY CENTRE WILL BE CLOSED TO CBT STUDENTS UNTIL THE END OF 2025. SEE THE NOTES BELOW FOR THE IMPACT ON STUDENT GROUPS.

NB – THE CENTRE WILL REMAIN OPEN TO BRADGATE BRIDGE CLUB MEMBERS FOR THEIR MONDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSIONS, SO STUDENTS WHO PLAY IN THOSE SESSIONS CAN CONTINUE TO DO SO.

CBT SUMMER SESSIONS
 2, 16, 30 JUNE;14, 28 JULY; 11, 18 AUGUST

The Year 2/Year 3 combined duplicate sessions will now take place at Woodhouse Eaves Village Hall.  

Please note that the first session, on Monday 2 June, will be the CBT heat of the Mercury Students’ Trophy, being played by students throughout Leicestershire that week.  Every CBT student who attends on 2 June will be able to play, but the more experienced students who play at club level will be ineligible to win the Trophy.

The Year 1 supervised play sessions will take place at Hallam Fields Hall – those who were at the first session on May 19^th will agree that this is a pleasant modern venue which worked well.

2025-26 TERM 1

We have interest from a number of prospective students already, but are always looking for more, so if you have any friends you would like to introduce to bridge, please ask them to contact Richard – richard.rees227@gmail.com .

We will be holding two preliminary sessions for brand new students on 22 and 29 September.  The full term will start, for all three years, on MONDAY 6 OCTOBER.

Unless we can negotiate a return to the Rothley Centre, the Year 1 lessons will be at Hallam Fields Hall, Year 2 at Woodhouse Eaves Village Hall.  The venue for Year 3 is the Rothley Library.

2026 AND BEYOND

Charnwood Borough Council will have control of the Rothley Centre from 1 January 2026.  They have assured us that it will be run as a community centre open to all hirers, so we plan to return there in the future.  We maintain a close contact with CBC and have already reserved the appropriate slots for our sessions.

We hope you will bear with us and continue to support CBT during this disruption for the rest of 2025, which is not of our making.

Richard, Ruth, Gail, Stuart, Jim, Brian and Anne.