• 18 April, 12:00 pm – County Pairs Championship, Cheltenham Bridge Club (further information)
• 18 April, 1:00 pm – County 9-High Pairs Championship, Cheltenham Bridge Club (further information)
• 29–30 August – Cheltenham Bridge Congress, Dean Close School, Cheltenham

The AGM took place at the club on 11th April. The papers for the AGM remain available online here. The Officers - Sophie Jaques (Chair), Angela Gatliff (Treasurer) and Caroline Bristol (Secretary) - retired on rotation and the members thanked them all for the time they selflessly devoted to the smooth running of the club.

A new Management Committee was duly elected comprising Mary Wooley (Chair), Toby Roberts (Treasurer), Teresa Thomas (Secretary), Deborah Kahn (Marketing and Social Media) and Nicola Renshaw (Volunteeers Lead) serving alongside other valued committee members who were duly re-elected. An updated document showing all Trustees, Officers and Management Committee members will be available here in due course.

Our experts have answered another great question, this time about how to get to a slam contract after a Weak 3 opening. Don't forget you can ask your own question too.

The past few weeks have brought a wonderful series of achievements for Cheltenham players!

Most recently, 28th March, a team comprising four CBC members (Jonathan Bailey & Jaimie Mussi with Roger Eaton & Geoff Foster) took silver in the Newent Bowl, just 2 VPs behind 1st place in a field of 19 teams.

On 8th March, the Gloucestershire County Team won the first division of the Midlands Counties League, the Dawes Trophy, making it six wins in the last seven years. Gloucestershire teams secured second place in the Porter (second division) and Markham (third division).

Additionally, congratulations to all of the members who have received Masterpoint promotions in February:

The relaunch of Friday night bridge has been a great success. The café bar has been buzzing with people taking advantage of the wine and beer on sale, and mentoring partnerships discussing conventions and hints and tips.

So far we have had three Fridays which included mentoring partnerships alongside the regular pairs, and so far over 30 mentorship pairings have been set up. Those being mentored have appreciated it enormously. Many thanks are due to those offering to mentor, it is a really valuable service – but also great fun!

If you fancy acting as a mentor or being mentored in April, please fill in this form to show your availability.

There is a library of bridge books in the basement of the club. In addition to this, we have more than 200 bridge books which we no longer need. These can be found in the open cupboard in the Lansdown room (top floor, enter room and look to the right by the window). Members are encouraged to help themselves to as many of these books as they like. There is no limit per person. Any books remaining after 30^th April will be thrown out.

And if anyone has read a good bridge book recently and would like to recommend it to others, you are welcome to write a short review to include in the newsletter.

Here’s Steve’s MUST READ recommendation…

Good bidding should get you to the correct contract, but that’s no use unless you can play your cards right! Do yourself a favour – if you only ever read one bridge book, make it CARD PLAY TECHNIQUE (or The Art of being Lucky) by Victor Mollo. Do not be put off by the fact that it was first published in 1955. The bidding is archaic but there is no better book on card play ever written. If you are lucky, you may find a copy here.

Kate Maxwell writes: The Year 1 lessons come to an end on 25th - a slightly smaller cohort this year (30 over two weekly groups and one weekend group) but students have been no less enthusiastic than previous years. Indeed a number of the weekenders joined the weekly lessons. With ages ranging from early 30s to early 90s and with nearly every decade in between represented they prove that bridge truly is a game for everyone! We look forward to seeing their progress through social and supervised play and Year 2 lessons and then into full club sessions.  

The 2026/2027 year 1 lessons will begin in October (exact date still to be determined). If you know anyone who would enjoy learning and playing bridge, do encourage them to drop a line to teaching@cheltenhambridgeclub.com so that they can be alerted when the details of the new season’s lessons are published later in the summer.

Whether you are you new to Bridge or wish to refresh your game, Cheltenham Bridge Club offers a wide range of courses for beginners through to experienced players.

Please see our learning and development page  for more information and details of contacts who can help you choose the best path for you.

Do you ever play a hand, think you have done really well, and then when you see the results find you are in bottom place?  We know some of you like to study those hands at home, but still end up scratching your heads and wondering what you could have done differently. 

Help is now at hand with our "Ask the Experts" service.  Find it on the club's home page under the "Learn Bridge" menu item.  This will give you instructions on how to use the service.

Once you have sent in your query, an expert Bridge player will get back to you with some answers which will also be published in an Ask the Experts - Answers section (also on the club's home page under the "Learn Bridge" menu item)