Welcome to Cheltenham Bridge Club Registered Charity 1188825

♣ ♦ ♥ ♠  RealBridge on Thursday evenings 7pm start - everyone welcome, a standby is available, and there are no robots ♥ Please note that anything on this website in blue coloured text can be clicked to find out more information. ♥ Official club notices are posted on the Club Noticeboard. ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ 

Welcome to Cheltenham Bridge Club Registered Charity 1188825

♣ ♦ ♥ ♠  RealBridge on Thursday evenings 7pm start - everyone welcome, a standby is available, and there are no robots ♥ Please note that anything on this website in blue coloured text can be clicked to find out more information. ♥ Official club notices are posted on the Club Noticeboard. ♣ ♦ ♥ ♠ 

Click here to access the Bridge Base Online website    

Members will be saddened to learn that David passed away on Sunday. The thoughts of everyone at the club are with his friends and family.

Members will be saddened to learn of the recent death of Ernie Glanville, a distinguished member of the club. The thoughts of all at Cheltenham Bridge Club are with his friends and family.

Thank you to our members for a successful event with 42 pairs on BBO and 13 pairs on RealBridge.

Members will be saddened to learn of the death of Sybil Davies.

Members will be sad to learn that Tony died recently. Our thoughts go to his family and friends.

Over the Easter weekend all online bridge is running as usual. In addition, GCBA is running an Easter Handicap Pairs on Monday evening at 6pm - to enter email: easter21@gcba.org.uk

CBC will run a club heat for the 2021 Garden Cities event on RealBridge. Entries by Monday 22nd March. All club members are welcome to join. Click for more information.

Should you wish to make a donation in Sybil's memory, send a cheque to the Funeral Director, or online here for Cleeve Common Trust and here for Cancer Research UK.

Make a donation...

Teams Results

(full results here)

Thank you to all for your support in a difficult 2020. Subscription renewal is now overdue for online play in 2021. The payment details can be found on the Club Noticeboard (above). Please make belated payments as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Thank you to everyone who took part in our SIMS event on 10 November. We raised a magnificent £611.

The EBU run online games every day on Bridge Base Online.

There are five 12-board games on BBO every day, all of which give master points and are processed for the NGS. The "Fast Game at High Noon" is played at 5 minutes a board for those who like to play faster than our usual games (NB this will start at 12.45pm during the week commencing 27th April).

The remaining games are played at a gentler 7 minutes a board and start at 2pm, 3:30pm, 7:30pm and 9pm - they will cost $1.50 per player.

There is more information on the EBU website (click here).

BBO offers an ideal place for you to meet up with three other players, play bridge and chat. To set up a table after you login, choose the option for "Casual"  and then "Start a Table" and this gives you an options box at the bottom of which is the important ability for you to reserve the seats at this new table. Fill in each of the relevant seats with the names of your friends (BBO names) before you create the table, and they will be invited to join you as soon as they log in. After that you are in business. If you need any more help, consult one of the BUDDIES listed above. After you start you can use the chat facility BBO offers, or set up a video conference to run alongside using Zoom or Google Hangouts.

In conjunction with RealBridge, CBC is running two free 4 board sessions:
Wed 2nd June 4pm, Andrew Robson on Weak Twos.
Wed 9th June 4pm, David Bird on Declarer Play.
Please click here for more details.

Members of CBC who knew John Whittenbury and were going to attend his wake on Monday 14th September 2020 at Stroud Cricket Club (by the Ryford Industrial Estate on the Ebley bypass), please note this has been CANCELLED due to new governament guide lines. This follows Church and crematorium services held in private (following Government Guidelines) in the morning.

Cheltenham Bridge Club has won the Garden Cities Final. Well done to our team:

Val Constable & Judy Sanis
Richard Chamberlain & Patrick Shields
Paul Denning & Allan Sanis
Tony Letts & Ben Ritacca

Congratulations to Doug Quine & Andrew Shields on winning the Ceri Rees Trophy.

Thank you to all members who supported the Golden Ticket Draw and Bridgeathon and to all the organisers who assisted in the smooth running of our fundraisers.
The Golden Ticket draw, won by Becky Graveney, raised £480. We hope Becky enjoys her free play at the Club over the next year.
Peter Swales won the Bridgeathon quiz scoring 16 out of 20 and will receive a free membership to the Club for 2019. The quiz raised a further £50.
After VAT and Pay to Play costs the Bridgeathon raised £640. All of the funds raised will be used in the refurbishment of the café area.

A great turnout of 26 tables for this National SIMS event held on BBO on Wednesday 13th January.

National Results

Expert Commentary

There will be many bridge players in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and the rest of the country who will be saddened to know that Derek Rue died on July 10^th, just after his 84^th birthday.  His regular presence in the Cheltenham Bridge Club will be missed by his many partners and his friends.

Derek was born in Northern Ireland before the second world war and he went to school in Worcester.  He was only nineteen when he took the civil service exam and moved to Cheltenham.

Derek joined the GCHQ as an executive officer in 1953.  During a long and very successful career he held a number of increasingly challenging operational and administrative posts. His final appointment was as Head of the Security Division responsible to the Director GCHQ for all security matters within and across the department.  He retired in 1994 as a member of the Senior Civil Service.

Derek was an important figure in the history of the Cheltenham Bridge Club and Gloucestershire County Bridge Association.  In 1966 he was one of the founder members of the Cheltenham B.C. with the foresight to purchase the lovely building in Tivoli Road. The conversion into a splendid playing space has given one of the top bridge clubs in the country a permanent home that is shared with the county association.  In the decades since, he was a regular member of the committees of the Bridge Club and the County Association, fulfilling a number of roles in each. In 2010 he received a Dimmie Fleming Award for services to bridge.

Derek first came to prominence as a top county player in the 1960s and was a regular winner at county and national level in the decades since, right through until this year. He helped Gloucestershire win the Tollemache Cup in 2007. Derek represented England’s Senior Team in the European Championships and the World Olympiad in 2004, and he was also a silver medallist in the 2001 European Bridge Pairs Championship.  He wore his England blazer with pride.

Derek also found time to enjoy sport.  He was a life member of Worcestershire County Cricket Association and watched them regularly. Some of us will also know how much he enjoyed a social round of golf.

Most importantly Derek was a very good friend to so many of us.  His excellent conversation, his knowledge of world affairs, his wit and his kindness will be a loss to us all.

Please reply to judithsanis@gmail.com

Congratulations to Lindsay Stewart & Geoff Foster on winning the Norah Allen Trophy.

Cheltenham Bridge Club is managing the risks of COVID-19 by following the advice issued by Public Health England (PHE). Please adhere to that advice which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

1. If you feel unwell with a cough, high temperature or shortness of breath (even if your symptoms are mild), please do not visit the bridge club.

2. If you've recently travelled to any of the most affected countries in the last 14 days, had close contact with or helped care for anyone suspected or diagnosed as having COVID 19, please self-isolate, and do not visit the club until you have the all-clear. 

3. Catch coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues. Throw away used tissues then wash your hands. If you don't have a tissue, use your sleeve.

4. Please refrain from shaking hands and hugging and kissing when you greet people.  Do not touch your eyes, nose or mouth if your hands are not clean.

5. Regularly wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, before, during and after your visit to the club, and especially before consuming food. Use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available.          

Whilst attending the Bridge Club:

• The club has purchased three covered pedal bins which are for paper tissues and used wipes. Please use these to dispose of these wastes and not the open bin.
  
• There is no evidence that handling notes and coins transmits Covid-19 so any risk is likely to be low. Cashiers will find a box of disposable gloves in the two offices to wear if they wish when collecting cash. Please dispose of them in the covered bins only. Please can all members paying by card handle their own card and not pass it to the cashier.
• There are packs of wipes on all three floors in the playing rooms for whoever is playing North to use to wipe the bridgemate. Please dispose of these in the covered bins.
• If you need to sneeze or cough during the session please do not use the cards to shield your mouth. If you use a tissue please discard it in the closed bin. If you cannot do that please cough or sneeze into your elbow.

More detailed guidelines issued by Cheltenham Bridge Club can be found by (clicking here).

The Cheltenham Bridge VE Congress 2020 will be held from Friday 8th May to Sunday 10th May at The Chase Hotel, Brockworth. Please see the brochure. Entry forms here

Thank you to all for participating in the survey. The results will be analysed to improve our programme next year, Click here to see the results.

This years Derek Rue Rubber Bridge Competition is special as it will remind us of Derek who gave so much to our club.  Please sign up on the CBC noticeboard or email Judy - judithsanis@gmail.com - to join the competition.
We will decide how to organise it when we know the size of the entry.  We do know that it will be sociable and fun so find a partner and join us.  You do not need to be an expert rubber bridge player to enter.  Judy will give you a quick lesson if you wish; just ask her.

Children In Need at Cheltenham Bridge Club

Cheltenham Bridge Club is holding a Simultaneous Pairs, in aid of Children in Need, on Wednesday Evening 11th November at 19.30.  This will be on BBO and is organised by Ecats. Clubs from all over the country will join in so you will be able to see your local and national result.  And, most importantly, we can do our bit for Children Need.  Hand commentaries will be online after the event.  Our director will be Sarah Amos from the EBU.

We will not be charging an entry fee on BBO but will collect all the money by asking you to send it directly to the club account. We ask you to pay a total of £7.00 for each player.  This is £3.50 for the table money and £3.50 for the Children in Need supplement.

Payments and Donations

All payments should be made to the Club main account, Cheltenham Bridge Club,

• Sort code 40-17-53
• Account no 01572253,
• Reference CiN

NOTE: Some members paid for an Autumn EBU Sims event on 6 October, which was aborted.  If you did there is no need for you to pay the table money for this Sims event. You will need to pay for the Sims element in full (£3.50 on this occasion) or top up your Sims payment by a further £1.75 if you paid the supplement for the aborted Sims game.

We hope as many of our members as possible will join us on this occasion and make it a record entry for our contribution to Children in Need.

Money Raised Nationally

Click on  https://www.ecatsbridge.com/sims/default.asp  to see the national running total so far, and details of individual club allocation. If you wish to make an additional donation, that would be wonderful - please click here: How to make a donation

National Results and Expert Commentaries

https://www.ecatsbridge.com/sims/results.asp?eventid=003633

Congratulations Ashok, David, Anne and Roger, winners of Mixed Teams.

Congratualtions Jane Allison and Robert Macrae, winners of Rolf Garside Trophy.

Other winners were

Congratulations to St.Albans Bridge Club for their victory.
Click here for match results

Full national results and a download of the commentary on the hands are available here:

Congratulations to club memebers Cherie Lusher and Jane Rowley on winning the ladies pairs at the recent congress..
 

Please use this list to find members' usernames. THIS LIST IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY - it is not an entry form for any competition, and you only need to add your name once. The list is created by members themselves using the form below. Only answer for the websites that you use and leave others blank. If you need to update or amend anything, just fill in the form again, and your older entry will be removed in time. If you wish to remove your details completely, please contact Steve at stevebetteley.cbc@gmail.com.

Tip: To find someone quickly, click on the 'Surname' header to re-sort the list alphabetically!

Thank you to Ro for her wonderful service to the club as Chairman for the past 3 years, and welcome to new Chairman Hugh Wilkinson seen here with Ro at the AGM.

Congratulations to Annecy Bridge club for their victory over Cheltenham last month. The full results are here.

On Thursday 9th July 13.00 we are running a Kidney Research charity event. This will be a national simultaneous pairs event and hand records will be available. The usual 4 BB$ fee will apply but we ask that you donate £3 to the charity (click here).

It is with deep regret that we announce the death of Richard Hennell, who died at home on 24th March after a short illness.

Richard was for many years Honorary Secretary of Cheltenham Bridge Club. He was a previous winner of the Club Championship pairs and Tivoli Teams trophies, and an Honorary Life Member of the club. He was also active in playing bridge in County competitions, won the Gloucestershire Men's Pairs Trophy in 2011, and had been a member of the winning team in the Everett Cup (for teams of four players) and the Rank Xerox trophy (for teams of 8). He was, also, for several years, organiser and captain of the Gloucestershire 3^rd team, in the Midlands Counties leagues.

Please note that Standby positions for all sessions are now shown on the Session Rotas menu button.

• If a session has no Standby listed, then no standby is provided for this session.
   
• If a session has the Standby position shown as 'Wanted', then there is no standby currently available, but any member may volunteer to be standby by clicking the 'Standby Wanted' icon.
   
• Please note that you may move the calendar to display different months by clicking the right or left arrows at the top of the calendar.

Members will be sadden to learn of the death of David Wilson who died earlier in the week. The funeral will be on Wednesday, 2nd October at Cheltenham Crematorium (new chapel) at 12.30pm. Afterwards at the Civil Service Club, Tewkesbury Road.

CBC was pleased to welcome Tony Cherrett and his partner Christine Attwood as guests of honour in Saturday morning's 10am session to raise money for the education of Kenyan schoolchildren. Please support this worthy cause. Full details on the Caterham Bridge club website.

Congratulations to David and Wendy Lewis who won the 12th CBC Cafe Bridge event held at Lilley Brook Golf Club on 28 February.  70 players enjoyed the event.  Proceeds of £180 have been used to plant up the flower beds in the rear car park.  The organisers are now working towards another event in the summer

Thank you to our generous members for a record 27 table turnout for this year's Children in Need simultaneous pairs.
Well done Cheltenham!
How to pay or donate
Money Raised
National Results

The committee are pleased to announce that Sally Izod has been made an Honorary Life Member. Sally has been a long standing and dedicated member of our committee and served as Membership Secretary. Sally has, for many years, also visited the club nearly every day and done lots of 'behind the scene' jobs that have kept our club ticking over.