UNDER DEVELOPMENT

Chislehurst Bridge Club is run by Derek Patterson.

Derek learnt to play bridge in the 1980s, and quickly reached the top of the game. He was part of the winning team representing England at the European Championships and World Olympiad, winning the 1989 Under-25s World Championships. Later on he won some European events and on the national scene, amongst others, the Gold Cup, the Premier League and Crockfords, each more than once.

In 1995 Derek opened Chislehurst Bridge Club. The first session was on the 6th June with no fewer than 19 tables.

The club main competition started soon - monthly Thursday Ladder - see Competitions archive....

Soon the play was split into two sections, experienced players were playing in the Green Section and less experienced in the Red Section. For a while there was Blue Section too.

There was an evening in the club which I shall never forget. I was playing in the Blue Section. This is where complete novices were playing, mainly pupils from Derek's class, getting used to club play. We played first few rounds, gaining in confidence as the play progressed. Then my partner Mair (she's always been a bright spark!) announced: "I've played this hand before!" Derek looked at the hands and said "Reshuffle please!" It turned out that all boards were the same. They were the boards used in the lessons and we didn't reshuffle them before the evening play started...

One memorable event was the bridge weekend in Powder Mills 2002. The results from this weekend are still on the website, you can see them if you go far enough back. I still have a few piccies from it on my C drive, and I would like to share them here with you.