Colchester Castle Bridge Club

Chairman’s Report

• I’m not the first to say it, but what an odd year in the life of the club. When I took over as Chairman in May last year there was absolutely no certainty about what was going to happen to us in our lives in general, let alone at the Club. There’s a lot more definition now and I think there’s the chance to look forward to a time when we will be able to meet once again at the Friends House. We’re keeping things very much under review, but I hope that face to face bridge will be back sooner rather than later, certainly during this year if all stays on track. It seems likely however that Online bridge will be on the cards (sorry) for some time to come.
• Online bridge has been a great success for the club, but we are all too aware that it doesn’t provide bridge for all our members and for that reason we will seek a return to live bridge as soon as it is practicable and safe.
• For many online bridge has been a saviour. We have successfully established sessions both in BBO and Realbridge and now run 3 sessions weekly. Overall, we are playing just about the same amount of bridge as we were before the pandemic. My most sincere thanks go to Bob Ferris and Mark Leggatt for their major contributions to getting us up and running. More latterly, Neil Riley has made a significant contribution and we have a couple of new Directors in training.
• A prime objective in setting up the BBO sessions was to keep the Castle Club playing bridge together and we have achieved this. There are plenty of opportunities to play bridge online, but the continuity of the club playing bridge was a prime objective.. The recent addition of the Audio-Visual channel to BBO plus the Realbridge session has helped in this despite some teething issues.
• The constitution calls for an AGM to be held within 2 months of our year end on March 31^st. A live AGM isn’t possible, and your Committee has decided that trying to hold some sort of Virtual AGM will serve no purpose and that a report on the key areas is preferable.
  • Accounts to March 31^st are attached. The club is financially sound to say the least. Online bridge is profitable for us.
  • All the Committee has agreed to continue in post until we can hold an EGM in the flesh to formalise matters. The Committee will therefore be.
    • Bill Anslow Chair, Bob Ferris Vice Chair, Sally Burton Secretary, Neil Riley Treasurer, Jenny Musgrove, Liz Jones , Ian Bell and Lucette Smith. My thanks go to them for their help and support.
  • Annual subscription will be waived. The membership list will be exactly as it was when we entered lockdown 1.
  • We will hold a face to face EGM as soon as it is safe and practicable.
• We have held the Tuesday and Thursday online running competitions as normal. The Trophies will be presented at the EGM when we can hold it. The Trophy winners are
  • Founders Trophy                           Winner David Powell               Runner Up Linda Powell
  • Thursday Club Trophy                  Winner David Powell               Runner Up Bill Anslow
  • Monday Real Bridge                     Winner Jenny Manley                Runner Up Emma Fowler
  • Jenny Say Trophy                          Winner Pauline Harden
• Maureen Allison Trophy                            Winner Mary Moir
• In the meantime, keep well, keep smiling and keep (or start) playing online with the Castle Club. We will all meet face to face as soon as it is possible and safe.