CROSS IN HAND BRIDGE CLUB - OUR HISTORY
Sometime in 1985, John Blake, the proprietor of the Bridge Inn at Stonegate, placed a notice in Friday-Ad, the local free advertising paper, for anyone interested in playing duplicate bridge to come to his pub for a meeting one Wednesday evening and to play duplicate bridge in a convivial atmosphere. That meeting sowed the seeds of Cross In Hand Bridge Club.
The records do not show who went to that meeting or when exactly when in 1985 it was. However, in January 1986 John decided to stop running what was his club and it was agreed that we form our own club with John agreeing for us to continue to play at his pub. He very generously donated the original duplicate boards (which we continued to use until a year or so ago), playing cards and other bridge sundries. We first played as our own club at the Bridge Inn on Wednesday 22nd January 1986 as the appropriately named Bridge Inn Club.
It is interesting to note those who played at that first meeting of our club. They were:
| Colin Bennett (dtr) | Peter Garvey (treas.) | |
| John Blake (chmn) | Helen Garvey | Roy Tilbrook |
| Alan Burton | Dick Gellender Masters(dtr) | Ray Theis (sec) |
| Peter Chapman | Jan Gellender Masters | Diane Theis |
| Len Collis | Oliver Hanson | Audrey Wright |
| Bill Daltry | Maurice Locke (dtr) | Harold Wright |
| Walter Fiske | Derek Pooley | |
After John left the Bridge Inn in March 1986, we remained there until about May, but the new owners were not really interested in us staying, so we moved on, and on and on… We played, briefly at The Conservative Club in Burwash, The Crown (now closed) in Blackboys and then for several years from about August 1986, when we changed our name to the Cross In Hand Bridge Club, at The Cross In Hand Inn until about August 1989. When the latest owners of the pub decided that we could not stay it was at that point we decided that pubs were not suitable venues for us and we moved to our present home at Waldron Church Hall, but, during all the moves, members stayed loyal to our little club and the membership gradually increased.
In the course of 1986, amongst others, the following joined the Club:
| Richard Barrett | Harry Frostick | David Pooley |
| Jim Benson | George Hearn | Cath Sandbach |
| Pat Brewer | Carol Ingles | Jim Sandbach |
| Phillip Brewer | Graham Ingles | Mary Teviotdale |
| Ruby Dawson | Colin Manley | Phyllis Townsend |
| Barbara Frostick | Cécile Messa | Fred Townsend |
Times change and the old Bridge Inn is no more. In its place are two executive homes.
Some of our original members have, sadly, passed on, others have moved away, and more have come and gone over the years, but many of the names we see here are, happily, still playing at the club or returning now again as welcome visitors.
It is fascinating to see what one ad., placed many years ago by a publican in Stonegate, produced.