Welcome and thank you for visiting the Durham Bridge Club website.
The Club, located within the beautiful and ancient city, is registered with the English
Bridge Union and meets three times weekly for duplicate bridge.
( See 'CLUB General Information' in Main menu )

So that the club can maintain up-to-date records could we please ask that if any member has recently changed their email or postal address or telephone number that they inform the secretary, Christine Farnsworth (cafarnsworth2@gmail.com) of the changes
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Durham's Participation in the NEBA Inter-Club League

On Sunday 2nd March 2025 our Durham Club Teams competed in the NEBA Inter-Club League.

The results were:

Durham A Team won against Stannington A with a score of 15-5

Durham B Team lost to Bishop Auckland with a score of 0-20

The final results of the Inter-Club Team competition can be found HERE

We would like to thank all those that played for both teams. 

If you would like to be part of our squad for the next season, please contact our team captain (irina.hendrickx@gmail.com). Everyone is welcome.

Published 09/03/2025

2024 Cansino Trophy Winners

Many congratulations to Irene Burns and Joan Crompton on winning the 2024 Cansino Trophy.

Published 15/01/2025

EBU Masterpoint Promotion

Many congratulations to Ann Squires for achieving the 1 Star Regional Master Status.

Published 15/01/2025

Announcing our Summer Competition Winners

The winners of our competitions that ran from 01/03/2024 to 30/09/2024 are:

Summer Afternoon Pairs 2024
Iain Gordon & John Dobson with 59%

Summer Evening Pairs 2024
John Bernard Portwood & Peter Sykes with 60%

Summer Masterpoints 2024
John Dobson with 675 Masterpoints

Summer Monday Champ 2024
Jill Hancock with 58%

Congratulations to them all!

Published 31/10/2024

Bridge Teaching Sessions

Teaching started on Monday 7 October for anyone wanting to learn bridge. Classes will be on Mondays at 6pm and will run for 10 weeks. The cost will be a very reasonable £30. If you know of anyone who may be interested please encourage them to sign up by emailing bridgeclubdurham@gmail.com.

Published 25/09/2024

A Year of Bridge Advice

We have a new article, or rather book of 204 pages, available on our website called:

"Play your cards right", by John Portwood

This is a compendium of articles on various aspects of the game, aimed at the novice/improving bridge player.

It was kindly created and shared by John Portwood and amalgamates his Monday weekly articles throughout 2022, which usually related to the hands being played that week.

For your convenience, the complete pdf file can be accessed here

Published 28/07/2024

Competitions winners 2023

Our 2023/2024 competitions winners were as follows:

Summer Eve pairs 2023

Adrian Darnell and Nigel Martin

Summer Afternoon Pairs 2023

Adrian Darnell and John Dobson

Summer Masterpoints 2023

Adrian Darnell

Winter afternoon champ 2023/24

Adrian Darnell

Winter afternoon pairs 2023/24

Jill Hancock and Niall Keaney

Winter evening champ 2023/24

Equal first

Adrian Darnell

Nigel Martin

Winter evening pairs 2023/24

Jonathan and Rachel Lillycrop

Cansino Trophy

John Bernard Portwood and Niall Keaney

Very well done to all!

Please welcome our new Chairman: Jonathan Lillycrop

Jonathan Lillycrop is taking over as chairman from Adrian Darnell. Here is Jonathan's profile in his own words: 

"I was taught bridge by my parents when I was 13 and have loved the game ever since. After university I got a job in London and became a regular at the Young Chelsea Bridge Club. Gordon Rainsford who at the time was the manager of the Young Chelsea inspired me to get in to directing; I have risen up the ranks and am now one of two EBU Deputy Chief Tournament Directors. My first 12 years after leaving university were spent working for a bank in IT Infrastructure, firstly in London and later in Wroclaw, Poland. On my return to England I decided to follow my passion for bridge and started working for the EBU as their Club Liaison Officer. As of last September Rachel (my wife) and I moved up to Durham so she could start a PhD in Theology at the university. We are very much enjoying playing at Durham Bridge Club and having the opportunity to play together more than we did in London."

We thank our outgoing chairman Adrian Darnell for all the work over the years, keeping the club going during the tricky Covid years, securing grants for the club and taking the club to its 50th anniversary celebration in 2022. 

Published 17/05/2024

Tuesday Afternoon Hosting

The Tuesday afternoon hosting system has been working well, allowing players to join in on an extra 11 occasions so far since October.
We are aiming to continue hosting in the New Year, as long as we have willing volunteers.
If you would like to volunteer and have not already done so, please contact the secretary, Christine Farnsworth.
Published 20/12/2023

Our previous Chairman has been elected Chairman of the EBU

Adrian Darnell, previously also Durham Bridge Club Chairman, has been elected Chair of the English Bridge Union. 
Congratulations to Adrian for obtaining this prestigious position.  
Results of all the elections to the EBU board are announced here.

Published 20/12/2023, updated 27/02/2025

NEBA Summer Pairs Success

Congratulations to members Frank Bouweraerts and Irina Hendrickx on winning the NEBA Summer Pairs at Hexham

Published 19/06/2023

Dear all,
At last Tuesday’s AGM, attended by almost 40 members, the Committee’s payment proposal was approved unanimously. With immediate effect, therefore:
Durham Bridge Club moves to a subscription model whereby members pay an Annual Subscription Fee of £156, payable as £13 per month.
Junior members (those aged under 26 on the 1 st of January in the subscription year) will be charged £60 as the annual subscription fee, payable as £5 per month.
Every member is entitled to play at every session when the club is open and there is no table money for members.
The Subscription year runs for 12 months from May 1st in each calendar year.
This payment principle replaces the concept of ‘table money’ for members with the annual Subscription Fee of £156.
Could I please ask that all members modify their Standing Order to £13 per month (or, if a junior, £5 per month) with effect from the May 2023 payment

It is worth stressing that:
1. the Club welcomes all players, and hopes that everyone will become a member;
2. members will not pay any table money;
3. non-members are most welcome and will pay table money of £5 per session, and if a junior non-member the
table money is £2 per person per session;
4. we ask that non-members make their payments by some non-cash means, Standing Order or BACS;
5. players become EBU members by joining an affiliated Club, or by joining the EBU as ‘direct members’, and
hence all Durham Club members automatically become EBU members;
6. as was said at the meeting, the rules of the NEBA Inter Club Competition only allows members to represent
their Club;
The Committee is, in the light of comments at the meeting, revisiting the hosting model we used to operate on
Tuesday afternoons. If there are sufficient volunteers we will look to reinstate the idea. We only stopped hosting
because there were insufficient volunteers.
Adrial Darnell

Published 02/05/2023, amended 18/08/2023

We are pleased to announce the Summer Competition winners (played from April to September 2022) as follows:

Tuesday afternoon
Champions:  Irene Burns & Joan Crompton    
Runners up: Adrian Darnell & John Dobson

Tuesday evening 
Champions:  Bill Dixon & Peter Sykes        
Runners up: Adrian Darnell & Nigel Martin    

Monday novice
Champion:  John Owen    
Runner up: Neville Cain    

Congratulations to them all!        
Published 02/10/2022

The face to face NEBA SWISS PAIRS event that took place at Durham Bridge Club on 15 Sept 2022 was won by Audrey Bainbridge and John Dobson.

Congratulations to them both!

All results of the event can be found HERE

Published 15/09/2022

Durham Bridge Club was 50 years old in 2022!

Durham Bridge Club was founded in 1972 and we celebrated in great fashion with an afternoon of bridge followed by dinner, at Durham Town Hall on Sunday 4th September 2022.

We had 2 parallel sessions of bridge play followed by quiz and dinner.

The winners of the Experienced Players event were:
John Dobson and Audrey Bainbridge 
Runners-up were:
Nigel Martin and Adrian Darnell

The winners of the Less Experienced Players event were:
Kathleen Penrose and Brian Henderson 
Runners-up were:
Nick Deeming and Mick O'Sullivan

The quiz session was very capably organised by David Thompson.

Published 05/09/2022

The Club History page has been updated with the last 5 years (2016-2021).
The page can be seen under Club General Information / Club History or simply click HERE

Published 21/08/2022

The 2022 Durham City Trophy Winners are Bill Dixon and Peter Sykes

They achieved an impressive 71% score on 26th April 2022 in the evening session of the Durham Bridge Club AGM

Published 15/07/2022

An Extraordinary General Meeting was held on Tuesday 14th June to amend the constitution of the club.
Please find attached the amended constitution and accompanying notes (Constitution 2022 and Constitution Changes 2022).