Our thanks go to Joanne Smith, Editor of u3a's Third Age Matters Magazine, for publishing the following article in November 2020's TAM;-

It may not be possible to meet as a u3a group to play Face-to-face bridge, but Great Yarmouth u3a has come up with a great solution. Members from Great Yarmouth and Palmers Green & Southgate have collaborated to play online bridge. Furthermore, the introduction of audio conferencing is used to 'chat across the table', bringing back the social aspect of bridge that many of us have missed.

Whether you have played for a short time or for many years, this is your chance to play friendly Duplicate Bridge with people of a similar standard in a dedicated u3a private club room.

There is a modest cost, but members can also play at any time of the day or night! 

Steve Carter, from Great Yarmouth u3a, is also offering u3a members regular 'Taster Sessions' and mentoring so that members can try it out for themselves. 

As a result of the above article we had an amazing response both from u3a individuals as well as from Group Leaders who have found it difficult to "kick things off".

In order to make life easier for beginners to online Bridge, we now run regular 'hand-holding' tutorials  to:-

   Register the player and assist with setting-up their Profile and introduce them to Spectating and Table Etiquette (familiarisation)

   Teach the basics of online play in a "Coaching Corner" session and answer relevant questions before migrating to the Social Bridge Room.

Having undergone these tutorials, u3a'ers have a choice of playing 'Social Bridge' or 'Friendly Competitive' Bridge in our weekly Thursday morning competition - see Calendar and Results panel for further information.

The cost of playing online is hardly any different to our normal u3a ‘table money’ except that whereas we would normally pay £2 - £3 for a (typical) 2-hour session, for the same money you can play 24 hours a day,7 days a week. This includes unlimited play in all rooms and competitions as well as a ‘Face-to-face’ club session.

For further information email us at eastnorfolkbridgeclub@hotmail.com