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Club History

Brief History of the Club

The Hungerford Bridge Club (initially called "The Hungerford Duplicate Bridge Club") was set up in 1993 by a group including Pip Pocock, Bob Bourne and Sue Carpenter. They met each Wednesday evening in the Magistrate's Room at the Town Hall, only moving later to the Corn Exchange when more room was required.
 

The initial Chairman was Pip Pocock, who later handed over to Martin Buck. Brian Davis developed the club's first website - and designed a system for scoring and posting the results on the website. The club switched to the national Bridgewebs template website around 2010.
 

In the winter of 2011-12 the club looked for alternative venues for the weekly meetings. The Corn Exchange was proving expensive (and there had been another increase in the rent), and in some ways the venue was larger than the club required. Membership had dropped from 63 in 2010 to 54 in 2011, and only 45 members had joined by the time of the AGM on 1 Feb 2012. This also coincided with the national EBU  "Pay to Play" changes.

It was suggested that the club should explore the possibility of using the Royal British Legion clubhouse. The RBL team (especially Jim and Denise Scarlett) were very accommodating, a rental was agreed, and new provision was made for the storage of our tables, and other equipment. The first session at the RBL was on Wednesday 4 April 2012.

It was immediately apparent that the RBL was an ideal venue for the club's meetings, and many members took advantage of the licensed bar at very reasonable rates! Membership during 2012 rose to 60; the average number of tables (Apr - Dec 2012) was 8.99 per week. The membership rose further to 67 in 2013. Total annual attendance was up from 1704 in 2012 to 1824 in 2013.

For several years there had been little change to the Committee. With Chairman Martin Buck, Secretary Amelia Tester and Treasurer Hilary Jones, everything seemed to run smoothly, and there were no volunteers for the Committee. In December 2012 Martin announced that he felt the Committee needed new blood, and in order to "encourage" change, he said that the whole Committee would resign at the AGM in Jan 2014!

A number of people did come forward to volunteer, and at the AGM on 29 Jan 2014, the 31 members present elected Hugh Pihlens as Chairman, Rosina Dickens as Treasurer, and Lynne Phillips as Secretary. Andy Hill and Hilary Jones were also elected to the Committee. The subject of the Bridgemate computerised scoring system was raised by a member - and it was left for the incoming committee to consider.

At an EGM on 12 Feb 2014 several issues were resolved - an amended Constitution (including changing the name to simply "The Hungerford Bridge Club", and an encouragement for a rotation of Club Officers) was introduced; agreement was reached on membership fees, table money and the management of the coffee rota! The big decision, however, was to proceed with the introduction of the Bridgemate computerised scoring system to the club. Because the club's finances were in better shape than they had been for several years, we could afford to purchase this whilst keeping membership fees and table money unchanged. Adopting Bridgemate was passed with an overwhelming majority vote, and largely thanks to Andy Hill's efforts, it was introduced at the club's evening on 12 March 2014. Bridgemate has proved very straightforward, and it is great to see the results of one's efforts at the end of the evening!

Membership grew in 2015 to 76, a record number. We enjoy meeting at the RBL!

At the AGM of Jan 2016, the issue of club membership was aired. A majority of members said that they preferred that the club did not continue to grow unchecked, and thoughts of a bigger venue, to hol more than 14 tables, were turned down.

The Committee therefore decided to introduce an on-line Booking System (via the club's website) for SIMS events in the first instance, starting 6 Apr 2016. The number of tables being limited to 14.

In May 2016, the Membership was closed at 79 members, and a waiting-list introduced. Visiting pairs were still able to play on normal Club Nights, but not at SIMS Events (although members could bring non-member guests to SIMS). The membership re-opened in Oct 2016.

The year 2020 was dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Our last normal club night at the RBL before "lockdown" was on 11 March, but we started playing Wednesday evening sessions on Bridge Base Online on 22 April. A consistent 10½ to 11½ tables met throughout the summer.