Kendal Bridge Club was formed in September 1962 when a small group of card players met at the Fleece Inn, Kendal to form a Bridge Club. The first Chairman was Charles Cumpsty, Peter Brown was Secretary and Mary Hadwin (later Mary Cameron) was Treasurer. Before September 1962 there was no duplicate bridge in Kendal. Rubber bridge, scored Chicago style, was played at the golf club and at the Ladies Circ1e. Numbers were initially small; the first duplicate evening had only four tables but membership grew rapidly in the first year.
By 1964 the playing area at the Fleece became too small so the club moved across the road to the County Hotel. The Irish International Paddy Carson joined the club when he came to Kendal in 1965. He was instrumental in our joining the EBU and the formation of the Westmorland County Bridge Association. The growth in membership, by 1967 it had grown to 62, enabled the county to be affiliated to the EBU.
Around 1970 the redevelopment of the County Hotel forced the club to find new accommodation. The new home was the Boot & Shoe Operatives Union Office at the bottom of Gillinggate where the Club stayed for nearly two decades. The Club was flourishing having about 10 or 11 tables twice a week. Young players from Lancaster University joined the Club and inter club matches were arranged against Barrow, Lancaster and Carlisle clubs.
Apart from being extremely brief, minutes from the Club’s third decade show issues were rather different from today. At an AGM the chairman referred to the subject of psyche bids which was felt tended to disrupt the harmony of the Club and appealed for members to refrain. The Club’s Psyche Bids book which was in use at the time has not had a new entry for decades. In those days the atmosphere on a club night was more rumbustious than now. Bidding boards were used on which all the bids were marked and you tapped as appropriate. Nowadays we worry about not taking advantage of partner's hesitation - in those days one had to be careful that the speed, aggression, or loudness of your pencil hitting the bidding board didn't help partner to know whether a "no-bid" was a suggestion or an order, a 'double' was for 'business' or for 'take out'. A lot of players smoked and by the second half the fug was noticeable. Surprisingly nobody objected, in fact some of the older women said how much they liked the smell of tobacco - "it reminded them of their late husband".
Numbers had grown sufficiently by 1990 to justify the formation of a separate Windermere Bridge Club. This too has flourished benefiting Bridge in the area. Westmorland was no longer a one club county and the needle matches between the clubs began.
The fourth decade also saw changes of venue, firstly to Kendal Rugby Club. Initially the Club played in a large room. When the Club was moved into the small room conditions proved unsuitable for Bridge owing to the noise from the Line Dancing next door. Bill Thomson who was chairman at the time found alternative accommodation at Abbot Hall Social Centre (AHSC) where we can remain for the next 100 years.
Sadly numbers declined as the millennium drew to a close. Windermere attracted players from its neighbourhood and, of course, time took its toll on an aging membership. The Club was kept going with about 4 tables on two nights by the chairman Mike Howse and several stalwarts.
Then in 2002 Philip Wraight retired to Staveley and the Club’s revitalisation began. His enthusiastic teaching and chairmanship led membership and activities to increase dramatically. By 2012 the Club had a membership of 176 with regular sessions every Monday & Thursday plus Supervised Play on Tuesdays. There was a regular class for beginners. The Club had teams in the National NICKO competition. Inter club matches were played annually against clubs in the locality. Philip’s contribution to Bridge generally was recognised by the EBU when he was awarded their Dimmie Fleming award in 2008.
Monday nights became so popular with 16 tables on some occasions that the main room at AHSC felt crowded. At this stage an anonymous member offered the Club a very significant sum of money to purchase its own premises. To achieve this aim in 2013 the club had to change its status to become Kendal Bridge Club CIO. A Working Party was established to change the management structure to separate the activities needed to build the premises from those to run Bridge. The Trustees led by John Farmer oversaw the building and finance while a Bridge Committee led by Richard Brazier oversaw playing matters.
An initial plan to build a completely new building next to the Heron Hill Public House proved to be far too expensive. The next proposal to purchase an affordable lease on a building in Kendal Business Park proved to be very controversial amongst members. A referendum was held - yes our club had a referendum before Brexit! The result in favour of this move was so narrow that the decision was not to move there. John Farmer than persuaded AHSC to allow the Club to build an extension there. On completion in 2017, the building we call home was named after the popular longstanding member Betty Limb who was still playing regularly aged 96 when she sadly died following a road accident.
Along with a few other strong players, Mike Rothwell had left Lancaster Bridge Club in 2009 following their decision to leave the EBU. His contribution to our club has been immense. He worked with solicitors to write the Club’s CIO constitution ensuring acceptance by the charity commission. Mike acted as an accurate yet sensitive TD for many years. Our website and IT generally owe much to Mike’s work. He gave the Club the scoring programme and timer which we still use. The voice of his wife Sally-Ann is still telling us not to start anymore boards: as if we would?! In 2017 the EBU recognised Mike’s outstanding contribution to Bridge both nationally and internationally by awarding him its Silver Award.
The Club developed further after the Betty Limb Room (BLR) was completed. On Monday nights the new BLR and the old main room were in use with over 12 tables being played on most nights. Tuesdays featured 18 boards of Supervised Play in the BLR with teaching in the main room. There was a good standard of play for the more experienced players on Thursdays. The longstanding Carson Cup Pairs and the Ellis Cup Teams competitions were played on Thursdays as they had been for decades. Teams were played every two months on Mondays and, as always, monthly on Thursdays. Annual teams matches were played on Sunday afternoons against all the local clubs: Windermere, Grange, Arnside, Barrow, Keswick., Lancaster and Burton, with splendid teas. During the winter months monthly seminars had been introduced led by different experienced players on specialist topics.
All was going great when Covid struck in March 2020. Fortunately for the Club at that time Brian Smith was already a BBO Director. With Brian directing we were enjoying Bridge again, albeit on the computer, just one week after lockdown began. As always the Bridge Committee got to work supporting our fun; Tim Harrison as Club Secretary managed the BBO names and Mike Rothwell worked with Treasurer Bob Boyd devising a system to collect table money. For the next 15 months members played entirely online with Bridge available on Monday afternoons, Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Face to Face Bridge did not return until August 2021 and then only on Monday evenings. Tuesday Intermediate Bridge returned in March 2022 and monthly Thursday teams returned to Face to Face in July 2022.
Here we are 60 years after the Club’s inception with over 160 members. Face to Face Bridge is recovering: around seven tables on Mondays and four tables for Intermediate Bridge on Tuesdays and monthly teams on Thursdays. Many members still prefer to play online; on the other Thursdays there are 24 boards and on Tuesdays 18 boards with around nine tables each night. David Harris has a class with 19 students and Martyn Harris is writing a weekly instructive newsletter reviewing interesting hands from the previous week.
To be continued in 2032.
RB December 2022.
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