Loxhore Village Bridge Club
Release 2.19r
0 0 0 0 0 0
Pages viewed in 2026
Bulletin

 

1925-2025

Celebrating a century of Contract Bridge

 

Why is this game called “Bridge”?

Origin: Developed in the East Mediterranean and Russia, Russian Whist, was also known as “Biritch”.  it was a 19th-century card game that had evolved from Whist and was a direct ancestor of Bridge as we know it.

 

Biritch introduced the concept of bidding and the use of a "dummy" hand, allowing the dealer's partner to play a second hand. This bidding system evolved to become the auction in Bridge.  The meaning of "Biritch" itself meant the passing of the choice of trump to the partner. 

 

The modern game of contract bridge was the result of innovations to the scoring of auction bridge made by Harold Stirling Vanderbilt and others. The most significant change was that only the tricks contracted for were counted below the line towards game and slam. That made bidding much more challenging and interesting. Another innovation was the concept of vulnerability, a difference in the sizes of penalties incurred and bonuses won by partnerships that have or have not won one game. That discouraged sacrifice bidding to protect the lead in a rubber. Some other scores were adjusted to produce a more balanced game. Vanderbilt set out his rules in 1925, and within a few years contract bridge had so supplanted other forms of the game that "bridge" became synonymous with "contract bridge."

Village Hall
Village Hall

Photo
Photo
About the club

Loxhore Village Bridge Club is a non-affiliated club.

We hold a pairs session every Thursday afternoon, in the Loxhore Village Hall (see below for location details). Our members describe the club as friendly, accommodating, encouraging and non-threatening.  The size of the hall does limit the number of tables to a maximum of 8.  It is recommended to contact a committee member before coming.

We ask members to arrive by 13:15 so play can start promptly at 13:30. This gives us time to set up, and permits the scorer to know how many players we have (which is essential for setting the movement).  We aim to finish as close to 16:30 as we can.

Being a Pairs competition we do expect players to stay for the full duration of the session, so the movement can be completed. We use electronic scoring so results are available at the end of the session as well as being posted onto this website.

It is preferable for players have a partner. We have a WhatsApp group that has been used very effectively by members to arrange partners.

We allow players to use their notes (NoFear Bridge is popular) and tolerate a fair amount of discussion and explanation - the aim of which is to encourage players to develop their game.

The emphasis is on having an enjoyable afternoon in each others’ company.

The speed of play is a bit slower than some clubs. We normally play 15-18 boards, sometimes 20.

We break for tea and biscuits or cake after the middle round and everyone helps out with washing up, as well as tidying up at the end.  We take it in turns to provide milk and biscuits, sometimes cake; prepare the boards; open up the hall etc.  The cost is £2 per session.

Finding the Hall:

The postcode is EX31 4SU, which is for the Village Hall Trust, which is a little further down the road.

The precise location if you are using What3words is: ///achieving.essential.evenly

Coordinates are: 51.1248996 N and 3.97443026 W

This week's winners

February 26th,  5½  tables.

Congratulations to:

1st:   60.2% -  Alex & June

Joint 2nd:  58.6% - David & Serena

             58.6% - Peter T & Caroline P

One small slam - David and Serena

 

ALL RESULTS

Click on the dates to see all the full results

Results
Weekly Pairs
Scorer: David
Weekly Pairs
Scorer: Caroline
Weekly Pairs
Scorer: David
Calendar
5th March 2026
Weekly Pairs
Loxhore Village Hall 1:15pm
12th March 2026
Weekly Pairs
Loxhore Village Hall 1:15pm
19th March 2026
Weekly Pairs
Loxhore Village Hall 1:15pm