The Manchester Bridge Club
Release 2.19r
Useful Links

Member Login

(For your online account details)

Click Here for IntoBridge Login Page

0 0 0 0 0 0
Pages viewed in 2025
Club WiFi Code

7NotrumpsXX!

Club Opening Hours & Contacts
Club Opening Hours & Contacts

Welcome to

THE

MANCHESTER BRIDGE CLUB

81 WELLINGTON ROAD, FALLOWFIELD,

MANCHESTER

M14 6BN

 

manchesterbridgeclub@hotmail.com

 

The Club’s regular opening and closing times are:

Monday - 12.30 to 16:30

Monday evening- 19:00 - 22:00

Tuesday - 13.00 -16.30

Tuesday evening - 18:45 - 22.00

Wednesday - 10.00 -1.00pm

Wednesday evening - 19.00 - 22.30

Thursday am - 10:00 -13:30

Note: Our opening times may differ when we host special events such as Halloween, Special Duplicates, Santa Claus Pairs and for Michael Byrne's seminars. Please check the Calendar on our website for the updated details. 

Closing times can only be extended by prior arrangement and need to conform with the Club’s obligations to our landlord and building security protocols.

Please ensure that you arrive at all our scheduled events at least 10 minutes before the start time as shown on the calendar so that we can start play at the scheduled time. If you are coming but are delayed please let the TD or event organiser know.  

Call the Club on 0161 455 3712 for any clarification

or email a committee member

5 Card Majors
5 Card Majors

For all our members who have already switched or are considering moving to 5 Card Majors and 2 over 1 Game Forcing, this book by Neil Rosen is perhaps the closest to the systems taught at Manchester Bridge Club.

It is easy to read, structured and offers many quizzes and examples to test your understanding. Highly recommended!!
If you would like a copy the ISBN is 978 108 915 4877

RECEIVING OUR E-MAILS?
RECEIVING OUR E-MAILS?

Are you receiving e-mails from the bridge club? If not, here are a number of possible reasons:

 1) Your email address has been blocked from receiving emails from Bridgewebs. Check the status of your email address, and resubscribe if it is blocked or suspended

2) We do not have your correct email address registered. You can check this via attempting to set/reset password in the Members Only login screen

3) If we do not have your correct email address, please let us know via the Contact Form or speak to any committee member

 

Welcome to The Manchester Bridge Club
£850 Raised for Pancreatic Cancer
£850 Raised for Pancreatic Cancer

The sale of Christmas Puddings and knitted chocolate novelty items has raised a fantastic £850 towards Pancreatic Cancer UK

So thank you to everyone who bought something and a huge thank you to Ann Wood for all of her work in providing these unique festive treats

50 years celebration of Jeff Morris and his involvement in the development of Manchester Bridge Club

We will be running a celebratory duplicate on Wednesday evening 15th January to show our appreciation for Jeff Morris and his very significant support for Manchester Bridge Club over 50 years. 

Jeff gave up a secure job 50 years ago to take over the management of the Central Bridge Club which later became Manchester Bridge Club on Palatine Road, which he (latterly with David Debbage) owned and managed for over 20 years. - one of the few private bridge clubs in the country. 

The Club developed and attracted many expert bridge players.  After Jeff and David's retirement, Manchester Bridge Club became a 'members club' and Jeff is still a very active member of our Committee.

Our Wednesday evening duplicate on 15th January will be a special event to commemorate Jeff's longstanding involvement in our club - there would be no Manchester Bridge Club without Jeff! 

As well as a Duplicate Pairs, there will be cheese and biscuits during the break (just like we used to have at Palatine Road) and a display of photographs of significant events from the Club's history - including many of the many excellent bridge players that have helped carve Manchester Bridge Club's special place in the history of contract (and rubber) bridge in the UK.

Everyone is welcome to a nostalgic but very competitive evening. Play will start at 7.15pm with the normal table fee of £4.00.

To help with catering please add your name to the list below.

50th Anniversary

As we approach the 50th Anniversary of the formation of Manchester Bridge Club as we know it today Jeff Morris will be writing a short series of articles covering the history of the Club over its long and illustrious history leading to an Anniversary Event to be scheduled for early 2025

Jeff Writes   

I find it incredible to think that it was 50 years ago I found myself in Manchester taking over the management of the Central Bridge Club at 81 Central Road West Didsbury.

What was I doing giving up a secure job as an information scientist in the research labs of Laporte Industries Ltd on the Humber Bank to come to a new city to start a new career working for myself with an uncertain future?

I suppose that it was a rash thing to do but I was young and  fancy free and I loved playing bridge and what the hell!.......spend the rest of my life in the confines of a  research lab as some of my contemporaries seem to do?

The Central Bridge Club was a unique club in the North of England I t was the only club outside London that played rubber bridge - in fact rubber bridge was the main activity with only one duplicate session per week on a Wednesday night. That duplicate session was incredibly strong with many  top  players participating along with many of the talented university students. After the duplicate, players would retire to the bar to analyse the hands. Frank Wood was  the main guru- he sat on the radiator at the back of the bar dispensing words of wisdom to the assembled  acolytes .Frank Wood? Bet none of you have heard of him? Well think 'Steptoe 'and that will give you an idea of what he looked like. A painter and decorator by profession he was actually a talented pianist, owner of a Grand Piano -and a very good rubber bridge player. Most days he would come into the club at about 1.00pm, have breakfast(egg and chips) before playing in the £5 game .On one of the rare occasions he was persuaded to play in an international duplicate tournament he finished 2nd playing with Paul Hackett  in one of Europe's top pairs event held in Juan les Pain. 

Playing rubber bridge is a game that gives the participants a level playing field. Everyone plays basic Acol so nobody has any system advantages and at the end of each rubber you change partners.  Over an extended period you would expect your high card holdings to average out.  Frank Wood said it was the players who could minimize their losses with bad cards that ultimately end up being winners. Different stake games were played ranging from 5p per hundred up to £5 per hundred. What was so interesting were the fascinating  characters that came to play. In the 5p game(and don't forget 5p a hundred was not inconsequential in those days) I particularly remember Charlie Woolfe and Lottie Oppenheim. If you have read Victor Mollo's classic book the Bridge Menagerie there are a number of notorious characters. One was the Hideous Hog who would try and play all the hands regardless-well that was Charlie Woolfe! Lottie was a remarkable lady who came to England as a refugee from Vienna in the 1930s and is mentioned by Terence Reese in one of his books as a regular player at his London club. She was a harridan at the bridge table forever chastising her partners for doing the wrong thing('NEVER lead trumps' she would always say).I remember her moving out of her Manchester Old Peoples Home at the age of 94 because the residents were 'dying like flies'!

Monday afternoons was partnership rubber bridge at 5p per hundred and would attract between 5 and 10 tables of ladies with the occasional husband . Eve Lighthill's mother in law Elaine used to be a regular and the standard was pretty good. Oh and by the way those 'acolytes' I mentioned earlier -what became of them?-Michelle Brunner (Multiple World and European Champion,),John Holland (Double World Champion),Rosie Hudson (European Champion),Gary Hyett(Gold Cup winner and international)Alan Mould (Gold Cup winner and international)Barry Myers(International player).......and many more!!

 

Gazette Cup 2025, Sunday February 16th at Altrincham Bridge Club, 11am - 6pm

The Gazette Cup is the Manchester County qualifier for the national Teams of Eight competition - the Garden Cities Trophy. 

The winners will represent Manchester County in the final in the summer.

Traditionally, Manchester Bridge Club has entered more teams in the Gazette Cup than any other club in the county - and we'd like that tradition to continue in 2025.

Please mark the day in your calendar.

If you are interested in playing then let me know by email or register via the entry form below. 

Please don't worry about forming your team as the Committee can help once we can assess interest.

Please enter the format is a lot of fun and played in a friendly but competitive spirit.

If you have any questions, please email me or call me.

Thank you very much

Paul Murray

Chairman

The Manchester Bridge Club

Cantor Cup Sunday 23rd February 2025 at Manchester Bridge Club

We are pleased to be holding the Cantor Cup on behalf of the Manchester County Bridge Association.  The Cantor Cup is for players who have recently learned to play bridge and play mainly in supervised play sessions.  The Cantor Cup is being held at Manchester Bridge Club on Sunday 23rd February and will start at 2pm.  We will play 18 boards and expect to finish by 6pm.  Only simple bidding systems are allowed and no Master Points will be awarded.  This is a social, fun competition for new bridge players.  Non - EBU members are welcome to enter. The prizes are very generous with a prize of £100 for the winning pair and further cash prizes for 2nd and 3rd placed pairs.  The entry fee is £10 per player.

If you want to enter for online entries please go to the Manchester Events website at https://www.bridgewebs.com/manchesterevents/ or email Susan Triggs - grasan30@gmail.com with your name and your partner's name.

Please pay via BACs: MCBA  sort code 01-07-20 account number 41526708 ref:Cantor 2025

Nicholas Greer's Seminars Winter/Spring 2025

 

As the January Seminar was cancelled because of the weather we are now running the seminar on Suit Preference Signals next month on Friday 14th February 2025 and moving the rest of the seminars forward by one month. 

The start time for each seminar is 10.30am and will finish at approximately 12.30pm.  As usual there will be notes of the seminar and copies of the 8 example hands.  This topic is suitable for both improvers and intermediates and for more experienced players who want some revision on the main suit preference signals.  You do not need a partner to attend this seminar.  The cost if £8 for members and £10 for non-members.

If you will be attending this seminar please either add your name to the list below or email me via grasan30@gmail.com.

Below is a list of all the seminars we have arranged with Nicholas for the winter/spring 2025 period.  We have tried to provide topics which reflect the feedback we have received so these next seminars are mainly on defence and declarer play.  

Any further ideas for topics please email me.  Finally - thanks to Anne Jerrold for all her work on helping to arrange these seminars.

Friday 14th February - Suit Preference Signals

Friday 14th March - Tactics for Declarer when playing a NT Contract

Friday 11th April - Surround Play

Friday 9th May - Improve your defence in a NT contract

There will be a further seminar on Friday 13th June - please email grasan30@gmail.com with any suggestions for topics

Santa Claus Pairs - The Results
2024 Eve Lighthill and David Sarabowski Winners of the Santa Claus Pairs
2024 Lesley Richards Winner of the best Christmas Jumper
Move "mouse" over thumbnail to change

Move Mouse over thumbnail to change picture

On Sunday we held our traditional Manchester Bridge Club Santa Claus Pairs.

As usual, the SCP attracted a large field (62 players this year) including several of the very best players in the country. Under Jeff Smith's expert direction we played 2 sessions of 18 Boards with the final result coming down to the very last hand as Stuart Shalom and Daniel Kelsall were pipped at the post by David Sarabowski and Eve Lighthill in the tightest of finishes.   

The Committee had a busy morning setting up the rooms, laying out the tables with Xmas crackers and chocolates and setting up a mince pies and mulled wine station - and all this before the caterers arrived at the half way point to set out an excellent buffet. 

As usual there was a best Santa jumper prize - won by Lesley Richards in a high quality field - and lots of festive raffle prizes.

In summary, over 6 hours of play, a good time was had by all in a seasonal and festive atmosphere. 

Happy Christmas everyone! Hope to see you all at the Club in 2025! 

   

 

Membership Promotions
Membership Promotions

We are delighted to announce that the following Member of the Club achieved an EBU Master Point ranking promotion in November 

Stuart Shalom  Premier Regional Master
Tessa Connolly  Master
Ron Butler  County Master
Carole Gavin  Club Master



Congratulations to all 4     

Beginner's Course
Beginner's Course

Image result for LEARN TO PLAY BRIDGE PICS

Beginners Bridge Taster Courses.

If you are interested in joining one of our future courses, (likely to start March 2025) please fill in the form below and we will keep you updated about our plans for our next courses.

Please be careful when you enter your email address. There have been a couple of incorrect email addresses entered so if you have not had a reply please try again.  You will always receive a personal response in 24 hours. 

Each course will last 10 weeks and covers the basics of play and bidding. We teach the 5 card major, strong No Trump and short club system.  We will also cover basic defensive tactics.

Most importantly, the classes will be friendly and sociable. Bridge can be a complicated game and will stretch your mind, but we aim to make bridge fun to learn and hope you will quickly come to love the game as much as we do.  Once your course is finished we have a wide range of supported, follow on sessions for you to join to continue to learn this wonderful game.

The course will cost £80 payable in advance 

Interested?  Find out more by emailing Susan on grasan30@gmail.com or completing the online form below

  

 
New IntoBridge Schedule
New IntoBridge Schedule

We now have three IntoBridge sessions each week.  These are on a Monday and Friday afternoon at 2pm and on Thursday evening (Swiss Pairs) starting at 7.15pm.  All these sessions are well supported and will continue.  The Manchester Bridge Club Committee decided that we would have to cancel the Sunday afternoon session because there have been so few people playing on a Sunday in recent weeks.

Supervised Sessions
Supervised Sessions

We now have supervised sessions for beginners, learners & improvers at the club:

Monday afternoon at 1pm for Improvers with Paul Murray.

** NEW** Monday evening at 7:15pm for beginners with Frank/Chris

Tuesday evening at 7pm all levels with Nicholas

Thursday morning at 10:30 for beginners with Susan Triggs.

Members £6 & Visitors £8

Everyone is welcome

Online Account for Online Games
Online Account for Online Games

Please be aware that the BridgeWebs attendance Module is not a real time system. It reflects entry fees spent on online and face-to-face games but does not reflect money paid into your online account until it is manually updated from the Club's bank statement. Our 'WebMaster', Dave Fernley performs these updates periodically- usually weekly. If you need to know your balance between updates, call Paul or Dave.

The new Bridgewebs Attendance Module for tracking payment money for online games is now live.

It provides you with a real-time view of the games you have played, the current balance of your account and payments made and received by your account. 

To see this information you will need to log on to the Members Only area of the website and then select thePayments Account tab.
Detailed instructions logging onto this area are available here

A detailed description of the Online Account, how it works, etc, is also available here within the Members Only Area (log-on needed).

Account statements will also be sent out periodically by email. This ensures that people who choose not to actively monitor their account balance are still aware of it. The statement provides a regular update to non-members who play in our online games who do not have access the member's area and therefore the real time benefits of this system.

Weekly Schedule

Download our latest interactive activity schedule - BBC Tiny Happy PeopleSee Calendar on the right of this home page for our Weekly Schedule

Face to Face table fees for Duplicates at the Club are £4 for fully paid-up MBC members & £6 for Guests

Supervised Face to Face table fees at the Club are £6 for fully paid-up MBC members & £8 for Guests

(includes free tea/coffee & biscuits and occasional treats! However, sandwiches/supper will not be served)

Online bridge entry is £3.75 for members & £4.50 for non-members

For Online games a pre-arranged partner is preferable. However, if possible, partners can be found after you log on to our tournaments. Just wait on Partnership Desk on IntoBridge. 

Please transfer entry fee (or more for convenience / multiple games) into the MBC bank account (see below).

MBC will reduce your balance after each session played and email you with a regular statement to help you stay in credit.

The Manchester Bridge Club Bank details are –

Natwest Sort Code 01-02-02   Account Number  21867577

Please put your First Name and Surname as the payment reference

Thank you for supporting The Manchester Bridge Club

50th Anniversary Evening

On the evening of Wednesday 15th January we celebrate 50 years of involvement by Jeff Morris in the club

It was 50 or so years ago that a much younger Jeff gave up a secure job to take over the running of The Central Bridge Club, turning it into Manchester Bridge Club.

Jeff owned and ran Manchester Bridge Club for many years, attracting many expert bridge players, and turning it into one of the most successful bridge clubs in the country

We are now a member-owned club, but Jeff continues to be a very active member of our Committee

Come along and help us celebrate this unique contribution and achievement

Save the Date

Dates for your diary - more details will follow  

50th Anniversary Celebration Duplicate for Jeff Morris - Wednesday evening 15th January

Relaxed Duplicate Thursday 6th February 7.15pm

Nicholas Greer Seminar 10.30am Friday 14th February - Suit Preference Signals

Cantor Cup for beginners/improvers Sunday 23rd February at 2pm

Watch this space

Annual Subscription 2025

It’s the time of year again when your annual membership subscription to The Manchester Bridge Club becomes due. The committee have decided to keep subscriptions at the same price as last year, which means that we haven't increased our rates since we became a member owned club in 2022.  We are also offering the same £10 discount for those who pay before the end of the year. ! So subs paid after 31st December will remain the same as last year at £50 per person but only £40 if paid before 1st January 2025. You can pay by cash or card at any F2F session or by online banking with the reference of your name followed by the word subs.

The Manchester Bridge Club bank details are –

Nat West

Sort Code 01-02-02   

Account Number  21867577


 

Club Bank Account Change

Please note that the Club's bank account has changed from HSBC to NatWest

Please transfer funds into your Club account via the new NatWest account with immediate effect

The Manchester Bridge Club

Bank : NatWest

Sort Code 01-02-02

Account Number 21867577

Transfers made in error to the HSBC account will be credited as normal until the HSBC account is closed. Thereafter, they will automatically be transferred to our NatWest account by HSBC. 

If you have any questions, please call Paul Murray or Dave Fernley

IntoBridge Board Analysis
IntoBridge Board Analysis

Our friends at IntoBridge will be sending feedback and hand analysis for selected boards played in this Friday afternoon's game.

This promises to be a useful and educational addition to their service, and depending upon feedback may become a regular feature of our games

So why not join us on Friday 21th at 2pm and see if you find this an interesting and beneficial extra

Results
Paul's Supervised Duplicate with Lesson
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
IntoBridge Swiss Pairs
Wednesday Pairs
Club Afternoon Duplicate
Paul's Supervised Duplicate with Lesson
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
IntoBridge Swiss Pairs
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
Calendar
Mon 13th Jan 2025
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
2:00pm
Mon 13th Jan 2025
Beginners Supervised Play
7.15pm
Tue 14th Jan 2025
Club Afternoon Duplicate
1:15pm
Tue 14th Jan 2025
Supervised Play, all abilities
7:00pm
  (Partner?)
Wed 15th Jan 2025
Club Evening Duplicate F2F
7:15pm
Thu 16th Jan 2025
Improvers Supervised Play
10:30am
Thu 16th Jan 2025
IntoBridge Swiss Pairs
7:15pm
Fri 17th Jan 2025
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
2:00pm
Mon 20th Jan 2025
Paul's Supervised Duplicate with Lesson
1:00pm
Mon 20th Jan 2025
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
2:00pm
Mon 20th Jan 2025
Beginners Supervised Play
7.15pm
  (Partner?)
Tue 21st Jan 2025
Club Afternoon Duplicate
1:15pm
Tue 21st Jan 2025
Supervised Play, all abilities
7:00pm
Wed 22nd Jan 2025
Club Evening Duplicate F2F
7:15pm
Thu 23rd Jan 2025
Improvers Supervised Play
10:30am