SANTA CLAUS PAIRS

Sunday 20th December

Two Session BBO Event - Each Session with 18 boards

11am - 1pm and 2pm to 4pm 

Feel free to eat your own sumptuous buffet in the break!!

The cost for these two sessions is £10 per player

so make sure you have enough credit in your kitty!

We need all players to please pre-register

using the form below.

....and there will be "Live Prizes" as the session continues

......so watch this space!

Due to insufficient support we are sorry to say

that we have had to cancel

the RealBridge on Wednesday evenings.

However we hope to encourage all who played on Wednesday evenings

to play on a Tuesday Fun Night for all instead on BBO

♠ ♥ RealBridge Link ♦ ♣ 

COME AND SUPPORT THE SESSION TODAY

<====== Link now under RealBridge at MBC tab        

Dear Members - Thank you so much for all of your support to keep our wonderful bridge club going.

It's been a hard transition for all of us from what we know and love to playing on-line and, as I'm sure you realise, we have all had to work seven days a week to ensure that sessions run smoothly and that as many players as possible can be included. I am also very impressed with how so many of you have been able to join in - it's been quite a change all round!

However, I understand that Manchester County Bridge "Club" are contacting you regularly in order to encourage you to play on their site which naturally takes players away from our own club sessions. They are the only county association that is doing this and I would ask you to please to disregard their emails as we are fighting to keep afloat during Covid-19 and need you all to play with us to be sure that you will have a club to come back to! 

Much friendship and support as always 

David

**CURRENT WEEKLY SCHEDULE**

(from December 2020)

MBC ‘Pay to Play’ Online Games

♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ 

     MONDAY

   ►BBO Afternoon Duplicate at 2.00pm

     TUESDAY

 ►RealBridge Afternoon Duplicate at 2.00pm

►BBO Evening Fun Duplicate for all at 7.15pm 

     WEDNESDAY 

     ►BBO Afternoon Duplicate at 2.00pm

     THURSDAY 

     ►RealBridge Afternoon Duplicate at 2.00pm

       ►BBO Evening Swiss Pairs at 7.15pm

     FRIDAY 

       ►BBO Afternoon Duplicate at 2.00pm

     SATURDAY

       ►BBO Afternoon Duplicate at 2.00pm

    SUNDAY 

     ►BBO Morning Duplicate at 11am (Improvers) 

   ►BBO Afternoon Duplicate at 2.00pm

^{THE BBO PLAYER INDEX (the alphabetical list of Real Names and BBO User Names) is now under the yellow tab third one down, top left of this page. - Updated July 2020}

A pre-arranged partner is preferable. However, partners can be found via the BBO Partnership Desk or in the RealBridge lobby when you access our tournaments,

Subject to 4 tables minimum, a Free Game is awarded to the winners. 

You cannot enter these games unless you have pre-paid.

Each game costs £3.50 to enter. Please deposit £21 (or more) into the MBC bank account (details below).

We will reduce your balance after each session played. 

MBC will email you when your ‘pot’ reduces to approx £12 so you have time to top it up and stay in credit.

Manchester Bridge Club Bank details are –

HSBC   Sort Code 40-11-56   Account Number  90730807

Thank you for supporting Manchester Bridge Club

♠ ♥ RealBridge Set Up - 1 to 1 Sessions ♣ ♦ 
If you are not able to join in on Manchester Bridge Club's RealBridge matches due to technical reasons, MBC can help!

For a small £5 fee (deducted from your MBC online account), we can remotely access your device and check these issues for you. The service will assess your device’s configuration, browser version & compatibility, camera & microphone functionality and internet connection so we can confirm if your device can support the software. If it can, we will leave you with a simple link to access RealBridge when you want to play in our games.

If it can’t, you may have to consider purchasing a new device – but at least you’ll know. Given that we believe RealBridge WILL be the future and that online bridge is here to stay, then at some point soon, you will therefore need a new device to play (online) bridge.

If you would like to have us assess your device remotely, then please fill in the form below. The check will be carried out by Sam Knox, an MBC member studying for a PhD at Manchester University. Once you’ve filled in the form, Sam will be in touch to arrange an appointment. It will probably take 30-45 minutes. None of your data will be accessed and you can watch the session as he does it from the comfort of your own home.

Priority of this service will be given to members who intend to play in the MBC RealBridge matches.

RealBridge at MBC

On TUESDAY & THURSDAY AFTERNOONS  and on WEDNESDAY EVENINGS 

our online games will now take place on RealBridge and not BBO

If you want to play in our RealBridge sessions

then please action the following –

LINK 1 is to test the camera and microphone on your device (even if you participated in the trials, please re-test your device). Do not press log-in.

LINK 2 is to log-on to play in our games (no ID is needed, just your real name).

The entry fee for the first two RB games will be only £2 per player.

For both LINKS and more information about RealBridge 

click on the yellow 'RealBridge at MBC' tab at the top left of this page 

NOW EVERY SUNDAY MORNING!

IMPROVERS ON-LINE DUPLICATE ON SUNDAYS AT 11am!

By popular demand we have arranged a weekly BBO Online Session specifically for Beginners and Improvers.

These sessions are for players who would normally have played on Monday afternoons, Tuesday evenings or the Wednesday evening supervised session.  

These new Improver Sessions are INVITATION ONLY and will be held every Sunday Morning at 11am. 

Like our well established, daily online Club duplicates, these sessions will be £3.50 each to enter (with concessions for students – see Dave). Please lodge (say) £21 into the MBC bank account. We will let you know when your ‘kitty’ runs out so you can replenish it in good time to continue playing.

If you would like to join in please contact Dave Debbage by email / text to inform him of your BBO User Name and email address.

email: daviddebbage@hotmail.co.uk           

text: 07717 252114

In due course and subject to demand, we will add another Improvers Session to our Monday-Friday schedule.   

To join the ‘Improvers duplicate’ you need to: 

♠ Register with BBO to obtain a BBO User name

♥ Inform Manchester Bridge Club of your User name & email address (we control entry to these games via this data)

When you’ve done this and you want to enter the session: 

♠ Log on to BBO and click "Play Bridge"

♥ Click "Competitive"

♦ Click "All Tournaments"

♣ Click "MAN" into the Search box at the top right of the screen. 

♠ Click on the Manchester BC tournament

♥ Enter your Partner’s User name

( If you don’t have a Partner, join the Partnership Desk and wait – we can see you there and will get in touch and/or arrange a Partner )

TUESDAY NIGHTS AT 7.15 PM ARE FOR INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS

... so a good standard but no experts and a really nice friendly atmosphere.

COME AND JOIN US!

♠ ♥  Virtual Children in Need Event ♦ ♣ 

Wednesday 11th November 2020 at 2 pm (BBO)

Manchester Bridge Club hosted this virtual Children in Need Fundraising event and 21 pairs played

The entry fee including donation was £7 and helped raise money for the essential Children in Need charity.

ALL THE MONEY YOU DONATED WENT TO CHILDREN IN NEED - WE RAISED £276 AND A CHEQUE HAS BEEN SENT FOR £300.

Special congratulations to Frances Nagle and Jerry Fynn, two of my pupils, who won North South and to Tricia Blum and Simon Townsend who had a very good score East West.

THURSDAY NIGHTS are SWISS PAIRS starting at 7.15pm! 

Many of you asked us to run evening games and Swiss Pairs was a popular choice.

It's an 18 board event, 6 x 3 boards, in the usual fun format so we should be finished by 9.30pm.

It's been organised so that those of you who are working during the day have an evening session to join in with so please, everyone, continue to support this.

We've noticed that numbers have dropped off recently and so we need you all to start playing on Thursday nights again.

See you on Thursday nights!! 

.....good to see more of you playing on Thursday nights now - thanks and keep it up!!!

What a treat to be able to have the chance to continue playing bridge.,,,and thankyou again to all the people "behind the scenes" who work so hard to make it all happen.

Please don't forget that the rules for table etiquette still apply - more especially in these unusual times.

......and HAVE FUN!

Dave Debbage.

ONLINE BRIDGE FOR MEMBERS

Duplicate pairs sessions for club members are available online.

These are currently a mixture of BBO games and RealBridge format

Please be online on BBO at least 15 minutes before the start.

(See  below for full instructions)

You must have registered with Bridge Base On-line (www.bridgebase.com) and have a UserName & Password. Then send us your name and BBO UserName so we can add it to the list of players for that Tournament. New members wanting to sign on with Manchester BC should send an Email with their BBO UserName to Paul Murray at paul.murraysafc@gmail.com

There is a help page at https://berwickbridgeclub.co.uk/bbo

To play in a duplicate, please login to BBO a 15 minutes before the start. Click on "Competitive" under "Play or Watch Bridge".  Then Click "All Tournaments" and, in the search box above the list which appears, type "MAN" or  "Manchester BC".  The tournament will appear and you can click on it to register.  Your partner will need to be online at the time you register and you need to enter their BBO name. There will normally be a £3.50 charge for the session which will be collected using your pre-paid contribution into the Manchester Bridge Club account. 

HOW ABOUT SOME ON-LINE LESSONS

or some

PRIVATE LESSONS ON BBO?

What a great way to keep up with your bridge!

Give Dave Debbage a ring and sort things out.

Tel: 07717 252114

One of our Tuesday night students Sam Knox has offered to go shopping or run errands for any of our members who live in the Fallowfield, Withington or surrounding areas if they would be glad of some support.
His telephone number is 07494863444

RAY ASHLEIGH'S AMAZING RETIREMENT  "JOG"

https://exrayraylejog.home.blog

"I wanted to do some walking after I retired and, in what may turn out to be a mad moment, I thought it would be a good idea to walk from Lands End to John O’Groats (LeJog).  This is a well known charity walk, often done on roads (e.g. by Ian Botham).  There are a number of books and blogs that describe the walk cross country which increases the distance from 874 miles to 1100 or more depending on the route. The route can be done, of course, from South to North or North to South (becoming JogLe!).  The advantages of LeJog include walking with the prevailing wind and (rain!) coming from behind the walker, hopefully I will be fitter by the time I get to the Pennine Way and the Highlands and a new walking route between Inverness and John O’Groats should be complete in 2020 (currently most walkers use the A9)."

Looks like LEJOG part 2 is off this year. In theory I could camp and cook my own food en route I don’t know whether campsites will be open, and communal washing and toilet facilities are hardly self isolating. Wild camping is theoretically possible but is illegal in England, difficult in central Scotland but I will explore this. If I do this there will not be a blog as I won’t have internet access or charging facilities for my electronics.

Favoured option at present is to stock the car up (or use the trains) and bag some Munro’s as well has some of the lower but still beautiful Scottish hills. Or the Cape Wrath trail or Knoydart (avoiding the village at the tip of the peninsula) which is self isolating in the extreme!

Stay safe everyone and the blog will continue in 2021