| Chairman's Q4 2022 Bulletin |
Read Paul's end of year report
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| A Manchester Old Boy comes home |
On the 7th July we welcomed Manchester Old Boy David Thompson to our 1.30pm F2F session. He has been living in Luxembourg for many years but was born and raised in Manchester and is an old boy of Manchester Grammar School. He contacted us to say he was visiting the UK for a few days and would like to come to the Club to play. He mentioned that he has partnered Kath Nelson on BBO so we asked Kath if she would like to join us and she was delighted to agree. David is on the foreground table looking at Jeff and Paul. The afternoon was very well supported and was keenly contested and, as luck ( and some skill ! ) would have it, David and Kath came out top, It was a great afternoon and we hope it might encourage more of you to come to our Thursday 1.30 sessions.
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| The Manchester Bridge Club retains the Gazette Cup |
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On Sunday February 5th, the Club retained the Manchester County Gazette Cup for Teams of 8 by defeating a very strong Bramhall Cheadle Bridge Club team into second place. The scores could not have been closer with the teams tying on VPs but Manchester Bridge Club edging the IMP scoring against Bramhall & Cheadle by just 1 IMP!!
Many congratulations to the 4 pairs in the winning team -
John Hassett & Rhona Goldenfield and Andrew Woodcock & Catherine Draper;
Tom Dessain & David Sarabowski and Paul Murray & Paul Hackett.
Of the 36 pairs competing, the MBC team had 4 of the top 7 pairs on the cross IMPs (X-IMPs) with Andrew & Catherine (1st), Paul Murray & Paul Hackett (3rd), Rhona Goldenfield & John Hassett (6th) and Tom Dessain & David Sarabowski (7th). A fantastic achievement by the team!!
Our Club will now represent the Manchester Country Bridge Association at the regional qualifiers for the national Garden Cities competition at Bradford Bridge Club on Saturday May 13th. We reached the national final last year and finished 5th. Hopefully we can go one step better this year!
The Club had FOUR teams competing in the Gazette Cup (more than any other bridge club in the County), which is tremendous effort. The other 3 teams were -
John Moran & Farokh Engineer and Frank & Maria Eade; Susan Triggs & Graham Winn and Mike Wood & Lesley Richards
Irene Davies & Karen Reissmann and Jeff Morris & Andy Brocklehurst; Ann Wood & Dee Connolly and Simon Townsend & Trish Blum (substituted with Vera Lowson on the day due to a family illness)
Paul Jones & Pat Dunningham and Fiona Frankl & Lauren Millar; Fly Leung & Gilbert Lee and Enid Noronha & Maureen Seddon
It was quite an eventful day with the Bridgemate scoring software suffering a malfunction which meant that many of the boards had to be scored by manual methods - hence the delay in announcing the winners. Further, MBC member Frank Eade, took ill during play and an ambulance had to be called. Frank received good medical care at the venue from former doctors and MBC members, Pat Dunningham and Enid Noronha and he steadily recovered after a couple of days in hospital. Frank is back home now and is expected to make a full recovery.
Thank you to all 33 MBC members who participated. It is much appreciated and proves that our Club continues to demonstrate a love of the game and strength in depth in competition.
Paul Murray
Chairman,
The Manchester Bridge Club
February 13th 2023
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| RIP Dr Mark Bradbury |
It is with much sadness and shock that we learned of the death of popular MBC member, Dr Mark Bradbury.
Mark died peacefully in his sleep on Friday night, February 3rd.
Mark was an MBC member and regular player at Palatine Road many years ago and re-joined the Club about 2-3 years ago. He was a very keen player at the Monday and Wednesday supervised duplicate sessions as well as the Tuesday afternoon duplicate. Mark helped out at recent beginner's lessons and his calm, encouraging advice was invauable. Mark also supported the Committee a lot as a volunteer by helping prepare the room for bridge sessions, catering and more latterly taking table money at the start of bridge sessions. Consequently, he became friendly with all the Committee and many of our members. We will miss him hugely.
Rest in peace Mark – a lovely fella.
Donations totalling £300 were collected from our members and given to the Renal Unit at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital as per the wishes of Mark’s family.
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| Fuengirola International Bridge Tournament |
Dave Debbage is helping organise this competition, so if you would like some early sun, sightseeing in Malaga, along with some bridge and a catch up with Dave, then this could be for you
Fuengirola is on Spain's south coast, 30 minutes or so by train from Malaga.
Malaga is well worth visiting for the Alcazaba, a medieval Moorish palace, its Cathedral, the Picasso museum, an ancient Roman theatre, and many more attractions. It also boasts an extensive nighttime array of bars and clubs
For tournament details and accommodation options, click this link for more information
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Photos of the prize winners from the Cantor Cup 2023
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| Cantor Cup 2023 |
 The Manchester Bridge Club was pleased to host the Cantor Cup for beginners and novices for the Country Bridge Association on Sunday 26th February. The Cantor family sponsor this event in memory of their parents Trudy and Oliver Cantor who used to teach bridge to beginners in the South Manchester area some years ago. We were even more pleased that newcomers to our club Chris and Tammy Lam won the event with Anthony Harrison and Michael Donegan coming second. Anthony and Michael only completed our beginners course last December. The event was directed by Nicholas Greer and Anne Naylor/Susan Triggs organised the event for the club and county. Manchester County Bridge Association is very grateful to the Cantor Family for their sponsorship of this annual event.
The full results are in our results section on this website.
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RealBridge at MBC
Latest Link
♠ ♥ Please use your full name as seen on EBU ♦ ♣
Link on Home Page
Our Tuesday & Thursday afternoon online games now take place on RealBridge and not BBO
If you want to play in our RealBridge sessions then please action the following –
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Next Match
Tuesdays 2pm
Thursdays 2pm
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Test Your Device
Test the camera and microphone on your device
Click here to test!
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Then, when you come to log-in on to play, we know you will be fine.
Pro Tips
- Please log in 15 minutes before the start of the match
- No ID Number is required, just your full name
- If you are having technical difficulties, you can get help at our RealBridge Helper Sessions. More information on the MBC Homepage
Important Information you need to read to maximize your experience on RealBridge:
- List of computers and browsers which can be used – everyone please check
- Special information for Apple users only
- List of controls for sound, video, how to leave, call the TD – everyone please review
Devices
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Can Use
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Can’t use
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Windows laptop
Windows tablet
Windows desktop
MacBook or other Apple laptop
iPad (from 2015 or newer)
iMac or other Apple desktop
Chromebook
Android tablet
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Smartphone
Old iPads, older than 2015
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Browsers
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Can Use
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Can’t use
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Edge, Chrome, Firefox, Safari.
The logo must look like one of these – exactly as below. If it looks different, you are using an out of date version.
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Internet Explorer (notice the gold band)
The old EDGE (see shape of the e)
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Browser Updates
In Chrome, and Edge, you need to click the three little dots in the top right corner.
Updates for Chrome
chrome://settings/help
Updates for Edge
edge://settings/help
Information For Mac Users
- You can use Chrome as an alternative to Safari. [Its web video support may be better.]
- In Safari there is a menu item "Safari > Settings for the website...". In that window for RealBridge, select "Allow all auto-play" media, and set the camera & microphone permission to "Allow".
Buttons and Controls
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This turns your camera off or on – so the table can/can’t see you
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This turns your microphone off or on – so the table can/can’t hear you (use this to eliminate any background noise in your home)
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This turns off or on your view of everybody else (they can still see you)
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This refreshes all of your video feeds (use if they are stuck)
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This lets you chat to your table. If you are on a PC, the chat bar is already displayed, since the window is wider/bigger.
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This lets you adjust a player’s volume for just you (nobody else is affected).
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Use this button to ask the opponents to let you change your bid or play
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Calls for a Director
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Sends you back to the lobby where you can see all the other tables (the place where you first arrived). You can then rejoin your table or join another one to see/chat with other players at their table. This is a very useful feature as you can join any table before the game and have a social chat while waiting for your partner to arrive.
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Finally, we will be using the “club friendly mode” of RealBridge. This means you alert your partner’s bids (verbally of course!), just as you would in face-to-face bridge at the Club. This is different to championship mode (screens and self-alerts).
We have invested a lot of time in liaising with RealBridge to make this possible quickly for Manchester Bridge Club.
Please support it by coming along and trying it out. You will get used to it – just like you did on BBO.
MBC will continue running BBO games as part of our weekly schedule as we appreciate that some of you do not have devices that support compatible or working microphones and cameras or the browsers required. If this is the case, please let us know so we can assess how many people will be excluded from RB games.
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| 13th February EGM |
The Committee are seeking members' support for changes to our Constitution.
Paragraphs 9.12 and 9.13 of the Constitution state " The AGM should appoint a suitable person to Audit the Club's accounts " and " Full Accounts of the Financial Affairs of the Club and fully certified by the Auditor shall be produced and presented to all members attending the AGM of the Club for approval".
The Committee have taken advice on this matter and there is no legal requirement for the Club's Accounts to be professionally audited, and the likely cost of an audit would be in the region of £5k to £10k
To avoid spending this excessive amount, we propose to hold an EGM of the Club on Monday 13th February at 18.45 to invite members to agree to amend the Constitution as follows;
1 Paragraph 9.12 be deleted
2 Paragraph 13.2 be amended to read " Full Accounts of the Club be independently prepared and reviewed by a qualified Accountant and presented to all members attending the AGM of the Club for approval".
To help ensure we can have the necessary quorum of at least 10 members attending in person we will be hosting a free 18 Board pairs event immediately after the close of the EGM. Two thirds of those voting will need to vote in favour for the resolution to be carried.
If you cannot attend in person please email mikekwood@btinternet.com saying FOR or AGAINST before mid-day on the 13th February
After the EGM tonight the motion was carried unanimously and the Club constitution will be amended accordingly. Thanks to everyone whop attended the EGM and to those who voted via email.
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| CHRISTMAS CHARITY CHEER |
For all those who bought Christmas puddings and Chocolate Oranges from Ann Wood you will be pleased to know that £215 was raised for St Ann's Hospice.
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| Xmas and New Year Schedule |
The Club will be closed for F2F Bridge from Monday 26th December and will reopen for the 1pm session on Monday 9th January.
This decision was made after soundings taken at the most recent Tuesday and Wednesday sessions suggested that there would be a very low level of attendance for these events in those two weeks .
We have been advised that Into Bridge will be open for all our normal on line events EXCEPT Christmas Eve ( Saturday ) and Christmas Day ( Sunday ) .
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| Pitch Perfect Night |
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Last night at the Club it all came together. We had Vera on keyboard and conducting, Simon Townsend on Dishwasher, Ron Butler and Jan on the mugs , Frank Eade on the money, David Sarabowski on the clock and Chris Boal standing by to step in ( with apologies to the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and also to all our members who have no idea who they were !). The end result was 6 tables playing 24 Boards finished by 10.20 , no sit outs and no robots. Some new partnerships formed and some old ones rekindled. It was as perfect a night of Bridge as we could have - thank you all for your contributions. See you next week.
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| Santa Claus Pairs 2022 |
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The Manchester Bridge Club hosted our annual Santa Claus Pairs on Sunday December 11 and it was an outstanding success. The club was decorated with the spirit of “go large or go home” and added a very festive mood to the event.
The catering and caterers were organised by Ann Wood and what a great job they did! It tasted absolutely delicious. Thank you to all of the volunteer caterers. The mulled wine and mince pies went down a treat too!
The SCP was well supported with 8 full tables and a room full of lively, festive cheer. There were lots of bridge prizes handed out including the best Christmas Jumper category won by Sue Berry (and it was a dress not a jumper!).
Congratulations to Eve Lighthill and David Sarabowski for claiming first prize.
Lastly, thanks to the committee for their contributions in making this a Santa event to remember.
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| Sue Bailey RIP |
We are very sad to announce that the Club heard yesterday from her cousin, Mr David Tubby, of the death of Sue Bailey.
Sue was a long standing, very regular and much loved member of Manchester Bridge Club - a larger than life character who just loved playing bridge. She particularly enjoyed travelling, especially to the USA, to play in the American tournaments and achieved some success at the lower competition levels. Her enthusiasm for the game was an inspiration to us all.
For many years, both Jeff and Dave often had the pleasure of partnering Sue at Club duplicates when she did not have a partner - they tell us that sometimes it was a hair-raising ride!
Sue died at Stepping Hill Hospital on October 10th after a short illness. She will be cremated at Stockport Crematorium on Wednesday 7th December at 10 am. We understand there is no church service.
Arrangements are managed by Davenport Co-op Funeral Services (0161 456 1709)
Rip Sue, you will be missed by all your friends at The Manchester Bridge Club
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| Shirley Leak Celebrates the week of her 98th Birthday |
 Shirley Leak celebrated the week of her 98th Birthday at the Bridge Club on Monday. She enjoyed a slice of Birthday Cake some Bridge and the best wishes of everyone there. Congratulations Shirley
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| Hallowe'en Spooktacular |
Hallowe'en saw some great costumes as people entered into the spirit of the occasion and raided their party wardrobes
The best dressed people in the afternoon session were Emma Jayne Bolshaw and Pam Hunt
The night time folk were more difficult to judge with a lot of superb entries.....the winners were Ann Wood and Maria Eade
Oh, and there was also some bridge played.....the winners of the evening pairs event were Rose Davenport and Ray Hill
All of the lucky winners received a bottle of wine, but more importantly everyone had a great time with lots of laughter and merriment
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| The Ben Franks Trophy Sunday 4th December |
Ben Franks Trophy - Sunday 4th December
The Manchester Bridge Club is proud to host the Manchester County Bridge Association's (MCBA) annual pairs competition on Sunday 4th December.
The event starts at 11am and will end at approximately 6pm
The Ben Franks is an 'All play All' event of two sessions with a break for (free) tea, coffee & biscuits (or bring your own lunch).
Entry Fee is £13.50 per player (Juniors £6.25).
The top four MCBA Affiliated pairs will qualify to represent the County in the EBU's National Corwen Trophy in 2023.
Please come and support your County - everyone welcome.
Entry forms here together with payment details.
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| TMBC Success at World Championships |
Congratulations to the Penfold team, who have picked up a bronze medal at the World Bridge Championships in Wroclaw recently.
TMBC members Paul Hackett, John Holland and Alan Mould were on the team, competing for the Rand Cup, which is the Seniors event at the championships
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| News from Dave Debbage |
I have recently heard from Dave Debbage and thought you might like to hear how his new life in Spain is going.
He has settled into his apartment in Torremuelle, on the coast a few miles to the southwest of Malaga. The pace of life is much slower than in Manchester, but Dave is managing to adapt. The food is great, and the fruit and veg of a much better quality than in the UK. Dave avidly posts his resulting culinary masterpieces on Instagram, much to his followers delight.
He has been trying to get to grips with the Spanish language, and has had intensive lessons. This is still a struggle, but will doubtless improve with time and practice.
Dave has been keeping active, although it is too hot for running in the summer. In this context hot means between 33 and 40 degrees. He swims in the sea 3 or 4 times a week, and again winter is better due to fewer jellyfish!
Unsurprisingly he is regularly playing at his local bridge club in Fuengirola, and is helping them organise a tournament that will be taking place in March 2023. If you would like to get some early sun next year, and catch up with Dave, then this might be of interest to you
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| IntoBridge |
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Click here to sign on to IntoBridge
After successful trials and as per our email to members and guests, we made the decision to migrate our online games from BBO to IntoBridge and held our first online duplicate on Sunday afternoon October 2nd at 2pm.
Until further notice our weekly online schedule is
Monday 2pm - IntoBridge
Wednesday 2pm - IntoBridge
Thursday 7.15pm - BBO (this popular Swiss Pairs event will remain on BBO until the Swiss Pairs movement currently under development at IntoBridge is fully tested)
Friday 2pm - IntoBridge
Saturday 2pm - IntoBridge
Sunday 2pm - IntoBridge
Click on the link above, register your account on IntoBridge and come and join us to play on this new innovative online platform that offers much more than than BBO.
The following youtube videos explain:
The IntoBridge platform, how to register and available controls
How to register for an IntoBridge game, how to join a game, and how to use the partnership desk
First: Click here to Register on the IntoBridge platform
Registration is straightforward, but if you have any problems please contact Dave Fernley on 07388 398 919
Once you have registered you can invite your partner using his/her user name or join the Partnership Desk to signify you are looking for a partner. An IntoBridge host will play with you cannot find one via the Partnership Desk
For the time being, there are no robots on IntoBridge.
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| Save the Date: Santa Claus Pairs |
After a two years in which it was held online, the Santa Claus Pairs competition returns to face-to-face on Sunday 11th December 2022
Mark this in your diaries, further details will be published shortly!
Volunteers for various roles associated with organising and running this traditional MBC event are always welcomed. Please contact any committee member. Specifically, If you would like to help with the catering please contact Ann Wood.
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| Santa Claus Pairs |
OUR FANTASTIC SANTA CLAUS PAIRS
is on SUNDAY 11th DECEMBER
at 1.30pm for a prompt 2pm start
This is a two session pairs event with prizes for the best pairs (and the less fortunate!)
The undoubted highlight between sessions is
TMBC's OWN SPECIAL CHRISTMAS BUFFET
with Festive drink
Coffee and tea available throughout
Entry fee £10 pp . Payments to :
Manchester Bridge Club
Sort Code 40-11-56
Account Number 90730807
Please use reference SANTA and your name (Firstname Surname)
Numbers for this event are limited and all entries must be pre-registered. Please register early using this form to secure your place
This will also assist our volunteer caterers, who are making and preparing the buffet, and ensure minimal waste. Thank you.
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| Monday Evening Cancelled |
A reminder that Monday evening face to face games have been cancelled.
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| Partners Required |
This page is for people looking for a regular playing partner
Please provide details of when you are looking to play, and whether this is face to face or online
Consider the system and conventions you are expecting your prospective partner to meet, and distinguish between those that are essential (e.g. 5CM, Strong Notrump) and those that you are happy to be flexible about (e.g. Jackoby, Bergen)
Provide a means to contact you, e.g. email address and/or phone number
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| The club will be closed on Monday 19th September |
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The club will be closed on Monday 19th September for both afternoon and evening sessions.
We will reopen on Tuesday 20th for bridge and homemade cakes as usual
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| 1111th BBO game |
Congratulations to our winners of the special Swiss Pars on 18th August
1st place £25 each - Rose Davenport & Ray Hill
2nd place £20 each - Andrew Woodcock & Paul Murray
3rd place £15 each - Graham Winn & Susan Triggs
11th Place £11 each - Julie Hunter & Jerry Fynn
Best intermediate pair £5 each - Mike Barlow & Michael Wymer
All prizes will be credited to players on line accounts
All participating players will be able to pay just £1.11 for their next visit in August at a face to face club duplicate session (Monday @ 7:15pm, Tuesday @ 1:30pm and Wednesday @ 7:15pm). If paying cash please bring correct change
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| Changes to My EBU |
My EBU is where members can check their masterpoints and NGS records, book events, and modify account details and preferences for things like magazine and diary preferences.
The EBU will shortly be adding the ability to be automatically emailed when new results are submitted, where members opt in to this service. This news item will be updated when this feature is Live.
You can access your EBU account here using your EBU number. There is a Forgotten Password function that can be used to reset your password.
The Forgotten Password feature works by sending a password reset link to the email address that the EBU hold for you. This will not work if there is no email address registered, or if the registered address is for an email account that you no longer have access to. In this situation the club can, for many members, amend the email address held. Please contact us if this applies to you
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| Slam Bidding Seminar |
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The club hosted a very successful seminar on Tuesday 26th April from teacher and world ranked player Michael Byrne.
The topic this month was Slam Bidding and with over 30 people attending our main room was almost full.
After the talk from Michael, attendees played a series of pre-prepared hands designed to put their learning into practice.
Slams were bid and made, not bid and made and bid but not made!
It's a lifelong learning journey and hopefully everyone went away a little wiser than when they arrived!
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| New Weekly Schedule at the Club |
The Club has a new agreement with our landlord and can now expand our face-to-face sessions of Club Duplicates and Supervised Duplicate bridge.
Many members have expressed an interest in afternoon face to face bridge and our current afternoon sessions (Supervised Duplicate on Monday & monthly Michael Byrne seminars) are proving very popular.
We have therefore decided to trial Tuesday afternoon duplicates. These are proving to be popular and have the added attraction of home made cakes being provided by some members
The new weekly face-to-face schedule
Monday 1pm Supervised Duplicate - this session is targeted at Beginners to Improvers and is proving very popular. We regularly have 5-7 tables and it is a very social afternoon. The session comprises a short lesson on a particular topic followeed by supervised play hosted by Paul Murray
Monday 7:15pm Club Duplicate
Tuesday 1:30pm NEW!! Club Duplicate (every Tuesday afternoon except when there is a Michael Byrne seminar). Minimum 18 boards.
Tuesday 7pm NEW!! Supervised Duplicate - this session follows the same format as Monday afternoon but is targeted at Improvers to Intermediates
Wednesday 7:15pm Club Duplicate
Please come along and support one or more of these sessions - your bridge club needs you!!!
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| Hubert Phillips Plate |
Hackett team wins Hubert Phillips Plate
The Hubert Phillips Plate - the consolation event in the EBU's mixed pivot teams competition - has been won by the team of Barbara Hackett, Jason Hackett, Paul Hackett & Martin Taylor. A veritable list of stars all with a close association with our Bridge Club.
They beat Neil Crawford, Bob Holder, Joan Murphy, David Owen & Phil Thornton in the final.
Many Congratulations to the whole team.
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| England U21 Team Qualifies for World Championships |
Congratulations to Michael Byrne who, as non-playing captain of the England under 21s, guided the team to qualifying for the World Championships next summer. They were playing at the recent European Junior Championships in Velhoven in the Netherlands.
The team got off to a poor start, being in bottom place at the end of day one. But things improved, and the second half of the tournament saw them really get going. They won their final 5 matches to qualify with ease.
We can't promise that Michael will have the same impact on your game, but why not come along to his popular teaching seminars at The Manchester Bridge Club. This month's topic covered 4th Suit Forcing, and was very well received by all those who attended ........ as was the gooey chocolate cake that Michael provided
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| Secretary's Newsletter for July |
Secretary’s Newsletter July 2022
July has started brightly – and I don’t just mean the weather.
We have a new deal with the Tennis and Bowls Club which gives us more certainty about our ongoing use of their premises and also that they are at last going to fix the leaking roof which has caused damp related problems.
On Thursday 7th July We have a very pleasant afternoon’s Bridge with our visitor, David , from Luxembourg which attracted a good turnout and a very keenly contested session.
Monday 11th July, a very hot day, also brought a record number of new people into Paul Murray’s 1.00pm Improver Class.
We had 2 boys, Tristan and Timeo, from Manchester Grammar, who have been getting lessons at the school from Dr Tom Dessain. Tom is a Maths Teacher at MGS and a formidable Bridge player who has represented England and is, of course, a member of our Club.
We had a gentleman, Fly Leung, originally from Hong Kong , who played with us for the first time, as did John Dunn and John Sidebotham. It meant we had 8 full tables and another great atmosphere.
AND THERE’S MORE……on Tuesday Henry Ding made a welcome return to the Club having not played since before the outbreak of Covid. Fly also returned and this time brought his friend Kit Wong, also originally from Hong Kong, to join him. In less than a week we have welcomed 6 new players so if you would like to meet them, please come along.
Susan Triggs has also recently completed the final week of her Beginner’s Course but so keen are her students to learn more that nine of them have returned to play a new Supervised Bridge session under Susan’s expert eye. Many of these have already signed up to be members.
We believe we may be unique in offering a spread of quality tuition that extends from beginners through improvers to mature players.
Please look out for upcoming dates for the RUIA Cup and Eve Lighthill teams competitions. These long-standing MBC ‘Teams of Four’ contests have traditionally been played over 3 evenings…
We have decided to hold each of them in their own evening session to encourage face-to-face participation.
Please look out for the entry form on the website where you can enter your team. We will advise on the dates for these events in due course.
Two stalwarts of the Club, Vera and Dave, also finally got away on their postponed holiday – touring Canada in an RV- and hopefully having a great time.
And finally…..
..... see less
Secretary’s Newsletter July 2022
July has started brightly – and I don’t just mean the weather. ..........
..... see more |
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| Big Cheeses Attending Cheese Evening June 8th |
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While our Chairman, Paul Murray, was playing in the Mutton Cup in April he got talking to Wayne Somerville, a Northern Irish international player......
Wayne mentioned that he would be in Manchester on June 8th and would like to come along to our Club......
Jonathan Lillycrop, a senior EBU TD, and our very own Jason Hackett also said they would like to attend......
This was the seed of an idea for a special duplicate evening on that date, with the chance to exerience what it is like to play against the top players.
Remember, you only improve by playing against people that are better than you!
To recreate the playing atmosphere of earlier days, in addition to our normal endless supplies of biscuits, tea & coffee, there will also be a cheese supper
We aim to play 22-24 boards. Table money will be £4 for MBC members and £6 for non-members. Please arrive at 7pm for a 7.15pm start.
For those interested there will be a further ‘supper’ afterwards at the Great Katmandhu Indian restaurant on Burton Road in West Didsbury.
Please let Paul Murray know if you intend to come along – it should be a fun, very social but competitive evening.
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| Club Bank Account |
For making payments to the club
Sort Code xx-xx-xx
Account Number xxxxxxxx
Account Name: Manchester Bridge Club
Please use your Firstname and Surname as the payment reference
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| Mayday Mayday Mayday! |
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Sunday 1st May 2022 saw our
1,000th online game
Thanks to those that participated - prize winners are
♠ 1st prize £20 each ♠ Graham Winn & Susan Triggs
♥ 2nd prize £10 each ♥ Audrey Sternshire & Jeff Morris
♦ 3rd prize £5 each ♦ - Peter Grauer & Maureen Seddon
♣ £4 each to the best pairs with NGS averages of:
over 60% - Andy Brocklehurst & Geroge Balon
51% - 59% - Rose Davenport & Ray Hill
45% - 50% - Linda Williams & Paul Jones
40% - 45% - Shirley Leak & Anne Naylor
♣ Pair with nearest score to 50%: £4 each ♣.
John Bridgman & Ian Mackie
♣ A special prize for best intermediate performance : £4 each ♣
Maria & Frank Eade
Prizes will be 'paid' into your online account with TMBC
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| Sunday Improvers |
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NOW EVERY SUNDAY MORNING!
IMPROVERS ON-LINE DUPLICATE AT 11am!
By popular demand we hold a weekly BBO Online Session specifically for those who have learnt the basics but want to improve their bridge. These sessions will be £3.75 each to enter for members and £4.50 for non-members (with concessions for students – see Paul).
Please lodge (say £20) payment for a few games 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 Paul Murray or Anne Naylor by email / text to inform them of your BBO User Name and email address.
Paul: paul.murraysafc@gmail.com text: 07776 200962
Anne: grannyannie53@btinternet.com text: 07952 786957
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 BBO 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 )
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| A good night was had by all |
On Wednesday 8th the Bridge Club played host to a special Club Duplicate with some very special people.......
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| Lance Bloohn |
We are sorry to inform members of the passing away of Lance.
Lance was a member of the Manchester Bridge Club from the early 1980s. He took beginners lessons in the club but showed himself to be keen to improve and soon was joining in the rubber bridge games in the club. He loved his bridge and dabbled with duplicate, but for many years he was a stalwart of the club's rubber bridge games. He was a regular at the lunchtime bidding competitions at the Nose and Metropolitan with Tom Middleton, Alan Nelson and Sid Travers. When Tom Middleton struggled with Parkinsons, Lance stepped in to help by holding and playing the cards for Tom in pairs and teams events. He did the same for Lesley Johnson in the final stages of her motor neurone disease. Although he did not play much in recent years, he often dropped in to the club to watch the games and to have a chat. He will be greatly missed.
His funeral will be on Monday 13th June, 4:00pm, at Manchester Crematorium on Barlow Moor Road, M21 7GZ, and afterwards at Trafalgar Court, 199 Withington Road, Whalley Range, M16 8FW
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We are sorry to inform members of the passing away of Lance.
Lance was a member of the Manchester Br ..........
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| Mike Burtt |
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Mike Burtt at the age of 84.
He died on Monday 23rd May after over four months in hospital.
His funeral will be held on Monday 13th June, 11:00am, at Altrincham Crematorium, WA14 5RH. After the funeral a wake will be held at the Axe and Cleaver, School Lane, Dunham Town, WA14 4SE.
A fuller profile, including an article about Mike first published in an MBC Newsletter, is available in the In Memorium section. Follow this link for more details
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It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Mike Burtt at the age of 84.
He died on Monda ..........
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| Festival Stall Cancelled |
 We have made the difficult decision to not have a stall at this year’s Didsbury festival, as we don't have enough people signed up to make this a successful day
We would like to thank the people who did put their names forward, it is very much appreciated, even if we didn’t get enough support to run the stall this year
The Festival is a very vibrant local event and well worth visiting on June 11th. Details of the Festival here
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| Parkinsons Fundraising Event on June 26th |
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The Manchester Bridge Club is hosting a fundraising event in support the Parkinson's Research Fund on Sunday 26th June, starting at 11:00am.
The event is being organised by Raymond Semp, in memory of his good friend and Manchester stalwart John Buck, who died of Parkinson's disease in 2019.
All of the proceeds of the event will go to the Parkinson's Research Fund, so the more players that participate the more is collected for this charity.
EVERY pair in the event will win a cash prize, all the prizes being generously donated by Raymond Semp.
First prize will be £300 for the pair but every pair is guaranteed a prize.
The event be held Face to Face at on Sunday 26th June
The competition is a “PAR” Contest. The format may appear slightly confusing, but that will disappear once you get into the event, and it looks set to be an enjoyable and very entertaining day
Raymond explains:
For those players who have never played in a Par Contest I should like to highlight the basic format.
First and foremost, the hands are not only pre-dealt, they have been specially prepared as problems by me, the Organiser.
Points are awarded for making or defeating the directed contracts you are asked to play.
Points are also awarded for bidding to the correct contact, which is not always the directed one.
When playing in a standard match pointed competition your goal is to out-play the pairs that are sitting in your direction. e.g., N-S or E-W. It is also your aim to put pressure on the pair you are playing against at any one time in order to make them play in the wrong contract or mis-defend.
It also important to make as many tricks as possible, sometimes at the expense of going down.
Sometime you play in Notrumps to gain the extra ten points in order to get the best possible result.
In a Par Contest you have only one competitor …….. “PAR”.
The interpretation of which is:
- Bid to the right contract
- Make or defeat the contract you are directed to play in
- Make the correct lead
Which means:
- If you were to mis-lead your opponents into bidding 5D instead of 3NT and both contracts are making 11 tricks, it will not help your score one iota.
- If your opponent’s bid and make a Grand Slam on a double squeeze that nobody else had bid, to date, that too will not have damaged your score in the slightest. You and your partner are the only ones to affect your score.
- In short, your aim is to either make the contract you are directed to play in or defeat it
- The other minor problem you have is, you don’t know which, immediately you see dummy
You must also bid to what I have decided is the right contract and finally make the correct lead.
There is one advantage you do have when playing in a “Par” Contest, you know there is a problem.
Another important note to remember, if you have bid to say; 3♠, all pass, but are directed to play in 6S, don’t be dismayed and lose concentration because you think it is a crazy contract to be in. 3♠ might score the maximum bidding points and making 12 tricks will give you the maximum play points. What contract you are directed to play in might not be the correct one.
Also note, if you are in 4♠ with seemingly 10 top tricks ……… Don’t assume you are going to make it, look for what might go wrong, it surely will.
Finally, if you are eventually defending you will hear your opponents bid to their desired contract their way, then you will hear the directed bidding (With explanations). IGNORE your opponent’s bidding, listen only to the directed bidding.
If you take any inference from opponents bidding and mis-defend it will be entirely your own fault – so don’t blame me. That also goes for when you are declarer, don’t finesse the wrong way because that opponent had bid but did not in the directed sequence, use the inferences you should have learnt from counting defenders’ hand or from any other information you might have gleaned.
I will be giving out a few more explanations on the day.
I hope you have an enjoyable and entertaining day and thank you for supporting this worthy Charity.
Raymond Semp
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| Didsbury Festival Registration |
Please fill in the form below if you are able to lend an hour or so to help with the running of our stall at this year's Didsbury festival
Include an email address and/or phone number with which to contact you.
Please let us know if there are any time restrictions that you are aware of at the present time, e.g. can't be there before 2
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| Volunteer for Didsbury Festival June 11th (Copy) |
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We urgently need more people to give an hour or so of their time to help make our presence at this event viable.
Thank you to those who have already stepped forward, please see below for details of the festival and how to get involved
The Manchester Bridge Club has managed to bag a pitch at the lively and ever popular Didsbury Festival which is celebrating its 40th anniversary on Saturday 11th June. We want to promote our club and encourage people who may already play bridge, but not know about us, to come along to our F2F Duplicates or join our online games. We also want to encourage people to learn to play bridge and join our beginner's classes.
If you haven't attended this festival before then you are in for a treat. It is very upbeat, kicking off with a carnival procession at 11:00 and includes various makers markets, live music, dog trials, charity stalls, local dance troops plus great food, all in a beautiful garden/park setting.
We need more people, ie You, to volunteer to help at our stall and talk to people about our great club. We will be handing out free TMBC branded playing card and leaflets plus showing any visitors the very basics of how to play bridge. We are only asking our members for an hour or so of their time then they can relax and enjoy the rest of this fun festival. We need volunteers from 11am to 4pm.
Click here if you are able to help or contact Susan Triggs directly via email grasan30@gmail.com
Click here for a handy link to the Didsbury Festival website.
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| Bridge Presentation at the Women's Institute |
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Susan Triggs gave a talk to the Cheadle Women's Institute about the game of Bridge. The talk was very well attended, with 50 to 60 people in the audience, and included a couple of practice mini-bridge hands.
Jan Lancaster, Graham Winn, Vera Lowson and Dave Fernley were there to assist with the practice games, which were somewhat chaotic at first but very enjoyable. The feedback we received was very positive. We also handed out packs of club branded playing cards and EBU supplied leaflets promoting the game and giving contact details for our teaching sessions.
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| Bridgemate Refurbishment |
Seven of our worst Bridgemate handsets have been sent for cleaning, repair and refurbishment.
They are now seven of our best Bridgemates and I can report that they are a joy to use.
Our Bridgemates have been in use for over 12 years, and in that time have accumulated much in the way of coffee residue, biscuit crumbs, cheese and crackers, and were no doubt supporting a rich and varied ecosystem!
But don't take my word for it, come and try them for yourselves!
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| Simultaneous Pairs Event Raising Money For Ukraine |
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The event on Wednesday 13 April raised £283 for UNICEF's work in Ukraine.
We joined 1,110 other people at 42 clubs in 6 countries, all playing the same boards.
Our local winners for the evening, Peter Grauer and Ann Wood with a score of 64.37%, came 21st in the overall field achieving a score of 63.15%.
Well done Ann and Peter!
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| Easter Monday 18th April |
 The winners of the Easter eggs were
1pm Supervised - Pat Cregg
7:15pm Duplicate in club - Ron Butler
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| Evening Bridge from Monday to Wednesday |
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As everyone gets used to zero restrictions, we are slowly seeing a return to face-to-face bridge
Hope to see you at 7.15pm Mon - Wed for a social, competitive game at the Club
We look forward to seeing some of you for the first time in over TWO YEARS!
Come along - you know you want to!
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| Tuesday Evening Hybrid Duplicate |
♠ ♥. Tuesday Evening Hybrid Session .♦ ♣
Same Boards for
RealBridge and F2F at the Club
Join at 7:00 pm. See schedule for price. RealBridge Link below.
If you are joining online please put your name and EBU number in as shown on your EBU account.
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| World Bridge Championships |
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The Bridge World Championships have just taken place in northern Italy in Salsamaggiore and The Manchester Bridge Club and the north west have links to many of the England players.
Three separate events took place which involved a team from England. The Bermuda Bowl (Open World Championships) had 3 pairs playing for the England Team and Michael Byrne partnered Kieran Dyke. Michael has a long association with our club and ran his first improvers lesson for our member's club on 24th March and will be giving a lesson for the club on a monthly basis in the future. A definite opportunity to be taught be an Expert!. In the D'Orsi Bowl (Senior World Championships) we had three of our members in the team. Paul Hackett is partnered Brian Senior and John Hassett partnered John Holland. Paul Hackett and John Hassett are members of our club and play rubber bridge at our club on a regular basis. John Holland is also a member of our club and Brian Senior is locally based. The team's coach is Alan Mould who is the Secretary of the Manchester County Bridge Association. In the Venice Cup (Women's World Championships) Catherine Draper (who is a member of our club) partnered Gillian Fawcett. Both Catherine and Gillian play in our online games.
On Sunday afternoon, 3rd April, (after Round 23) England finished in 5th place in the Bermuda Bowl, 13th place in the D'Orsi Bowl and 2nd place in the Venice Cup. This meant that Michael Byrne and Kieran Dyke were through to the quarter finals as were Catherine Draper and Gillian Fawcett. Great results for these teams. The seniors team were doing well in the early rounds but lost to both Canada and USA 1 in round 22 and 23.
The Quarter Finals finished with good news and not so good news for England. In the Venice Cup England had a great 4th round and went on to beat France 219 to 170. Catherine Draper and Gillian Fawcett were in this team. In the Bermuda Bowl, England were winning their match on the first day but ended up losing to Switzerland 182 - 139. The match was extremely close until the final two rounds. In the semi finals in the Venice Cup Turkey beat England by 236 to 193.
Final Resutls - Bermuda Bowl (Open) Switzerland beat the Netherlands 167 - 164, the Venice Cup (Women's) Sweden beat Turkey 253 - 170 and in the d'Orsi Trophy (Seniors) Poland beat India 239 - 194
The results from the Seniors, Women's and Open teams are on the World Bridge Federation website, here.
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| Over £400 raised for MacMillan |
 We hosted a very successful and enjoyable game on BBO on 30 March to raise funds for MacMillan. Over £400 was raised, and we have received the following thank you:
On behalf of all the members of The Inner Wheel Club of Hazel Grove, I would like to thank The Manchester Bridge Club for agreeing to partner us in our recent on line competition for Macmillan Nurses.
I, personally, am very grateful to you and your team, for all the exceptional help you have given me in setting up and running the event.
I am delighted to be able to inform you, that, thanks to your generosity, together with that of your members and everyone who took part, we have raised the wonderful sum of over £425.00.
All of us know how lucky we are in having Macmillan Nurses to come and help with end of life and respite care in our region .
In these challenging times for fund raising, we are proud that, because of your help, we will be able to make a much needed contribution to their work
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| Tournament Director Training |
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Several of our members received training on the Laws of Bridge from Tony Hawarth of Porthcawl Bridge Club.
It was an excellent course, with many role playing exercises, with the aim of making our club self sufficient in TDs capable of running duplicate pairs events.
We learnt how to apply the rules for what are called 'Book Rulings', i.e. areas where the TD does not have discretion to decide what to do. It covers many of the more commonly encountered situations such as revokes, bidding or playing out of turn, penalty cards, insufficient bids, and more....
I think it fair to say that we all thoroughly enjoyed learning some new skills and concepts. So please come along and provide our new TDs with some rule infringements for them to put their new skills and knowledge into practice!
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| Annual General Meeting Announcement |
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| Treats for Monday afternoon players |
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Anne Naylor is organising a series of special treats and prizes for our ever expanding number of players on a Monday afternoon. There is a short lesson before the start of the supervised duplicate.
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| Gazette Cup |
THE MANCHESTER BRIDGE CLUB WINS THE GAZETTE CUP INTER CLUB TEAMS OF EIGHT COMPETITION
Sunday, February 6th 2022
Congratulations to our Manchester Bridge Club team led by David Debbage on winning the Gazette Cup.
Our 4 pair team was John Hassett/Rhona Goldenfield, Paul Murray/Andrew Woodcock, Karen Reissman/Irene Davies and David Debbage/Eve Lighthill. The team will represent the County in the Regional Finals of the National Garden Cities competition on May 8th on RealBridge. The full results are on the Manchester Events section of the Manchester County Bridge Association website.
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| Attendance at our evening duplicates is improving |
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As Covid restrictions are eased, more of our members are returning to play in our evening duplicates. Quite a few of our members played F2F bridge last week for the first time for nearly two years and had a really pleasant evening. Why not join us? Play starts at 7.15pm and finishes at approximately 10.15/30pm.
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| Annual Subscriptions |
A reminder that it's that time of year again when your annual subscriptions are due. Due to the really big changes face the club we would be grateful if members can pay their subscriptions by 31st January 2022.
The annual subscription has remained the same this year and is: £50 for individual members and £80 for couples residing at the same address.
Please make your payments electronically if at all possible to : Manchester Bridge Club Sort Code: 40-11-56 Account 90730807
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| Daytime Bridge Survey |
We want to offer daytime face to face bridge in the club to our members.
To do this successfully we need to know whether there is an appetite for this, and if so which days of the week and times of day would work best.
At this stage this is just an opinion gathering exercise, but we hope to move quickly on this once we understand peoples views
As an example, a morning session might be between 10am and 1pm, an afternoon session could be between 1pm and 4pm. Use the comments box if you wish to add any other thoughts and ideas
Please be mindful of the fact that even though this survey asks about different days and times, we are unlikely to move the very successful classes being run on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Also, offering face to face bridge on days that the club is currently closed will require agreement with the tennis club as our landlord, but knowing what people want is an essential first step in this process.
Initially we will look to offer one daytime session, and consult again before changing this, so please indicate on the form which day(s) would or wouldn't work for you. Fill in as many days as you wish, and there is a place for any other comments you may wish to make. For example, if you would need to find a partner to be able to play or would benefit from a hosting system please indicate via the comments
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| Update on Table Fees |
Our February special offer period for evening face to face table money games is coming to an end.
The February offer was successful in raising face to face attendance compared to January, but not by as much as we had hoped. February saw an average of only 3 tables per evening – on which we feel we can improve!
The Committee feels our new rate is good value especially as we will strive to play a minimum of 21 boards and will continue to include unlimited tea, coffee and snacks during the evening. Clearly, we need to find a balance between the needs for Club revenue, local competitiveness and the best value for our members and guests.
In addition, we are also looking at a special offer for new prospective members and players, so that they pay close to member rates for their first few games and are encouraged to join the Club. Please help by being welcoming and helpful to new players at the table.
From Tuesday 15th March our face-to-face table money will be £4 for members and £6 for visitors.
This is a reduction of 33% from our pre-February table money for members and 25% less for non-members.
Online entry fees will remain unchanged at £3.75 for members and £4.50 for non-members (please be aware our costs for online are MUCH higher than they are for face-to-face bridge – mainly due to the BBO hosting and TD costs incurred).
We welcome your feedback on table money and online entry fees. Please just speak to, call or email any member of the committee.
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| Return of F2F Bridge |
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Since returning to Face to Face Bridge on July 9th 2021, we've had many enjoyable evenings playing bridge - but we'd like more participants!
Thank you to our members/guests for joining in and we look forward to having everyone else back soon to enjoy a relaxing evening's bridge.
Now that restrictions have all but been removed, we look forward to more members and guests returning to the Club in person!!
Face to Face bridge is currently being held every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening starting at 7.15pm.
WHY NOT COME ALONG AND JOIN US?
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| Tournament Director's Course |
We are setting up a Tournament Directors course to take place probably on the weekend of 26th and 27th March. The course will last will enable participants to direct our club duplicates and by attending one further day on an EBU assessment course also direct County events. We really need to make sure we have sufficient members who are properly trained to run our face to face duplicates. We already have 5 members who want to go on the course but if any-one else is interested please email Paul Murray asap (paul.murraysafc@gmail.com.) The Club will pay for the cost of the course.
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| Manchester Bridge Club Hosts the Teltscher Trials |
 Manchester Bridge Club was proud to host the
Teltscher Senior Trials 2022
for the EBU from Friday 28th January to Sunday 30th January 2022.
The top three pairs in the Teltscher Trials will qualify to represent the England Seniors team in the 2022 Telscher Trophy.
Ten pairs competed for a place.
Some of the players hoping for an England place are very well known to us. Paul Hackett who regularly plays for England Seniors is playing with his partner John Sansom. Paul regularly plays rubber bridge at Manchester Bridge Club. Other local players are John Holland and Gary Hyett. Brian Senior has links with our club, so too have Sally Brock and Barry Myers who always play in and support the MCBA Congress, The EBU are provided special screened tables for the event so our bridge club looked very different over the weekend!.
We are very grateful to all the volunteers from our club who opened up and closed the club during each day of the trials and were also b in attendance during the play sessions to ensure everything ran smoothly.
The final results - the first 3 placed pairs were: 1st Patrick Shields and Richard Chamberlain, 2nd John Holland and Gary Hyett and 3rd Malcolm Pryor and David Kendrick
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| Photos from the Teltscher Trials |
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| INTERESTING HANDS |
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INTERESTING HANDS
We have introduced a new feature where you can send in the details of any interesting hands that you have played.
These can then be added to the new "library" that has started under the "Interesting Hands" yellow tab on the top left hand side of this page (currently the fifth one down)
If you would like a hand you have played recently to be included please forward it by email to Dave Debbage in the same format as the ones now showing.
PS They don't have to be the perfect ones - ones where you go wrong can also be fun and a good lesson!!
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| Member's Special Offer for February |
February Offer!
50% off table money for members
Monday - Wednesday evenings at the Club
To celebrate our success in hosting the Teltscher Trophy we are going to offer all our members a 50% reduction in table money for our evening duplicates for all of February. If you come to play in an evening duplicate at the club, members will pay £3 and non-members will pay £6.
We want to encourage more of our members to return to the club to play face-to face in our evening duplicates on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7.15pm.
If you haven't yet renewed your membership, please do so and you will be also be entitled to this reduction.
Online prices will remain the same.
If you've not been back to the club yet come and see the changes. We have a new coffee machine, a Chip & Pin payment option for your table money, a new clock in the main room along with air conditioning and ventilation. The interim committee members have worked hard to clean the club and repair the chairs, doors, fixtures and fittings.
But most of all, we'd love to see you all again after two years.
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| Manchester Bridge Club thanks Annie Curtis |
Manchester Bridge Club would like to thank Annie Curtis for her amazing work on developing and updating our club website, surely one of the best, if not the best in the country.
Annie has worked tirelessly on the website for many years but has decided it is time to do other things. There is a considerable amount of work involved in keeping the website up to date and Annie is one of the unsung heroes of our club.
We wish Annie all the best for 2022 and of course for a wonderful retirement - but sorry Annie - we might have to disturb you occasionally for some advice.
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| Celebrate Valentine's Day at Manchester Bridge Club |
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♥ ♥ Congratulations♥ ♥ to Linda Williams and Paul Jones for winning our Valentine's Day Competition. They bid and made the most ♥ ♥ HEARTS ♥ ♥ contracts and each receive a prize of a box of chocolates. In the afternoon duplicate the winners were Lauren Millar and Madeline Rose who also both received a box of chocolates. Everyone really enjoyed Dave Fernley's home-baked shortbread biscuits.
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