Survey on Return to Face-Face Bridge, July 2021

25 July 2021

204 members responded (42.5% of 481 members), but it is not too late to send a response. We will close the poll at the end of July. Not surprisingly your views are mixed. 49% would prefer to continue playing on-line bridge at the moment and your comments show that many of those who would prefer face-to-face still feel that now is not the right time.

The results are summarised in this pie chart.

Most of you either prefer the platform of RealBridge or are happy to play on either BBO or RealBridge. Only 19% would rather use BBO. The bridge committee will bear this in mind when considering future arrangements.

The rise in cases of COVID-19 within Oxford and surrounding areas is concerning, so I am afraid that we have no immediate plans to reopen. I very much hope we can offer limited face-to-face bridge in September, so that the club is catering for all its members. I wish we could find a way of encouraging those of you who have not tried online bridge to give it a go. Please do contact me if you would like some help.

It is crucial that anyone who is considering playing face-to-face bridge has had both doses of the vaccine as this will generally protect against serious illness (although it is not fool proof). As you probably know, most transmission of the virus is airborne through direct contact with respiratory droplets from an infected person. We will do our best to ensure good ventilation in the club when we do reopen. It goes without saying that no-one with any viral illness, especially a “cold”, should play face-to-face bridge in the club.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the survey and to Richard Sills for setting it up. We will keep the situation under review. The trustees meet again in August.

Sue Burge

Chairman

Reopening the clubhouse: factsheet and survey

15 July 2021

With the progressive easing of Covid-19 restrictions, members may be wondering when and how we may return to play bridge face-to-face at the clubhouse.

Trustees are aware that some players will be eager to get back to playing bridge face-to-face. However, members will also expect the trustees to exercise caution. So, we shall be guided not only by the lifting of government regulations, but also by advice from the EBU, the experience of other bridge clubs, and our own risk assessment.

We hope to start running some face-to-face sessions at the clubhouse within the next few weeks (date to be confirmed). These are the main things we can now tell you:

1. We are doing a survey of all bridge playing members, which goes out simultaneously with this factsheet. We need as many of you as possible to complete this survey, so that we can provide the bridge sessions that you want. The survey does not cover bridge lessons – we will consult Bridge for All students separately well before the next term in October.
2. We will probably begin by running one or two hybrid sessions, where players can take part in a session either at the clubhouse or online, with results being pooled at the end. Most sessions will remain online-only until face-to-face bridge is properly established.
3. We will do our best to mitigate the risks of infection. Tables will be spaced as far apart as is practical. We will open doors and windows, as far as the weather permits, to facilitate a through draught of air. We will provide some hand sanitiser, but suggest you also bring your own. You do not need to wear a mask when playing bridge (though of course you can if you wish). We will provide tea and coffee as usual, but we ask you not to cluster round the kitchen area.
4. You will need to book and pay for face-to-face bridge in advance, as you do for many of our online events. Make sure your partner also books – there will not be a host for face-to-face bridge (at least not initially). When you book, you will be asked to confirm that you have no covid symptoms, have been vaccinated against covid (or are medically exempt or too young), and have not recently travelled abroad.
5. If we do not have enough pre-bookings, the face-to-face event will be cancelled the morning or evening before (depending on the time of the session). Check that the event is still running before you set off to the clubhouse. The director will tell you where to sit when you arrive.
6. As numbers for face-to-face sessions may be quite low initially, we will probably play Howell movements where most players have to move, but we should be able to accommodate one or two stationary pairs.

We hope this gives you the crucial information. We will confirm the arrangements once we have the results of the survey, and we will keep updating them as required. If you have queries, please email Richard Sills communications@oxfordbridgeclub.com

Please try to complete the survey within the next week, so that we have the results by the day of the AGM. Please note that the survey is for OBC members only; and each member may complete it only once. To access the survey, please click on the link in the email sent to you by OBC today (15 July 2021). If the link does not work, please copy and paste the URL into your browser bar.