Pall Mall Bridge Circle May Newsletter |
Pall Mall Bridge Circle May Newsletter |
Hello Everyone, |
I am trying to type this newsletter with one hand as I am madly packing a bag for a lovely two week break in Portugal. I know that it is not particularly exotic but I am desperate for some warm sunshine! |
After the sunshine, we have a whistle stop of two days in London that includes The Centenary Cup, a Pall Mall House Committee meeting and an important Chess Tournament for my Bridge partner/husband. |
Then onto Washington D.C. for another Royal Automobile Club Chess match. This particular Chess match has been taking place for around thirty-eight years with many retired Senators and various Washington luminaries. |
I love the United States of America but in all honesty I am not a great fan of Washington. I think if one isn't working for the government it can be an unfriendly place. When there, I always start thinking about 'House of Cards' and Frank Underwood the ruthless politician at the centre of the story. His initialled cufflinks always summed him up very well! I also loved one of the theme stories in the series about his State of Georgia known as the 'Peach State'. Those of you who have watched the series will know what I am talking about and like myself will be laughing. If you have not watched the series then please do ignore my ramblings! |
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News |
I wanted to mention this last month and for some reason did not, forgive me! On Monday 4 March a new pair came together for the first time at our Duplicate and they came top with 61.91%. What is even nicer is that, without being indelicate to either of the players, this is an intergenerational team of Kay Vickers and Oliver Wand. |
The following week I witnessed the most charming scene of a huge embrace between them for their success. A very well done to you both. Some of you may not know Oliver is now a third generation 'Wand' playing at the Royal Automobile Club. We all know his father Howard, who was my mentor, and there was also Oliver’s grandfather who was an avid Royal Automobile Club Bridge player! |
On Monday 22 April we held our first Monday Afternoon Bridge session. I was concerned that we may not have many players. How wrong could I be? We had thirty four players (eight and a half tables) who spent a lovely afternoon in the Terrace Room. |
We were pleased to welcome some players from Anne’s Intermediate Bridge Class taking the plunge. Apart from the regulars at the Thursday Club Nights, the afternoon Duplicate pairs sessions cater to Royal Automobile Club members and our invited guests from ‘St James‘s Clubs’ who are keen to occasionally play Bridge on a weekday afternoon. |
As the summer holidays approach we will hold-off on the next event until September. So do look out for dates which I am in the process of arranging at the moment. These dates will be well advertised once confirmed. |
This is not Bridge news but pertains to a very popular Club team member. This member has helped the Bridge Circle enormously and is held in high esteem by our players. I am therefore delighted to let you all know that Karolina Delig welcomed a much longed for daughter into the world on the morning of Thursday 4 April. Mother and baby are healthy and very happy. |
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Inter-club Matches (Upcoming and Match Reports) |
The Royal Automobile Club will be welcoming the Cumberland Club to Pall Mall on Wednesday 15 May. Our team comprises of Pralab B/Trevor S David W/Mark A Martin L/Pauli L Jill P/David O. |
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Match Reports |
On Wednesday 27 March the Royal Automobile Club had the pleasure of visiting Queens Tennis Club for our annual match - not tennis - Bridge! |
As usual the Queens Club players were delightful and made us extremely welcome. We always have great fun and the match is played in a very friendly spirit. |
Sadly, things did not go so well for the Royal Automobile Club and, at one point, I did wonder if I would do better with a tennis racket rather than a hand of cards. |
Many commented that there were some very odd distributions in the hands which made bidding quite difficult. Yes, we lost the match but we had a lovely dinner afterwards. The wine flowed and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Report submitted by Match Captain, Fiona McWatters. |
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A team of eight players from the Royal Automobile Club accompanied by four spouses made their way to Belgium to the Royal International Club Château Sainte-Anne on the weekend of Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 April. |
The return match of this new fixture against the Château Sainte-Anne, our reciprocal club in Brussels, was played on the Monday 15 April. |
Our hosts, as was to be expected, laid on a sumptuous meal accompanied by fine wine. We finished the meal with coffee/tea accompanied by delicious Belgian chocolates. |
After the narrow defeat in the inaugural match last year the Royal Automobile Club redeemed itself to win the match by 69 Imps. |
We look forward to welcoming our new friends to London in 2025 for ‘La Belle’. The Royal Automobile Club was represented by Marina and Lester, Howard S and Pralab, Pascale and John C and Andrew and David G. |
Report kindly submitted by Match Captain, Lester Pereira. |
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Sport is a game often played in two halves. Our annual Bridge match against Lord’s Taverner's on Wednesday 17 April progressed so brilliantly over the first twelve boards, with the Royal Automobile Club team leading by a narrow 2 imps. Sadly, over the final twelve boards you might call it 'crash and burn' as the mighty Taverner's team got into their stride and took an overall lead of 57 imps. |
Taverner's were captained by Jonathan Hoffman, who has lead them so magnificently for some dozen years. Jonathan is hanging up his pads and to-date a new Jonathan is not walking from the pavilion to the crease to open a new innings. |
We should celebrate the high quality of the matches we have enjoyed over the years and wish our many friends from Lord’s Taverner's the very best for the future. |
The Royal Automobile Club team who played their best were Andrew Kisiel and David Glass, Marina and Paul Weston, Sally and Paul Found, David Mannooch and Michael Bailey. |
Report kindly submitted by Match Captain Michael Bailey |
I would like to sincerely thank Marina Chaning Pearce, Andrew Kisiel and David Glass who gallantly played on Monday 15 April in Belgium, travelled home to London on Tuesday 16 April and then played in the Lord’s Taverner's match on Wednesday 17 April. |
You all have amazing stamina! Once again thank you so much. |
Royal Automobile Club Matches |
We welcomed Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Park to Pall Mall on Wednesday 10 April and had a most enjoyable afternoon match against a strong team led by Stewart Broome. |
The match fortunes fluctuated much like our spring weather. Pall Mall fought hard but left their comeback a little late in the day and Woodcote Park ran out worthy winners by 27 IMPs. |
Pall Mall was represented by David Wilson, Martin Langdon, Pauli Laumen, Brigitte Kissiel, Mark Alcock, Jeremy Wright, Fiona McWatters and Henry McWatters. |
Report was kindly submitted by the Team Captain, David Wilson. |
After the match it seems that our Woodcote Park friends had a rather eventful journey home as a few individuals got stuck in a lift at Waterloo station. The rest of the team looked on with dismay as all they could see were legs and shoes when the lift doors opened. I do hope this does not put them off visiting us again. |
We held the Upstairs/Downstairs Match on Tuesday 16 April. The name refers to the fact that the students used to play upstairs (in the Simms Centre) and the duplicate players downstairs. So we have an eight person teams match to give some experience to the students. |
We do the scoring by hand so that the students learn more about scoring and how to calculate cross imps. |
Upstairs was represented by Elizabeth and Josh, Sandy and Sy, Dorothy and Harvey and Madeline and Ann. Downstairs was represented by Oliver and Paul, Ingrid and Derek, Cecilia and Dermot and David and John. |
After twelve boards the Upstairs team was 8 imps ahead. We had a break for sandwiches and cake and a glass of Club wine. At the end of the second half the Downstairs had pulled a bit back but the Upstairs team was still ahead by 3 imps. |
It was a close match throughout and played in a very friendly but competitive atmosphere. |
There were some interesting hands but I will give you one very unusual one:
- Void
- AQ2
- Void
- AKQ10987532
What would you open with that? |
Match report kindly submitted by Anne Catchpole. |
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Bridge School |
The Beginners and Intermediate classes continue to be very busy. |
Both the Beginners and Intermediate 'terms' come to an end in early summer. Any Royal Automobile Club members wanting to start to learn Bridge should look out for our Beginners Bridge Weekend in September when we will start again with some new enthusiastic students. |
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General Information |
Our WhatsApp group now has fifty-three members. A number which I am very pleased I need to revise each month as they continue to increase. |
If you are looking for a partner on a Thursday evening this is the place to come to. Please can I stress it is only for Thursday evening or other club matches which I advertise from time to time. If you could use another form of connection for private matches or any other information, all participants would be very grateful. |
There is a very annoying new feature on WhatsApp called 'voice chat' and I am begging you not to click on it as it has totally jammed up our group and is really annoying. That is modern technology for you, they create something great and then try and make it better thus ruining the whole thing! |
St James's Clubs Members |
We warmly welcome our St. James’s Club friends to join us on the last Thursday of every month for our regular Duplicate. We do encourage you to find a partner before coming along to the Club. |
There will be four Teams Events in 2024 on the last Thursday of the month that are open to both Royal Automobile Club and St. James’s Club teams. |
The dates are as follows: |
Thursday 30 May
Thursday 29 August
Thursday 28 November |
Non-St. James's Club guests are welcome to come and play at the Club twelve times in any one year with a Royal Automobile Club member. |
I advise all players to visit the Club’s BridgeWebs page regularly as news is posted on these pages throughout the month. |
2024 Dates For Your Diary |
Monday 20 May Centenary Cup
Sunday 14 July Summer Party
Monday 23 September St James's Club Bridge Drive at the Reform Club
Sunday 27 October Ros and Bob Bowman Championship Pairs
Thursday 12 December Christmas Party |
2025 Dates For Your Diary |
Tuesday 4 February Duke of Devonshire Cup
Play is every Tuesday evening with the final on Tuesday 25 February
Monday 19 May Centenary Cup |
If you have any questions about the Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Bridge Circle, please do get in touch with me. |
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Best Wishes |
Fiona McWatters |
Chair, Pall Mall Bridge Committee |
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Last updated : 30th Apr 2024 16:05 BST |
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A BIG SUCCESS FOR OUR AFTERNOON BRIDGE |
Our first weekday afternoon Duplicate pairs Bridge session was held on Monday 22nd April. Participants were encouraged by Victor our TD to play in a business like manner and everyone did their best to comply, despite the distraction of noise from building works outside the Terrace room. We had 8.5 tables and the session without a break at half time concluded in just over 3 hours. We were pleased to welcome some players from Anne’s class taking the plunge. Apart from the regulars at the Thursday club nights, the afternoon Duplicate pairs sessions cater to RAC members and our invited guests from ‘St James‘ Clubs’ who are keen to occasionally play Bridge on a weekday afternoon. Given the success of this opening session, we expect to host similar weekday afternoon sessions in the future - if interested please stay tuned for dates in the future.
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Last updated : 23rd Apr 2024 09:49 BST |
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Upstairs/downstairs match 16th April |
We held the upstairs/ downstairs match. The name refers to the fact that the students used to play upstairs ( in the Simms Centre) and the duplicate players downstairs. So we have an 8 person teams match to give some experience to the students. We do the scoring by hand so that the students learn more about scoring and how to calculate cross imps.
Upstairs was represented by: Elizabeth and Josh, Sandy and Sy, Dorothy and Harvey, Madeline and Anne
Downstairs was represented by: Oliver and Paul, Ingrid and Derek, Cecilia and Dermot, David and John
After 12 boards the upstairs team was 8 imps ahead. We had a break for sandwiches and cake, and a glass of wine. At the end of the second half the downstairs had pulled a bit back, but the upstairs team was still ahead by 3 imps. So a close match throughout and played in a very friendly but competitive atmosphere.
There were some interesting hands, but I will give you one very unusual one:
Void
AQ2
Void
AKQ10987532
What would you open with that?
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Last updated : 18th Apr 2024 16:20 BST |
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RAC v Royal International Club Chateau Sainte-Anne |
A team of 8 players from the RAC accompanied by 4 spouses made their way to Belgium over the April 13-14 weekend. The RAC contingent was greeted by warm weather and took advantage of this to explore the many culinary and cultural delights that Belgium has to offer. The return match of this new fixture against the Chateau Sainte-Anne, our reciprocal club in Brussels, was played on the Monday 15th of April. As luck would have it the weather held until the two teams were safely within the comfort of the Chateau and then the heavens opened!
Our hosts, as was to be expected laid on a sumptuous meal accompanied by fine wine. We finished the meal with coffee/tea served with delicious Belgian chocolates. After the narrow defeat in the inaugural match last year the RAC redeemed itself to win the match by 69 Imps. We look forward to welcoming our new friends to London in 2025 for ‘La Belle’.
The RAC was represented by Marina and Lester, Howard S and Pralab, Pascale and John C and Andrew and David G.
Lester Pereira
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Last updated : 18th Apr 2024 14:08 BST |
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RAC v Lord’s Taverners |
Sport is a game often played in two halves and our annual bridge match against Lord’s Taverners progressed so brilliantly over the first 12 boards with the RAC team leading by a narrow 2 imps but sadly over the final 12 boards you might call it crash and burn as the mighty Taverners team got into their stride and took an overall lead of 57 imps.
Taverners were captained by Jonathan Hoffman, who has lead them so magnificently for some dozen years, whom with his wife Gail, has played twice in our Ros and Bob Bowman Championship Pairs winning it outright once and winning the second session on the other occasion. Why you might ask am I using so much space to talk about our opponents? Our match may have been the last which Lord’s Taverners play. Jonathan is hanging up his pads and to date a new Jonathan is not walking from the pavilion to the crease to open a new innings. We should celebrate the high quality of the matches we have enjoyed over the years and wish our many friends from Lord’s Taverners the very best for the future.
The RAC team who played their best were: Andrew Kisiel and David Glass, Marina and Paul Weston, Sally and Paul Found, David Mannooch and Michael Bailey
Michael Bailey
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Last updated : 18th Apr 2024 12:00 BST |
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FIXTURE LIST JANUARY TO JULY 2024 |
BELOW ARE PROPOSED MATCH TEAM DETAILS SENT OUT BY JOHN CRAGGS TO ALL PLAYERS ON 10TH JANUARY
THERE MAY BE A FEW SMALL CHANGES IF PLAYERS ARE NOW UNAVAILABLE
RAC Teams with pairings for February to July 2024
Captains shown in bold
Cumberland (home) May 15, Wednesday. Terrace Room 16.00 for 16.30 Pralab B/Trevor S David W/Mark A Martin L/Pauli L Jill P/David O
ACF (away) June 14, Friday. Details later Howard S/David M Pralab B/Andrea G Paul F/Sally F John C/Pascale H Howard W/Oliver W Mark A/Pearse E
Le Cercle (away) June 16, Sunday. Fiona M/Henry M John C/Mark A Sally F/Paul F Howard W/Pearse E Andrea G/ Malcolm M Simone W/Oliver W
Roehampton (home) June 25, Tuesday. St James’s Room 16.30 for 16.45 Paul W/Marina CP Lester P/Howard S Paul F/Sally F Howard W/Terry S
Hurlingham (away) July 1, Monday. 16.00 for 16.30 Pralab B/Terry S Lester P/Robin Andrew K/Brigitte K Michael B/David M John C/Pascale H David W/Pears
New Club Edinburgh (home) July 13, Saturday. Mall Room 15.00 for 15.30 Henry Mc/Fiona Mc John K/Cecilia KP Pauli L/Ina W David O/Sandy
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Last updated : 18th Apr 2024 11:13 BST |
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RAC PALL MALL v RAC WOODCOTE PARK |
We welcomed RAC Woodcote Park to Pall Mall on 10 April and had a most enjoyable afternoon match against a strong team led by Stewart Broome.
The match fortunes fluctuated much like our Spring weather. Pall Mall fought hard but left their comeback a little late in the day and Woodcote Park ran out worthy winners by 27 IMPs.
Pall Mall was represented by David Wilson Martin Langdon, Pauli Laumen, Brigitte Kissiel, Mark Alcock, Jeremy Wright, Fiona McWatters and Henry McWatters.
This report is submitted by the team Captain, David Wilson.
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Last updated : 11th Apr 2024 09:47 BST |
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PIANOLA |
We now subscribe to "Pianola", a service that gives interesting analysis and stats of your results from each session, as well as showing how they have been progressing over time. To get started, please give your Email address to Victor (brianplaysbridge@gmail.com) and you will receive a signup link next time you play duplicate at the club. Some of you may be familiar with Pianola from other clubs, and Victor will be able to add the RAC to your profile.
Victor Lesk
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Last updated : 28th Apr 2022 12:53 BST |
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