| RAC PALL MALL NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2025 |
Hello everyone,
Well, the Christmas tree is ordered, the turkey is ordered, there are loads of cards on my desk that need to be written and beside me many rolls of wrapping paper. So as the old song goes “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”.
I’m looking forward to a quiet week or two over the festive period. As I get older the importance of Christmas has changed, I look forward to Midnight Mass and then Matins on Christmas Day and all the lovely Christmas music. Frankly my interest in masses of gifts under the tree has diminished, but Henry do take note – not entirely!!
We drove to Paris mid-November for our last trip of the year. Henry was representing the Royal Automobile Club in Paris playing Chess. We have started driving now, it’s much easier especially when one has a two-foot-tall silver cup to take with us! Also, it means I can fill the boot with lots of cheese, wine and other French delicacies! This year was no different, actually one of the nicest things about being in the car is driving home through the Normandy countryside in the sunshine. What is it about Paris at Christmas time, it is utterly magical, it really does have that "Je ne sais quoi”?
As well as Chess, we had an opera visit and lots of sitting in cafés watching the chic Parisians going about their day. Just after we arrived home, I saw online lots of pictures of Paris under snow, so it looks like we left just in time!
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CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR TIMETABLE
Our last Club Night will be on Thursday 18 December and we will be having an end of year drink and some food as usual, depending on what’s left in our budget!
We will start again in 2026 on Thursday 8 January. Please put these dates in your calendar.
In this newsletter there are many dates for next year. There are dates for Supervised Bridge for the whole of 2026, Teams Nights with our St. James’s Club friends and more. Please do make a note of them all.
I hope you all saw the message I sent out about applications being open for playing in matches next year. If you haven’t applied yet, do look on BridgeWebs as soon as possible as John Craggs will be collating names and getting teams together soon.
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PALL MALL BRIDGE AGM
Thursday 22 January 2026
As advertised at the bottom of this newsletter, we will be holding our AGM on Thursday 22 January starting at 6.00pm sharp, just as we did last year.
As I said before, the slightly later start time is so that our working members can get to the Club and participate, which I’m happy to say many were able to join us this past January.
As requested at the last meeting, we have a new format. I will be posting the papers on our Pall Mall Bridge webpage beforehand so that you can all read through thoroughly and means you don’t have to listen to me talking for 20 minutes anymore (hurrah)! There will also be a report from our Match Secretary. I will send out a message letting you all know when these papers are available.
The meeting will then be composed of a review of our financials (these will not be posted online beforehand) and then a question-and-answer session.
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NGS RATING
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So here are the results as of Sunday 23 November.
We may have one King in the UK but the Pall Mall Bridge Circle has two, these are Andrew Kisiel and Paul Weston. Our two Queens are John Craggs and Lester Pereira. I thought as this is the last newsletter of the year, I’d also mention our Jacks – David Mannooch, Howard Salter, Howard Want, Pralab Barua and Robin Kilborn.
I just realised there are no ladies amongst these chaps. Come on ladies, we need to change this in 2026.
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PHOENIX - FORMERLY KNOWN AS THE LORD TAVERNERS |
WEDNESDAY 21 JANUARY
Team to be announced, please refer to BridgeWebs for details.
Match Captain: To be confirmed
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OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE CLUB |
MONDAY 3 NOVEMBER
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After a hiatus last year we resumed our annual fixture with the Oxford and Cambridge Club. This year was the first time since the resumption of the fixture that we had the pleasure of hosting our neighbours.
It was a competitive match with some lively boards played in a convivial atmosphere. The Royal Automobile Club won the first half by 23 Imps and the second half by 18 Imps to win overall by 41 Imps. We then shared a well-earned dinner where the wine and conversation flowed. We look forward to the return fixture next year.
Team:
Michael B and Pralab B, Pascale H and John C, Andrew K and Paul W, Marina CP and Lester P.
Match report by Lester Pereira, Match Captain
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TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER
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We played a team of eight matches against the Portland Club and won by 50 imps.
This was the first match hosted by Portland and their players were interesting and convivial which made it a relaxed competition in a warm and comfortable environment.
Portland is famous for being the oldest bridge club in London with origins going back over 200 years. They are also famous for playing Chicago for reasonably high stakes which makes them particularly competitive to play against.
Discussions over dinner were wide ranging and we look forward to seeing them again at the Club in the Devonshire Cup in February.
Well played team.
Team:
Michael B and John C, Howard S and Pralab B, Lester P and Marina CP, Paul W and Andrew K.
Match report by Michael Bailey, Match Captain
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TUESDAY 18 NOVEMBER
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This is the second in hopefully what will be a long-running series of matches against intermediates from other clubs. The first was in October and our intermediates achieved a well-deserved victory against the Hurlingham Club. This match was against the Roehampton intermediates, who braved the cold and made the long journey in from across the river in SW15, to Pall Mall.
As with the Hurlingham, this proved great fun and made for a very relaxed evening. At the half-way point we were down 28 imps, growing slightly to a 39 imp deficit after 24 boards. But we can forgive the Roehampton their well-deserved win, especially given they then stood us drinks in the Cocktail Bar for those able to stay.
Team:
Fenella FK and Laura S, Eva C and Jonathan C, Andrea K and Patrick S, Elizabeth T and David O.
Match report by David Owen, Match Captain
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BEGINNERS AND INTERMEDIATES
All our students, both Beginners and Intermediates, are coming along in leaps and bounds throughout this year which is great. I fear they will soon be playing in the Duplicate and thrashing me!
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SUPERVISED BRIDGE DATES
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We now have dates up to year-end, so please do make a note of the dates. The Bridge will start promptly at 2.00pm and end at 4.30pm, the cost per session will be £15.00 including refreshments. Mike Eden will be on hand to ‘teach’ and help students with hard hands.
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2025
- Monday 8 December, Terrace Room 2.30pm
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2026
- Monday 12 January, Terrace Room
- Monday 26 January, Stewart Room
- Monday 9 February, Terrace Room
- Monday 23 February, Mall Room
- Monday 9 March, Terrace Room
- Monday 23 March, Mall Room
- Monday 13 April, Stewart Room
- Monday 27 April, Mall Room
- Monday 11 May, Terrace Room
- Monday 8 June, Stewart Room
- Monday 22 June, Mall Room
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- Monday 6 July, Mall Room
- Monday 20 July, Terrace Room
- Monday 7 September, Terrace Room
- Monday 21 September, Mall Room
- Monday 5 October, Mall Room
- Monday 19 October, Mall Room
- Monday 9 November, Stewart Room
- Monday 23 November, Mall Room
- Monday 7 December, Mall Room
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WHATSAPP GROUP
Do You Need A Bridge Partner?
Little did I know when I started this WhatsApp group how popular it was to become. If you need a partner, just ask the group! If you don’t recognise someone looking for a partner, please don’t discount them. We have some new additions as Club members continue to start playing bridge with us.
If you are looking for a partner to play bridge with at Pall Mall on Thursday evenings, this is the place to find someone!
Please can I stress it is only for Thursday evenings. I do advertise other St. James’s Club matches via the WhatsApp group so do keep an eye open for those. There are a number of lovely events going on around us at other clubs and it is always very nice to have the opportunity to visit them.
If you could use another form of connection for private matches or any other information, all participants would be very grateful.
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ST. JAMES'S CLUB MEMBERS
Teams Event
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 either from your club or the Royal Automobile Club before coming along.
We hold a Teams Event four times a year on the last Thursday of the month which is open to both Royal Automobile Club and St. James’s Club teams. It has been very popular this past year, and I am pleased to give you all the dates for these matches for next year:
Thursday 26 February 2026
Thursday 28 May 2026
Thursday 27 August 2026
Thursday 26 November 2026
Non-St. James’s Club guests are very welcome to come and play at the Club 12 times in any one year with a Royal Automobile Club member.
I advise all players to visit the Club’s BridgeWebs page often, as any news will be posted there throughout the month.
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IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY |
2025
- Thursday 11 December: Christmas Party
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2026
- Thursday 22 January: AGM
- Thursday 19 March: Ross Cope Swiss Teams Event
- Monday 18 May: Centenary Cup
- Tuesday 7 July : Pall Mall Bridge Summer Party
- Sunday 27 September: Bowman Pairs Tournament (please note the date change)
- Thursday 10 December: Christmas Party
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If you have any questions about the Pall Mall Bridge Group, please do get in touch with me.
Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year
Fiona McWatters
Chair, Pall Mall Bridge Committee
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| Last updated : 27th Nov 2025 12:20 GMT |
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| RAC Intermediates v Roehampton Intermediates |
Tuesday 18 November, This is the second in hopefully what will be a long running series of matches against intermediate from other Clubs. The first in October, our intermediates achieved well deserved victory against the Hurlingham. This match was against the Roehampton, who braved the cold and made the long journey in from across the river in SW15, to Pall Mall.
As with the Hurlingham, this proved great fun and made for a very relaxed evening. At the half-way point the RAC were down 28 imps, growing slightly to a 39 imp deficit after 24 boards. But we can forgive the Roehampton their well deserved win, especially given they then stood us drinks in the Cocktail bar, for those able to stay. The RAC team consisted of Fenella Fraser Ker and Laura Spanswick, Eva Chrispin, Jonathan Chrispin, Andrea Kelleher and Patrick Swaffer, Elizabeth Tucker and David Owen
Report submitted by David Owen Captain
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| Last updated : 20th Nov 2025 15:52 GMT |
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| RAC v Portland Club |
The RAC played a team of 8 match against the Portland Club and won by 50 imps. This was the first match hosted by Portland and their players were interesting and convivial which made it a relaxed competition in a warm and comfortable environment. Portland are famous for being the oldest bridge club in London with origins going back over 200 years. They are also famous for playing Chicago for reasonably high stakes which makes them particularly competitive to play against. Discussions over dinner were wide ranging and we look forward to seeing them again at our club in the Devonshire in February. Well played team:
Michael Bailey and John Craggs
Howard Salter and Pralab Barua
Lester Pereira and Marina Chaning Pearce
Paul Weston and Andrew Kisiel
Submitted by Michael Bailey captain
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| Last updated : 19th Nov 2025 09:19 GMT |
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| RAC v OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE |
After a hiatus, last year we resumed our annual fixture with the Oxford & Cambridge Club. This year was the first time since the resumption of the fixture that we had the pleasure of hosting our neighbours.
It was a competitive match with some lively boards played in a convivial atmosphere. The RAC won the first half by 23 Imps and the second half by 18 Imps to win overall by 41 Imps. We then shared a well earned dinner where the wine and conversation flowed. We look forward to the return fixture next year.
The RAC was represented by Michael B & Pralab, Pascale & John C, Andrew & Paul W, Marina & Lester.
Submitted by Lester Pereira match captain
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| Last updated : 4th Nov 2025 09:40 GMT |
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| RAC Teams for matches |
Here is the list of matches and participants up to year end.
Captains are shown in BOLD
MCC Swiss Teams
October 5, Sunday, 14.00 start
Andrew K/Brigitte K
Robin K/David M
University Club, New York - away
October 17, Friday
Lester P/Michael B
Pralab B/Nigel C
John C/Pascale H
Oliver W/Lissa G
Trevor S/Antonia M
David O/Richard W
Ivaylo V/Xiaoyu V
David Bruce/Rita Skinner
Roehampton Swiss Teams
October 19, Sunday, start 11.00
Fiona McW/Henry McW
Ina W/Pauli L
Sally F is recruiting a second team
Hurlingham Intermediates - away
October 20, Monday, 16.00 for 16.30
Fiona McW/Sophie D
Henry McW/Fenella F
Anne R/Harvey R
Sim H/Richard H
RAC Woodcote - away
October 28, Tuesday, 12.30 lunch
Fiona McW/Henry McW
Trevor S/John K
Paulo dR/Yuki S
Currently two players short
Oxford and Cambridge - home
November 3, Monday, 16.00 for 16.30
Lester P/Marina CP
Paul W/Andrew K
Michael B/Pralab B
John C/Pascale H
Reserves: David W/Mark A/Howard S
Portland - away
November 18, Tuesday, 16.30 for 17.00
Marina CP/Lester P
Andrew K/Paul W
Pralab B/Howard S
Michael B/John C
Reserves: Nigel C/Robin K/David M
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| Last updated : 20th Sep 2025 22:58 BST |
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