Chairman’s Report 2024/25

ROY

Thanks for coming. I’d like to start by just taking a moment to remember the founder, and Life Member, of this Club, Roy Seaman, who died earlier this year.  Roy was club Pairs champion on 14 occasions stretching between 1969 and 1995 and was still actively playing with the Club online during the Covid period.  He will be remembered via the Roy Seaman Trophy which he presented in 1998 and which is awarded annually to th Club Player with the most Master Points not winning any of our other Ladder Comps.

THANKS

I would like to thank everyone who regularly helps out with the club.

The Committee: Martin Sidders, Claire Garretty, John Duthie, Gary Kendall, Gill Lambert & Jane Scaysbrook

Tony Hazell for organising the vital Reserve Player Rota.  If you haven’t volunteered in the last year or so it would be really appreciated if you would do so.  It’s always a struggle and there are a few members that physically can’t do it but otherwise please help.  It enables the club to welcome new members. We always highlight the Ladder Winners at the end of each year but it’s the Reserve Players that really keep the club strong so thank you to.  Anyone can do the role, there is no special knowledge required unlike TD or scorer:

Two volunteering sessions

Janet Elliott                      Lawrence Wybraniec                   Jim Fry

Peter Hill                           James Kleiner-Mann                   Simon Cook

Jill Akroyd                          Joan Walton                               Gary Kendall

Jack Williams

One volunteering session

Ross Murray                     John Graham                   Michael Aslett                 John Hattersley

Colin Owen                      Mike Hann                        Linda Gallow                   Jackie Watt

Stef Weedon                    Mark Pontin                      Steve Lambert                 Nigel Lewis

Phil Minor                         Sarah Boyd                     Steven Leung                  John Duthie

Louise Peck                     Claus Crede                    Jane Edrupt                     Mike Parikh

Penny Mauger                 Janice Blackstaff

On Mondays I’m also very grateful to Jim Fry, Peter Hill, John Roberts, Nigel Lewis, James Kleiner-Mann and Jane Scaysbrook for their consistent help getting the room and refreshments sorted.

To Mark Pontin, Nigel Lewis, Gary Kendall, Lawrence Wybraniec, Stef Weedon, Mike Parikh and James Kleiner-Mann for getting the cash sorted with Gill most weeks.

Our TDs and Scorers co-ordinated by John Duthie: Gary Kendall, James Rogers, Mike Hann, Steven Leung, Pankaj Chaudhuri, John Stobo, Rod Adams and me.

Advance thanks as well to Sarah Boyd and Mark Pontin for agreeing to get trained as scorers.

Apologies if I’ve forgotten someone, I normally do.

APPEALS

Our TD’ s probably have the toughest job and that’s what behind the only other item on the Agenda today, a change in our Appeals Procedure, but we’ll come to that next.

AWARDS

Whilst we presented the majority of our Ladder Awards at the start of April we do have one Winner who wasn’t there that night but is tonight.  He actually won the most closely contested competition of the year, the TaraStan X-IMPs Ladder, so congratulations to Michael Aslett.

COMPS

As we look at the club at present I would say we are in excellent health for Monday night Pairs.  Our Monthly Teams isn’t quite as strong and I’m very keen to get more players involved in that.  If you want to play, even occasionally, please let me know and I’ll really try and get you sorted with Team mates.  Clare Garretty has also offered to help with Team creation when I’m away which is much appreciated.

Our Thursday night BBO Pairs is less strong.  Online Bridge has been in decline since the end of COVID and there is a lot of competition, not least from EBU Events multiple times a day on BBO & Realbridge. We struggle to get the table numbers anymore.  We’ve agreed to carry on if we get a minimum of five tables each week which we are just about managing but if not we will just stop the event.

St. Albans Bridge Club Member Paul Wilson runs regular bridge holidays during the year as 'Paul Wilson Bridge Holidays'. His aim is to provide a friendly and relaxing long weekend of bridge in comfortable hotels with good facilities. The varied bridge programme is suitable for all standards and includes Chicago, Duplicate and a seminar with Paul, who is a qualified EBUTA Professional Level Tutor.

You may have heard how successful the June bridge holiday to The Ardington Hotel in Worthing was. One of the comments was "5* food at a 3* hotel", another was "sensational location". The bridge was great too! The hotel Proprietor has offered us an additional date with a matching menu. This is on Thursday September 18th to Sunday 21st (to avoid any conflict with religious holidays). 4 days and 3 nights with all of their ground floors rooms only available should you be unable to use the stairs. The base price is £465.00 sharing, £475 for a standard single and £440 for a smaller single.

The Ardington Hotel is a privately owned hotel overlooking Steyne Gardens and adjacent to the sea front, about 100 yards from the main shopping centre. Rooms vary in size and are on the ground and first floors, several with a shower cubicle. There is no lift. The award winning Indigo restaurant is renowned for food quality offering traditional hospitality and a variety of dishes.

Contact Paul on 01923 858383 or paulwilson-@talk21.com  for further details.

See what the A.A. Hotel Inspector says about the Ardington Hotel:  https://www.ratedtrips.com/hotels/england/west-sussex/worthing/ardington-hotel-bn113dz

Welcome to St. Albans Bridge Club.  We are currently playing twice a week.

Monday evenings at 19:30 Jersey Farm Community Hall - Duplicate Pairs except for the second Monday of the month when we will play Multiple Teams.  For Pairs events we operate a Reserve Player system so members can come along without a partner and will get a game.  Partners are assigned on a 'first come, first served basis'.

Thursday evenings at 19:20 online on BBO

Non-members wishing to play in either event MUST contact me for approval at least 24 hrs in advance at steve@lamberts.org.uk.  Tournament Directors may not permit non-members to play if they simply arrive at the event.

If you need a partner for either Thursday nights on BBO or Monday nights at Jersey Farm drop me an email and I'll do my best to help. 

Steve Lambert

steve@lamberts.org.uk

Please check out the following videos if you have any issues about using Bridgebase Online in St. Albans club games:

Self Alerting: Click here.                                        Chatting & claiming: Click here.

Undos: Click here.                                                Robots: Click here.

There are masses of videos on Youtube explaining every aspect of BBO so if you are indoubt, just go to Youtube and search.