Bridge on Monday 5th June is face-to-face at Maison Francaise after our AGM (see below).  There is a host.  

Bridge is free for members but please register at least 24 hours in advance using this link

https://bookwhen.com/summertown

The Club will hold its AGM at Maison Francaise at 7 pm on Monday 5th June.  Drinks and nibbles will be available.  Members will receive papers by email two weeks in advance.  Please come along to talk about the future of the club!

The AGM will be followed by as much bridge as we can fit in, competing for the David Bygott Midsummer Pairs Trophy.  There will be no charge for members but if you plan to play, you are encouraged to register via the link above so that we have an idea of numbers both for catering purposes and for the bridge.

Our former Chairman, David Bygott, died at home on Easter Saturday, 8th April, after a long illness with his wife, Annette, by his side.

David was a very long standing member of Summertown and put a great deal into the club. He was Chairman and Chief Tournament Director for some three years until 2002.  He was on the committee before becoming chairman and remained on the committee for a year or two after 2002.  For some time, primarily during the club's spell at St Peter's Church Hall in Wolvercote, he seemed to organise everything, doing all the directing and scoring - with assistance from his son Jeremy.  Over the years he partnered Jeremy and also Holly, as well as others.  When he stepped down as Chairman, the David Bygott Midsummer Pairs Trophy was instituted and indeed we had already decided to run this event this year - on 5th June.

David had great enthusiasm for bridge, wrote entertaining newsletters for the club and for the OBA and encouraged our participation in the Wessex League.  Many of us have memories of the quizzes he loved to devise for our Christmas parties.

Our condolences go to Annette, and to Jeremy & family.  The funeral and celebration of David’s life was held on Friday 12th May.  Those that wish to, may make a donation in David's memory to Marie Curie via: https://davidbygott.muchloved.com.

Your committee met in early March to discuss our bridge over the next few months.  As you know, we have one more RealBridge session on a Monday evening (27th March), and then the following three months will be face-to-face at Maison Francaise.  Special thanks go to Cliff who has directed many of our online sessions at no cost to the club.

To encourage you to come along and join us face-to-face, we are starting the three months with drinks and nibbles before bridge on Monday 3rd April.  The bridge session will be free for members as a reward for your loyalty, but we still ask you to register online as usual to give us an idea of numbers.  Non-members are welcome, but we ask that they register online and pay for a non-member ticket.

We need those of you who can do so to volunteer one evening when you are prepared to host.  Please let Erika Syba (erika.sybaatbtinternet.com) know what dates you can manage.

The start of full-time face-to-face means that we have decided to stop issuing weekly bridge bulletins.  These are simply too difficult to write when one can't see all the bidding and play, as is possible for online sessions.  I personally have greatly enjoyed these bulletins, and I hope you have too.  Special thanks to Sandra for organising them, and to the team of bulletin writers: Sandra & Krys, Steven, Cliff, Roger and James.

A few of you do not feel able to return to F2F, and some of you like a mixture of F2F and online.  Although we won't be offering an online option ourselves over the summer, we have been in contact with Banbury Bridge Club, which meets online on a Thursday evening, and they are very happy to welcome additional players.  We encourage you to consider playing there: here is a link to their website

https://www.bridgewebs.com/banbury/

You simply click on the link on the website to play, and they collect table money at a later date.

Here is another date for your diary: on Monday 5th June we will be holding our AGM at Maison Francaise at 7 pm, followed by the Midsummer Pairs Competition for the Bygott Trophy.  Papers for the AGM will follow in due course.

Erica 17.3.23

There is one Summertown member listed in the EBU's April round of Master Point Promotions

Ann Lee - 2 Star Premier Master

Well done Ann!