Officer Reports
Swaffham Bridge Club AGM 2026
Chairman's Report 2025
It has been a good year for the Club, which has continued to thrive. Our Tuesday evenings regularly see 8 or 9 tables, and sometimes more, while we have a steady 4 to 5 tables on Wednesday evenings. We have high hopes for the Monday afternoon sessions that Rebecca has just started to run.
During the year, besides the regular participation by the Club in EBU Sims competitions, a number of members have taken part in events organised by the Norfolk Contract Bridge Association, with varying degrees of success. We would encourage anyone to try entering one of these competitions, they are opportunities to meet other players, who are generally pleasant.
The Summer Barbecue (with thanks to Steve for his generous hospitality) and Christmas Party were both successful.
Sadly I must record that we lost two members during the year. David Stancombe had been a member for several years, and his companionship and humour are much missed. And Sue Day, of course, had been the backbone of the Club for a considerable time, including the difficult post-pandemic period. Our condolences go to Brian and to David's family.
As the Constitution provides for Committee members to serve a 3-year term, and all are willing to continue to serve, there are no elections this year.
As always, my thanks go to all members of Committee for the work they do to keep the Club running smoothly.
Bill Muir
Development Officer Report 2025
Beginner classes have been running for most of the year and are still proving popular. A lot of the participants retake the classes which gives them confidence to join in the Supervised Duplicate on Wednesday. The recent class was generally 5 tables.
Several from beginner classes are playing duplicate on Wednesday and some are now taking part in Tuesday’s sessions. Sadly quite a few are not and I believe this is due to the fact they have learnt in the afternoon and are reluctant to turn out on a cold winter’s night. With this in mind the next Beginners Course will be in the evening, due to start in March and I am hoping this might be a different scenario in the future.
To encourage those that haven’t joined in our evening sessions we are running a Monday
afternoon duplicate. This session is ‘Gentle Duplicate’ with the emphasis on a social less
competitive event to encourage those that feel a little unsure. No partner is required, also ideal for any club player without a regular partner or those that don’t like night time driving.
I would like to thank Carolyn Jones, Steve Reynolds and Jill Smith for their help and support at the classes this year.
Steve and I recently attended an EBED Teaching Course which was funded by EBED and the EBU.
Carolyn Jones and Sue Giles have joined Jill Smith as scorers. Carolyn and Sue now help with TD duties on a Wednesday evening. Many thanks to all three.
Rebecca Moore
Secretary’s Report 2025
This year has been spent in scheduling club evenings and the resulting organisation of the trophies and pens that were awarded.
As well as working on the current situation, I have been working with Bill Muir on the history of the cups and the people who donated them. A summary of the cup’s history has been circulated each time a cup has been competed for. It was discovered that some of the cups had been awarded in the wrong months – not the month requested by the donor. This has now been rectified.
I have also been working with Bill Muir on the Club’s data protection. We expect to produce a document on this in the near future.
There are no proposed changes to the Risk Assessment this year.
Anne Fairweather
Treasurers Report 2025
Another good year for Swaffham Bridge Club with increases in Tuesday and Wednesday evenings.
We have purposely tried to give back this year to our members, which we have done, by making the BBQ free to all members and also providing food and prizes for the Christmas party. I think this has been appreciated by all.
We have also added to our hardware and tables.
Refreshments have stayed about the same even though we now provide paper cups, I think we need to try and not go above this amount in future years.
The EBU costs have gone up as we have taken part in more SIMS events joining with other local clubs.
We also did a charity night for the local Hospice which I think should be done at least once a year.
Thank you all for the support you have given to Swaffham Bridge Club and making it so successful and we look forward to 2026.
Jill Smith
|