♣ ♦ ♥ ♠    The Christmas Bidding Quiz is now available to access via the menu bar above {Bridge Articles}. Prizes to be won !  Enjoy !   ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣    

This popular bridge club was founded in 1980 by four friends who played bridge socially and then decided to form a formal club. The club now has a membership of over one hundred enthusiastic players who enjoy the challenge and reward of the game. Our dealing machine is now fully operational and provides interesting card distributions and hand records that accompany web-posted results.

We meet on: (i) Wednesday evenings at 6:45pm, usually for teams (so it would be very helpful if you could let Harold know in advance whenever you intend playing) and (ii) Friday afternoons at 1:20pm for duplicate pairs. Please arrive 10-15 minutes before play commences. Visitors are most welcome but no standby partners are provided. However, should you need a partner please contact Harold Linfield on (01798) 812276.

We ask that you avoid playing at the club if you have any symptoms indicating that you may have an infection - eg: coughs, sneezes, temperature, etc.

Note: We now use a voluntary voucher system for table money. We hope this will benefit members, will greatly assist our treasurer and reduce club administration. Books of 10 vouchers are available to members at our Friday sessions at a cost of £30. Each £3 voucher may then be submitted as payment of table money in place of cash at both our Wednesday and Friday bridge sessions. We hope that members will participate in this scheme and thereby help facilitate the smooth running of our club.

Please try to arrive 10 - 15 minutes before play is scheduled to start in order to help our directors and scorers.

 If delayed by traffic please contact a member of the committee.

The  EBU have announced the following promotions: Glynnis Cole to 3-star master, Peter Rowell to life master and Richard Lerner to master.

Our club team played in the NICKO competition recently at Tunbridge Wells. The team comprised Cecily Linfield, Jeremy Harris, David & Andrea Galpin. Although we were not successful on this occasion, we now enter "The Plate" part of the competition, having done well in this last year.

Please see the letter received from Chestnut Tree House, copied below:

 09 December 2025

 Dear members of Thakeham Bridge Club,

 It was such a pleasure to receive your generous donation of £400 for Chestnut Tree House. Your incredible donation will make a real and lasting difference to children and young people in our community – Thank you.  

 Chestnut Tree House is the children’s hospice for Sussex and South East Hampshire. Thanks to support from people like you in the local community children and families who know they don’t have long together have the chance to live life to the full.

 On a visit to Chestnut Tree House, kids can be astronauts for the day in the multi-sensory room, discover new smells and sights in the sensory garden, bounce high on the wheelchair trampoline, or form their very own pop group in the music room.

 From circus performances to animal visits and social evenings for parents, there are fun and inclusive events for all the family, both at the hospice and across Sussex and South East Hampshire. These activities offer parents the chance to just be parents rather than carers, and siblings the space to talk to people who understand.

 As well as care provided at the House, we have a community nursing team of expert clinicians which visits families at home, taking children out to explore their local community and giving tired parents and carers the chance to take a well-earned break.

 Then, when the time comes, Chestnut Tree House is there for children and families to provide specialist end-of-life care and ongoing support. There is a bereavement suite, ‘Stars’, which has a special bedroom for the child to lay at rest, as well as accommodation for the family. Ongoing bereavement support is available through counselling, bereavement groups and remembrance events.

 The generosity of the local community makes this happen. It costs almost £6 million every year to provide hospice care for local children, with only 21% of this funded by the government. Your support allows us to plan and budget for now, and the future. Thank you, your kindness will make a real difference to the lives of local children and their families.

 Thank you, Alice

President: Lord Henry, Earl of Arundel.

Southern Hospice Group is a charity registered in England (Registered Charity Number 256789)  and is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee (registered in England Number 930107)

The Thakeham Bridge Club observes the UK’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). It is a condition of membership that all members must have accepted and understood this notice and thereby agree that the club may collect, store and use their personal data for the effective operation of the Thakeham Bridge Club. Therefore the club collects and stores the following information for each member of the club for as long as they remain a fully paid-up member:

• Name (surname and first name)
• Home phone
• Mobile phone
• email address
• EBU number
• Home address
• Bridge match score data

This information is captured from new member application forms and is recorded on our membership database. The database is held on a personal computer and administered solely by the club’s secretary. This data will only be used by the committee and no other party. The data is used purely for the club’s legitimate interests as a membership organisation and for administrative purposes at the club, such as notifying members of events, organising operations and establishing partnerships.

Membership data will not be shared publicly amongst the membership or with external organisations, except the English Bridge Union, who may also pass it on to a member’s “county of affiliation” which is usually the Sussex County Contract Bridge Association (SCCBA). Data may also be used by other programs such as Bridgewebs and ScoreBridge.

A member may request a copy of the information stored about them from the club secretary at any time. A member’s data is removed from the database one year after their membership is terminated, unless requested otherwise by the ex-member or their next of kin. Any questions on this privacy policy should be addressed to the club’s secretary.