On a beautiful day in early July 2019, Tudor Bridge Club hosted their first ever Garden Party Bridge event, in the heart of the historic town of Chipping Sodbury.
The venue was the hall, and bunting laden, hidden gardens of St Lawrence Presbytery. A picture perfect setting, in perfect weather. Inside, the 28 bridge players, happily settled down to play a few hands of bridge throughout the morning and early afternoon. A blissful, peaceful and perfect setting for a relaxing day.
Who would have thought the main topic of the day would be the food!
The day began with home made cookies, shortbread and gluten free biscuits with tea and coffee on arrival. Then, as the day wore on the food just got better and better. When the bridge paused for lunch, guests were offered a choice of Prosecco, white or red wine or chilled soft drinks before lunch. A previous MasterChef winner (James Nathan) had made the Smoked Salmon terrine served with the lunch and had helped with several of the other dishes too, including 2 vegetarian and 2 non vegetarian quiches, Coronation chicken and a fabulous display of side dishes including the wonderful Courgette and Orange salad. The sweet trolley featured Eton Mess, Chocolate Roulade, Raspberry Cheesecake and a cheeseboard too. Just a few more hands of cards and afternoon tea was served. There were plates and plates full of the best quality homemade fayre from Scones with Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam, Ginger cake, Chocolate, Banana and Walnut cake, gluten free Lemon cake and Coffee and Walnut cake.
Small wonder all anyone wanted to talk about all day was the quality and variety of the food! There wasn't a mention anywhere of how cruel the cards had been that day.
The event culminated with a raffle for MacMillan Cancer Support, raising over £200, with gifts kindly donated by local businesses, before the final prize giving. The prizes were bottles of champagne for the pair with the most modest score (Norma Hutchings and John Maubach), for the pair who scored nearest to 50% (Ann Triner and Tony Baldwin-Charles) and for the pair who came top (Betty and Richard Harris).
The event was hosted by Tudor Bridge Club, who are offering lessons from September 2019 for total beginners and also an intermediate course. No partner needed. For more details of the lessons, or to enrol in the Free Taster Session contact Christine on 07876 334921, or via a form on the website click here
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