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On Thursday 7th December Tudor held it's 2023 Christmas party.  As is tradition at Tudor the format was an individual competition interupted only by a glass or two of wine and soft drinks (thank you Paul and Nigel for organising) and some festive titbits.  Thank you Sue B who arranged the nibbles on sticks, chocs and crisps and Lesley M who bought along her homemade mince pies.  The big job on the day was organising a room full of bridge players - thanks for that Nigel.  However, with a prize on offer for everyone who turned up, the big cheer goes to Paul who did all the hard work on buying and transporting the prizes - a great job well done, thank you Paul.

... Paul G who came top in the 2023 individual Christmas competition and Lesley D who came second, Jane F who came third and Doug who as the strongest player on the evening supported the entire field.

Most of you will have read that the club has moved to a new accounting package (called BrianMAS).  Its main purpose is to manage payments for games from the membership, providing a monthly account summary and an automatic method for transferring data for all the games played, without having to do this manually each month.  It also improves the ease in which monthly statements/summaries can be emailed to members.  The implementation has gone amazingly well and our thanks to Karen for handling this all so smoothly must be noted. We must also thank her for all the manual work she has done over the past 3 years and hope she will have a more relaxing time in the future.  Thank you, Karen, from us all.

Nigel

When I saw the results on the website I sent congratulatory texts to the winners.  Karen replied with thanks adding 'to be honest I think Ted and Elaine swung it for us'.  Paul agreed adding 'too right, it was none of our doing' and Elaine said 'it was mostly down to Ted'.  A team in full agreement.  Well done all, but perhaps extra special congratulations to Ted.  Pic shows the winning team (from left to right) Ted, Elaine, Karen and Paul.  

Christine

Thanks to the amazing generosity of our members, who donated £241.00 last Thursday evening, I have been able to send a payment of £316.00 (we pledge to add table money) to BBC Children in Need. Well done, Tudor.  We raised almost twice as much as last year!

 Michelle

HERE'S TO THE NEXT 40 YEARS!

In 2024 Tudor Bridge Club, in Chipping Sodbury, is celebrating its 40th birthday. To mark this auspicious event the club hosted a celebratory weekend away for its members in March.  

Just an hours drive away from their home venue they gathered at a fabulous hotel (Cricklade Spa), where everyone had their own rooms, use of the grounds and the spa facilities too.  

Starting with a drinks reception on the Friday evening before the first friendly match, the weekend included a seminar given by its most decorated member, the birthday competition itself and a random teams Swiss event. All culminating in a birthday tea and cake celebration after play finished on the Sunday afternoon. 

“I’ve done lots of these bridge weekends before”, said one member, “but it’s a totally different experience when you know all the players. It’s simply so much more fun.” 

The weekend was considered such a great success by those who attended, the committee were asked during the weekend if it could be done again next year!

Hope you all enjoyed the evening.  Please see attached results when the Experts scores are merged, this will obviously adjust the final percentages for the 'Beat the Expert' competition, but doesn't affect what is uploaded to the EBU.

Beat the Expert 2023 Final Result.pdf

Please also see attached, details of the hands played and how the experts bid and played them, together with their opening leads.

Beat the Expert 2023.pdf

Congratulations to all those that managed to 'Beat the Expert' all 7 pairs!  You will each receive a £10 credit to your Tudor Account.

Hope you all had a good Christmas and wishing you a very happy new year.

Nigel

Congratulations from across the club to Maureen and Ted for winning the Tudor Plate Oct-Dec 2023 competition.  Not only are their names now on the roll of honour, but they will also be offered a small gift as a memento of their achievements.  Maureen and Ted have only recently begun to play together on Tuesdays so it is a tremendous achievement for them to win this award straight away.  Well done both.

Meanwhile, the Jan-March version of this competition kicks off on Tuesday 2nd January.  Good luck all.

Congratulations to Roger Dalby (left) and Robert Cutts (right) for winning the Tudor Plate for the 3rd quarter of 2023. They have led the league since the 2nd week so it's a remarkable performance.  Well done also to Maureen Gale and Ted Cornelius who finished 2nd and Mark Griffiths and Ray Crispin who pipped Peter Cogger and John Holt to 3rd.  The new Quarter with updated handicaps started on Tuesday 3rd October.

On your behalf, the committee would like to thank Karen for all the hard work she has put in over the last 3 years with the administration of the "Tudor Bridge Accounts".  It has taken hundreds of hours of her time, over the months and years, to keep the system working.  The upshot of all that hard work has meant we have been able to continue to play our game.  However, us all relying so wholeheartedly on her work is a high risk strategy
 

That is why we are delighted an alternative, automated, charging system has been found. 

This will mean one modest change for most of us.  Rather than paying by bank transfer into one particular account (currently managed by Christine), in future you will pay directly into the main Tudor Bridge bank account. 

Not much of a change after all.  Christine will continue to manage the old account for a period of time, just in case anyone forgets.
 

The new system is currently being tested.  We are hoping it will be implemented in time for the end of November statements.

More details on progress will be released in the next few weeks.

At Tudor we have always made a fuss of our members when they hit that very special number, 90.  The latest to achieve that milestone is Ted, who hit this magic number in mid August.  We celebrated in our customary way - by presenting him with loads of his favourite alcohol!  Pic shows Karen congratulating the great man.

Congratulations go to Michelle and Derek for their great win the latest quarter of the Tudor Plate trophy.  Congratulations also to Gill and Steve, Olive and Scott for 2nd and 3rd places.

The new quarter has now begun.  Handicaps have been re-assessed based on your EBU NGS ranking as a partnership.

Nigel

In a very tight race, decided on the very last hand, congratulations from across the club go to the 2023 winners of the Malcolm Hayward Cup, pictured here from left to right Paul, Karen, Christine and Lesley.  Well done all.

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  Mike, Michelle and David
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  John, Sue, Jane and Andrew

What a fab event.  With a stunning 8 table turnout, a wonderful spread plus some vino, the evening went exactly as planned.  Thanks from the whole club to Sue (who organised and delivered the food), Paul (who arranged the drinks) and Nigel (our director for the evening).  Here are a few pics to jog the memory.

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After a tremendously close fought battle over the last few weeks between Michelle & Derek and John & Peter, these two pairs were joined in the final week of the quarter by Hillary & Dean whose win in week 13 gives us a 3-way tie for the Tudor Plate.  Congratulations to all three pairs.  As a memento of your achievement you will each receive a small gift. 

Our congratulations also go to the runners up Sue and Kate, Tom and Kath, Lesley P and Elaine, Drew and Mark, Alan and Doug.  There are a lot of new partnerships and even new players in the top 10 slots this quarter - well done one and all.  Good luck for the next competition which begins next Tuesday.  Click here to see the final scores.

Top pic shows John, Derek and Michelle, bottom pic shows Dean - all with the Tudor Plate

Nigel

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... who came top in the 2023 Birthday Competition with a very healthy 5% lead and to David, Paul, Ingrid and Gordon who tied for second place.  Well done all.

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On Thursday 16th February Tudor celebrated it's 39th birthday, with 7 full tables of players - and plenty of cake too.

Thanks from across the club go to Leslie Mortimer, who made all the cakes for us.  We all enjoyed sampling the (gluten free) chocolate cake, the carrot cake and the raspberry cup cakes. Mmmmmmm delicious.  Thank you Lesley.

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Do you remember what a shambles our venue used to be with books stacked on the snooker table and various shelving units scattered around? 

Well, no longer.  The snooker table and all the little bookcases have now gone and have been replaced by this simple bookcase.

Thanks go to our wonderful landlord, who listened to our request to make more space, and supported us to make the changes happen. 

And special thanks to Drew Lewis, Paul G, Karen and Alan Monaghan, who all worked so hard on our behalf.  We hope you approve.

... to Hillary and Dean, Gilly and Barry, Sue and Andrew, Pauline and George.  They came top in the Tudor Twixmas 'Beat The Expert' competition.  Well done all - you will each have a bonus added to your Tudor Bridge Account.

Thanks also go to Nigel, our non playing Director for the event, who did such a stirling job in setting up and running the event and then sorting out the scoring afterwards.  Your efforts were very much appreciated.

Tues 27th December marked the end of the Oct-Dec 2022 heat of the Tudor Plate competition and we are delighted to announce that it has been won this quarter by Lesley P (pictured here holding the Tudor Plate) and Elaine.  Well done both.  A little memento of your achievement is on its way to you very soon.

3rd January marks the beginning of the Jan-Mar 2023 competition.  Good luck everyone.

As is our custom, students in our first year group have their own Christmas competition, as they compete to win prizes and the Ashes Plate too.  This year the competition was held on 13th December.

With 8 players our director, Karen, chose a teams format.  An afternoon of 'firsts' followed.  The players were introduced to BriAn scoring.  Thanks to Lorr and John who mastered the technology in moments.  A few new partnerships were launched - and the big one, they all played club bridge for the first time.  After about an hour Karen served warm sausage rolls and mince pies with some nibbles and cold drinks, then back to the tables for the last few boards.  A matter of moments after the last hand was finished the results were published on the website.  Congratulations to Brenda and John who are the new holders of the Ashes Plate. (Click here to see the roll of honour)

And, as was the custom at the main club Christmas Party this year, all the players won a prize.

Take a good look at these pictures club members - these players will be your opponents at the main club party next year!

Whilst none of us take the Christmas competition too seriously, it is a game after all, and that means there are winners. 

This year, in the 6th year of it's existence, the David Clark cup was won by the same person who won it last year! Barry Shephard.  Well done Barry. 

The glorious second place was won by Paul Summers - well done Paul.  We had a tie with Hillary and Karen both in third place.  Well done to you too.

The winner of the Nick Gurney Plate was also a tie shared by Michelle and Olive.  Well done both.

And this year, the honour of being the strongest player, and winner of a wonderful bottle of champagne, fell to Scott.  

Well done one and all.  And indeed to all the players on the night who each won a prize.

Happy Christmas to every Tudor Bridge Club member.

As the plaudits and thanks continue to come in, let's take this opportunity to publicly thank all those who made the 2022 Tudor Christmas Party such a runaway success.

Firstly, we must thank our Director for the evening who did so much more than just Direct!  She booked the venue, ensured we had the correct sized tables to play on, arranged to get all the equipment from our usual venue to the Town Hall, ferried the prizes around, bought the nibbles and chocs and ...... phew, the list of her roles and responsibilites seems endless.  Thank you Karen.  Paul G arranged the drinks, thank you Paul. Lesley M made the mince pies for us - even though she couldn't join us to play, thank you Lesley.  Michelle made sure we have plenty of photos, thank you Michelle.  And we mustn't forget Lesley D who dealt the cards for us and bought them along on the night - thank you Lesley.

And lastly, but by no means least, thank you to all our wonderful members who came out to play, despite the freezing conditions, and all mucked in to make the evening such a success - thank you all too.

The Christmas Party is a big event in the Tudor calendar.  Not only because there is a lot of behind the scenes preparation to make the whole session work, but because it's a wonderful opportunity to see new members making Tudor their home club and to welcome back members who we haven't seen for a while.  Hopefully we will continue to see you all much more in the New Year too.

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On Thursday 17th November 2022, members got together to play face to face, enjoy our game and raise some money for Children In Need.  A great turnout of 7 tables which Karen, the Director for the evening, very effectively randomised into 7 teams.  The top 3 places were tightly fought over, but in the end Ted, Paul, Lesley and Nigel achieved 3rd place, Loretta, Mike, Douglas and Keith 2nd place and our worthy winners on the evening were Karen, Paul, John C and John H.  Well done all.

A special thank you to all those who turned out because rather than donating table money this year the club made up the table money (as members are playing free of charge at the moment).  Over and above the table money there were donations too, so Tudor are sending nearly £160 off to the charity.   

Congratulations to Gavin and Keith who retained their title with their new team mates Gilly and Barry.  Congrats also to Elaine, Lesley, Mike A and Mike N who took a very creditable 2nd position and Alan, Paul, Karen and Christine who managed a third place.  Well done to all who took part and to JK and Nigel for organising it.

Tudor Handicap Pairs – Tudor Plate Q4 2023/2024

Many congratulations to Mark Rowley and Drew Lewis on winning the latest Quarter of the Tudor Handicap Pairs, with an excellent total of 158. Well done also to Kate Cox and Sue Brown who were this quarters runners up,

Mark & Drew will receive the Tudor Plate for the next 3 months, it is an excellent achievement given they are only recent converts to Bridge. Their victory shows the importance of our Teaching program bringing through many new players.

The New Quarter & competition starts again next Tuesday when handicaps will be revised to account for the latest NGS ratings.

The final table is shown below.

TudorHcapPairs_26th_Mar_24.pdf

On behalf of the whole club, the committee would like to publicly thank our on-line directors, JK and Hylary, for all the help and support they have given Tudor over the last year to allow us to play our game.  A small token to show our gratitude is winging it's way towards them.

Happy Christmas both

The more observant at the club last Thursday, 18th August, would have noticed Vivienne and Michelle being photographed receiving champagne, again, from the club.  The reason for this is they supported the 2022 Garden Party Bridge event in July,  where they won the champagne originally.  However, there was a tie, for one of the prizes (the champagne) and as the other winners were either visitors or members who rarely play at the club, Vivienne and Michelle very gamely offered to receive their champagne at a later date.  Mystery solved.

After a very close fought competition over 13 weeks Peter Cogger and John Holt emerged as winners this quarter.  Our congratulations to them. Well done to Lesley & Elaine who nearly caught our victors in the final week.

We have now started a new quarter and a new competition lasting 13 weeks, handicaps will be adjusted according to the latest EBU NGS ratings.

Pic shows John with the plate, unfortunately Peter couldn't make it to the club that week.  Both winners have also received a small memento of their achievement too.
 

Nigel

.. by a win from one of the Tudor teams.  A great evening of nibbles, wine, etc etc and 24 hands of bridge.  Thank you Wotton, hope we can join you all again next year to defend the title.  The pic shows the winning team (from left to right Karen Monaghan, Lesley Donnithorne, the director George, Paul Gunning and Christine May).  Click here to see the full results.

Tudor members have been invited to join the Wotton-under-Edge club in a Swiss teams event "to show ... gratitude for the kind invitation to Wotton members to play online during the pandemic".  The event is taking place on Wednesday 14th September, at the Civic Centre in Wotton, with nibbles from 6.15 and play beginning at 7.00 pm.  If you would be interested in signing up for it please enter on the Wotton website (click here to link to Wotton website).

In August Tudor held it's annual ‘simple systems’ competition for the Dave Watson trophy.  A good turnout saw experienced, and relatively new players to the game, enjoy a fun night of bridge. 

At the end however, Barry Shephard and Gilly Weaver came out top with Maureen Gale and Paul Summers taking the runners up spot.
Congratulations to Barry and Gilly for their excellent win. Apologies it has taken so long to get the silverware to you.  

On Thursday 7th July 2022 Tudor Bridge Club members got together, face to face, to play in this competition, to commerate the club's founder - Malcolm Hayward.  The event was a great success on all fronts. 

Firstly, there were 7 teams competing, notwithstanding several last minute cancellations due to Covid.  Many thanks to Paul, our 'partnerships arranging champ', who pulled out all the stops and managed to keep the field to 7 tables.  These events often represent a huge amount of work for Paul and none of us will ever really know how much work goes into keeping the whole event together.  Thank you Paul.

Secondly, given the significance of the event, this is traditionally one of Tudor's biggest celebrations - and that has always been reflected in the catering.  This year the catering team was sadly depleted and so help from the High Street was drafted in - to great acclaim (thank goodness!).  Thanks again to Paul for organising the refreshments, both wine and soft drinks.

And last, but by no means least, the cards.  A fabulously organised event, the whole evening ran like clockwork.  And the result was - a tie!  Very unusual for a teams event. Congratulations to Barry and his team (Ian, Keith and Gavin) who were defending their title from 2021 and to Nigel and his team (Lesley, Hillary and Dean) all shown, looking very happy, in the picture below along with the cup.  Well done all.  Your prizes are on their way to you.

And a big thank you, from Nigel and all the committee, for your support for this event.  We have had great feedback, it really makes organising these events so worthwhile.

Well done to Lesley Donnithorne and Karen Pawsey who convincingly won the first Tudor Plate Handicapped Pairs quarterly competition.  Pic shows Lesley receiving the plate, from Nigel, on behalf of the partnership. 

The second quarterly competition has now begun.  For details on how the competition is run and to see the latest results please click here.  Good luck everyone.

The final week has seen a change in the top positions. Congratulations to Karen Pawsey and Lesley Donnithorne who have won the inaugural running of the Tudor Pairs Handicap League and will receive the Tudor Plate. In 2nd place Hillary & Dean and 3rd goes to Peter & John.

Nigel

Tudor has tied in first place in the Cleverley Teams League, Division 1 for 2021/22.  A fabulous result.  Well done to the entire team of Alan, Ted, Elaine, Lesley M, Paul, and Mark Churchill. Click here to see the final results

Nigel

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  Pauline, Roger and George
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The meeting was short, sweet and totally non-controversial.  Welcome to the committee Lesley D and good luck Michelle in your new role as Treasurer.  All the paperwork (minutes, various reports etc etc) are all lodged on the members part of the website.

Apologies my photography hasn't improved!  But it's always great to have some pics to nudge the memory.

Due to events that could not have been predicted the Tudor Bridge Club AGM scheduled for March this year had to be postponed. We do not yet know when it will be possible to re-schedule and so written reports are being produced for Members.

My report has therefore been split into 2 sections, firstly Year to March 2020 and secondly from March till the current time.

Year to March 2020

This was a phenomenally busy year during which we as a club;

Implemented e-scoring- As discussed at our last AGM, the new Bridge Tabs were introduced (not without a few teething problems) and embraced by Members who overall seemed very pleased. It certainly made it far smoother running, scoring and uploading results to our Website and the EBU.

Hosted the first ever Garden Party Bridge event in July–This was aimed to give us increased profile in the area and help with classroom to clubroom migration. We had an excellent turnout and the event turned into a fantastic day, magical food, great bridge and wonderful weather! Thanks to Christine, Karen, Lesley, Mike, Paul and the many others that helped out to make it such a success.

Continued the Teaching Program - We hosted 2 free taster sessions in the summer and thanks to the many members who helped with this. As a result, we began to run two lessons per week. Firstly for our new year 1, some 4 tables of players and secondly,our first ever year 2 course, also 4 tables.

The teaching program has been a tremendous success, not only financially but also it has now started to bring new players into the regular duplicate nights. This is vital if we are to thrive as a club, our Membership is still at an all time low and it is important that this increases over the next few years. Introducing new players is the only way forward and my thanks are given to all of you who have helped, not only during the Teaching program, but also in making new players feel welcome when they take those first few steps to play at the club.

I must also stress particular thanks to Christine, Loretta, Karen, Paul and Barry, who week after week have been ever-present to help guide our new players. This has made Tudor Bridge Club unique in what it offers and is one of the main reasons for its success.

Annual Competitions

The Birthday Competition and Peter Willoughby Trophy was won by Mike and Chris in February. Thanks to Loretta for making the fabulous cake.

The Malcolm Hayward Cup in May was won by Karen, Paul, Christine and Mark

The Dave Watson simple systems event was notable for attracting 9 tables, including 6 guests from other clubs and 6 guests from the beginner’s class.  Alan and Colin won that event

Jim Dewhurst Random teams was won by Nigel, Shirley, Ted and Kate in September

Club Christmas Party - top prize and the David Clarke Cup was won by Paul Summers, and the Nick Gurney Plate was won by Ken

1st Year Christmas Party and the ASHES plate was won by Di Lester and Michelle Cook,

2nd Year Christmas Party was won by Scott Forsyth

The Tudor Plate was won throughout the year by Mike Novels, Lesley and Nigel and Olive

My congratulations to everyone.

Change of Allegiance from Avon County BA to Gloucester County BA – At the last AGM we agreed to change allegiance to GCBA as we felt they would provide more support than we had received from ACBA. This was implemented and we received a couple of visits and promotional help from GCBA.

Cleverly League We also entered a Team into this competition run by the GCBA and had by March 2020 played 3 of our 4 games, winning all 3 comfortably. The Team comprised of Mark & Paul, Colin & Alan, Nigel & Lesley and Christine & Karen.  The last game against Wotton had to be postponed, but we still hope to complete it online.

Year Since March 2020

Obviously events which have overtaken the world can’t be ignored and they have had a profound effect on all Bridge Clubs not just ours. No-one can yet predict when we will be able to return to normal duplicate evenings, even as things begin to return to some sort of normality the concept of Social distancing makes normal Bridge Club evenings almost impossible to run.

On-line Bridge -We have managed to recreate the club (to a degree) as an Online or Virtual Club and I have been amazed at the response of members in getting to grips with technology that many would not have believed they could master. Yet with fantastic help from Karen & Christine we regularly get 40 players Online playing together on a Tuesday and Thursday evening.

On-Line Competition - Also with the Help of the Acol Club (An On-line Bridge Club) we manage to run a weekly Wednesday afternoon tournament, where we get between 5 and 6 tables. This is a Free tournament and if anyone who is not currently playing wishes to do so, please let me know.

On-Line Teaching - We have also been able to continue the teaching program online and via Zoom conferencing, so that we will be able to complete both the 1^st and 2^nd years courses and continue the 1^st years’ move into their 2^nd year in September.

Committee Meetings – Via Zoom Conferencing – The committee has met once already and is due to meet again shortly in order to continue the club’s business and continue to offer our members support and help. We will be discussing ways to further our on-line Bridge activities along with other matters and will keep everyone informed.

Stay in Touch – Finally can I just say how important this is to the club. For those of us that play on-line this is easy as we all chat regularly. There are though still many members who do not or cannot participate online, as a committee we are trying to stay in touch with them all. Any help members can give in staying in touch with those who you don’t see online will be appreciated, and it will help us keep together as a club.

Above all else though Keep Safe!

Nigel Mortimer

Chair – Tudor Bridge Club – 1^st June 2020.

Sometimes our game can be frustrating, even irritating.  But it's really important we protect the friendly, humourous and helpful atmosphere, of our very special club, by ensuring we don't allow any negative emotions to escape.  So, if you feel you need to comment on your partner's play or bidding do it with good humour and never try to belittle them.  Perhaps you would be better doing it the next day rather than 'in the moment'.  Similarly, your opposition may well be playing a very different system to you, or even have made a genuine mistake, so be sparing in your observations.  If asked for your opinion please give it with care and compassion - and never offer your opinion if you haven't been asked for it.  Tudor is proud to have so many relatively new players in the club - as a direct result of the successful teaching programme.  Think back to when you were setting out on your bridge journey and perhaps you may remember how fragile your ego may have been because you think everyone else is an expert!  A careless negative comment can easily be hurtful to a new player and even put them off.

Thankfully Tudor doesn't have a problem with this sort of thing - and that is exactly how the committee want to keep it.  That's why Tudor operates a Zero Tolerance Policy when it comes to bad behaviour at the table - in both the online world and the real world alike.  

So, if you are subject to any infractions of good table etiquette, please be assured, your committee want to hear about it.  If you have any questions, at all, on this subject, please contact any member of the committee.

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  Helen, Ron and the Cup
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  Peter Willoughby Cup

Many thanks to all the members who came along to celebrate the 38th Birthday of the club and especially those who played face to face with us for the first time.  Thanks too to the organising team, especially Karen, Paul, Nigel and to George too who was a tremendous supporter of the director on the evening.  And from my perspective, special thanks to the photographers on the night - Pauline and Alan, pics make all the difference in the world to the website.

Congratulations to Helen and Ron, our worthy winners on the night.

Our next Face-to-Face event will be a straightforward pairs event on Tuesday 29th March, when the card play will follow the AGM.  Further details will follow shortly.

Its early days, as we have only played 2 out of 6 matches, but a great start and nice to see Tudor at the top of the 1^st Division.

Our 2^nd match on Tuesday 18th January resulted in another good win over Gloucester by 45 to 24 IMPS. The Tudor team comprised Paul Gunning, Mark Churchill, Lesley Mortimer and me.

The matches are played as 2 x 8 board sessions The IMPS scores are then converted into Victory Points depending on how many you win (or lose by).

Our next 2 matches will be crucial.  This Friday (Ted, Elaine, Paul and Mark) against Stroud M and on the 18^thFebruary (Ted, Elaine, Alan Birch and me) against North Cotswolds, who are unbeaten to date!  

Good luck to all the Tudor players.  (Click here to see the latest results).

Nigel

Even at this time of year our data gurus are busy - this time analysing the data to see who is the latest winner of the Tudor Plate competition.  In 3rd place is Mark Griffiths, 2nd place is Pauline Hart - and the winner is (drum roll please) ....... Gavin Bailey.  Congratulations all.

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This year's Christmas competition was held on Tuesday 21st December, on BBO.  As is traditional at Tudor, it took the format of an individual competition.

There were prizes and silverware to play for, of course.  The top slot was won by Barry who will get a prize as well as the honour of being the 2021 holder of the David Clarke Cup.  Congratulations.  Prizes will also go to Ted who came 2nd and Gill Welch who came 3rd.  Well done both of you.

And this year the Nick Gurney Plate was won by Tom Jago and John Holt for being the players closest to 50% (actually, they scored exactly 50%).  Congratulations to you too.  

The last prize goes to Sue who supported the whole field.  

Well done to all our winners.  To review the results table click here.

And to add a little spice to the whole event there was a new viewer too!  Mark Rowley, from the new classes, very kindly agreed to road test the concept of whether watching people play online can act as a teaching aid.  Thank you Mark, and welcome to 'Virtual Tudor' on BBO.

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Today, Lesley D took over custody of the Tudor Dealing Machine.  From now on, as we move back to playing in the face to face environments increasingly, the role of the card dealer becomes important again.  Thank you for volunteering Lesley. 

If you would like to know about how the cards are dealt and why it is so important to us to have a good computer and operator at the helm just ask Lesley for more info - I'm sure she won't mind.

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It is with great pride that the teaching team welcome the new class to Tudor.  The class has now completed the 'mini bridge' part of the course, culminating today in a competition (the first in their bridge playing career).  They now have a week off for half term and when we start again, on 4th November, the bidding makes an appearance on the syllabus.  Welcome all, you are very welcome indeed.

Congratulations Tudor - what a result for Children In Need!  Raising over £160 for the charity the 'Beat The Expert' competition was won by Gilly and Barry, with Karen and Paul coming second. Well done all and thank you to all those who turned out to play and make donations to this worthy cause. 
The pic shows (from left to right) Nigel, Barry, Karen and Paul. Unfortunately Gilly had already left before the results were known. 

Thank you to Nigel for directing and arranging the commentaries, Paul for organising the wine and nibbles (including a red wine donation from Mike) and Karen for overseeing all the arrangements.

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  Gavin with the cup
• 

  Jim Dewhurst Cup
• 

  Karen and Christine
• 

  Keith with the cup

Congratulations from around the club go to the 2021 winners of this prestigious piece of silverware - Karen Monaghan, Christine May, Gavin Bailey and Keith Radmall.  Well done all.

The longevity of most bridge clubs is invested in it's ability to attract new members and even new players.  And Tudor is no exception.  The recruitment campaign for the September 2022 lessons has started extra early this year as Karen represented Tudor at the recent 'Ageing Better Festival' in Yate.  With a new poster and leaflets she was there to bang the drum for Tudor.  Thank you Karen, much appreciated.  

• 

  The Winners
• 

  Tony and John
• 

  Everyone
• 

  Jane and Angela
• 

  Lesley and Chris
• 

  Karen and Mike
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  Loretta, Jane and Jean
• 

  Paul, Tony and John

After exactly 18 months Tudor Bridge Club gets to play face-2-face again.  A select band of 16 players turned up for the inaugral competition - the Dave Watson Cup.  It was lovely to see so many again, and with several saying they will join us next week, we are hoping to have established a thriving Wednesday afternoon session for many weeks, months and years to come.

Congratulations to Jane and Nigel (East/West) and Karen and Christine (North/South) as this years winners.  

Congratulations from across the club goes to the winner of the May-August 2021 Tudor Plate.  In 4th place Elizabeth Jefferies, 3rd George Whyte, 2nd Ian Cooke and in the top slot, with an average that has shot up by 7% during the 4 month period, our heartiest congratulations go to Jane Eaton (pictured holding the Tudor Plate).

You may not be aware that Jane and Elizabeth are relative newcomers to playing at the club in the evenings having just graduated from the classes.  Well done both of you.

Jane - you are now the holder of the Tudor Plate and will be receiving a gift you can keep in due course too.  

Congratulations from across the club go to Beverly, John, Derek, Michelle, Steve, Wendy, Chris, Lesley, Jane, Angela, Elizabeth, Alison, Charlotte, David, Di, Geoff, Lisa, Karen, Joyce and Marian for completing the Tudor Bridge Club course. Welcome aboard all. Looking forward to seeing you at the bridge table very soon. 

We have all benefitted from Tudor being so quick to get organised with online play during lockdown.  It was in the spirit of sharing our good fortune that we welcomed new members from anywhere at all.  So, when two new players approached us and asked if they could join us, we were happy to throw open the doors and welcome them in.  Over the weeks and months that followed I heard from several members that their bidding prompted some head scratching at the table.  At some point at least 1 member from Tudor, as well as someone from another club, have reported the situation to the county/national governing bodies and now action has been taken.  Click here to read more about it.  

Thanks should be extended to whoever had the wit to report these players (who no longer play at Tudor).  It is that level of integrity which will protect the game we love and so allow us to continue to play online, safe in the knowledge that no form of dishonest or unfair play is acceptable.

Christine

Congratulations from across the club go to Barry, Ian, Gavin and Keith for coming top.  Well done gentlemen.  Congrats also to Paul S, Chris, Maureen and Gordon for a very creditable second and to Gill W, Margaret, Kath and Tom as well as David, John, Ron and Roger for achieving the third slot.  Your prizes are on their way to you all.  The pic below shows Barry collecting the Malcolm Hayward cup on behalf of the winning team.

We would also like to record our thanks to our directors for the evening J. K. Andrew and Patrick Shields.  For Nigel and Karen for the organisation and scoring and Paul for working so diligently to help create 12 teams for this very special event.

We all hope you enjoyed playing a slightly different format and will join us again next time we organise a teams event.

Congratulations from across the club go to the top 3 in the Tudor Plate competition.  Lesley Mortimer was 3rd, Lesley Donnithorne was runner up and Chris Sharp was top.  Well done all.  

We would normally present the winner with the plate (pictured here) and give them a small gift too.  Chris will have to make do with this picture of the plate (sorry Chris),  but the gift is on its way.

Congratulations to you all again.

THE TUDOR PLATE COMPETITION - runs every 4 months and compares improvements in every individual's scores from the previous 4 months.  That means everyone across the club has an equal chance of winning it, in theory.

On Friday 19th March 2021 we were able to get together and run a 'virtual AGM' with voting and everything!  And, over and above that, the number of members present was well in excess of 20, so the meeting was quorate too.

Having heard the Chair's report and been given the opportunity to ask questions of the Treasurer, the meeting was asked to vote on :-

• whether the committee should be re-elected (passed unanimously),
• how long the director of any session should wait for registered members to log on for a playing session (5 minutes was decided upon, unanimously)
• whether there should be a break during a playing session (defeated overwhelmingly). 

Also, there was a discussion regarding bringing forward the start time of the Wednesday session from 2.30 to 2.00.  It was agreed that Michelle (who organises the Wednesday partnering and mentoring service) should canvas the opinion of the Wednesday players and advise the committee of the outcome.

Over and above that, Paul advised the meeting that over the past 2 months he has been gauging the feelings of the membership regarding giving Life Membership of the club to Karen, Christine and Nigel (as a mark of gratitude for all their work before and during the pandemic to keep the club going), and he had received huge support for the motion.  Karen, Christine and Nigel were all suitably embarrassed and thanked all present for their support. 

The Draft Minutes of the meeting are available on the 'members' part of the website.  As ever, please contact Christine if you have trouble accessing them.

As we close our week of spot prize giving, to mark Tudor's success during lockdown, our final prizes this week go to Mark and Christine, Maureen and Paul, Kate and Derek. 

Also congrats go to Ian and George, Julie and Derek, Kate and Scott, Mauren and Alan, Di and David, as well as Jean and Marion for winning their spot prizes earlier in the week.  We hope you enjoyed participating in this anniversary event.

From the Tudor Bridge Club Committee

On the second day of the spot prize giving, to mark Tudor's success during lockdown, the prizes go to Maureen and Alan, Di and David Lester, and Jean and Marion.  Well done to you all.

Still everything to play for with one more set of prizes being given away tomorrow evening too. Good luck everyone 

From the Tudor Bridge Club Committee

As we begin our week of spot prize giving, to mark Tudor's success during lockdown, our first prizes this week go to Ian Cooke and George Whyte, Julie Clark and Derek Trubody, Kate Cox and Scott Forsythe.  Well done to you all.

Still everything to play for with two more sets of prizes being given away tomorrow afternoon and Thursday evening. Good luck everyone 

From the Tudor Bridge Club Committee

Thursday 12th March 2020 was the last time we played at our venue - who knew we would still be in this situation a year down the road!  But we have survived, and even thrived with the support of the membership, other local clubs and the stalwarts of the club who have put so much effort in to keeping the ship afloat.  To celebrate this significant landmark we plan to credit the account of each pair who come top, bottom and closest to 50% on each of the sessions next week (9th, 10th and 11th) with a free playing session.  Good luck everyone 

From the Tudor Bridge Club Committee

What a great turnout for the 2021 Peter Willoughby Handicapped Pairs/Birthday Competition - 14 tables, another record for 'Virtual Tudor Bridge Club'.  And what a competition too.  24 boards later and now we have the results. Please click here to see the full results AFTER the handicaps have been applied.

Congratulations from across the membership go to Paul and Mark who gained the top slot, John H and John C who came second and Ray and Mark G who clinched the third slot.  Well done gentlemen.  Lesley and Nigel were 4th and then Michelle and Lesley D (from the classes) turned in a fabulous performance and came 5th - very well done ladies. (Pic shows the Peter Willoughby Trophy)

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It was agreed at the 2019 AGM that Tudor should continue to donate to it's two chosen charities.  That action has continued during lock down and acknowledgement letters have now been received from both charities.  Letters attached, scroll over to read both letters.

Those of you who have been members of Tudor for many years may remember that last year Ann and Tony won the Peter Willoughby Trophy,  Olive and Ken came second and a wonderful performance from Jane and Chris, who played together for the very first time on the evening, achieved a very creditable third place. (Photo shows, from left to right, Chris, Jane, Ann (holding trophy) Ken and Olive.

For the 2020 event Karen headed up the catering (made two fabulous cakes to celebrate the club's 36th Birthday) and Mark was the director.  This year, of course, we will play on BBO and J K Andrews will be our director with Karen and Nigel doing the scoring and applying the handicapping.  Unfortunately, we can't send slices of birthday cake to all, but there is still a very handsome trophy to be won.  So please put it in your diary.  This is a handicapped pairs event, so a level playing field for members of all abilities and everything to play for.

Please just come along and register in the normal way and help Tudor Bridge Club celebrate, this our 39th birthday - on Tuesday 16th February 2021.  As ever, if you have any questions or queries just phone Nigel, Karen or Christine

Just before Christmas our great friend Tony celebrated a very special birthday.   Tudor managed to get a card to him on the special day, but we couldn't deliver the present until January (3 bottles of his favourite wine).  Tony was very surprised to recieve a present and gave his profuse thanks to all at Tudor.  He is now an Honorary member of the club.  Congratulations Tony, and a belated Happy Birthday!

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To finish the 2020 Christmas celebrations at Tudor Bridge Club, we held the inaugral 'Beat The Expert' competition on Tuesday 29th December.  It was a pairs format, as usual, but the hands had been played previously by Experts, including Zia Mahmood.  Then, after every board, the director for the evening (Nigel) sent a message to the Tournament telling the players what the experts had achieved on the previous round.  The idea was to see if any of our players could 'Beat The Experts'.  The winners of the whole event were Gavin and Keith, who also comfortably whooped the Experts.  Congratulations gentlemen, your prizes are on their way.

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  Playing card decs
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  Playing card decs
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  David Clark Cup
• 

  Paul Gunning
• 

  Alan Birch
• 

  David Lester
• 

  Margaret Robson
• 

  Pauline Hart
• 

  Ted Corneius

The evening started with a 'Christmas jumper and wee dram' orientated Zoom call, so we could all see and chat with each other for a few minutes.  Then onto BBO for the main event - an individual competition, as is the Tudor tradition.  And, what a turnout!  Eleven full tables.  

Congratulations from across the club go to David Lester (top, and winner of the David Clarke cup), Paul Gunning (2nd) and Ted Cornelius (3rd).   Pauline Hart and Margaret Robson share the honour of winning the Nick Gurney Plate - well done.  And Alan Birch took the main supporting role.

Well done all.  You will all be receiving a retail voucher.  

Our thanks also go to Nigel who masterminded and directed the whole event too.  

On the afternoon of Tuesday 8th December 2020 we held the annual Christmas Competition, for those in classes, in a bid to win the ASHES* plate.  We had a very impressive 18 students turn up for the event.  Congratulations from around the club go to Angela and Wendy for securing the top slot, Karen P for getting nearest to 50% and Derek C for supporting the field.  Well done all, prizes are winging their way towards to you right now.

Pictures - ASHES* Plate (left), Angela (centre) and Wendy (right)

(*ASHES stands for Award for the Student who Has made an Excellent Start)

• 

  The Cup
• 

  Ian Cooke
• 

  Nigel & Lesley

With the largest ever turnout since Tudor began playing on BBO (13 tables) this was a tremendously well supported event.  Particular thanks go to those from the various lessons who ventured into the club to play in an evening event and to our Director for the evening, Karen.

Congratulations from across the club go Lesley and Nigel Mortimer plus Ian and George for coming joint top in the 2020 Dave Watson Cup.  Great result for you all.  

As the lessons draw to a close and duplicate bridge takes off we have been inundated with plaudits for the work of the team who have made 'Virtual Tudor Bridge Club' such a success and asked to give a public vote of thanks for all the effort it has taken to get Tudor to this point.  

To the Directors who have put themselves through training and given up playing with their regular partners just so that we can enjoy our game - thank you.  To those who have put together the lessons twice a week, given the lessons and then overseen the students' practice - thank you.  For the team who spend so much time every week managing the monies and organising the mentoring rota - thank you.  To the experienced players who help our students practice and take time to give feedback - thank you.

Tudor is a very special club and means a great deal to many of us.  During these uncertain times this small team have provided us all with a wonderful way to stay in contact and keep playing our game.  Aren't we lucky to be members of this club whilst so many others have struggled?

Thank you - from everyone.

The final match of 2019/20 has now been completed, online.  The Wotton team prevailed, narrowly, over a spirited Tudor Team, consisting of Karen Monaghan, Paul Gunning, Maureen Gale and Alan Birch.  Well done Wotton.

The results have now been published and I am very proud to declare Tudor were the Champions this season.  Click here to see the final results.

Well done Tudor.  We are now looking forward to the new season beginning in October. This time, probably, all matches will be played online.

Nigel

Competitions start at 7:00 p.m.  Registration can take place from 5:00 p.m. To register, you and your partner need to be on line at the same time. The competition is in the 'All tournaments' area.  Here is a screen by screen synopsis of the Registration process, (click here). 

Finally, please make sure you are both online at 6:45 p.m. and in the 'All Tournaments' area of the site as you cannot be 'seen' if you are elsewhere and so won't be able to play.  

We say 'welcome'. 

We have extended a warm welcome to all our friends at Wotton Bridge Club who are coming to play with us on BBO.  Several have already taken us up on the offer and we sincerely hope more will follow.  Welcome aboard 'Wottoners'! 

As the plaudits begin to come in, heartfelt thanks from across the club go to Nigel for introducing Tudor to BBO free play, then the free Wednesday afternoon Tournaments - all culminating in the full club duplicate experience.

Last evening Tudor Bridge Club played it's inaugral online duplicate evening session.  With 7 full tables, the membership took to the new playing format like old hands.  Within moments of the play session ending, the results were published on the website, with hand records etc etc - the full nine yards.  There is something very comforting about getting the full duplicate experience back.

Well done Nigel, and thank you. 3rd July 2020

The voting for the 2020/2021 committee is now complete.  In line with the pre-existing constitution the voting needed to exceed 40% of the membership to be considered valid.  Our huge thanks go to all those who took the trouble to vote.  I am delighted to report that the volume of votes exceeded 75% - all positive except for a couple of abstentions for our less high profile committee members.  A resounding confirmation that your committee have your support.  Thank you all very much and a warm welcome to Mike Novels, our new committee member.

Nigel, Chair, Tudor Bridge Club

Your committee have recently discussed the 'undo' privilege and have now implemented the policy that the undo function is only for bidding 'misclicks' and not for play errors/revisions.  For guidelines regarding 'undo', a brief overview of the messaging vocabulary and for the specifics on alerting/announcing on BBO click here and to ask any specific questions please click here.

Tudor Bridge Club has continued playing, practicing and teaching throughout the lock down period, with a great deal of success.  With 10 tables playing every Tuesday and Thursday evening, 5 every Wednesday afternoon and 4 teaching tables twice a week, the club has never had so much interaction with its members and guests from nearby clubs.

And, on Thursday 2nd July 2020 things ramp up to another level, as Tudor Bridge Club starts playing its standard Duplicate sessions in the evenings.  The experience will be as close to the experience of playing in a club as possible.  From hand records, results loaded onto the website and the EBU website (for the National Grading Scheme) - we are even re-introducing table money too!

If you would like to learn more about how we are doing this, or would like to join us, please call Christine on 07876 334 921 for details.

Congratulations from across the club go to Ann and Tony who won the Peter Willoughby Trophy,  Olive and Ken who came second and a wonderful performance from Jane and Chris who played together for the very first time on the evening, and achieved a very creditable third place. Well done all.

A wonderful club night, all thanks to Karen and Mark.  Karen headed up the catering (made two fabulous cakes to celebrate the club's 38th Birthday) and Mark was the director - sorting out the handicapping. And what a wonderful evening to invite our fabulous newcomers to,  Helen and Sally, Kate and Derek.

Can Tudor score at least 3 VPs (Victory Points) against our closest rival in the Cleverly League - Wotton Bridge Club?  That's all we need to do to win, this, our first ever season in the Cleverly League.

For more information see this chart on the 'story so far'

Go Tudor!

cleverly league update feb 2020.docx   

On a cold night in early February 2020 the Nympsfield team came to Tudor to play in the Cleverly League.  Sat at the far end of the club room the two teams battled it out.  Very equally matched, there were only two major 'swing' boards, one favouring the visitors and one favouring the hosts.  So, overall, it was a 'steady Eddie' type of match.  At half time the score was Tudor 18, Nympsfield 13 and the evening finished 33 Tudor and 15 Nympsfield.  Many thanks for coming over guys and thanks to Nigel for arranging the cakes and pastries for our guests.  Pictured, from left to right Richard Gwyer, Syd Gwyer, Tom Hanwell and Lesley Bennet plus our very own Alan, Paul, Mark and Colin.  Well done gentlemen of Tudor.

Our boffins have done all the calculations and we are proud to announce the latest results for the Tudor Plate.  In third place Tom Jago, in second place Maureen Gale and (drum roll) in first place, and first winner of 2020 Elaine Turner.

Fabulous result Elaine.  Congratulations from across the club.  

• 

  Well done Scott
• 

  Well done Ann
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  Kate
• 

  Chris
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  Having fun at the bridge club
• 

  Sue, Derek and Amanda

In a week of Christmas parties, we conclude the week with a competition amongst the intermediary class members.  There were some very interesting hands to keep us all on our toes.  Congratulations from across the club go to Scott and all the other winners.  

We will see you all back in the club next Thursday afternoon for our final tutorial of 2019.

It was a wonderful occassion and a marvellous opportunity for the membership to welcome 11 respresentatives from the Thursday classes.  Congratulations from across the club go to Paul, Alan and Nigel who came 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively and to Julie who won the Champagne.  Well done all.

Thanks also to Karen for hosting such a great success - as well as for all her work in decorating the venue.

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  Elizabeth and David
• 

  Marian
• 

  The Ladies
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  Tea? At a Christmas Party?
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  Play
• 

  Play
• 

  Play
• 

  Play
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  Play
• 

  Play
• 

  Play
• 

  Play
• 

  Play
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  Play
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  David and Geraldine
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  Margot and Charlotte
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  Marian and Elizabeth
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  Beverley and John
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  Di, Nigel and Michelle
• 

  Di and Michelle

Hearty congratulations to the members of the class of 2019 who played in their first ever Christmas Bridge Competition yesterday, with special congratulations to Di and Michelle who very surprised to hear they had won the competition with a very respectable 65%.

Thanks also to Loretta who, amidst a staggering volume of smoke, conjured up some wonderful homemade nibbles.

• 

  Before
• 

  Before
• 

  Ta da!
• 

  In use

Just a couple of weeks before these pics were taken, a careless comment over a cup of coffee about Christmas bunting, was thrown into the conversation.  That was all the inspiration Karen needed.  She promptly started shopping for Christmas fabric, bias binding etc etc.  Then hours of cutting out, sewing, turning inside out, ironing and more sewing and here we are - the proud owner of yards and yards of festive, beautifully made bunting.  What a visionary.  

Thank you Karen - a wonderful job.

On a wet and grey afternoon in early November, The Tudor Bridge Club (Chipping Sodbury) met a team from just outside Tetbury. After a tortuous journey involving a road road closure and diversion to get there (thanks to Sat Nav), play commenced ½ hour late. The setting was picturesque, very rural and our hosts very generous, particularly the Coffee and Walnut cake.

After a very close first 12 boards (Tudor were down by 2 imps) a storming performance by our amazing 90 Year olds Alan and Colin, Tudor came back in the second half to win by 20 imps. 

Many thanks to our very gracious hosts Terry and Lynn their partners David and Rachel and to my long-suffering partner Lesley.

So far 2 played and 2 wins!

In a first for Tudor Bridge Club, we have joint winners for the Tudor Plate for the period to the end of June 2019 - Lesley and Nigel.  Congratulations to you both. 

Congratulations are also extended to Ann Triner who was 2nd and Karen who was 3rd.  Well done all. Picture shows Karen (centre) presenting Lesley and Nigel with their award.

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  Maggie
• 

  Beverley and Karen
• 

  Michelle and David
• 

  Charlotte and Michelle
• 

  Margot and Marian
• 

  David and Ros
• 

  Lesley, David and Ros

Just last month, this group weren't playing bridge at all, but yesterday, they played in their first ever bridge competition!  What a tremendous achievement.  The afternoon was a great success with the most fabulous homemade cakes and biscuits provided by Karen  (our director for the event).  Extra thanks go to Elaine, Roger, Paul S and Paul G for turning out to help host this event.

Even in lock down Tudor Bridge Club was able to keep teaching.  It was a lot of hard work, and we all had to learn about a few applications we hadn't really bothered with much before, but we did it.  It was important for us that we kept the class together, kept in contact with everyone and found a way that they could still practice and even develop their bridge skills, rather than losing them. It was great fun too. And what a time waster!  You could easily hop online for 10 minutes and lose 2 hours. 

Anyway, the teaching team are seriously considering running a beginners class soon, as well as an intermediate level class.  Are you interested?  Just fill in the form and someone will be in contact with you soon to discuss what Tudor Bridge Club can do for you.  (Please click here)

A fabulous evening of bridge with a few nibbles and a glass of vino too.  Congratulations go to the winning team of Karen Monaghan, Paul Gunning, Mark Churchill and Christine May. Thanks were given to those who arranged the food, the wine and soft drinks - and the Director too, of course. 

Special thanks go to those who were able to help out the club by stepping in at the last moment to make up partnerships and teams.  Only Paul will ever know how close we came to losing a team or two!

Once again, our gurus have collected, verified and analysed the results from the Tuesday and Thursday evening sessions for the last four months, to determine who is the latest winner of this prestigeous award.  Congratulations from across the club go to Barry Shephard (who came 3rd), Mike Novels (who came 2nd) - and our winner for this period is Olive Heath.  Well done all.

And don't forget, we are hoping to change the format of this competition, so, please don't be backwards in coming forwards with your suggestions.  Just click here to complete the suggestion form and your idea will be discussed at the committee meeting.  And, if you have more than one idea, please feel free to complete the suggestion form more than once!

The first ever match, for Tudor, in the Cleverly League was played on 1st October.  Nestled at one end of the club playing room, the match was played without infringing on the normal club play, at all.  In a 'match of two halves' Tudor were successful in the first match, winning by 34 Match Points.  However, when the players 'changed ends' all that was to change and our adversaries won 41 points versus 27 points.  The end result was that Tudor won the match by 14 Victory Points to 6.  Our congratulations and thanks go to the Tetbury team for their performance and coming to Chipping Sodbury to play with us.    

Pictured (from left to right) Peter Skinner, Paul Gunning, Christine May, Mark Churchill, Roger Jackson, Jim Edwards, Karen Monaghan and Tricia Callow

from all your friends at Tudor Bridge Club

The event was held on Thursday 12th September and a fabulous 5 full tables turned up.  The beauty of this event is that every year the teams are different, because on the night the director will come up with some clever way of randomising the teams.  All went swimmingly, and Kate, Shirley, Ted  and Nigel (pictured above from left to right) won convincingly with a score of 20 IMPs - a full 12 points clear of the next team.  Congratulations to all involved and thanks to all those who took part.

Mike Novels is having a tremendous run at the moment.  He has achieved some fabulous results over recent weeks and those have all contributed to him being the greatest improved player in the club between November 2018 and end of February 2019.  Well done Mike.

Congratulations are also extended to Gordon who came second, Ken who came third and Alan Birch fourth.  Well done all.

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  Having fun
• 

  Easy to find
• 

  Stressed organisers!

In the last 'Taster Session' of  2019 we met even more people who want to know more about the king of all card games - bridge.  It was a great event and our thanks go to all those who came to meet us.  We hope you will all come back next week at 2 o'clock and begin the course with us.

Extra special thanks go to those who hosted  (Karen, Loretta, Lesley, Kate, Elaine, Paul S and Paul G, John, Mike, Derek, and Nigel) plus the ever patient photographer Alan.  It is the time and effort, such as this, which will ensure the longevity of the club well into the future.

Go Tudor!

What a fabulous result!  Even before the handicaps were applied Chris and Mike were clear of the crowd - and that gap just became wider.  Tremendous result -  well fought and well won. 

And thanks from across the club go to Loretta for the fabulous cake. It was delicious.

What a fabulous set of results for our guests this year.  Phil (our guest) playing with Mike topped the field by just 1.1 per cent.  Closely followed by Tudor's very own Elizabeth and Tom, with Caroline and Mary hot on their heels.

Well done everyone - another great tribute to Dave.  Let's do it all again next year.

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  The winners
• 

  Dorothy and Pat
• 

  Loretta and Jean
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  Phil and David
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  Tom and Ted
• 

  John
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  Ann, Paul and Tony
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  Derek, Mike and Vivienne
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  Amanda, Maureen and Sue
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  Colin, Gilly, Alan and Barry
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  Jean and Paul
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  Elizabeth and Chris
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  Sue
• 

  Dorothy and Tony
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  John and Karen
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  Loretta, Derek and Jean
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  Ros, Mark, Jean and Paul
• 

  Dave Watson cup

Congratulations go to the new winners of the Dave Watson Cup - Colin and Alan.  However, the evening had more significance than a normal club session because we were able to welcome so many new players to the club.  We had 5 players from the beginners lessons, plus 3 guests from Downend and it was lovely to see Dorothy again after so long.  Thank you all for coming and helping us remember the great man.

The competition itself was closely fought with just 0.3% seperating the top pair from the 2 runners up.  And the winners didn't have it all their own way, they lost one match in a big way when they met 2 representatives from the beginners group, Derek and Vivienne!

Every four months, our boffins do some very complex analyses of individual members changing performance, over time.  They look at the average scrore over the last four months and see how it has improved (or otherwise) versus their performance in the previous four months.  

The results for the period March-June 2018 have now been analysed and verified and the results are top Gill Weaver, 2nd Jenny Booker, 3rd Carlton Jones and 4th Mike Shrimpton, closely followed by Hywel, Ken and Olive.

Well done all.  

A fabulous evening in memory of Malcolm Hayward, the club's founder, was had by all 9 teams on Tuesday 19th June.  With plenty of food, wine (and soft drinks) plus strawberries too, it was a real fun evening.  Congratulations go to Karen, Paul, Mark and Christine for a score some 30+ IMPs ahead of the field.

The last four months results have been checked and verified to see which member has improved most over the four months from November 2017 to February 2018, compared to the four months prior to that.  And we have a result.  Congratulations go to Ted (3rd), Gordon (2nd) and Colin Paynes who came in first.  Well done gentlemen. (PIctured, Mark Churchill presents Colin Payne with the Tudor Plate and a china mug as a memento of his achievements).

On an evening of firsts, John Court and John Holt pipped George and Pauline to first place by just 1 per cent, once the handicapping was applied, to win the 2018 Birthday Competition and become the new holders of the Peter Willoughby Trophy.

With a great turnout of some 17 pairs, including Helen Willoughby and Ron Watson, this was not only the first compeitition of 2018 but also the first competition in the new venue.  The honour of coming out top was very closely contended with less than 10 per cent separating the top half of the field.  This is John and John's first competition win at Tudor as they have only played at the club together five times before this evening.  Congratulations gentlemen.

Thanks and much kudos go to Loretta who baked the 'Peter Willoughby Trophy' cake and commissioned the birthday cake too.