All sessions at the club are currently suspended due to the coronavirus. 

Many thanks to many of our members who are supporting our online bridge sessions.

(Added by Gillian Leaver, 2 Oct 2020)

Our club President Graham Rayner very recently had his 90th birthday. Hearty congratuations from all of us Graham!   

Added by Gillian Leaver, 26 September 2020.

Jayne Watney who has been Club Secretary for many years has resigned. She has also played a key role in organising Monday mornings bridge sessions and will be sadly missed. We offer her our warmest congratulations on the excellent work she has done and all the very best wishes for the future. 

It is a pleasure to report that Danny Hearty will now take on the role of Club Secretary .

Colin 

We, as a club, feel really extremely proud of the way in which we have risen to the challenge of Covid. After all, you learn to play bridge so that you can play cards and socialise, and life is different- for now. Our lessons have proved so popular- yes, even though we cannot play cards- that we have had to open more classes. There are now 3 beginners classes and 4 improvers classes.

LESSONS

This years lessons started on Tuesday 8th September, and  the amended timings, days and tutors are as follows:-

Beginners David Emerson Tuesdays 10-12 noon , 2-4.00 p.m and 7-9.00 p.m.

Improvers Peter Dyer  Tuesdays 10-12 noon  and 7-9.00p.m.

                   David Emerson Mondays 2-4.00p.m.(starting 21st September) and Thursdays 10-12noon(starting 1st October)

The lessons use Zoom, which everyone has had to learn during lockdown, BridgeBaseOnline(BBO), and NoFearBridge(NFB). Worry not. We will teach you how to use these. The BBO and NFB allow you to 'play bridge' with fellow classmates, which will make it feel  more real. We are limiting the sizes of the classes so that everyone enjoys them more, and have had to increase the number of groups as shown above

The cost is £100 for each 10 week period(there will be 4 in the year and practice weeks?. Please email Joan Bennett on joanmbennett@hotmail.co.uk or call me on 01491 579795 or 07548 782 538 for further information.  Please contact David(david.emerson@englishbridgeschool.org) or Peter(pete.dyer@live.co.uk) if you cannot reach me.

FOR THE MORE EXPERIENCED.

Stuart Fox is running sessions concentrating on card play on Thursday at 12.15p.m.- a fascinating, but frequently neglected topic- from which everyone can benefit. How often have you wondered why other people made more tricks than you did? He is also continuing his bidding workshops on Thursdays at 11.00.a.m. You may come to either or both. Contact Stuart on stuart.fox6@gmail.com or 07730 304 294. £5 per session.

EXTRA PRACTICE

David Emerson is running a session each Thursday evening from 7-9 p.m. to which all students and club members are welcome. The timing of this should help those students who work. Sessions must be booked in advance at https://bookwhen.com/wallingfordbridgeclub. If you have any questions or queries contact David on david.emerson@englishbridgeschool.org

Updated 17.9.2020

Wallingford Bridge Club are now offering five online bridge sessions each week, and another session run by neighbouring bridge club Phyllis Court Bridge Club which is now also open to Wallingford Bridge Club members.

Monday at 2:00pm       -    Duplicate Pairs MPs (modified Level 2), playing 18 boards.

Tuesday at 2:00pm      -     Gentle Duplicate (for inexperienced players) playing 12 or 14 boards.

Wednesday at 7:00pm  -    Duplicate Pairs MPs (Level 4), playing 18-20 boards.

Thursday at 2.00pm     -    Duplicate Pairs MPs (modified Level 2), playing 18 boards.

Friday at 10:00am       -    Gentle Duplicate (for inexperienced players) playing 12 or 14 boards. This session is run by Phyllis Court Bridge Club, who are kindly opening it to Wallingford Bridge Club members as well. 

Friday at 7.00pm          -   Pairs,  X-IMPs (Teams scoring) (Level 4), playing 21-24 boards.

Other feedback has suggested that one thing putting off some members from playing online is not having a partner. BBO has a fantastic way of dealing with this, as each tournament has a Partnership Desk which is open for 2 hours before every event for people looking for a partner. Full step-by-step instructions for using this feature are available by clicking at the top of this News Item. Unfortunately we do not currently have enough volunteers to be able to provide a host for any of our sessions after the end of the current trial period on the 1st of July. 

If you are considering playing on Friday evenings, but are unfamiliar with X-IMPs (the same type of scoring as used for Teams), don't be nervous as the game is still almost exactly the same! There is a simple explanation of some of the tactics for doing well at this type of scoring here.

Each session lasts for around two to two and a half hours. The entry fee for all tournaments is BB$3.  Masterpoints will be awarded, and the sessions will count towards NGS. BBO's Robot players will be used to make up a half table when necessary.  Instructions for playing in one of the club's online duplicates can be found here.
If you haven't played on BBO before, click on BBO Buddy if you would like some help getting started.  Have a look at the useful 'how to' videos in the Online Bridge area of this website.

Update 9 Sept 2020 by Gillian Leaver.

Bernard Magee made 39 seminars over the lockdown period and can still be viewed via this link.

Bernards has continued with free Monday seminars available from the same link above. Please also see this short video with details of his subscription service.  

These are available in the members' area of the website. Select and click Members Only Area from the left hand column menu, log in then select Members Only Notices again from the left hand column menu.

Please email me (Gillian Leaver) to update this page replacing the [dot] with a full stop and [at] with @

Gillian[dot]Leaver[at]gmail[dot]com 

For news archive click here.