Welcome to the Wallingford Duplicate Bridge Club! We hope you will join the more than 300 people who are already members of the Club.

Here you will find information on how to join and what activities are best suited to your level of playing skill – we welcome all standards from beginners to skilled players and have sessions throughout the week that suit different levels of play. You can also enrol on one of our training courses that are run regularly throughout the year.

The Club is affiliated to the English Bridge Union (EBU) and all members are automatically registered with the EBU. We use a computerised scoring system (Scorebridge) and the results of all our playing sessions are uploaded to the EBU national database as well as published on this website. We rely on our members to act as volunteers in the running of the Club, which has helped us keep costs and playing fees to a minimum. If, once you’ve settled in, you’d like to help out, please let us know.

Once you’ve decided that you’d like to join, please print off an application form, fill it in and bring it along to the Club.

The Club works closely with two qualified bridge tutors – David Emerson and Andrew Hones – who provide two levels of training in how to play bridge.

If you’ve never played bridge before and want to learn how to play, you can enrol on the ‘Beginning Bridge’ training programme. Alternatively, if you already know how to play but want to improve your skills, or perhaps refresh them after a long absence from the game, you can enrol on the ‘Continuing Bridge’ training programme. Enrolment for both courses commences in September of each year. For more information on both programmes, please click here to go to the Education page. If you’re unsure which programme is best for you, the course tutors, David and Andrew, will be more than happy to give you advice (contact details are on the Education page).

The Club hosts playing sessions in the morning, afternoon and evening. When you turn up for your first playing session, please let the director know and he/she will be more than happy to help.

It’s worth knowing a little more about each session as they vary in terms of levels of skill.

Beginners

On Monday mornings, apart from the second Monday of the month, we run a supervised play session.  It is usually preceded by a short talk on a bridge topic (open to requests).  This is aimed mainly at students and those who need to develop confidence, although anyone is welcome.  There are two tutors, Patricia and Andrew Hones, so plenty of help is available.

We have in the past hosted a ‘No Fear’ session designed for students and inexperienced players. This is an excellent way to start playing bridge. You don’t need to have a partner as this session is hosted, which means that there is always a volunteer spare player to make up pairs.  This session is not running at present, but will be re-instated on Monday evenings from 7:30 to about 10:00 if there is sufficient demand.

Once you’re ready to move on from the No Fear session, or straight away if it is not running, we host a session called ‘Section B’ (7:30 - 10:15 Wednesday evenings) where players develop their skills still further and play more boards.

Tuesday afternoon sessions provide an opportunity for both beginners and for more experienced players to participate in supervised play and partners are not required.  You can turn up any time between 1.30-4.30pm and play for as long as you like.  This is a social bridge session and tea is provided.  You will be playing pre-scored Chicago hands and you can call on the tutor, Francis Glassborow, at any time for advice - how to bid, what to lead, how to plan your play.

These sessions combined provide an excellent opportunity to grow your skills from beginner to intermediate level and be ready to take on the Club’s more experienced players!

Intermediate Level

Once you’ve been playing for a little while, there are a number of sessions during the week which will test and improve your knowledge of the game:

• On Monday mornings, you can enjoy a friendly game of duplicate pairs from 10:00am to 12:45pm.  This is a hosted session where you can always find a partner.  Players are of mixed abilities and inexperienced players are welcome.
• On Monday evenings we have a mix of improving players with different levels of experience. If you need a partner, see details below.
• On Thursday afternoons (1:45-4:15pm), you can enjoy a friendly bridge session with a break for tea! There is usually a host available but, to be sure of playing with a partner, you are advised to call Gillian Larter on 01865 891544. Inexperienced players are welcome and this is a good place to test your developing skills.
• On Friday afternoons (1:30-4:00pm), we have a hosted session where you can always find a partner. Players are of mixed abilities.

More advanced

As your play improves, there are two evening sessions where competition is a little more serious (but never hostile!) and where playing with an established partner (once you have one) is the best approach but not essential.

• Wednesday evenings – 7:30-10:30pm
• Friday evenings – 7:30-10:30pm

All of the above sessions are based on playing Duplicate Bridge, whereby the scores of you and your partner are compared (electronically) with all the other playing pairs. The results are uploaded to the website at the end of each session as are the hands played so that you can go back and examine where you went wrong or, better, did really well!

In addition to regular playing sessions, we also hold team events and play matches against other clubs. You’ll learn more as a member of the Club. A full schedule of the club's activities is available here.

Bridge is a game where playing with a regular partner enables you to develop a growing understanding of both the bidding and play of the cards. There are a number of ways that you will be able to find a partner:

• Attend the hosted sessions and play with different people. A number of players are always looking for partners (some play with different partners for different sessions) so there’s a good chance you’ll find one this way.
• Use the website to find a partner. If you click here, you will see that, once you’ve registered as a member, you can post your request for a partner for any individual session.
• Contact our members - Beryl McGreevy on 01491 835565 (for Wednesday and Friday evening sessions) or Gay Ogg on 01865- 407774 (for Monday evenings) – who have kindly agreed to assist with finding partners.

It is important to the Club and its members that we play bridge in a professional and polite manner, with respect for all opponents, whatever their skill level. For these reasons, we’ve adopted a number of ‘ground rules’ and a ‘Club Ethos’ which ensures a welcoming and friendly atmosphere. This includes looking out for and introducing new members and students to the regular players when they first play at the Club. We promote the EBU’s code of Best Behaviour at Bridge (available to view here). In addition the Summertown Bridge Club in Oxford has produced an excellent guide to bridge etiquette which you can read here.

If any member has a complaint, we encourage them to advise us immediately via the website contact form.

We have adopted ‘Modern Acol’ and ‘Standard American’ as the only permitted bidding systems on Monday and Thursday afternoons so that players of different skill levels can follow bidding conventions used by their opponents.  For more information see Systems Permitted in Wallingford Bridge Club Sessions (which covers all sessions).  If you have any questions about this please ask a Tournament Director.

The cost of annual membership of the Club is £10. Once a member, it costs £2.50 to play per session. If you’d like to try out the Club before joining, you can play as a visitor for £4 per session. Free coffee and tea are available at all sessions!

There is lots more information on the website that you can browse through, particularly ‘Information’ and our ‘Calendar’. If you still have questions and would like to speak with someone, please use the contact information on the website, e.g. for training programmes, or via the Contact Us form.

We hope very much that you will think seriously about joining us and look forward to welcoming you!