We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing, on Friday 16th August, of John Turner, a much-loved and long-standing member of Worcester Bridge Club.

John was involved in Bridge at County level for over fifty years; he directed (with a calm and charming table-manner) and was at various times Chairman of WCBA, as well as an honorary life-member of the Midland Counties Congress. He was honoured with the Dimmie Fleming Award by the EBU in 2002 for his services to Bridge.  He enjoyed a highly successful partnership with Jessie Newton in the 1990's, which they reprised at Hallow in the last few years.

Funeral arrangements will appear here in due course.

It's TEAMS again on Wed 21st August; please let us know if you have a team sorted - (helps us with planning) and also let us know if you are a PAIR in need of team-mates. We have a host pair lined up, but it's always best to get sorted ahead of the date.  As usual, the winning team will win a wine prize!

It was with great sadness that we heard of the passing of Martin, on Tuesday 6th August; he was a true gentleman and a great supporter of Bridge events at WBC and elsewhere. 

His Memorial was held at The Friends Meeting House on Monday 19th August; it was a memorable and uplifting event, attended by many of his friends in the Worcester/Droitwich bridge community.

You may wish to read HERE the poem "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" which Martin's brother shared with us: Martin and Arthur shared this poem in his last hours.

A date for your diaries, with full details/flyer here;

Our SIXTH Café Bridge event will take place on THURSDAY 12th SEPTEMBER!

This one will revert to "multi-café" format, as two years ago, at Elgar's Restaurant in Rainbow Court, The Old Pheasant in New St, and Caffe Bolero in St Nicholas' St. 

Tickets (£20 per person) include Bridge, lunch, prizes, coffee/tea on arrival plus vouchers for  coffees/cakes during the day.  In aid of Acorns Children's Hospice

The day will start at 10am, and should be finished by 4-15pm.

Book early to avoid disappointment!

We have decided to begin a programme of replacing our tables at Claines in rotation: the current ones are in remarkably good shape given that they are 18 years old, but we will be buying 8 new tables per year for the next three years. Three already taken!!

Club members may like to buy the ones that we take out of service for £10 each, especially if you hold teams matches at your homes. Please contact Mike if interested.

New to Bridge? Looking for classes? Follow this link to find classes, all over Worcestershire.

There will be another "Fast-Track" beginners' course based at Droitwich BC on Tuesday nights with Mike, starting on Tuesday 17th September; contact Mike or follow link for details and sign up.

Other courses will be available, and details will be added to the WCBA Learning Bridge page as they are finalised.  

Congratulations to Lorna and Rufus, who won the Mixed Pairs by a big margin!

Well done also to Sue and Dennis (2nd place) and Jane and Stewart (3rd).

An excellent turn-out, with 23 pairs competing.

1st WBC visit to Romorantin: PRESS!

See HERE for coverage of our visit (with the predictable "bridge" pun) in "Nouvelle République"

-we're back!

-we played three sessions of Bridge (French-style) so far (Tue evening, Thur afternoon and Fri afternoon)

-we visited Chenonceau in the rain, and had a "visite des caves" to Vouvray on Wed

-visite guidée de Romorantin on Thursday am - the sun returned!

-we ate "cuisine chinoise" on Friday evening

See pics above...

Pics from the October 2018 event can be found here; a VIDEO greeting from M Gillier can be viewed here.

The Club's Annual General Meeting was held on Wed 20th February;

Notably, Andy Cullen was elected to Honorary Life Member status, in recognition of many years of excellent servie to the Club, from its foundation in 1989.

Votes of thanks were recorded to many helpers and contributors, especially to Dick on his five years of outstanding work as Hon Treasurer.

Lots of PHOTOS will appear here very soon.

Earlier tips now added to the tips archive list, on the left-hand menu... Below are Tips EIGHT and NINE...

WEEK EIGHT: (and a New Year's Resolution for 2019?)

Be NICE to your partner!

Some players are scrupulously polite to their opponents (see Tip Three) but not so friendly to their partner - especially when partner is (or seems to be) making mistakes!

Firstly, if partner slips up, they're probably well aware of this but don't need to have it pointed out to them.

Secondly, if they don't know what they did wrong, you're probably not going to teach/improve them between now and the next hand; the next hand will have its own difficulties, and they (and you!) need their wits about them trying to get the next one right! 

Thirdly, maybe they did the right thing, or had good reasons for doing what they did, but are too polite (!) to answer back!

Finally: it is not pleasant for your table guests to witness! It's only a game!

WEEK NINE: Teams Tactics - Thank to Jimmy for presenting this on Wed 16th January.

In most sessions we are playing for "Match-Points" in Pairs, and we know the value of making that overtrick or making 3NT + 1 (+430) rather than 4S (+420)

In Teams, most of the "IMPs" come from bigger hands (games/slams) where making or not making contract is worth +/-10 or 13 IMPs, whereas an overtrick may be worth 1 IMP or even nothing.

And even in Part-score, making/not making is generally worth +/-5 or 6 IMPs, and these add up!

SO: 1) as declarer, concentrate on making the number of tricks needed to make your contract, and only go for overtricks if that does not risk the contract. Look for safety plays, so you make EVEN when the finesse is offside.

2) As defenders, be prepared to take a risk, which may lead to overtricks if it goes wrong, if it's the only way to beat the contract - maybe underlead your ace (to get to partner's presumed King, so they can give you a ruff.

3) Take MORE risks (bidding THIN games) when RED (vulnerable) than when GREEN: the maths are in your favour - it pays in the long run because the return is approximately 2 to 1, whereas when GREEN it is close to EVENS.

For more detail on this, see this link

Photos are here - many thanks to Maureen for her organisation, and to Freda and team for the fantastic food!

Next Robson date: Fri 16th October 2020!

Many thanks to all who have completed GDPR forms; we now have nearly all members' forms completed now. Trish won the prize for the first completed one!

What GDPR means for you is summarised on WBC Privacy Policy Summary which you can find here, and our full policy can be viewed here.

If you have not yet completed a form, you can download the  blank PDF from here; First SAVE the PDF to your desktop, then RE-OPEN it, tick the boxes and fill in the details. Then email back to Mike (mike1958v@mail.com).

The AGM took place on Wed 21st February; trophies for 2017 were presented; photos by Andy O'Hare below!

Resolutions/Decisons

• Table money was increased from £2-50 to £3-00 for members, & from £3-50 to £4-00 for guests (no change for Juniors) tea/coffee, +biscuits (Wed) and cake(Tue) included:
• Wednesday start time remains at 7-30pm, BUT: a) please be seated by 7-25pm to help directors and scorers to ensure a prompt start; b) call ahead if you are delayed - we can TRY to fit you in, but cannot guarantee; c) the Committee will look at all possible ways of ensuring that we play at a good pace and plenty of boards
• Please note that slight changes have been made to the MAY 2018 calendar to get as close as possible to the traditional pattern of P nights on the 2nd and 4th/5th Weds of the month - check website, which is now updated

• Committee: the 2017 Committee were all re-elected, except that Tim Keates has stood down, whilst continuing with many of his duties!
• Newly elected to the Committee were: John Dowbiggin; David Waide; and Janette Torrance: Welcome!

Members might like to know more about the Roger Bowles Bridge Library.

After Roger's tragic death in Dec 2015, his widow donated his extensive collection of Bridge books to us; it was agreed that these should be managed by the County Bridge Association, and they are stored by Martin Gill.  The full list of some 125 titles (both educational and humorous) can be found here, along with Martin Gill's contact details.

https://www.bridgewebs.com/cgi-bin/bwol/bw.cgi?club=worcestershire&pid=display_page65

We have a small "taster" selection at Claines for people to see, and books can also be booked out from there, using the notebook to record borrowing and return.

Get reading!!

• 

  Jane and Marian win the trophy Xmas17
• 

  Xmas1701
• 

  Xmas1702
• 

  Xmas1703
• 

  Xmas1704
• 

  Xmas1705
• 

  Xmas1706
• 

  Xmas1707
• 

  Xmas1708
• 

  Xmas1709
• 

  Xmas1710
• 

  Xmas1711

Thanks to Andy O'Hare for the photos!

♠ If you are looking for a game of Duplicate Bridge, we would like to think you have come to the right place...♥ 

♦ Just click HERE for details on how to start playing at Worcester Bridge  Club!♣ 

• 

  Hallow1
• 

  Hallow2
• 

  Hallow3
• 

  Hallow4
• 

  Hallow5
• 

  Hallow7
• 

  Hallow8
• 

  Hallow9

Our first Daytime Bridge session took place on Tuesday 20th June, with six full tables, and plenty of laughs and cakes! A fine win for Grahame and Tony... Session Two saw hosts Denn and Sue outscore Grahame and Tony; and another six and a half tables!

Next week, same time same place: HALLOW Parish Hall, starting at 1pm; please be there for 12-45pm, but bring table money! (£3.00 members, £4.00guests - but you can join on the spot for £5-00!)  Do bring friends and guests - we will always have a host! 

To ensure that we can be as welcoming as possible, we still need offers of HOSTING; and if you cannot help in any other way, why not offer to bring along a home-made cake or tray bake?

Full calendar, results, rotas and venue details are available on this site: look for the DAYTIME menu to get started!

We play:

at Royal British Legion Club, Cornmeadow Lane, Claines, WR3 7PL, every Wednesday

Start time 7.15 for 7.30.   

and at Hallow Parish Hall, Hallow Worcester, WR2 6PE, every Tuesday;

Start time 12-50pm for 1pm.

Visitors welcome, and host system in operation, for both venues

Our Intermediate Bridge sessions were to some extent a victim of their own success: after three highly productive years, almost all the "Inters" moved up into the Main Room and/or at our Tuesday sessions, or  started playing at other clubs; we are fully committed to the idea of providing Bridge to suit all levels, and will be happy to run/resume Inter sessions if a viable number of newcomers come through; or as an extension of the Try-Duplicate section.

Try-Duplicate sessions continue to take place on the first Wednesday of each month: here we have fewer boards (15-18) and a host to help players throughout the session.  Visitors are welcome, and there is no extra charge for these sessions: all players pay £2-50 table money.  It is most helpful if you are able to let Mike know beforehand if you are coming, so that we can make up full tables easily.

Some of our old Inters/Try-Dup players have found that the "next step" for them is Tuesday afternoon Bridge (see Daytime tab for details): these are held at Hallow Parish Hall at 1pm; the pace is a little gentler, and of course these sessions are becoming famous for the cakes which people bring along!