Here is the Agenda for the AGM

You can view the (revised) Accounts for 2024 here,

the Chairman's report here and

the (Amended) proposal to increase Annual Subscriptions and table fees

Please note that, after further consideration, the proposal to increase fees has been amended. Click on the link (above) to see the revised version.

Thank you to all of you that came along to the Andrew Robson Bridge Day to raise money for two local charities. Everyone I spoke to said how much they enjoyed the day and it was a roaring success. Well organised event with sumptuous food. We would like to thank all of the members who helped in organising the event (especially Angela, Richard and Katie). A special thanks to Andrew Robson for his masterful teaching of bridge with a sense of fun.
 

It would be appreciated if those that took home cakes and surplus food could make a donation to the charities (please contact Richard Barlow, our treasurer, if you need to know how to make a donation).

BIABD: Bridge - It's A Big Deal

During the week of 9^th to 15^th September the English Bridge Union promoted a festival of bridge, which they call “Bridge – It’s a Big Deal” (BIABD).  

Our event at Wotton-Under-Edge Bridge club had 16 tables and congratulations go to the

Winners Gillian Mitchell and Robert Bailey.

A big thank you to all those that attended and donated to the charity Cancer Research UK 

(We have currently raised c £1200 for the charity)

COLLAGE PHOTOS CAN BE SEEN BY CLICKING THE LINKS BELOW

WBC BIABD page 1       WBC BIABD page 2

WBC BIABD page 3       WBC BIABD page 4

WBC BIABD page 5       WBC BIABD page 6

WBC BIABD page 7       WBC BIABD page 8

NEW - The 2024 Quarter 4 Handicap competition for Monday is now complete. See the handicap competitions under the menu Competitions on the left.

The Monday handicap competition prizes go to:

1st Place  Ian Cooke (3 free games)

2nd Place Esme Clothier (2 free games)

3rd= Place Jeremy Hull and Ray Crispin (1 free game each)

ANDREW ROBSON DAY - Final Accounts

The proceeds from the Andrew Robson day on 11th February was £1,452.50. Brilliant!

This will be donated to the two local charities:

• Wotton Pool
• The Keepers

SWIMATHON

Richard Barlow's twin brother John completed his SWIMATHON on Saturday 29th March on behalf of Cancer Research.

John swam 2.5km in just under an hour. Brilliant! Well done John.

Here is a link to the page that John has set up, with more information on how to donate.

This is an extremely good cause - please give generously.

NEW: If you missed the event, but would still like to make a donation, click on the link below for details.

We have now raised 

£1,382.50

+ £5.00 Gift Aid

for the charity - thank you

Donations to Cancer Research UK

Welch Cup 2025

Congratulations to Barry Shepherd and Gilly Weaver, this year's winners of the Welch Cup.

Honourable mention to Andy Birkinshaw and Geoff Nattrass close behind in 2nd place and David Kendall and James Barnes in 3rd place.

Thanks also to Gilly for providing half-time cheese and nibbles.

Children in Need

Monday and Wednesday evenings are both Sim Pairs events.

Click here if you want to look at the overall results and/or read the commentary.

Click here if you wish to make a donation to CiN. Alternatively, send Richard an email and he can make a donation on your behalf via the Club.

Congratulations to Sue Wickenden, this year's winner of the Natalie Plate.

Honourable mention goes to Ken Haines and Maureen Gale in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

All proceeds from the event go to the Lullaby Trust - a charity which does research into cot-death syndrome.

£86.50 was collected in cash on the evening, with a further £42 committed via the Club billing process. After adding table fees and rounding up, the Club donated £210 to the Lullaby Trust.

Many thanks to those who donated.

Monday 17th April and Wednesday 19th April

ECats Simultaneous Pairs

On behalf of the Disasters Emergency Fund for the Turkey/Syria earthquake appeal

If you wish to make a donation to the charity:

    Here is a link to the ECats website

Alternatively, you can make a donation via the Club, simply make a payment to the Club putting "DEC0423" as the reference

Welch Cup 2023

Congratulations to this year's winners Bob and Gavin, seen here being presented with the trophy by last year's winners Hilary and Daphne

Monday 7th November - Simultaneous pairs for Children in Need.

Wednesday 9th November - Simultaneous pairs for Children in Need.

Here is a link to the ECats website where you can make a donation.

Please make sure you fill in the Club name when making a donation - it's fine to use the abbreviated form of just Wotton Bridge Club.

Note that you can read a commentary on the hands by going to the Results page on the ECats website.

Congratulations to Ian and Tim for coming 5th overall out of over a thousand pairs.

The Class of '23 playing their first session of Duplicate Bridge. Total concentration.

Welcome to the Wotton-under-Edge Bridge Club.

Wednesday 16th November - our annual Individual event.

Very well done Hilary McDermott, this year's winner of the Natalie Plate, by a country mile, scoring a massive 72+%!

Honourable mentions to Tim Payne and Helene Gammack in silver and bronze medal positions respectively.

This event is held on behalf of the Lullaby Trust, a charity that does research into infant cot death.

We collected £279 in total. Many thanks to all those who donated.

CONGRATULATIONS to our inaugural Swiss Teams Event winners Karen Monaghan, Lesley Donnithorne / Paul Gunning (Captain), Christine May our guests from the Tudor Bridge Club flanking our director for the evening.

We hope to hold an annual Swiss Teams event in the Autumn and everyone seemed to be enjoying this event as shown HERE.

Welch Cup 2022

Many congratulations to Daphne Hogarth and Hilary Hinman - this year's winners.

Stroud Bridge Club v Wotton-under-Edge Bridge Club

Thursday 17^th October 2019

Played at the Imperial Hotel, Stroud

Thursday 17^th October saw Stroud Bridge Club host Wotton-under-Edge Bridge Club in their biennial teams of 12 match, which was played at the Imperial hotel in Stroud. Wotton were represented by Keith Radmall, Barry Shephard, Jennifer Rogers, Desley Radmall, John Acton, Hilary McDermott, Sue Wickenden, Trefor Jones, Keith Hill, Maureen Gale, Bob Hitchcock and Gavin Bailey. As always, the hosts were extremely welcoming, and the match was played in a very friendly and enjoyable environment.

The first half was an extremely tight affair with both sides winning 6 of the 12 boards played. Bob & Gavin were harshly punished for a weak 2D opening which was doubled for take-out and astutely left in for penalties. A harsh split of the cards meant that the vulnerable contract went 3 down for a deficit of 800 points! However, on board 6 all 3 Wotton E/W pairs (Keith & Maureen, Keith & Barry, Sue & Trefor) managed to bring home 9 tricks in a marginal 3NT contract, whilst 2 of the 3 Stroud pairs only managed 8 tricks, whilst the 3^rd pair managed 9 but had stopped in 2NT. The result was an 18 IMP swing to Wotton which gave them an 11 IMP lead at the break.

With all to play for in the second half, the match continued to be very tight. On board 19 Keith & Maureen did exceptionally well to bid and make 6C, the only slam of the evening, enabling Wotton to come away with a flat board. Board 16 was the turning point of the match. Once again, all 3 Wotton E/W pairs (this time Bob & Gavin, Jennifer & Desley, John & Hilary) bid and made a game in hearts. However, one Stroud pair pushed on to 6H, going 1 off and another pair ended in 3NT with a similar result and a 17 IMP swing to Wotton. This turned out to be exactly the winning margin as Wotton held on to win by 86 IMPS to 69 equating to a Victory Point win of 14-6.

Thanks go to Michele Lazarus, who organised the match and to everyone involved in providing the hospitality and delicious cakes at half time.

Reminders to all members:

In order to keep the play running smoothly and in a timely fashion, please give priority to bidding and play, and completing travellers.  Hence, for those of you who keep personal scorecards, please complete these AFTER you have looked at your hand and, where applicable, made your opening lead or completed the traveller.  Also, please keep discussion of the hand(s) until after you have completed the set of boards.  Many thanks.

It is one of North's duties to complete the traveller and show it to East and/or West.  Please ensure that the pair numbers are correct, not just the score.  If you notice an inconsistency or error in one of the previous entries please bring it to the attention of the Director; do not just place a query on the traveller.  It is much easier to resolve queries on the night, whilst all parties are present.

Wednesbury 4th February

Interesting times at the Wotton Bridge Club, with two innovations this year.

Firstly, the Club has decided to take on trial a card dealing machine.  This has primarily three advantages.  It removes the tedium of hand-dealing 24 or more hands of cards at every club meeting.  It facilitates the publishing on the club web-site of all the deals themselves so that those club members who wish to improve can analyse what they could/should have done.  Finally it will produce much more interesting challenges in both bidding and play.

Secondly, on Monday 18^th January at the Wotton Civic Centre Wotton Bridge Club took on the Tudor Bridge Club from Chipping Sodbury in an inaugural 24 board Teams of 8 (4 pairs) match. The cards were dealt by the newly acquired dealing machine and a number of interesting hands resulted.  Tudor started the evening strongly and at the halfway point had built up a considerable lead. However, Wotton fought back strongly in the second half and were able to reduce the deficit. In the end Tudor ran out worthy winners by 13 Victory Points to 7.  It is hoped that further similar events will take place over the next few months and that a Southern Gloucestershire League might be formed in the autumn.

Attendance at Club meetings has been excellent so far this year, with 8 tables or more every Wednesday.

Wednesday 7th January

Wednesday 17th September

Doubling.  For penalties.  The vast majority of club players do not double anywhere near enough.  So says one of this country's top bridge teachers - Bernard Magee.  He believes that you should double the opposition's contract, for penalties, at least 4/5 times an evening.  A brief inspection of the results for each board on a Wednesday evening supports this statement.  There are always lots of contracts which do not make, often by many tricks, but which are rarely doubled.

One of the basic premises of competitive bidding is to try and push the opposition too far, into a failing contract.  Having done so, a top score will often result from then doubling them, especially if they are 'Vulnerable'.  Even only just one off scores 200 points - better than any part-score you might have made yourself, but if you don't double you only score 100 points - worse than most part-scores.

The challenge, however, is then to defend the hand well, having doubled.  You must make Declarer work very hard for his contract, giving nothing away.  If you do get into the habit of doubling more, you might then convince your opponents to be less competitive, thereby giving you an easier ride on other hands.

There were two sets of winners last night, with the top North/South pair being Maureen Kee and Keith Boden, whilst Geoff Nattrass and Andy Birkinshaw were the top East/West pair.

 Wednesday 9th July

Your Left Hand Opponent (LHO) opens the bidding with one of a suit, your partner passes and so does your other opponent.  So, if you also pass, the contract is set at one of that suit.  You are sat in what's called the 'protective seat'.  Unless you have a decent holding in Opener's suit, you should seriously consider overcalling with poorer values than you would normally, especially if you are not vulnerable.  There is a common maxim - 'transfer a King from your partner', and consider what you would do with such a stronger hand.

Hence, you could happily 'double' with as few as 8 High Card Points (HCPs), or bid 1 no trump with only 12 HCPs.  Even overcall in a suit with only 6 HCPs, as long as the suit is a good one.  Your presumption is that your partner is very likely to have a good hand, but which failed in some important criteria for an overcall.  You hope to find a good contract yourself, though sometimes your intervention results in the opposition continuing to bid and ending up at too high a level - still a good result.

The top pair last night was  - Kate Jotcham and Carlton Jones.  Second pair was Geoff Nattrass and Andy Birkinshaw, whilst the third pair was Hilary McDermott and John Acton.

If you are interested in joining the club, or learning to play bridge, please refer to Wotton Bridge Club's web-site - www.bridgewebs.com/wotton.

Wednesday 30th July

The cards sat very unkindly yesterday evening, with many Declarers failing to make quite reasonable contracts.  In particular on one board, where East opened a standard 1 No Trump at every table, but nobody at any of the 6 tables made more than 3 tricks.  One unfortunate East being doubled thus giving away 1100 Match Points!

Board 21 set the North/South pairs an interesting challenge, holding a double fit - in both Spades and Diamonds.  This tempted 4 pairs to try for a small slam, two in Spades the other two in Diamonds.  All failed, demonstrating that adventurous bidding can sometimes be painful.  This was the only board that gave a hint of a slam, though one over-optimistic pair did have a go at a slam in Spades on Board 13 - perhaps they should have looked at the Board number as the contract went off by 4 tricks.  Doubled!  Vulnerable.  Ouch!

There were two sets of winners last night, with the top North/South pair being Mike Morris and Jim Edwards, whilst Jenny Booker and Brian Oke were the top East/West pair.

If you are interested in joining the club, or learning to play bridge, please refer to Wotton Bridge Club's web-site - www.bridgewebs.com/wotton.

Ian Cooke