Following the first successful trial of the online duplicate sessions, we have two more planned for the immediate future :

1. FRIDAY 14^th AUGUST – Start Time 7.00pm Cost BBO$5.

2. MONDAY 17^th AUGUST – Start Time 2.00pm. Cost BBO$5.

Click Here for more information

On 6th August Stuart Kay, Chairman of the Trustees, welcomed three new Trustees to their first Board Meeting. All three have a track record in volunteering at York Bridge Club and will broaden the range of experience and expertise available to the Board.

Mark Dunkley was appointed Club Secretary in March 2018. In 2018 he led a newly created Marketing Sub-Group tasked with bringing new members into the Club. He has researched the Club’s history and later this year will publish a book “York Bridge Club, The First 75 Years”.

 Azizah Clayton is leading the excellent initiative which is taking the teaching of bridge into schools. She is an active member of the Marketing sub-group. She is also a Trustee and Treasurer of Friends of the York Art Gallery and brings with her a wealth of experience of working with charities.

 Sally Gregory is Project Manager of the relocation of the Bridge Club to new purpose-built premises in the grounds of Acomb Sports Club. Following closure of the Bridge Club Sally has set up and managed the online pairs leagues. She is working alongside Azizah to implement the Club’s vision of introducing bridge to children in schools in York and its surrounding area.

            Mark                        Azizah                          Sally      

York Bridge Club now has six Trustees who are responsible for the strategic direction and management of the Bridge Club. All six Trustees are also Directors of the Limited Company.    

On 7^th August York Bridge Club held a trial online Club competition. We held the delayed Summer Solstice Handicapped Pairs event in memory of Pam Kennedy. It was our first online Club duplicate event and it was a great success. Twenty pairs competed in the event and feedback has been very positive.

It was a great night for Iris Wells and David Brown. It is not often the same pair win both the scratch and handicapped event. Well done to Iris and David who with a score of 60.7% achieved this on the night. Second in the handicapped event were Jenny Guest and Kilmenny Denny with a score of 49.7%.

The full scratch results are posted on the Club website in results. To view the handicapped results, Click Here.

The aim is to hold more Club online events. The closure of bridge clubs has increased the popularity of online bridge. There is clearly a demand for both table and online bridge amongst our members. The Club Trustees are pursuing a strategy where both forms of the game will be offered to members in the future.

The Bridge Club held its Annual General meeting (AGM) on 9^th July 2020. The Limited Company (The York Bridge Club) has a legal obligation to hold an AGM each year. It was decided to hold an online AGM to keep members informed of developments at the Club whilst it remains closed. The scope of the AGM was limited to Company business. However there was an open forum so that members could ask questions about any aspect of the Bridge Club. The minutes of the AGM (including a record of the open forum) are attached for your information

Keith Sowerbutt’s funeral cortège passing the York Bridge Club on Monday the 3rd August where more than 30 members had gathered to pay their respects 

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It is with deep sadness I am letting you know that Keith passed away peacefully in hospital on Sunday evening 12^th July.

Keith was a truly good and empathetic friend, and he will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

However, his generosity didn’t extend to those who played against him at the table – he was a formidable player, who actively and deliberately created tough situations for his opponents by his bidding and deceptive card play. I played with him for many years, and can testify that however much of a challenge it was to play with him, it was far, far harder to play against him.

For instance, in a recent intercity match, declarer had a trump suit of AK109xx opposite xxx. The lead was a small trump, which went round to the J and K. Declarer crossed to dummy and played a trump to the 9 – losing to Keith’s Q. Keith had led small from Qx, producing the only way declarer could lose a trump trick.

He brought his chess skills to the bridge table in his declarer play, using this ability to play through the consequences of various plans. But he married this analytical ability with his skill at deception and smoke screens, which so often induced defensive errors against him.

This exceptional ability at card reading and creating chances for opponents to make errors, was, in my opinion, second only to Tony Forrester’s. And Tony recognised this in Keith – forming a regular partnership with him in Waddington Shield and Yorkshire League matches.

Keith started playing in Yorkshire in 1969, whilst he was at York University. He was a regular winner of the York Club’s Championship Pairs events, and was in the winning Star Cup team on several occasions. As well as representing Yorkshire in the Tollemache Cup, he also played successfully nationally and on the continent.

His contribution to York Bridge Club was much more than bridge, however. In 1983 he was one of a small group who organised the move to new premises in Wilton Rise, then in 1996 and 1997, he made the case for another move, and was instrumental in raising the finance to enable the current premises to be bought.

He has been a Club Trustee since 1983, and when the club became a Company and a Registered Charity in 2012, Keith became Finance Director of the Company and a Trustee of the Charity.

His contribution has been huge. In the recent past, he has been a driving force behind the club’s next big change – moving to purpose built premises, and selling Holgate Villas.

Rest well Keith. Your contribution will not be forgotten, and your memory will live on.

Written by: Frank Dixon,

Friend and long-time bridge partner.

Congratulations again to the overall winners in league 1: Frank Dixon & Paul Brereton. Ray Lyall and Elaine Hulley were a very close second.

The full list of winners and promoted pairs are shown in the below table.

The leagues will continue in the same format during August. Best of luck to all competing pairs.

The Club is now running 4 Pairs leagues with promotion and relegation each month. We want as many of our members as possible to participate. Matches can be played at any time at the convenience of each pair. You can join in at any time. Results are updated each week and can be seen by clicking the online competitions tab on the homepage.

Support:

We have put support in place for those members who are less technically confident and/or don’t have a partner. This includes:

• telephone support to help you through BBO registration, if required;
• A detailed guide on registering and setting up games (with screen shots to help you find the right place).
• trial games with our support assistants where aspects of the BBO system are explained as you proceed and
• a partner finding service if you would like to take part but don’t yet have a partner (note there may be a wait for this as we try to match others in a similar position).

Please email Sally Gregory at Sgregory@theyorkbridgeclub.com if you would like to receive further details or register your interest in playing.

We are a friendly and active club running 9 pairs sessions per week, visitors and new members are always welcome whatever their experience level. 

Classes are available for those new to club bridge or returning to it. 

For more information please contact Gill Rickard either via email  chairman@theyorkbridgeclub.com, telephone 01904 264166 or mobile 07748155648