This year's Xmas Party will follow exactly the same format as last year's Xmas Party.  It will be a members-only event starting at 7pm.

Entry will be free.

Normal bridge — i.e. duplicate pairs — will follow, and the results will be lodged with the EBU as usual.  

There will be an arrow-switch — more likely at the beginning, if BridgePal gets its way — so that we achieve a single winning pair, who will win a prize for their achievement.

There will be a blank list at the Club from 3rd December for you to register your interest in attending.  This is purely for the committee to get an idea of the likely numbers, in case there are any refreshments.

Gavin

Here is the latest list of members likely to come to the Christmas Party. Please send an email to gavin@claygater.uk if you also would like to come, or if you've changed your mind. Please check with your partner that he is a member of the Club. And please check that I haven't made a mistake in transferring your names to this online list.

REMOVE: 18-DEC-18

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For three consecutive Mondays, there will be no bridge because the Day Centre is being refurbished. The loos are being ripped out and scaffolding used in the main hall for the redecoration.

So do not come to the club on 23rd and 30th July, or on 6th August.

We very much expect normal service to be resumed on 13th August, as the contractor is subject to penalty clauses to ensure the job is finished by then.

Please can all players arrange to arrive by 7.20 pm on Monday.  We want to have our first trial of the Bridgepal handsets across all tables.

Wendy Stainer and I will be on hand to provide help to any North who wants it.

We must be prepared for unforeseen problems, so we need to keep using the paper travellers, in case a handset fails, for example.  So can you arrange to sit so that North uses the Bridgepal handset, and South fills in the paper traveller?

Good luck to all of us!

Gavin

REMOVE: 20-MAR-18

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Many apologies for last night's failure to get the BridgePal handsets communicating successfully with the club's computer. The problem was that I upgraded the software on all 17 handsets that morning, and upgraded one of the server components on the PC.  But there is a second server component that I forgot to upgrade, and it seems that up-to-date handset software doesn't always communicate with six-month-old server software.  We will handle future software upgrades more carefully.  This morning I reloaded the latest updates for all server components, and the system is working well.  I reiterate the President's thanks to Rowena for coping so well in difficult circumstances yesterday, and commiserate with Rowena that the results now all must be manually entered.

Gavin (Tuesday)

1. Terry, Kais, Vida and June Retter;
2. Betty, Janet A, Cynthia and Julie G;
3. Sue O, David, Mike and Sue J;
4. June B, Rosemary, Ken and Mary Bushell;
5. Rowena, Joan Coates, Alison Innes and Val North;
6. Elizabeth, Stephanie, Elizabeth G and Pam N;
7. Mary Blundell, Jill Latter, Jack and Margaret M;
8. Nigel, John McK, Kathryn McK and Jacqui J;
9. Bob, Robin, Maurice and Joyce;
10. Yvette, Muriel, Kay W and Gavin.

REMOVE: 9-JUL-18

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I've been reminded by the Finance team — Muriel and Pauline — that membership subscriptions for 2018 are now due. So I will pay my own £10 subscription tomorrow, and I agreed to put this item on the website.

The EBU requires us to comply with the EU's new General Data Protection Regulation by the 25th of May. We are still trying to work out fully what this means for the Club's processes, but I hope that the form (found on the club website by clicking here) complies. 

If you have already paid your 2018 subscription and completed an earlier version of this form, you need do nothing further.

Best wishes

Gavin

REMOVE: 21-MAR-18

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Please talk to any member of the committee if there's something you might be able to add.  Nominations are now open for all Committee posts — chairman, treasurer, secretary, and others.  Please send in your nominations, in accordance with Chapter 11 of the Club's Constitution, to the current secretary, kay@claygater.uk, by the 5th of March. 

REMOVE: 13-MAR-18

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A few members with long fingernails have had problems getting the handsets to respond to their touches.

The problem is that the screen only senses the touch of flesh, not contact with the hard keratin of a nail.  It's something to do with the electric signals carried by the skin.

So you really need to ensure that your fingerpad — not your nail — comes into contact with the OK button etc, to get the BridgePal handset to realise you have touched the screen.

REMOVE: 3-JUL-18

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The Draft Minutes are now available on this website by clicking on this link.  Please let the secretary (kay@claygater.uk) know if any corrections are needed.

Many thanks

Gavin

REMOVE: 28-MAR-18

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The financial accounts for last year have now been compiled by Pauline Harris and approved by the club's honorary auditor, John McKimmie.

They can be found under the 'Financial' tab, or by clicking on this link.

The accounts will also be available at the AGM on 12th March.  But Pauline cannot attend the AGM, so we have provided footnotes to the accounts to answer the obvious questions.  If you have another question, please send it by email to pauline@claygater.uk at the earliest opportunity.

Many thanks

Gavin

REMOVE: 13-MAR-18

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We will try in advance to match players without partners.  So if you don't have a partner for a forthcoming Monday and would like one, please contact kay@claygater.uk (or phone her using the number on the Club Calendar Card).  At the moment, the players seeking a partner are:

• 15th January: NO-ONE at the moment

Contact one of the players listed above if you would like to play with them, and please tell Kay if this means a player listed above is no longer available.

REMOVE: never

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REMOVE: 21-APR-18

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We have worked out how to create short videos and put them on this website.  Whether the quality of the content merits this approach, we will leave to you to decide.

Here are our first (and possibly final) three efforts:

REMOVE: 1-FEB-18

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Claygate is keen to grow its roster of directors. The salary is reasonable — you get a free evening each time you direct — and you obtain an opportunity to administer justice without the need for a fancy uniform.

The Club will be happy to pay the course fees of any member who would like to attend the courses below, provided you commit to having a go at directing at Claygate.

Oxshott Bridge Club will be hosting a series of director training courses run by the EBU's education arm, EBED. Details are available at https://www.bridgewebs.com/surrey/page75.html, which leads on to http://www.ebedcio.org.uk/td-training-faq

If you are interested, talk it over with one of our current directors: Julie, Rowena, Gavin or Nigel.

One-day course — Gentle introduction

• Friday 1st December 2017: How to run a club duplicate

Three-day schedule — Club Director Training

• Friday 19th January 2018: Book Ruling and Judgement Rulings Day 1
• Friday 23rd February 2018: Book Rulings and Judgement Rulings Day 2
• Friday 2nd March 2018: Assessment

REMOVE: 1-FEB-18

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Many thanks for everyone's help at the Party on Monday night.

Please remember not to turn up for the next two Mondays.

REMOVE: 15-JAN-19

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One of our members has mislaid a thin blue address book, which she thinks she might have lost on the 3rd December.

If it has come into your possession, please send a short email to gavin@claygater.uk

Many thanks

Gavin

The tennis club is running a Sunday afternoon tournament starting at 3pm on the 18th November.

Aimed at tennis club members who have been introduced to the game by Keith Williams, it will be a gentle social event, expertly directed by our own Julie Gardiner in the club's pavilion.  Keith is looking for to recruit four more pairs to achieve his target of 13 tables. The details are on the poster.

Though the organisers have decided not to make tennis a part of the competition, the event may encourage some bridge club members to take up the game at this local venue.

Gavin

REMOVE: 18th November 2018

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Please forgive me for using the club website to make a charitable plea, but this is a situation that is so urgent and close to our hearts.

Jenny Marshall is a 34-year-old living in Claygate, and the daughter of a friend of Kay's. She is suffering from the distressing complications of Ehlers-Danloss Syndrome (EDS), an area of medicine terribly neglected by the NHS.

If you follow this link — https://www.gofundme.com/jen039s-fund-for-life-preserving-help — you will see that she has just launched a campaign to raise £23,000 for life-preserving support in the next four weeks. This does not give us enough time to organise a fund-raising event at the bridge club.

I hope that there are others who will be moved by Jenny's plight and able to donate online.

Many, many thanks

Gavin

REMOVE: 23rd October 2018

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We continue to learn how the scoring software behaves.  One critically important change is that, when we run a single-winner event with an arrow-switch (such as the Club Championship), the arrow-switch rounds occur at the beginning of the evening, not the end.  There are advantages to this: we don't run the risk of the director forgetting the arrow-switch towards the end of an exhausting evening, and all the pairs' scores are melded into one league table as soon as we have completed a couple of rounds.

Monday's session was marred by several pairs who, one assumes, failed either to listen to the director or to look closely at the BridgePal handset display before they inspected their cards. On at least one table, everyone looked at the wrong cards, realised their mistake, then rotated the board 90 degrees to get the correct orientation.  On other tables, pairs who had looked at the wrong cards completed the board at the wrong orientation.  Goodness knows how they scored it on the handset.  Other pairs played the entire round on the wrong orientation.

None of this would have happened if players had waited for the Director to speak, and listened closely to what she said, before they looked at what they presumed were their cards.

If anyone believes their score should be corrected, please send me an email and I will see what can be done.  (I am already aware of  Pair 8 vs Pair 19 on boards 22-24.)   This time there will be no procedural penalties.

Best wishes

Gavin

REMOVE: 19-SEP-18

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The loos have been refurbished, the directors and scorers refreshed, and all is ready for the reactivation of Claygate Bridge Club tonight, 13th August.

Don't forget it is the first episode of the Club Championship.  There could be some easy points tonight if few pairs turn up... 

REMOVE: 14-AUG-18

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George Gardiner died on the evening of Thursday the 18th May, after surgery at Kingston Hospital. 

His funeral will be at Randalls Park Crematorium, Leatherhead, at 11.45 am on Thursday the 7th June, and afterwards at the Foley Arms in Claygate to celebrate George's life.  Charity donations rather than flowers are requested. His family ask mourners to dress dark but with a splash of colour, to reflect his mix of respect for "what is right" together with his love of life.

This club agrees wholeheartedly with Oxshott in saying that George was a gentleman with a wonderful sense of humour, and that he was a very good bridge player. He had been one of our longest surviving members, and his many partners will miss him especially.

We will update this panel with any further information we receive.

REMOVE: 8-JUNE-18

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Following last Monday's reasonably successful outing for the BridgePal system, let's have another go tonight without requiring South to fill in a paper traveller on each hand.  One condition: at least one member of each pair must keep a legible personal score card, and be prepared to hand it over to the Scorer if we have a disaster on the BridgePal system and somehow all the results get lost.  (I don't know whether this is possible, but in my state of ignorance, I want to protect against it.)

Gavin

REMOVE: 27-MAR-18

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Kay Wilson (Secretary)

If you cannot attend the AGM on 12th March at 7pm, just send a short email to kay@claygater.uk

So far we know we have received apologies from:

• Rosemary Colin, Pauline Harris, Rowena Austin, Judy Reilly, Joyce Grant, and Maurice Grant.

(We may have received apologies from others but failed to write them down. Sorry.)

Many thanks

Calling all members!

Next Monday 5th February at 7.15 pm, we will be celebrating a member's special birthday.

Please come and join us for a piece of cake and a glass of prosecco.

What with an arrow-switch and one pair leaving the session before its completion, there may have been some confusion when filling in the travellers last night (8th January).

So, now that the provisional results are published here on the website, please check that your recollection of each hand matches what you have on your score card and what has been recorded here. If there are any discrepancies, please alert our scorer, Tony, on ☎ 020 8398 3918 or at 📧 tonydittonreach@gmail.com .

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Tony is re-scoring this event, on the basis that all the rounds played on Monday evening by the departing pair will be regarded as a 'missing pair' for the entire evening.  This departure has caused considerable extra work for several club volunteers.  Please avoid it happening again. 

Many thanks

Gavin

REMOVE: 15-JAN-18

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