The Manchester Bridge Club
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Club Opening Hours & Contacts
Club Opening Hours & Contacts

Welcome to

THE

MANCHESTER BRIDGE CLUB

81 WELLINGTON ROAD, FALLOWFIELD,

MANCHESTER

M14 6BN

 

manchesterbridgeclub@hotmail.com

 

The Club’s regular opening and closing times are:

Monday - 12.30 to 16:30

Monday evening- 19:00 - 22:00

Tuesday - 13.00 -16.30

Tuesday evening - 18:45 - 22.00

Wednesday - 10.00 -16.30

Wednesday evening - 19.00 - 22.30

Thursday am - 10:00 -13:30

Note: Our opening times may differ when we host special events such as Halloween, Special Duplicates, Santa Claus Pairs and for Michael Byrne's seminars. Please check the Calendar on our website for the updated details. 

Closing times can only be extended by prior arrangement and need to conform with the Club’s obligations to our landlord and building security protocols.

Please ensure that you arrive at all our scheduled events at least 10 minutes before the start time as shown on the calendar so that we can start play at the scheduled time. If you are coming but are delayed please let the TD or event organiser know.  

Ring/Text Paul Murray on 07393 579962 for any clarification

or email paul.murraysafc@gmail.com

5 Card Majors
5 Card Majors

For all our members who have already switched or are considering moving to 5 Card Majors and 2 over 1 Game Forcing, this book by Neil Rosen is perhaps the closest to the systems taught at Manchester Bridge Club.

It is easy to read, structured and offers many quizzes and examples to test your understanding. Highly recommended!!
If you would like a copy the ISBN is 978 108 915 4877

RECEIVING OUR E-MAILS?
RECEIVING OUR E-MAILS?

Are you receiving e-mails from the bridge club? If not, here are a number of possible reasons:

 1) Your email address has been blocked from receiving emails from Bridgewebs. Check the status of your email address, and resubscribe if it is blocked or suspended

2) We do not have your correct email address registered. You can check this via attempting to set/reset password in the Members Only login screen

3) If we do not have your correct email address, please let us know via the Contact Form or speak to any committee member

 

Welcome to The Manchester Bridge Club
Swiss Pairs on IntoBridge
Swiss Pairs on IntoBridge

Swiss Pairs FREE for the next 5 weeks starting Thursday November 21st at 7.15   !!

Thursday evening online Swiss Pairs on Intobridge at 7:15pm

Come and join us every week!

Click on  Intobridge.com to register your account  and come and join us to play 

the following youtube videos explain:

     The IntoBridge platform, how to register and available controls

     How to register for an IntoBridge game, how to join a game, and how to use the partnership desk

Registration is straightforward, but does involve receiving an email with a confirmation link to activate your account.

If you have any problems please contact Dave Fernley on 07388 398 919

Once you have registered you can invite your partner using his/her user name or join the Partnership Desk to signify you are looking for a partner.

An IntoBridge host will play with you if cannot find one via the Partnership Desk

Swiss Pairs makes a comeback !

On Thursday we held the first of the 5 weeks of free Swiss Pairs. We had 6 tables , no robots and just one host. Some people played for the first time in Swiss Pairs and a number of the regulars returned to the fold.. We played 18 Boards and were done and dusted in just over 2 hours and all from the comfort of our own homes. If you played this week and enjoyed it please come back and if you were otherwise engaged please give it a go next week.      

Michael Byrne Seminar Registration 20th December

The next date in Michael Byrne’s popular seminar series will be at The Manchester Bridge Club on Friday 20th December  between 1:30pm and 4pm.

The topic will be: "Slam Bidding Exclusion Key Card Blackwood "

An exciting Christmas convention to help us bid hands with voids more accurately. A great way to welcome the festive season by making some exciting grand and small slams, and having fun at the same time by learning a new convention that will help improve your partnership bidding.

Exclusion key card blackwood is fun and for everyone, and you can learn all about it at Michael's Seminar

Please help us to print the correct number of handouts by completing  the form below if you intend to come to this seminar.

Nicholas Greers Final Seminar for this Year - Friday 13th December on Placing The Cards

Nicholas Greer's final seminar for this year is on Friday 13th December starting at 10.30am. The topic will be: Placing the Cards (What can we work out about the unseen hands? How can we use that to improve our chances? Might my partner have the cards we need to beat the contract?)

We are currently arranging further seminars to take place next year on Friday mornings, Sunday afternoons and possibly also on a Thursday evening to enable more of our members to benefit from Nicholas' expertise.

These seminars are open to all and cost £8 for members and £10 for non members.

Please sign up for the seminar on Friday 15th December by using the online form below

Santa Claus Pairs
Santa Claus Pairs

                                                                                                                                                                                         SANTA CLAUS PAIRS

                                                                                                                                                                                  SUNDAY 15th DECEMBER 

                                  Arrive by 1.30pm to grab a mince pie, a glass of mulled wine and a good seat!  

Play will start promptly at 2pm and we intend to play two sessions with 18 boards in each.  The likely finish time is between 7pm and 8pm.

This year's buffet is being  provided by First Choice Catering and as usual we need to complete the online form below to ensure the appropriate catering arrangements and also any dietary requirements are met.  

The Entry Fee is £25 for members and £30 for non members which will include a free entry into the Raffle

Dress Code is Casual but there will be a prize for the Best Christmas Jumper

Please note numbers will be limited and all entries must be pre-registered so please sign up soon

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                                               

 

Beginner's Course
Beginner's Course

Image result for LEARN TO PLAY BRIDGE PICS

Beginners Bridge Taster Courses.

 

Our latest Beginner's Bridge Courses started at the end of September.

We are currently running both a Monday evening and a Wednesday morning course.

If you are interested in joining one of our future courses, (likely to start early 2025) please fill in the form below and we will keep you updated about our plans for our next courses.

Please be careful when you enter your email address. There have been a couple of incorrect email addresses entered so if you have not had a reply please try again.  You will always receive a personal response in 24 hours. 

Each course will last 10 weeks and covers the basics of play and bidding. We teach the 5 card major, strong No Trump and short club system.  We will also cover basic defensive tactics.

Most importantly, the classes will be friendly and sociable. Bridge can be a complicated game and will stretch your mind, but we aim to make bridge fun to learn and hope you will quickly come to love the game as much as we do.  Once your course is finished we have a wide range of supported, follow on sessions for you to join to continue to learn this wonderful game.

The course will cost £80 payable in advance 

Interested?  Find out more by emailing Susan on grasan30@gmail.com or completing the online form below

  

 
New IntoBridge Schedule
New IntoBridge Schedule

We now have three IntoBridge sessions each week.  These are on a Monday and Friday afternoon at 2pm and on Thursday evening (Swiss Pairs) starting at 7.15pm.  All these sessions are well supported and will continue.  The Manchester Bridge Club Committee decided that we would have to cancel the Sunday afternoon session because there have been so few people playing on a Sunday in recent weeks.

Membership Promotions
Membership Promotions

We are delighted to announce that the following Member of the Club achieved an EBU Master Point ranking promotion in August 

Cob Culverwell Local Master 


Congratulations to Cob     

Supervised Sessions
Supervised Sessions

We now have supervised sessions for beginners, learners & improvers at the club:

Monday afternoon at 1pm for Improvers with Paul Murray.

** NEW** Monday evening at 7:15pm for beginners with Frank/Chris

Tuesday evening at 7pm all levels with Nicholas

Thursday morning at 10:30 for beginners with Susan Triggs.

Members £6 & Visitors £8

Everyone is welcome

Online Account for Online Games
Online Account for Online Games

Please be aware that the BridgeWebs attendance Module is not a real time system. It reflects entry fees spent on online and face-to-face games but does not reflect money paid into your online account until it is manually updated from the Club's bank statement. Our 'WebMaster', Dave Fernley performs these updates periodically- usually weekly. If you need to know your balance between updates, call Paul or Dave.

The new Bridgewebs Attendance Module for tracking payment money for online games is now live.

It provides you with a real-time view of the games you have played, the current balance of your account and payments made and received by your account. 

To see this information you will need to log on to the Members Only area of the website and then select thePayments Account tab.
Detailed instructions logging onto this area are available here

A detailed description of the Online Account, how it works, etc, is also available here within the Members Only Area (log-on needed).

Account statements will also be sent out periodically by email. This ensures that people who choose not to actively monitor their account balance are still aware of it. The statement provides a regular update to non-members who play in our online games who do not have access the member's area and therefore the real time benefits of this system.

Weekly Schedule

Download our latest interactive activity schedule - BBC Tiny Happy PeopleSee Calendar on the right of this home page for our Weekly Schedule

Face to Face table fees for Duplicates at the Club are £4 for fully paid-up MBC members & £6 for Guests

Supervised Face to Face table fees at the Club are £6 for fully paid-up MBC members & £8 for Guests

(includes free tea/coffee & biscuits and occasional treats! However, sandwiches/supper will not be served)

Online bridge entry is £3.75 for members & £4.50 for non-members

For Online games a pre-arranged partner is preferable. However, if possible, partners can be found after you log on to our tournaments. Just wait on Partnership Desk on IntoBridge. 

Please transfer entry fee (or more for convenience / multiple games) into the MBC bank account (see below).

MBC will reduce your balance after each session played and email you with a regular statement to help you stay in credit.

The Manchester Bridge Club Bank details are –

Natwest Sort Code 01-02-02   Account Number  21867577

Please put your First Name and Surname as the payment reference

Thank you for supporting The Manchester Bridge Club

Save the Date

Dates for your diary - more details will follow 

28th November Thursday Evening FREE Swiss Pairs 7.15 on Into Bridge 

Thursday Evening Relaxed Duplicate 5th December

Nicholas Greer Seminar - Friday morning 13th December - Placing the Cards - become a Bridge Detective

Sunday afternoon 15th December, Santa Claus Pairs. Expect a sumptuous festive feast....

Michael Byrne's final seminar in 2024 will be on December 20th - topic is "Slam Bidding- Exclusion key card Blackwood . 

The Club will be closed from December 23rd until 3rd January inclusive  and will reopen on Monday 6th January 2025  

Watch this space

Happy Birthday Shirley
Happy Birthday Shirley

We would like to wish Shirley Leak a very happy 100th birthday and look forward to seeing her at the club soon. 

Annual Subscription 2025

It’s the time of year again when your annual membership subscription to The Manchester Bridge Club becomes due. The committee have decided to keep subscriptions at the same price as last year, which means that we haven't increased our rates since we became a member owned club in 2022.  We are also offering the same £10 discount for those who pay before the end of the year. ! So subs paid after 31st December will remain the same as last year at £50 per person but only £40 if paid before 1st January 2025. You can pay by cash or card at any F2F session or by online banking with the reference of your name followed by the word subs.

The Manchester Bridge Club Bank details are –

Nat West

Sort Code 01-02-02   

Account Number  21867577


 

5th December is the date of the next Thursday Evening Duplicate Session

Our next Thursday Evening Duplicate will take place on Thursday 5th December. This is open to all, but aimed at the people currently attending the supervised duplicate sessions - so expect a relatively leisurely pace and an informal and relaxed atmosphere

It will run on the first Thursday of each month with a 7:15pm start time. Our online Swiss Pairs session on a Thursday evening will continue, and is not affected by this new event

RIP Bhim Ruia
RIP Bhim Ruia

We are sad to report the passing of Bhimshankar Ruia on November 12th aged 88 years.

Bhim was a long standing member of Manchester Bridge Club and the sponsor of the Club's Team of Eight competition - The Ruia Cup. He was still playing at the Bridge Club until very recently.

The photo shows Bhim (on the right) and his brother Govind with Omar Sharif at the Nat West Trophy bridge tournament held in Manchester in 1981. 
Bhim sadly passed away on Tuesday 12th November 2024. He had recently been diagnosed with leukaemia and the last time I saw him was  purely by chance at Wythenshawe Hospital. Remarkably cheerful, he said he wouldn't be playing for a while. Latterly, he had been coming along to Manchester Bridge Club's Tuesday afternoon duplicate sessions, happily playing with whoever was short of a partner. Before COVID he was a regular rubber bridge player, an occasional duplicate player and a league team player with Paul Hackett as his partner.

He loved his bridge and was always caring and supportive of his partner whatever their standard. 

His greatest achievements at the bridge table were with his older brother Govind, who passed away suddenly in 1986 aged only 54. Bhim and Govind were a serious partnership playing Precision Club and were able to compete successfully against United Kingdom's top players. In 1984, their team were knocked out in the quarter finals of the Gold Cup, the United Kingdom's most prestigious teams event. The following year they did even better, reaching the final, just losing to the No1 seeds by a tiny margin in a gruelling match of 64 boards.

Without Govind top level bridge never had the same appeal for Bhim. He was happy to play in club duplicates and at his golf club (Dunham) and in the two events that carried his family name - the Ruia Cup teams at Manchester Bridge Club and the annual friendly (but highly competitive!) golf club match, Dunham vs Whitefield. He took great pleasure in becoming Captain of Dunham Golf Club and indulging in his other great love -watching cricket.

In later life, Bhim founded a Charity which made generous donations to many worthy causes. 

His funeral will take place at Southern Cemetery at 11.00am Saturday 23rd November 2024. Bhim was a lovely guy and will be greatly missed.

Sincere condolences to all his family, who I am sure know how much the bridge community will miss him. 

Jeff Morris

 

 
Bridge and Cakes

START TIME CHANGED TO 1:15
Our cake makers on Tuesday 19th November  will be Sally Middleton and Ann Morris  

  Many thanks to all of our cake providers for their delicious and generous contributions over the past year . Shop bought cakes are equally welcome as are those provided by “Rubber” players or a very friendly cleaner!!😉
Please contact Ann Wood if you would like to provide a bake for any Tuesday session and join the bustling queue for a place in this popular cake rota!

 All abilities are welcome to play bridge and kindly remember that to enable us to make a prompt start and timely finish at 4:00 we endeavour to be seated by 1:05. Hosts are generally available but not guaranteed.

We play a very relaxed 18-21 boards over the session and look forward to welcoming both new visitors and much missed old friends.

Club Bank Account Change

Please note that the Club's bank account has changed from HSBC to NatWest

Please transfer funds into your Club account via the new NatWest account with immediate effect

The Manchester Bridge Club

Bank : NatWest

Sort Code 01-02-02

Account Number 21867577

Transfers made in error to the HSBC account will be credited as normal until the HSBC account is closed. Thereafter, they will automatically be transferred to our NatWest account by HSBC. 

If you have any questions, please call Paul Murray or Dave Fernley

IntoBridge Board Analysis
IntoBridge Board Analysis

Our friends at IntoBridge will be sending feedback and hand analysis for selected boards played in this Friday afternoon's game.

This promises to be a useful and educational addition to their service, and depending upon feedback may become a regular feature of our games

So why not join us on Friday 21th at 2pm and see if you find this an interesting and beneficial extra

Results
Club Afternoon Duplicate
Paul's Supervised Duplicate with Lesson
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
Improvers Supervised Play
IntoBridge Swiss Pairs
Club Evening Duplicate F2F
Club Afternoon Duplicate
Paul's Supervised Duplicate with Lesson
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
Improvers Supervised Play
Calendar
Tue 26th Nov 2024
Supervised Play, all abilities
7:00pm
Wed 27th Nov 2024
Club Evening Duplicate F2F
7:15pm
Thu 28th Nov 2024
Improvers Supervised Play
10:30am
Thu 28th Nov 2024
IntoBridge Swiss Pairs
7:15pm
Fri 29th Nov 2024
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
2:00pm
Mon 2nd Dec 2024
Paul's Supervised Duplicate with Lesson
1:00pm
Mon 2nd Dec 2024
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
2:00pm
Mon 2nd Dec 2024
Beginners Supervised Play
7.15pm
Tue 3rd Dec 2024
Club Afternoon Duplicate
1:15pm
Tue 3rd Dec 2024
Supervised Play, all abilities
7:00pm
Wed 4th Dec 2024
Club Evening Duplicate F2F
7:15pm
Thu 5th Dec 2024
Improvers Supervised Play
10:30am
Thu 5th Dec 2024
IntoBridge Swiss Pairs
7:15pm
Thu 5th Dec 2024
Club Evening Duplicate F2F
7:15pm
Fri 6th Dec 2024
IntoBridge Afternoon Duplicate
2:00pm