| RAC PALL MALL NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER |
| Pall Mall Bridge Circle Newsletter - November 2024 |
|
| Hello Everyone, |
| Our last Thursday Club Night in October is on Halloween evening, so all you witches and wizards can come along to the Pall Mall clubhouse for a magical spooky game of Bridge. Hopefully there will be many 'Tricks' but I am not so sure about 'Treats'! |
| I never really know what to do on Halloween evening after the sweets have been handed out, what next? In Middle Ages people thought owls were witches and the Romans and Greeks believed witches could transform themselves into owls. I love owls, there's nothing nicer than hearing a owl calling out in the night. |
| Thursday 31 October is also National Door Bell Day! |
|
|
|
| NEWS |
| On Thursday 7 November we will be hosting the Ernest Lawson Cup on our Club Night and there will be lots of our Intermediate students playing with our regular Bridge players. This is always a fun evening and I am looking forward to it very much. |
| I am looking for a new member of our Pall Mall Bridge Committee. At present we have eight committee members and have room for one more. I am very keen to get a full quota and so by represent a wider group of members. If any of you, either previous Bridge Committee members or those who have never been on the committee, are interested is becoming a member of the committee, please do get in touch with me and I would be most happy to discuss it with you. |
| I have a request to all our Bridge players that, as the months go past, it seems we are all slowing up. In order to keep our weekly duplicate on track we need to play a hand every seven minutes. It seems that we are now playing a hand roughly every ten minutes. This means our Duplicate ends very, very late! Can we ask you all to play within the seven minute timeframe, or in a 'business like fashion' as Victor always like to advise us. |
| Looking further ahead into 2025, the ever popular Devonshire Cup will be played in February. The invitations will be coming out very soon so do keep a look out. In the meantime here are the dates for each round Tuesday 4, 11 and 18 with the final on Tuesday 25 February. |
| Just a quick 'housekeeping' message. You may see on your monthly statement there are no payments for playing weekly Bridge and then one larger payment. The Club asks for forgiveness as they are very short staffed at the moment and have not had a chance to charge on a weekly basis. |
| INTER CLUB MATCHES (UPCOMING AND MATCH REPORTS) |
| The second half of the year is always much quieter and there are no inter club matches now to be played before year end. Do keep an eye out though as I will advertise when we reopen for players to apply to play in 2025 matches. |
| MATCH REPORTS |
| Hurlingham Intermediates |
| On Monday 14 October the Club welcomed the Hurlingham club for the annual 'Intermediate Match'. Unfortunately there was much stress beforehand as both teams had a series of drop outs, the last one being on the day on the match. Despite the stress, the match was played in the most pleasant and friendly manner and players enjoyed a very convivial dinner afterwards. Congratulations to Hurlingham club who won by 90 IMPs. Our team consisted of Ina W/Pauli L, Faye L/Mark A, Anne R/Harvey R and Howard W/Dorothy H. |
| Match report submitted by Match Captain Ingrid Wolf. |
| Could I just add that as both teams had a number of drop outs, neither side consisted of solely Intermediate players! |
|
|
|
| The University Club New York |
| On Saturday 26 October the Royal Automobile Club had the great pleasure of welcoming back the University Club New York to Pall Mall. This is now the third time we have met and we were all very much looking forward to seeing our friends again. |
| Unfortunately there were a couple of very stressful days before the event as sadly several people had to pull out due to illness. This meant a couple of very last-minute team changes on both sides and we had to lend the opposition two players. Fortunately on Saturday, even though every road around Pall Mall was closed due to demonstrations, our two teams managed to meet up in the Committee Room. We played a most congenial match with much jollity and laughter. The Club put forward possibly a stronger team than necessary as it meant that ultimately we won by 214 imps! But I feel the more important thing was that we all had a great time together and this match is now well established on both our calendars. In fact we already have a date for next year. We managed to give the USA team four days of Bridge with our Thursday Club Night, Friday with our friends at the MCC, Saturday match day at Pall Mall and on Sunday ten players entered the Bowman Pairs Tournament. All in all a great weekend and our friendship with the University Club is truly cemented. The Royal Automobile Club team consisted of Fiona Mc/Henry Mc, Marina CP/Lester P, Michael B/David M, Pralab B/Andrea G, John C/Pascale H, David W/Pearse E, Paul M/Yvonne R and Andrew K/Brigitte K. Ingrid W and Pauli L very kindly agreed to play for the US team. |
| Match report submitted by Team Captain Fiona McWatters. |
|
|
|
| ROYAL AUTOMOBILE MATCH REPORT |
| We hold the Upstairs/Downstairs event twice a year. It is a chance for the students to meet and play against the 'real' Bridge players. Usually we run it as a teams event but this time we decided to have it as a 'pro-am pairs'. |
| The pairings were as follows: |
| David Owen and Monica Garibaldi, Paul Mainwaring and Marie-Josee Matte, Fiona McWatters and Elizabeth Tucker, Henry McWatters and Nicola Springall, Martin Langdon and Fenella Fraser Ker, John Craggs and Madeline Sturrock, Mark Alcock and Chris Woodgate, Anne Catchpole and Deborah Buzan. |
| This was a great opportunity for the students to play with more experienced players and to learn more about duplicate. I was especially pleased to see that all the 'pros' were graduates of my classes. We played 21 boards with a break after 12 for refreshments. The lead changed hands many times during the evening and all results are available on BridgeWebs. Our regular Duplicate players were delighted to play with such enthusiastic students and it is clear many will be joining in the main Duplicate on Thursday evenings very soon, where they will be made most welcome. |
| Report submitted by Anne Catchpole. |
| The Bowman Pairs Tournament |
| Pall Mall’s annual premier pairs bridge competition took place on Sunday 27 October, named after Ros and Bowman who gave so much to the development of bridge at the Club. The match consists of two sessions of 24 boards each with a splendid tea served at the halfway point. Scoring follows the Swiss format which results in similar standard pairs being pitched against each other after each round of six boards. No pair plays the same opponents twice. The 2024 contest was diarised to allow the US contingent from our reciprocal club, the University Club of New York, to join in so it benefited from more of a continental flavour than usual. The overall winners were a pair from the MCC, Simon Alterman and Paul Filer, followed by in second place Geoff Lane and Pralab Barua representing the MCC and the Royal Automobile Club, who were the early leaders after session one. The second session was won by Monica Davis and Janos Koenig from the Hurlingham Club. The match was ably directed by Victor Lesk and his associate Rob. |
| Report submitted by Michael Bailey. |
|
|
|
| BRIDGE SCHOOL |
| We have 12 new students in our Beginner Class and I am delighted to hear that they are very enthusiastic and getting on very well. Sadly our much loved teacher, Mike Eden, has been unwell for a few weeks and Anne Catchpole has come to the rescue. I wish Mike well and hopefully he will be back with us very soon. |
| GENERAL INFORMATON |
| Our WhatsApp group now has 61 members, a number which I am very pleased I need to revise each month as they increase. |
| If you are looking for a partner on Thursday evening this is the place to find someone. |
| Please can I stress it is only for Thursday evening or other Club matches which I advertise from time to time. |
| If you could use another form of connection for private matches or any other information, all participants would be very grateful. |
| ST JAMES'S CLUB MEMBERS |
| We warmly welcome our St James’s Club friends to join us on the last Thursday of every month for our regular Duplicate. We do encourage you to find a partner before coming along to the Club. |
| We have one more Teams Events in 2024 on the last Thursday of the month that is open to both the Club and St James’s Club teams and this will be on Thursday 28 November. |
| Please see below the dates for next year: |
Thursday 25 February 2025
Thursday 29 May 2025
Thursday 28 August 2025
Thursday 27 November 2025 |
| Please also note the details above regarding Thursday 30 January, A Celebration of Colin Freeman’s Life. All our St James’s Club friends are most welcome. |
| Non-St James's Club guests are welcome to come and play at the Club 12 times in any one year with a Royal Automobile Club member. |
| I advise all players to visit the Club’s BridgeWebs page regularly as news is posted on these pages throughout the month. |
| IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY |
| 2024 |
Monday 18 November
Afternoon Bridge at Pall Mall, 2.15pm, Terrace Room |
| 2025 |
Thursday 30 January
A Celebration for Colin Freeman Pairs Match
Tuesday 4 February
Duke of Devonshire Cup, play is every Tuesday evening
Tuesday 25 February
Duke of Devonshire Cup Final
Thursday 27 March
Ross Cope Swiss Teams Event
Monday 19 May
Centenary Cup |
| If you have any questions about the Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Bridge Circle, please do get in touch with me. |
| Best Wishes |
| Fiona McWatters |
| Chair, Pall Mall Bridge Committee |
|
|
|
|
| Last updated : 17th Nov 2024 12:59 GMT |
|
|
|
|
|
| FIXTURE LIST JANUARY - JULY 2025 |
BELOW ARE PROPOSED MATCH TEAM DETAILS SENT OUT BY JOHN CRAGGS TO ALL PLAYERS
THERE MAY BE A FEW SMALL CHANGES IF PLAYERS ARE NOW UNAVAILABLE
Captains shown in bold
AWAITING DETIALS
|
|
| Last updated : 17th Nov 2024 12:59 GMT |
|
|
|
|
|
| PIANOLA |
We now subscribe to "Pianola", a service that gives interesting analysis and stats of your results from each session, as well as showing how they have been progressing over time. To get started, please give your Email address to Victor (brianplaysbridge@gmail.com) and you will receive a signup link next time you play duplicate at the club. Some of you may be familiar with Pianola from other clubs, and Victor will be able to add the RAC to your profile.
Victor Lesk
|
|
| Last updated : 28th Apr 2022 12:53 BST |
|
|
|
|
|