I am contacting you to provide an update on activities provided by Bewdley Bridge Club and to invite you to renew your subscription for the six month period from April to September 2025.
The club will continue to provide a diverse programme of online bridge using the excellent RealBridge platform. All three of our weekly duplicate sessions - Monday afternoon, Wednesday evening and Thursday evening - remain popular and provide the opportunity to play friendly but competitive bridge. We have developed our programme so that it includes Simultaneous Pairs in partnership with E-Cats Bridge, Swiss Pairs and Swiss Teams. The Club Handicap competition is a far more significant part of the club calendar, played over four quarterly heats throughout the year. We continue to look for innovative opportunities to develop the club calendar for the enjoyment of members and have recently hosted a heat of the EBU Masters Pairs - a first for club bridge in Worcestershire.
We will have periodic sessions of Face To Face Bridge at the lovely setting of Wharton Park Golf Club. The next such session will be on Wednesday 19 March 2025. The sessions at Wharton Park are free of charge to club members. RealBridge sessions will be provided on those Wednesday evenings when we are playing at Wharton Park for those members unable to attend Face To Face.
In addition, the club provides morning social and teams sessions which remain very popular and which have helped to develop new players to join our ranks. Table numbers for the Friday Fun sessions continue to grow and these sessions have helped newer players become familiar with duplicate bridge. Many thanks to Eileen, Sue, Candy and others who have helped to develop these sessions.
Club membership is at a record high - 121 members - with every prospect of further membership growth over the coming year.
Many thanks to Eileen for providing the most progressive teaching programme in Worcestershire. New initiatives will continue to be developed with the aim of widening bridge participation.
The club will also encourage members to represent the club in external competitions including those run by Worcestershire CBA and is pleased to fund relevant competition fees for our participating players. This all points to a thriving club. Our table numbers have remained stable for Wednesday evenings and continue to grow for Thursday evenings. Friday Fun Bridge continues to grow and Monday afternoon duplicate provides a good setting for improvers to participate in a longer bridge session. I wish to extend my thanks to all club members for their loyalty and support.
In particular, I wish to thank everyone who continues to assist with club management, not the least those members who have directed online bridge - a thankless task but always delivered professionally. If any club member wishes to volunteer to join our panel of club directors they would be most welcome and be supported whilst they gain familiarity with the role.
I am immensely grateful for the support of a superb committee and would wish to thank Eileen, Belinda, Sue, Alan, Jonathan and Candy for their hard work and encouragement.
Club finances are in excellent health and have been expertly stewarded by our Treasurer, Belinda Morgan. In the context of the strong financial position, I am delighted to report that subscription rates can remain unchanged for the period from April to September 2025. Club reserves are strong and remain available to support either unexpected capital expenditure or to support development of new initiatives or opportunities should they emerge.
As with previous six month periods I am inviting you to make a single subscription payment which will cover all bridge to which you have subscribed. You can choose to purchase a single or multiple weekly subscription for club duplicate sessions. Also you can purchase single or multiple subscriptions for morning sessions.
The subscription rates for online bridge for the next six months are as follows:-
Duplicate Single Weekly Play £20
Duplicate Multiple Weekly Play £40
Morning Single Weekly Play £5
Morning Multiple Weekly Play £10
So the maximum subscription which would cover every online activity provided by the club would be £50 (which equates to approximately £2 per week). Your Committee considers that this represents excellent value for money and a statement of our appreciation for the loyalty and support from club members. I really hope that you will renew your subscription. Please will you pay your subscription to Bewdley Bridge Club. The account is a business account and its number is 10301671 with sort code 20-82-70. Please when making a payment put your name as the transaction reference.
In summary, I wish to repeat my thanks to all club members for their support and I look forward to you renewing your subscription and continuing to participate in the progression of our club.
Kindest Regards,
David Halford
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