Knowle Bridge Club

Chair’s Annual Message 2023

There was optimism in the air at last year’s AGM, helped maybe by drinks and nibbles. This optimism carried us through the winter when numbers stuck at about half a dozen tables until a very pleasant shock on 5th April of ten and a half tables, since when we have enjoyed enough good and varied company and played some happy bridge.

Why is it going so well? Is it the new drinks mugs that Chris & Mike Lynn found for us? Is it luxurious Knowle Village Hall with its working heating and its refurbishments creeping forward? Is it curiosity as to what will go wrong next for the TDs and scoring system? Is it incredulity of the hands you get? Is it the chance to be player of the month? Well, yes, it is all of those, but I think we are just lucky that people who play at Knowle tell others that they have found a friendly club for a happy evening’s bridge. New arrivals find this is all true and that the bridge we play can be well- contested without too much pressure for speed.

So my first thank you this year is to anyone who has spread the word to others and to everyone who heard about us like this and came to check us out. May your enjoyment continue. Keep spreading the news.

My second thank you is to all of you. It makes the committee and TDs so very happy to see everyone working together as a club. I am slowly learning not to stand in the way at the end of the evening as tables and chairs whirl back to their stacks. I hear the tinkling of washing up towards the end of a session and find the sit-out pair are busy. Early arrivals join in setting up the room. On a couple of occasions Peter Thompson has met me as I unlocked and had the tables and chairs out while I set up the kitchen.

Third thank you is for TDs, Fran, Mike and Tony who with me have a little bit of anxiety over setting up for play each week but seldom get taxed with hard decisions because you are all such well-behaved players. Directors are essential and it would be good have more than four. It isn’t difficult: even I can do it. Any volunteers?

Fourth thank you is to the committee. Mike as treasurer has his book-keeping and yet he also manages the Whatsapp group and calculates our players of the month. Tony has the hand dealing software to generate our hands and uses a machine to deal cards into our frames for each week. He gets as close as anyone to understanding how our scoring tablets work. Faye ensures our refreshments are available. Andrew has been sitting at Tony’s feet learning about our computerised aspects. (I should mention committee wives: Chris Lynn does most collecting of table fees; Janet Cundy does this when the Lynns are away and also helps when Tony uses the dealing machine.) I try not to get in the way of all this industry, but I give the tablets a fortnightly charge up, draw up our TD rota, keep track of personal numbers for our scoring computer, use the dealing machine if Tony is away and liaise with Knowle Village Hall Association.

That is a pretty complete list of what the committee does. It is mostly routine and not too demanding: admin without needing specialist bridge knowledge. We operate by chatting on Wednesdays or having an occasional flurry of e-mail. Fresh committee members from among those who have joined the club in the last year or two will stop us getting stale. We need your input, so please consider volunteering or persuading a friend to step up.

Finally congratulations to the members who have won or shared player of the month. Fran Baxter has featured 3 times in 2023. Well done, Fran. In short, well done everyone. Let’s have a great 2024.

Paul Hardstaff

Knowle Bridge Club

Chairman’s Report 2021

Our club’s last annual general meeting took place in 2019, so I have to report the events of two years.  Autumn of 2019 drew uneventfully past our enjoyable Christmas evening through the winter and into the early spring of 2020 with Monday morning “easy-peasy” bridge, Wednesday evening main sessions and lessons ticking along nicely.  But in March 2020 everything stopped because of the pandemic. Social activities like duplicate bridge ended.

We followed instructions and guidance, kept ourselves as safe as we could in our homes and met very few friends.  We did not hold an AGM in 2020 and decided that club memberships would renew for a further year without any fee being sought.  Many of us found new uses for computers, including playing bridge on-line through some of the web sites that we discovered.  Mike Lynn was particularly adventurous and used one of the on-line sites to set up a small team-of-four league which gave his friends a lot of fun as well as making them feel much less alone in their lockdown.

Enjoyment of on-line play led in February 2021 to the start of a Thursday evening session of pairs duplicate bridge using “Real Bridge On-Line” where players could not only play bridge but see and speak to other players at their table.  This session was begun by Fran Baxter and Mike Lynn for members of Dorridge and Knowle Bridge Clubs plus some friends.  The cost of these evenings has been met by the clubs so no playing fees have been charged. The close co-operation between Dorridge and Knowle clubs has been good and members who have taken part have been able to keep their clubs’ identities fresh.

In summer, after vaccinations, social restrictions began to ease and we could consider restarting face-to-face bridge.  Not everyone yet feels ready for this, but we found enough interest to begin on Wednesday 18^th August and have continued Wednesday evenings since then and begun Monday mornings as from 11^th October.  We were pleased to find Knowle Village Hall had continued its refurbishment programme during lockdown and made some big improvements in the shape of new doors and décor.  Since our first return in high summer we have found that the heating system works well and we don’t need to freeze to be safely ventilated.  We aimed for safety by trying to have our equipment, including the hall’s chairs and tables, handled by no more members than is absolutely necessary.  As on Thursdays we have drawn no distinction between members of Knowle and Dorridge clubs and both are equally welcome.  We have made a start and now we look to thrive.

Thank you to everyone who has so far returned to play face-to-face because you have made worthwhile our efforts in planning the reopening. Our purpose now is to keep our club running, ready to welcome back those who are careful of their own safety and are not yet ready to come out to play. So as to include everyone, all who were members before lockdown will be continue to be members for 2021/2 year and no annual subscription will be sought for this year.

I am grateful to many people. First, the committee (Faye Doble, John Allen, Mike Lynn & Tony Cundy) for the way they have kept in touch and offered wisdom.  Mike has not only run the on-line play but has developed a nice line in cheerful e-mails which he reliably sends out before each session. Tony got our scoring systems working again and has continued dealing our hands.  Bill Jones kept in touch with his former students and coached some of them on-line. Now he is back giving his Monday tips. Roger Fitton has kept our web site pretty and informative.  Fran Baxter not only TDs for us but from her position with Dorridge Bridge Club made sure the Thursday on-line evenings got going and are so successful.

Finally, might anyone volunteer for tournament directing or some setting up or clearing away on Mondays or Wednesdays, or want to join the committee? We have got through lockdown and are back again and have things to do.

Paul Hardstaff

Knowle Bridge Club

Chairman’s Report 2020

Dear Members,

A year ago everything was ticking over very nicely. Our Wednesdays usually mustered enough players for a pleasant evening of bridge, Bill had a new programme of lessons running and the Monday morning “Easy Peasy” session reached 5 tables on one occasion and saw some enterprising play without being any less fun. We had a convivial Christmas session mixing Wednesday and Monday players together. On Wednesdays we had got used to handsets at each table to input scoring directly to the computer and this year we got some larger “tablet” handsets which made it a lot easier to see the display and hit the right buttons. An excellent half year, and then it all stopped. Duplicate Bridge as we knew it became impossible because of close indoor proximity and sharing of all the cards and equipment. It is our hope to restart whenever that can be arranged. I fear I can’t see that being soon.

Earlier in the autumn before the resurgence of Covid, West Midlands Bridge Club considered experimenting with getting players round tables again by using screens corner to corner across the table with a central gap where playing cards and bidding cards could be viewed. They planned that each table should have a complete set of boards for the session so nothing got passed between tables. Tony and I both do some duplimating (preparing sets of boards using computer-generated deals and a card sorting machine) and although we might put up with preparing 7 sets of 28 hands for a few 7-table sessions, we’d mutiny if too many sessions per week were proposed.

Another club I know of that uses a village hall rather than its own premises had some table screens made. Their prototypes are not yet satisfactory because they have to be quite large and if they are light enough for those of the bridge playing generation to put up and take down they are not robust enough to stand up safely or withstand handling damage. Presumably other versions are under development elsewhere and may come on to the market. I know some of you have embraced computerised bridge. Bill was quick off the mark and arranged some Skype sessions with his students. Bridge Base Online is a website providing on-line bridge where I have not been too mystified. If anyone wants to explore its possibilities, may I suggest you approach it via West Midlands Bridge Circle (www.bridgewebs.com/wmbcircle) where you will find you know quite a lot of the other players once you have deciphered the alias names they use.

A number of our members have also been playing ‘Teams Bridge’ on Friday mornings organised by Mike Lynn. If you would like to give Teams a try, please contact Mike.

 Knowle Village Hall has mainly stayed closed, but refurbishments have continued. The foyer zone has had a makeover and the tatty concertina doors at the end of the hall have been replaced by timberwork and a proper doorway. We have a home to return to when we are able to resume.The committee recognise that you have only had half your moneys-worth from your annual subscription and you will see from Mike’s report that we have funds enough for our current needs without asking for more, so please consider your membership is continuous. Some money we hold is the returnable deposits lodged by Bill’s students at the start of their lessons last year. We can refund these by bank transfer and anyone wanting their money back should give Mike (as above) the details needed to make the payment. Finally, and most importantly, I hope you are keeping well and maintaining your morale as high as possible. I look forward to meeting you again in the future. If you have any comments on this report or any suggestions, please get in touch. With my very best wishes,

Paul Hardstaff      (01.11.20)