 We are a friendly duplicate Bridge club, founded in 1989.
The history of the Club is that in 1987 Ossett School offered night classes in playing Bridge. The tutor was Brian Rimmer, who was heavily involved in Bridge, running Bridge holidays and who also founded Garforth Bridge Club.
After a couple of years, Brian indicated to the class members that “It’s over to you as a group now”. 12 people responded to that challenge and formed the Ossett Bridge Club. They negotiated favourable room hire charges with the manager of Ossett Community Centre, and the club’s first session took place in April 1989.
After a couple of years or so, it was recognised that the club had established itself as a long term entity and a formal constitution was approved. The informal and friendly ethos of the club was captured in a poem called "If", written in 1992 by one of the founder members, Lynne Kettlewell.
If you are a stranger, you are most welcome here,
But there are one or two points I feel should be made clear.
If our etiquette is not quite right,
Please excuse us for this oversight.
If we overbid, underbid or bid out of turn,
Please remember we are here to learn.
If we should hesitate, we don’t mean to,
We honestly haven’t a clue what to do.
If on occasion we fail to alert,
We are not trying to cheat, to confuse or to hurt.
If we lead out of turn, there’s no intent,
Please remember it’s an accident.
If we call the T.D., it’s because we’re in doubt,
He’s everyone’s friend, he’ll sort it out.
If we have enjoyed our evening, we’ve achieved our aim.
At the end of the day, Bridge is only a game.
If you can appreciate the caption below,
It sums up most of the members I know.
“Success means enjoying the game rather than always winning”
A 10 year anniversary event was held in 1999 and souvenir pens were produced.
We still meet every Wednesday evening at Ossett Memorial Community Centre, and currently have over 25 members. Visitors and new members are always welcome.
We also organise various events and competitions throughout the year, making it very much a sociable Club, where all levels of ability are welcomed and appreciated.
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