I can hardly believe that the Christmas and New Year celebrations are all over, time flies
when you are enjoying yourself! Speaking of which, our Woodcote Bridge Circle certainly
know how to enjoy themselves, the annual Winter Social held just before Christmas was a
resounding success and enjoyed by all who joined in. The rather splendid and elegant
Cedar Room where, after we had all enjoyed a superb dinner, was magically transformed
into a bridge room for over 25 tables. Members and their guests were then able to play
Chicago bridge for fun. The winning pair of the Chicago bridge were presented with RAC
logo duplicate bridge cards and the competing pair with the lowest points were presented
with jars of RAC seasonal humbugs!
During the evening the following members, pictured above, were presented with the
competition cups for 2024:-
Golf/Bridge Cup - Heather and Nigel Matthew
Deeley Handicap Cup - Alan Torry & Stuart Mann
Centenary Cup – Woodcote - Marina Chaning-Pearce & Stewart Broome
Teams Championship Cup - Nigel & Heather Matthew and Dick Strattan & Chris Honeywill
Munns Memorial Cup - Katherine Kreuter and Dave Cowell
Congratulations to all of our 2024 winners! Very well played through the year including Jo Stein and Karin Goodway who were winners of the Dorin Salver in September 2024. Will you be a winner in 2025? You will need to play with another RAC bridge circle member to join in the competitive club fun.
The Woodcote Bridge Committee have organised many competitions and events for the year ahead.
Notices of these events will be advertised during the year and sign-up sheets for competitions placed on our Bridge Notice board at Woodcote. Do join in when you can.
Please note that Woodcote’s Centenary Cup is awarded to the best performing pair through the year, running from 1st December 2024 until 30th November 2025.
Dates for your Diary:
AGM Cedar Room. 5:30pm Monday 10th February 2025
Andrew Robson Day. Cedar Room – Thursday 20th February 2025 - booking now open. Do book if you have not done so already, just a few spaces remain! Andrew’s day with us is always very informative and above all, fun! Andrew’s sense of humour shines through and we all come away having enjoyed the day with friends and through his expert tuition have learnt something new. This event is a not-for-profit event. After costs the RAC donate their profits from this event to the Royal Marsden Hospital. Over the years with the continued support of Andrew Robson himself plus the club we have been able to donate a substantial amount of money to this very deserving charity. Please help us to continue our support.
Bridge plus Bridge & Golf Pairs Matches – see separate list
Find a Partner Scheme - Alongside ‘Find a Partner’ on Bridgewebs, Heather Matthew has kindly offered to recommence her role as a co-ordinator to assist finding an appropriate bridge partner, either temporary or long term. If you have listed on Bridgewebs ‘Find a Partner’ without success Heather may be able to help you find a partner. It is recommended that we try to use Bridgewebs in the first place, however Heather is there to help you if necessary. Details listed on Bridgewebs.
Chicago Bridge Dates – see below
Bridge Classes – The Beginners group recommence on Wednesday 8th January and the Intermediate group on 28th January 2025. Classes commence at 5pm and finish at 7pm. Sue Jackson is the course tutor and has taught at Woodcote for many years. If you are aware of any members who would like to join in the classes, please do let me or a committee member know.
Table Money – We are looking to becoming cashless. With the closure of high street banks, dealing with cash has become rather tricky. To make accounting easier we ask that Members who bring a Guest sign in as usual but individually collect the table money due from their own Guest. The RAC will then charge the account of the RAC Member who has the Guest partner present. Please note that from 1 st January 2025 we will no longer collect cash in payment of table money for either Members or their Guests. All table money due will charged accordingly to the Member’s account. To facilitate this arrangement, we ask that you continue to sign the weekly Monday register as usual.
Scoring System - Doubtless our regular Duplicate players will have noticed that after problems incurred we have changed our duplicate bridge scoring system to the EBU Pairs software. The EBU have fully supported our bridge Directors on this path of change. We are extremely grateful for their assistance in the changeover from one system to another. You will be pleased to hear that the EBU system is much easier for us to use and with an efficient helpline, should we need it, we feel reassured that our software issues and lack of effective support are behind us. I am sure that as we use the newly installed system, we will all become familiar with its operation. If you are a computer guru do step forward to help us as all help on a rota is greatly received. Full training given!
The Woodcote Bridge Committee are looking forward to the exciting events planned for this year and trust you will join in when you can.
I take this opportunity to wish our Bridge Circle and their Guests a very Happy, Peaceful and Healthy New Year. Kind regards and very best wishes,
Angela
Angela Reid – Chair Woodcote Bridge Circle
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