This is a new feature, retelling the history, origins & journey of Wakefield Bridge Club. Some of this is from what little recorded history we possess, some has come from personal testimony, and some is borrowed from other sources. We hope that you can enjoy...............
Although nobody can recall the exact date of Wakefield Bridge Club's foundation, a Wakefield Express clipping (saved elsewhere in this section), records that we played our first match against the Aysgarth Bridge Club (from Leeds), and that we ran out narrow winners by 400 points. (We must have been playing Rubber Bridge in this match). By the time of that particular match, the Wakefield Express also records that "The duplicate Bridge drives held by the Club are proving to be so popular, that they are now being held fortnightly instead of monthly. The original meeting night was a Monday evening (after work). The Club has never looked back since. We have assumed that we actually began in early October 1953, but we cannot 100% prove this - it is our best guess.
That first match, the Duplicate Bridge drives & all the early Bridge meetings, were all held upstairs in the long demolished "Jester Restaurant" which was on the west side of Southgate. Unfortunately, we were (evicted / moved) from these premises, when Southgate had its properties subject to a compulsory purchase order. This was because, Southgate at this time was a very narrow street, and with the advances made with motor transport, it was found that getting two vehicles past one another, proved to be extremely difficult. This was probably in 1957, as we have discovered pictures of Southgate,taken in October 1956, which show where the "Jester Restaurant" was located. This is now underneath the Ridings Shopping Centre.
The Club then moved to Holmfield House, in Holmfield Park in Wakefield (Holmfield Park together with the adjoining Clarence Park & Thornes Park form a large grassed areajust outside the centre of Wakefield). This was our home for over 30 years, in the building which was owned by one of the incarnations of Wakefield Council. Even the manager of this venue played Bridge at the Club. The Club continued to grow, and shortly after we moved in, a further session was added on a Thursday evening (again. after work). But in 1991 we were forced to move again, when Holmfield House was sold by the Council to a hotel group, who wished to develop the building in their own way. This building we should all still recognise as the Holmfield Arms, where we have recently started having a Xmas meal with our members at.
The Club then moved into two rooms at Wakefield Town Hall. Interestingly, the two rooms were designated as a smoking & non-smoking area, in which Bridge was played. However, with the very limited facilities that were available, together with lack of good parking, the move here was not very popular with the members. So, we moved again in 1994.
The Club now began a period of 25 years based at West Yorkshire Sports & Social Club (WYSSC) at the bottom of Sandal Hall Close in the Sandal district of Wakefield. Here the Club had a bit more space and time to start to expand & grow. There was a regular offering of Monday & Thursday evening sessions, which proved to be very popular with our members, although our Club membership never rose above 90 members. As the Club approached its Diamond Jubilee in 2013, unfortunately, the Clubs membership had fallen to less than 60 members. So after much thought and discussion, a lot of effort was directed at reviving the Club. Open evenings and new teaching classes were started for beginners. These proved to be popular, so much so, that this led to the opening of two brand new sessions, one on a Monday morning & a Tuesday evening. This lead to a huge increase in membership, and we became the victims of our own success, as the pressure on us to expand was being forced upon us. With the ever increasing demand for extra sessions, we found out that WYSSC could not accommodate any expansion from our Club, and so the search for larger premises began again.
As 2020 opened, the Club had made plans for a return to Thornes Park, but this time in our own section of the former Thornes House School / Wakefield College, But unfortunately, as we prepared to move premises yet again, the whole world was hit by the Coronavirus Pandemic, which resulted in all Bridge Clubs having to suspend all play, with all organisations & groups in the UK, restricted by law to not meet together , under any circumstances. The last session was played on Tuesday 17th March 2020, and there was no more bridge until Bridge players in the country with the knowledge of computer systems, were able to develop on - line Bridge.
Wakefield Bridge Club started up playing online on Monday 10th August, and it became apparent that this was the only option for Bridge players, to play Bridge, as we were still unable to meet up. In September 2020, Thursday evening sessions restarted again, but online, shortly followed by Tuesday evening sessions & Monday morning sessions, also in September. We only played, with the help & assistance of Oliver Cowan, who had started up the Oliver Cowan Bridge Club as an online entity during the pandemic. Initially we played all sessions in conjunction with Oliver , who still continues to this day, with a Play without the Experts session on a Tuesday evening. Bridge continued in this way until the lifting of pandemic restrictions, so that we were able to meet up again. Wakefield Bridge Club started playing face to face (F2F) Bridge again on Monday 19th July 2021, after 18 months away. We had taken possession of our latest venue, and we were able to start up as soon as the restrictions were lifted, allowing larger groups to meet up. We continued to operate Tuesday evenings in conjunction with Oliver, but towards the end of 2021, we started to run our own sessions.
Friday morning sessions started on Friday 20th November 2020, and continues to this day. We also started an ill fated Monday Afternoon session on Monday 9th January 2023. This was never well supported and we finally pulled the plug on this session with the last session taking place on Monday 13th May 2024.
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