Bridge in Rugby operates from three different venues:-
- Tuesday Evening 7 pm for 7:15 pm. Main Club Session, with usually around 10 tables. Duplicate pairs are played, with master points being awarded. There is a Tournament Director and a Hosting System means that individuals without a partner can be assured of getting a game. The session ends at around 10:30 pm. Venue:- Sacred Heart Church Hall, Bilton, Rugby, CV22 7QT. view here: Bilton
- Wednesday Evening 6:45pm for 7:00 pm. Improvers Session. A more relaxed pace than Tuesday with the bonus of tea or coffee and biscuits included. Play duplicate pairs or teams depending on numbers. The session ends at around 10 pm. Venue:- Townsend Memorial Hall, Clifton, Rugby, CV23 0BH. view here: Clifton
- Thursday Evening 7:00pm for 7:15pm. Duplicate Bridge, usually 5 to 9 tables. Complementary tea and coffee.The Club Bar available for drinks and is open till 12:00 a.m. Rugby Bridge Club recognises the Thursday evening session, as an R.B.C. activity run by R.B.C. members for R.B.C. members and non members. Any surplus generated is donated to R.B.C. development fund. If you need a partner for the evening ring Stuart on 01788 562208 beforehand. Venue:- Royal British Legion Club Main Street, Hillmorton, Rugby, CV21 4EE. view here: Hillmorton
- Friday Afternoon 1:30 pm till around 4:45 pm. Improvers Session. A more relaxed pace than Tuesday with the bonus of tea or coffee and biscuits included. Play duplicate pairs or teams depending on numbers. Venue:- Townsend Memorial Hall, Clifton, Rugby, CV23 0BH. view here: Clifton
- Saturday Morning* 9:45am for 10:00am. The Improvers Session, with a 30min lesson followed by a coached duplicate session. Periodically Beginners Sessions are run in an adjacent room. After a grounding in bidding and play, Beginners move on to become Improvers. Venue:- Townsend Memorial Hall, Clifton, Rugby, CV23 0BH. view here: Clifton
Table Money at each venue is standardised at £2 per player
*Once a month, usually the second Saturday, there is no Saturday morning session as this is the turn of the Saturday Night Social Event - Food and a Bridge Competition.
The manner of handling and storage of our folding tables is very important if we are to limit damage to the top surface covering, whether it is baize at Bilton or the plastic covering on the Clifton tables.
The metal brackets that secure the legs stand proud of the wooden surround and are capable of tearing the baize if the tables are not placed face to face
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| Baize table covering showing damage from leg clips | The offending clip |
EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING: CLUB DEVELOPMENT
The Chairman began the proceedings by reading out paragraph 9 of the Constitution. He reported that there was no Development Sub-Committee, at the moment, and that the Main Committee had been acting in lieu. He read out the relevant parts of the “Development Summary” (a short history of development work) produced by Christine Cooper. He then threw it open to the floor.
Freddie Foster then read out a history of his extensive involvement in trying to obtain premises. He thought that now land and commercial premises were too expensive to buy. He considered the best possibility was to obtain help from the Council or the lottery fund.
Chris Malthouse considered that a lot of people had put efforts into club development but were not necessarily interested in obtaining our own premises.
Malcolm Taylor was concerned about the willingness of members to contribute towards running premises. He thought that there were three options:
(1) No change
(2) Freeze Development Fund
(3) Liquidate the Development Fund.
Nicky Cook had done considerable work on conducting a survey of members’ attitudes to activities of Rugby Bridge Club. She considered that the present venues did not offer a good experience to visitors – e.g. too cold, poor toilets, poor car parking.
Graham Lightfoot said that if the Development Fund were liquidated we could purchase various technical aids, e.g. duplimate machines. However it was pointed out that there was enough money in the General Fund for this and there would be a problem of storage.
There was considerable, and somewhat confused, general discussion with many members making contributions. Eventually it was decided to take “straw polls” on two motions.
1. “We will not go ahead in a search for our own or shared premises” – proposed by P. Iredale, seconded by M. Taylor: For 5, Against 28.
2. “Table monies contributed by the Tuesday and Thursday sessions should be put in the General Fund” – proposed by W. Pattinson, seconded by R. Holland: For 7, Against 21, Abstention 1.
The Chairman considered that these were definitive results, in straw polls, and hoped that they might reinvigorate the search for premises.
Spotlight on Ashlawn
The early history of Rugby Bridge Club (RBC) shows that the Club started with a nomadic existence, playing at a variety of venues as they were forced to move on, fortunately this problem seems to have been overcome and the Club is settled in its established venues. Tuesday night at Bilton has been in operation all the time that I have been a member.
Originally the Club only played on one night a week and it was felt by a group of members that in order to expand there should be an alternative venue and a site was found whereby St Andrews Rugby Club would allow us to play in a corner of their Clubhouse, whilst the Club carried on with their normal Rugby Club activities, meeting after training, playing darts matches and general bonhomie. The establishment of bridge at St Andrews was helped by President of the Rugby Club, John Tomalin. John liked to play bridge and was usually at the Club in his official capacity as well joining in the play. John is of course still playing today.
MEMBERSHIP
When bridge at Ashlawn started the founder members were keen to attract players with a range of expertise and aimed to make the game open to people who might be put off by the reputation for rude and highly competitive play that stigmatised EBU affiliated Clubs.
Bridge at Ashlawn operated as part of Rugby Bridge Club (RBC) but did not insist on RBC membership. EBU members were welcome but masterpoints were not purchased for the players. It has long been recognised, even by the hierarchy of the EBU, that the masterpoint scheme encourages the worst nature of bridge players who are looking to gain an advantage by exploiting trivial technicalities and constantly slowing the play by calling the Director. EBU rules insist on the Director being called even though rulings can usually be resolved by mutual agreement at the table, there is no recognition for the fact that the people we are playing with are our friends! At Ashlawn non-members of RBC and RBC improvers, progressing from learning at Clifton, found that they could enjoy a more convivial evening’s bridge than they would expect from going to the main RBC night. Nevertheless, it should be recognised that the majority of players currently playing at Ashlawn are RBC members who also attend the RBC Tuesday night session at Bilton.
For and Against Ashlawn
What sets Ashlawn apart is the fact that the room is shared with the rugger players. The most intrusive aspect was the noise from the bar and the darts matches, but what offended most was the smell of stale smoke that pervades such establishments. The smoking ban has come to our rescue, since it was introduced numbers have risen dramatically and some weeks we have actually exceeded the numbers on a Tuesday. Ashlawn is popular despite the fact that people are not getting masterpoints for playing, possibly because they are not getting masterpoints for playing!
Because we do not have exclusive use of the premises, we pay a very nominal rent to the Rugby Club. It was realised by Marjorie Davies and the original organisers that the surplus money could go into the RBC Development Fund, set up so that RBC can obtain its own premises.