learn, laugh, live

There is a lot in the press these days about the benefits of mental stimulation, social contact and physical activity in keeping us younger. Our bridge group offers both mental stimulation and social contact – even physical activity too for some of us, putting out tables and chairs and tidying them away afterwards! If you’re an intermediate standard bridge player and would like to join us for Chicago bridge (no partner needed) please do come along on the day or email for more information.

New members are always welcome. We are an “open” group so new players can just come along on the day. We play ACOL in a ‘Chicago’ format so you do not need to come with a partner or to come every time. We change partners every 4 hands so you experience playing with 4 or occasionally 5  different people during the morning.  We like people to be of at least an intermediate standard and to know the standard Acol bids and responses. We can supply an Acol basic bidding crib sheet to anyone who thinks they might be a bit rusty.

Our last two sessions have had 14 and then 21 players so numbers are quite variable at present. Our most recent winner was Bridget Storrer.  Apologies to the previous winner - the scorecard was mislaid!

In April numbers were down a bit on previous weeks, perhaps due to better weather enticing people to go out for the day? Our recent winners have been two of our longest standing members, Colin Butson and Stephen Hale – well done guys. Colin had a very good score of nearly 3600 from only 4 sets of 4 hands, very much helped when partnering Jane Donaldson who bravely raised Colin to 7 clubs when vulnerable, which Colin coolly proceeded to make scoring 2140 on one hand! This is the first grand slam we have had bid and made for a very long time – it’s not an easy thing to do when playing with a non-regular partner. So very well done Jane and Colin.

We are occasionally asked by potential new members whether we give bridge lessons. The group has not done this for many years now and there are currently no plans to start but there are options locally which run from time to time and with a bit of research can be found advertised online. One option of which we have recently become aware is an online course run by the u3a nationally. They normally run two courses a year one starting in January and one in the summer – entries are currently open for the summer one. They state that “The online course is based on a well-proven methodology using Nofearbridge lessons and RealBridge playing sessions. The course starts with a set of free, short, self-taught MiniBridge Lessons on the NoFearBridge website to obtain two MiniBridge certificates, demonstrating you have learnt basic principles. This normally takes 1 to 2 weeks to complete. Those completing the MiniBridge course may join 23 weeks of online study with weekly readings and exercises to complete in your own time. We support your learning through a weekly group meeting and weekly supervised practice sessions (at a fixed time) on the RealBridge playing platform.”   
Details can be found at www.bridgewebs.com/u3abridgegroup.

Next sessions:-  21st April, 13^th and 27^th May

Last updated 13 May 2026