learn, laugh, live

There will be no session on 11 November due to the unavailability of the hall that day.

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, meaning that new players can simply come along on the day. We play Acol in a ‘Chicago’ format, so you do not need to come with a partner or attend every session. We change partners every four hands, so you experience playing with four or occasionally five different people during the morning.   We like players to be at least of intermediate standard and to be familiar with standard Acol bids and responses. We can provide an Acol basic bidding crib sheet to anyone who feels they might be a little rusty.

We restarted after our summer break on 14 October and had 17 players, which is actually our highest turnout for the autumn restart for 6 years. Our winner was Stephen Hale, who was one of the volunteers to sit out for one of the four rounds so that everyone could play at least three rounds. He  managed 1890 points from three sets of four hands. Sandra  Brown was a close second on 1,750 points from four rounds. It is open to debate as to whether playing one hand more or less is an advantage or a disadvantage.  It largely depends on the cards!

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:-  28 October and 25 November

Last updated 25 October 2026