This is the first newsletter to be issued since we have settled down at St Peter’s. Quite a few things have altered since the middle of March and I have kept members who attend informed by producing a bi-weekly information sheet, which has been pinned on the notice board. Because so many members do not attend regularly, I have used this newsletter to bring together most of this information. Should you be a regular attender, then you are now able to read everything a second time!

1. St Peter’s agreed to pay for half the cost of 75 new chairs and these have been purchased and are in regular use.

2. A new caretaker (Bob Hunt) has been installed at the Assembly rooms and he opens and locks up for each of our bridge meetings. Bob is also washing cups/saucers up after us on the same terms as we had previously.

3. I am still being asked about the next Beginners’ Class and if you know of anyone who wishes to attend, you should pencil into your diary a proposed starting date of Wednesday, 12th September. This class will run for 12 consecutive weeks on each Wednesday evening. An advert will also appear in the local Sale Messenger.

4. We have sent a cheque to Hale Conservative club for the monies we owed them according to our working formula, up to the date when we left. From our point of view, this now clears us of all money liabilities with them.

5. Our Club web site is at: www.members.aol.com/altrinchambc/ In my last newsletter, I managed to put two backslashes into the address! You will find the results of all the duplicate meetings from the afternoon of the day after they have been played. In addition, there are pages devoted to articles on the Laws ; links to many other bridge organisations and other information. If you like a certain type of music and spiders making their webs, then that is there as well!

6. Your committee has returned the booking for Monday afternoons to St Peter’s and we have obtained a suitable refund. I had high hopes that we would have been able to expand a little and use each Monday afternoon; but it was not to be.

7. Steve Hoffman very kindly agreed to take the position of Club Treasurer. Liz Halstead has resigned from this post and in a May information sheet, I warmly thanked her for the splendid way in which has carried out her duties since April 1995, when the Club was formed.

8. A new notice board is ready for erection on the wall as soon as we sort out a minor detail with St Peter’s.

9. On a long term basis, members should note that we will never be open for bridge on a Thursday when there is a Local or a General Election. Each time this occurs, we will open for duplicate bridge on Wednesday night the day before the Election.

10. It is with great regret that I have had to announce to members over recent months the deaths of Ann Veitch and Maureen Barnes. We sent cards & expressed our sorrow to the husbands of both these members.

Several of our members have been ill and the ones I know about are Sheila Reynolds, Malcolm Frazer, Cynthia Cowan and Marsha Gee. We sent a card to each of them.

11. Many of you will know that Michelle Brunner runs a school of bridge for beginners and improvers at several venues during each week. Michelle has approached St Peter’s and has rented the use of the hall for each Monday afternoon, starting in September. I have included a short memo from Michelle later in this newsletter.

Michelle has indicated that she and her other two tutors would like to join our Club and this being the case, we will help her with free publicity, storage etc.

12. Over a few years, I have published for Club members several short help sheets on different bids and some articles and quizzes on the Laws and on Directing. I have collected all these together and placed them in the vestibule on a suitable unit. If you find any of interest, then please help yourself.

13. Directors:

I would like to think that all members act in a gracious and pleasant manner when there is a need to use the services of the Director. The first thing to bear in mind is that duplicate bridge cannot function without a Director and all our Directors try to be impartial & to give a ruling to the best of their ability. I would expect every member to accept without demur any ruling given by the Director – to me, this is the sign of a truly courteous player. There is no basis whatever for a player to argue with a Director.

Should you know or think that a Director’s ruling is wrong, the time to raise the matter is at the end of the meeting. Goodwill on both sides should then resolve any problem.

14. Bridge Computer Programs:

The Club still has three bridge computer programs, which may be borrowed from Joan Lewis for assessment purposes. All three of them are very good for practice bidding, counting and playing & you could spend many a happy hour with them! All you have to do is contact Joan Lewis.

15. A Revoke, or not a Revoke !

Declarer, at the sixth trick, leads a heart and you, as the next player (defender) play a diamond. Your partner immediately pipes up and asks if you have a heart in your hand. You examine your hand and lo and behold you possess a heart; so you pick up the diamond, return it to your hand, and then put the heart down, thanking partner for reminding you.

Declarer , after half a second says "that is not allowed". Defender says "but your partner (dummy) asked you the same question only two tricks earlier and we did not query the question". At this stage, the Director is called. What is his decision? (the answer is at the end).

16. "Accepting the card led "

Dummy is on lead and , without waiting for declarer, dummy leads the Jack of hearts (it is a no-trump contract and declarer has just played and won the Ace, King and Queen of hearts in dummy). The next player plays the six of hearts on it.

At this stage, declarer wakes up and says he did not want the Jack of hearts led from dummy & he wants the card returned to dummy and the two of spades led. The defender says that he has now accepted the lead of the Jack of hearts when he played the six of hearts on it and nothing can now be altered. The Director is called. What does he say? (the answer is at the end).

17. Memo from Michelle Brunner :-

Michelle’s school of bridge will be opening a new class every Monday afternoon in our bridge club hall, starting on Monday 3rd September at 2pm. The tutors; Michelle Brunner, John Holland and Kevin Comrie are well known to many members of our bridge club and their combined expertise enables them to teach bridge players of all levels. Many topics are covered in the teaching programme

and additionally, the tutors are more than willing to present lessons on request from players who join their classes.

Please ring Michelle for further details on 0161 483 1796.

18. I have just issued another membership list and copies are in the carousel. We have 270 paid up members but the average attendance is not quite as good as it was at our last venue. If you are short of a partner, then please take a copy of the membership list and telephone appropriate members until you are fixed up.

Peter Dawson (July 2001 )