Bassingham Bridge Club has continued its ethos of a friendly and welcoming Club and membership has risen during 2025/26.
Our usual competitions and events have taken place. My congratulations to everyone for taking part and well done those who won the various competitions. Please make every effort to attend our Presentation Evening, which this year is at Oscar’s in Newark on 19th May. Many thanks to our team of Directors who lead our Thursday evenings. For 2026/27 there will be a change to the Individual Competition which takes place on every 4th Thursday of the month. It will have a new name ‘The Random Partners Competition’ and we will revert back to arrow switches in an attempt to have fairer results. All members are encouraged to take part in this competition which is an opportunity to play with a different partner once a month. A one off Individual Competition will take place on a Sunday afternoon with an afternoon tea.
Further thanks go to the committee who work together to run our Club. There are numerous tasks that need to be done and they are our unsung heroes. I thank you, our membership, who also help with tasks and support our various events with a cheerful and friendly outlook.
In November we organised our usual Random Seeded Competition but trialled a refreshment interlude with just cake. The committee received positive and negative comments to this but decided to try a more buffet style for our next event. A date could not be found for February so our next event is likely to be November.
We held held our usual Christmas Bridge but tried playing normal duplicate rather than Chicago. We enjoyed the usual excellent sausage rolls from HIcksons with our grateful thanks to Derek for this kind donation. Mince pies and mulled wine were also enjoyed. This was a free evening but donations enabled us to give a cheque of £200 to Lincolnshire Air Ambulance.
Bassingham Bridge took part once again in the Village Show and their stall encouraged visitors to try out ‘Play Your Cards Right’ which was organised by Mike and Pat Lucas. Information on our Club was provided including details of how to join and/or learn bridge. This, together with advertising, led to 18 new beginners starting to learn the game in September. Pat Lucas continues to lead the Improvers course. Programmes for both appear on our website.
Fred Myers continues to organise 2 bridge breaks a year. They are always in interesting venues and provide a really enjoyable break with a varied programme of bridge. These breaks are enjoyed by a large section of our Club.
I thank our committee and all members for their support throughout the year. You have always given generously of your time and skills.