Author: Barry Leverett

Four people arrived at last night’s bridge after I’d collected the table money. I left before I was able to issue a reminder so would those people please pay me when they next see me.

Thanks

Barry

If you haven’t yet signed up for the Annual Dinner or let me know your meal choices would you please do so asap, as I have to let Newark Golf Club know numbers and choices by next Friday. If you have lost track of the details and the menu you will find them on the Club Blog in my email of March 18th.

Thanks

Barry

The Annual Dinner will take place at Newark Golf Club on Friday 29th April – 7pm for 7.30pm. The cost remains at £20 per head and the menu is attached. If you would like to attend please email me your choices and pay when you next see me. The Annual Prizegiving will also take place and there will be the usual quiz – this year set by Tony Tyler. The bar will be open and your first drink of the evening will be paid for by the Club; this also applies to partners who are not Club Members. You can reply to me by clicking on my name in the box at the end of this email.

Barry

Our next Curry Bridge Evening will, as usual, be held at Newark Golf Club. Having held the price at £8 per head for the last seven years, this year sees the price increasing to £9 per head. Members can arrive from 6.30pm, to be seated by 6.55pm. The bar will be open on arrival. Peter Cole has kindly agreed to direct what will be a straightforward Chicago Evening and this will start at 7pm. Curry will be served at 8pm. Bridge will resume after curry and we aim to finish by 10pm.

For those who haven’t been before, the Golf Club is situated off the A17 about half a mile from the Stapleford roundabout. At the end of the drive leading to the Club there is an automatic barrier which opens when you drive up close to it. When you leave you will need a four figure pass code to open the gate – this will be given out during the evening. If you would like to attend you can contact me by clicking on my name in the box at the bottom of this email. Payment will then confirm your place. Places are limited so it’s first come first served.

Barry

As a precaution it may be as well to have the chimney swept!

We hope you have an enjoyable Festive Season

Barry and Lesley

The Bassingham village Panto is back and our Club has in the past formed a large and vociferous part of the Friday evening audience! This year’s performance has the intriguing title of Robin Hood & The Babes in The Wood. Tickets cost £8; if you would like to go I will be taking bookings for Friday January 28th, with payment, up until December 23rd. I have to purchase the tickets at the beginning of January before we meet up again.

Barry

Occasionally, when arriving late on a Thursday Evening after I’ve already collected the table money, a person or persons unknown may forget to pay. Could I ask therefore, that if you do arrive late, just to check whether I’ve been round. If so, would you please come and press your hard earned cash into my sweaty palm.

Barry

There have been many changes to the original list of members attending the Curry Bridge Evening. Would you please check the attached list to make sure you are on and that you are still coming. The latest cancellation means that there are now two spare places. Please contact me if you would like to go. Members who had previously paid and have had to back out will be refunded.

A reminder that the event takes place at Newark Golf Club. Members can arrive from 6.30 onwards, when the bar will be open. Please be seated by 6.55 in order that bridge can commence at 7pm. We will break for curry at about 8pm and recommence when the meal is finished.

Barry

We started teaching bridge in Bassingham about 10 years ago, firstly to a few people at home and then on Wednesday Evenings at The Hammond Hall from 7-9pm.

We are giving up taking Wednesday Evening Beginner Classes and we hope that someone will volunteer to continue them after Christmas. We would usually have started a new Beginner course in September but because of the interruption caused by Covid we are running a Refresher Course for the rest of this term. Any new Beginner Group would be able to start with new tutors in January 2022. We are now able to use the larger Tower room and it would be a shame to lose that booking and the potential influx of new members to the Club.

We gradually developed a two year course, based on the EBU Programme, usually with weekly Powerpoint presentations supported with set hands. We advertised our course among our members, in The Witham Staple and on the Club Website and usually got between 12 and 18 participants ranging in age from 12 to 90 years of age!

Our plan was for complete beginners to be able to pick up any hand and bid and play after the first term, using only natural bidding, so they could play with friends and at the Tuesday afternoon social bridge sessions. In the second term we concentrated on practising and reinforcing these bidding and playing skills. We found that many of our beginners were happy to stay at this level and had no wish to play competitively.

In the third and fourth terms we introduced conventional bidding up to Basic Standard Acol with duplicate scoring and encouraged participation in the fifth Thursday Academy evenings. For the last two terms we introduced more complex bidding and playing techniques, including Benji Acol whilst continuing to reinforce the basic skills.

We usually taught 10-12 sessions a term, with breaks for Christmas, Easter and August and there were no sessions on Curry Bridge Evenings or if we were away on holiday. We advertised each new term’s programme to the group, on the Bassingham Club Website and on the Hammond Hall notice board.

Of course someone else would wish to develop their own programme but hopefully our experience could be used as a basis from which to go forward. We would be happy to hand over all our notes, Powerpoints etc. Because of how we organised the programme, different people could take on different sections: complete beginners – 2 terms; up to standard Acol – 2 terms; up to Benji Acol 2 terms. Two or more people could share a section.

The Beginner Sessions have been very popular and we need new members to keep our Club vibrant so we hope that someone or a group of people will be willing to give it a go. Please contact us for more details.

Barry and Lesley

As only four people indicated that would like to play bridge on Wednesday evenings in August, this will not now be going ahead. Thanks to those people who had agreed to run the evenings.

Improver sessions will recommence on Wednesday 1st September.

Barry