As promised we are proposing to hold two face to face bridge session next week, one in Charlbury on Monday (April 11th), courtesy of Andrew and Rosie Dent, and another in Wytham Village Hall on Thursday (April 14th). The Tuesday morning online session will also continue as long as there are sufficient numbers. The current intention is to hold the Charlbury sessions once a fortnight and the Wytham ones every week but this will be reviewed as time goes by.

Here are the links to the various sessions. I will hope to see you at one or other, or all of them! Please encourage your friends and neighbours to sign up to this regular email option to be kept informed of the latest news. If for any reason you are unable to make the face to face sessions, it would be helpful to know if you would be able to play online as an alternative.

Jonathan

This is the link for the next Charlbury session on Monday April 11th.

This is the booking form for the online play session on Tuesday April 12th 2022.

And this is the booking form for supervised play in Wytham Village Hall on Thursday April 14th 2022

Tuesday morning goes ahead

As I noted last week, the two face sessions we have recently reinstated, in Charlbury and Wytham, will not be taking place this week as I am in social purdah ahead of my son’s wedding on Saturday. The Tuesday morning online session will however be going ahead as normal, kicking off at 9.15am. The two face to face sessions will resume on April 11th (Charlbury, chez Dent) and April 14th (Wytham Village Hall).

This is the link for the regular Tuesday morning session. Hope to see you then!

A wedding comes first…..

The two face to face sessions we had last week, in Charlbury and Wytham, were very enjoyable and the numbers who came an encouraging sign that we will be able to bring back face to face bridge on a regular schedule. Notwithstanding that, I have decided not to hold any more such sessions this week and next. The reason is that my son is getting married on Saturday week (April 9th) and having postponed the wedding once already, he and his girlfriend are very keen to avoid it being ruined again by Covid, relatively mild though the latest variant is.

I am therefore being super-cautious and cutting back on any social gatherings that might conceivably lead to my catching and spreading the virus, or risk my having to miss this important date on the calendar. My apologies to all of you who have indicated your willingness to attend one or other of the face to face sessions in the next two weeks. The plan is to revive both sessions the following week (April 11th in Charlbury and April 14th in Wytham).

I hope you will make a note of the dates and use this Doodle poll to show if you are potentially interested in joining us.

This is the link (https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/Rb4NYx2e) for the next three weekly Wytham sessions.

This is the link (https://doodle.com/meeting/participate/id/nelqNB5a) to the Doodle poll for the next Charlbury date. There is only date given at the moment, as the timing of these sessions in future may change after this next definite date.

The Tuesday morning online session is going ahead tomorrow as normal (March 28th, starting at 9.15am). If any of you are interested in a second online session on Thursday morning (March 30th) please let me know and I will look to organise that as well if there are sufficient numbers.

This is the link for the regular Tuesday morning session.

Next events reminder!

This is a reminder that we are planning to hold two more face to face sessions of bridge next week. The first is on Monday afternoon (March 21st), kicking off at 2.30pm in Andrew and Rosie Dent’s splendid barn a couple of miles outside the town. The second will be at Wytham Village Hall, starting at 10am, next Thursday (March 24th). You can book a place from the links below or from the Book Here page. There are separate links for each session so if you are reading this on a tablet or mobile, you will need to scroll down to find the relevant link.

If you are having difficulty paying through the website, please let me know by email and I can reserve a place and send you the bank transfer details. Although it is rarely a problem, I cannot unfortunately give a 100% guarantee to accommodate everyone unless they have either signed up or let me know they are coming. If you are rolling forward your booking from last week in Wytham I will assume you are coming this week unless you tell me otherwise, but it would still be helpful to have that confirmation so we can plan numbers.

The regular Tuesday morning online session will resume again this week at the new normal time of 10am. The same booking arrangements as above. Hope to see you all soon.

This is the link for the next Charlbury session.

This is the link for the normal Tuesday morning online session:

This is the booking link for the next face to face play at Wytham.

Good to be back in business!

Thanks to everyone who this week came to our first two face to face bridge sessions in the post-Covid era, one in Charlbury and the other in Wytham Village Hall. It was good to see so many familiar faces again and to welcome some new ones as well. Everyone said how much they enjoyed getting back around a bridge table in a friendly and sociable atmosphere, which is very much the Andrew Robson way. With many others saying they are hoping to join the next event in either or both venues, the outlook looks very positive.

Future face to face plans

The future shape of face to face events is becoming clearer. The aim is to hold a face to face play session at least once a fortnight in Charlbury and regularly every week in Wytham Vlillage Hall. The Charlbury events will be on Monday afternoons and the Wytham ones on Thursday mornings. The emphasis at both sessions will be on friendly social bridge with expert supervision available to everyone as they need it. Our aim has always been to build a community of like-minded members who enjoy meeting others as well as playing bridge in the right spirit.

A competitive online option

For those looking for a more competitive game, our regular online Tuesday morning sessions will continue as now with the emphasis on teams play – ideal for those with regular partners who are looking to test and sharpen their game against more experienced opposition. Using Zoom rooms will continue to enable us to review the hands with you, looking to analyse the bidding and play while they are still fresh in our minds. Let me know if you are interested in trying these sessions; while they are ideal for regular partners, I can always pair you up to create new ones if you contact me.

Teaching

I have had a lot of requests for teaching, especially refresher courses, and I am trying to schedule sessions to meet the demand. It is getting quite complicated, so I am proposing to run another Doodle poll to try and narrow down the options. There are also vacancies for more players in a couple of regular online group coaching sessions, one on Friday mornings and another potentially on Wednesday mornings. These sessions are the simplest and most efficient way to improve your game. I am also planning to record a series of one-hour refresher videos covering specific topics.

This week

As chance would have it I am away this coming Monday and Tuesday (March 14th-15th) so the next Charlbury face to face session will be March 21st, starting at 2.30pm. There will however be another Wytham face to bridge session this Thursday (March 17th), starting at the new regular time of 10am. You can book up for both these sessions here via Paypal or directly by bank transfer – contact me for the details if you don’t already have them.

This is the link for the next Charlbury session.

This is the booking link for the next face to face play at Wytham.

This is the link for the regular Tuesday morning session.

We are kicking off this week!

There are two face to face bridge sessions this week, the first steps, I hope, back to pre-Covid normality. I am running a session in Charlbury tomorrow afternoon (March 7th), which will be hosted very generously by Andrew and Rosie Dent at their house (plenty of parking), and a second on Thursday morning (March 10th) in Wytham Village Hall, just off the western ring road. There is still time to book up and join us for these inaugural sessions. You can do so either by following the instructions below or by going to the Book Here page at the top of the website.

All welcome as always. Exactly how we organise the sessions will depend on the final numbers but I can guarantee an interesting session for anyone who comes. I will take the opportunity to discuss future plans, including the timing of events and teaching, with those present on the day. Please note that the Charlbury session starts at 2.30pm and the Wytham one at 10am (slightly later than the start time we had before, and designed to make it easier to avoid the morning traffic). I will be there a little earlier to set up and any volunteers to help with that will also be welcome.

The Tuesday morning supervised play session will continue online on Tuesday morning (March 8th) as well, starting at 9.15am. Looking ahead, however we progress with face to face bridge, there will always be at least one online session every week and I am hoping to introduce an evening duplicate in due course as well. I am also reshuffling a number of group coaching groups and if you would be interested in joining a regular group for one of these please let me know. Wednesday and Friday mornings are two spots where they may be room to accommodate you.

Some teaching classes will also begin shortly.

This is the booking sheet for face to face play at Wytham on March 10th.

This is the link for the regular Tuesday morning session.

Face to face restarting soon!

Please book in here, or on the new “book in” page at the top of the website, if you wish to join the normal Tuesday morning supervised play session this week, kicking off at 9.15am. All welcome as always. You can also book here for the first face to face bridge session in Charlbury, which will take place on Monday March 7th, starting at 2.30pm. On the morning of Thursday that week (March 10th) I am hoping to offer a face to face bridge session at Wytham Village Hall. Pre-booking required (so as to ensure even numbers).

This is the booking sheet for face to face play at Wytham on March 10th.

Face to face restarting soon!

Please book in here, or on the new “book in” page at the top of the website, if you wish to join the normal Tuesday morning supervised play session this week, kicking off at 9.15am. All welcome as always. I am happy to say that the first our our new series of face to face bridge sessions in Charlbury will take place on Monday March 7th, starting at 2.30pm. On the morning of Thursday that week (March 10th) I am also hoping to offer a face to face bridge session at Wytham Village Hall. Pre-booking required (so as to ensure even numbers).

Please book in here, or on the new “book in” page at the top of the website, if you wish to join the normal Tuesday morning supervised play session this week, kicking off at 9.15am. All welcome as always. I am in the process of adding some new content to the website, so watch out for further updates and looking to restart face to face bridge in the first week of March.

Please book in here, or on the new “book in” page at the top of the website, if you wish to join the normal Tuesday morning supervised play session this week, kicking off at 9.15am. All welcome as always. I am in the process of adding some new content to the website, so watch out for further updates.