Can it really be week 85 since we stopped face to face bridge and I began this weekly online message? It can and it is, I am afraid, and the drought looks like continuing a little longer. Despite those false hopes a few weeks ago, there is still no certainty that we can restart our Wytham and Charlbury sessions any time soon. Look out therefore for some new online courses and play sessions in the New Year, when Charlie Bucknell, a charming and talented young bridge professional will be joining me to offer some additional options, including evening play.

In the meantime the final pre-Christmas Tuesday morning session will be going ahead this week (December 21st). As always these days, the precise format will depend on numbers but I hope that as many of you as possible can join me tomorrow. It starts at the new regular time of 9.15 am. See you then.

Jonathan

As I noted last week, it is getting predictably harder to schedule face to face bridge as we move into the latest phase of the virus. Sadly it seems sensible to postpone the restart of face to face action until at least January, given where we are at the moment. If it turns out that face to face bridge is not likely, my plan now is to press ahead with a series of online duplicates as well as a number of new seminars and courses, including our first ever evening events. These will all be scheduled before Christmas and will I hope give you time to put the days and times in your diariss.

In the meantime the normal Tuesday morning session will be going ahead this week (December 14th). There was some very lively action last week, so I am hoping for a repeat this week. It start at 9.15 am.

A reminder that in place of face to face I am proposing to restart the Monday morning seminars that proved so popular earlier this year. The first one will be next Monday (December 13th) kicking off at 11am. The topic will be takeout doubles of all kinds – not just the normal overcall, but the other situations where a double should be treated as being essentially for takeout rather than for penalty (negative doubles, responsive doubles, competitive doubles and so on). You can sign up for that below. If you have a suggestion or any other topic you would like to be discussed, please let me know by email (arb.oxford@gmail.com). Hope you can join me.

Jonathan

It is getting increasingly hard to know how to plan ahead with the new Covid variant introducing more uncertainty into the prospects for face to face play. It seems sensible to postpone the restart of face to face action until January, given where we are at the moment. My plan is to schedule a series of face to face sessions on Wednesday afternoons and Thursday mornings for January and hope to be able to make them viable.

In the meantime the normal Tuesday morning session will be going ahead tomorrow (December 7th) although I will be hosting this from London and will have to end the session at midday, which is normally enough to complete 16 boards. It start at 9.15 am.

In place of face to face I am proposing to repeat the Monday morning seminars that proved so popular earlier this year. The first one will be next Monday (December 13th) kicking off at 11am. The topic will be takeout doubles of all kinds – not just the normal overcall, but the other situations where a double should be treated as being essentially for takeout rather than for penalty. You can sign up for that below. If you have a suggestion or any other topic you would like to be discussed, please let me know by email (arb.oxford@gmail.com).

Jonathan

There is no Tuesday morning session this week (30th November) as I will travelling back from Rotterdam on Tuesday. As luck would have it, the new coronavirus variant restrictions mean that it looks like I will also have to convert the Wednesday afternoon session that was planned for Wytham Village Hall into an online session. The reason is that I have to take a PCR test when I get back from Holland on Tuesday afternoon and will be required to self- isolate until the results come through (which normally takes at least 24 hours). I hope that those of you who have signed up for the Wytham session will be happy to join the online session instead, but please let me know what you are planning. If you have already booked for the face to face session you don’t need to sign up again.

It is very disappointing to have to cancel face to face bridge for a second time. On the other hand if you are one of those who are not yet ready for face to face bridge I hope that you may be able to join us online on Wednesday afternoon as an alternative to Tuesday morning. You can book from this post. Most regular coaching sessions will continue as normal this week. Future plans obviously are dependent on how the latest coronavirus news unfolds.

Jonathan

The Tuesday morning session this week (23rd November) is going ahead as normal at the new regular start time of 9.15am. You can book from this post or elsewhere on the website. Most regular coaching sessions will continue as normal this week. Please note that there will be no Tuesday morning session on 30th November, but there will be a face to face option in Wytham the next day (see below).

The next face to face supervised play session in Wytham Village Hall has been scheduled for a Wednesday afternoon, 1st December 2021, starting at 2.15pm. You can book ahead for this now and it will be helpful to have a rough idea of numbers ahead of time. I do hope that we can institute this or Thursday morning as a regular new face to face session.

Jonathan

The Tuesday morning session this week (16th November) is going ahead as normal at the new regular start time of 9.15am. You can book from this post or elsewhere on the website. Most regular coaching sessions will continue as normal this week.

The next face to face supervised play session in Wytham Village Hall has been scheduled for a Wednesday afternoon, 1st December 2021, starting at 2.15pm. I do hope that we can muster enough people to make this session a regular event once more. You can book ahead for this now and it will be helpful to have a rough idea of numbers ahead of time.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Jonathan

Online play this week

The Tuesday morning session this week (2nd November) will be going ahead online as normal at the new regular start time of 9.15am. You can book from this post. Some regular coaching sessions will continue as normal this week (look out for separate email notifications if your group is not currently running).

Face to face play is back!

I am proposing to offer the first face to face bridge session of the post-covid era at Wytham Village Hall on Thursday (November 4th) from 9.30 to 12 noon. Volunteers welcome to come a bit earlier and help set up. I have no idea how many of you will be able to make this date in person, but we will play regardless. You can book here. Please also let anyone you may have played with before who may have dropped off our radar during the pandemic know that this session is taking place.

Looking further ahead, and assuming fair weather on the virus front, we are planning to offer a tip up more bridge sessions each week (in Wytham and Charlbury), plus continuing online with at least one duplicate competition and new courses and seminars. There will also be a new beginners half day course very soon. The full programme will start in the New Year but I hope to offer a schedule covering the weeks up to Christmas next week.

If you have not had a chance to take part in the poll, here is the link again. Thank you everyone who has taken part so far.

Jonathan

The Tuesday morning session this week (19th October) is going ahead as normal and I am hoping to organise a new regular start time of 9.15am. You can book from this post or from the sidebar of the website. Some of the regular coaching sessions will also continue as normal this week. More importantly the new plans for returning to both face to face and online bridge should be ready to kick off in November.

Thank you to everyone who responded to the Doodle poll about your preferences for bridge in the future. There was a terrific response and I am happy to say that there are plenty of you who want to return to face to face play and a similar number who want to continue with online, or some combination of the two. I will be starting a new regular schedule of supervised play, courses, group coaching and (new) tournaments to try and satisfy all the demand, starting in November.

Working out the schedule with available venues is complicated but it is coming together and I hope to have a draft schedule available by the start of next week. There is plenty therefore to look forward to. I have played myself face to face four times in the last month and I found it every bit as enjoyable as it was in the days before covid, albeit that I think online is just as well suited for some of the things that we do. So there will definitely be a mixture of the two as e go ahead from here

If you have not had a chance to take part in the poll, here is the link again.

Jonathan

J

The Tuesday morning session this week (12th October) is going ahead as normal, but I am hoping to organise a new start time of 9.15am. You can book from here or from the sidebar of the website. If you have not seen it already I have emailed more than 200 of you with an online poll designed to see which of you are interested in resuming face to face bridge and which of you would prefer to stick to online sessions (the option of doing both is also available). If you have not seen the poll already you can access it by foloiwg this link. Looking forward to receiving your responses and then organising a detailed schedule.

Jonathan

J

The Tuesday session this week (5th October) is going ahead as normal but will have to finish at 12 non. You can book from here, as some of you have done already. I am busy reorganising the group coaching sessions and will have the timetable of new courses and seminars available very soon. Face to face at Wytham or Charlbury may have to wait just a little longer, but the plans are advancing.

Jonathan

J