Bridge Blog
October has seen our bridge activities swing into full gear with our sessions starting to fill up and a good series of matches and events in the calendar to look forward to.
AGM
We held our AGM on 12th October, which as usual took place after the afternoon duplicate session and was followed by drinks. I was glad to be able to report another good year for the bridge section both on the competitive and the social front.
Looking back over the past year it was pleasing to see the special 125th anniversary events all go off well. These included the Rose Bowl Mixed Pairs Competition, the special 125th Anniversary Duplicate Invitation Tournament and the highly entertaining event with Zia Mahmood. Another good memory was the Summer Bridge party on one of the warmest days of the year. So, it was very appropriate that we had a tropical Caribbean theme complete with a steel band performer and dinner in the marquee.
Roehampton Club Swiss Teams
The flagship Roehampton Club Swiss Teams Competition is taking place on Sunday 18th October. This has been a sellout, with strong interest shown from all sides. It should be a great day, and as usual many thanks are due to Belinda for her brilliant organisation.
Farewell party
We are arranging a reception after the Monday duplicate on 19th October (i.e. starting at around 5.15pm) to give Maria a good send off, as a thanks for her many valuable contributions to the section.
Matches and competitions
The SURDOC trophy is an annual teams-of-four run by the London Business Houses Contract Bridge Association (LBHCBA). The 2026 event took place on Wednesday 7th October on RealBridge and was won by a Roehampton Club team consisting of Peter Hardyment, Ralph Evers, Danny Gesua and myself. We played consistently winning all our matches and finishing on plus 70 imps against a second placed team on plus 58. I believe it is the first time for a Roehampton Club Team to win this competition (I may be wrong) and again shows the good standard of bridge played at our Club.
We have had a good run in our recent matches. On 18th September we had an away ladies bridge and golf match against Wimbledon Common which we won. On 25th September we won our home bridge and golf match against Royal Mid Surrey. On 9th October we won our home golf and bridge match against RAC Woodcote Park. It is good to have these reciprocal opportunities with neighbouring clubs that give Members the chance to play different courses together with a pleasant game of bridge. What more could you want!
Changes to Bridge Base Online (BBO)
As we discussed earlier, changes after 17th September to BBO rules mean you can only play six daily hands as a basic member. These changes will affect Roehampton Club Members who are using BBO for online matches. It seems like there is a good alternative offered by IntoBridge and we are planning to explore this option.
Handover
After three years as Bridge Committee Chair, I am now stepping down with Ellie Elliott taking on this role. It has been a very interesting and genuinely enjoyable experience thanks to the strong and capable support of Members and colleagues. Special thanks also to Diane for her support and encouragement. I have no doubt that Ellie and the rest of the team will do an excellent job and I am looking forward to supporting them going forward.