A Shared Hobby

When we moved to Shrewsbury Paul and I were conscious of the fact that we would be spending more time together, as we were moving further away from friends and family. One hobby that we decided to share was playing bridge. Paul was already a confident player, but I would have to learn from scratch.

An evening of Bridge

Bridge is a card game for four players (two partnerships). It is a competition between the two partnerships. There are two stages to each game - the auction or bidding and then the card play.

•  Bidding is like a language or code. Each member of the partnership uses bids to tell her/ his partner about the hand of cards s/he is holding. After passing sufficient information to and fro one of the partnerships wins the auction and it is time to start playing the cards.
•  The card play is like whist with each partnership trying to win tricks. During an evening playing at a bridge club you are likely to play 25 - 30 games.
• The scores from all the games for each partnership are added up at the end of the evening or next day. They are then generally posted on the internet, so your successes and failures are pretty public!!

The idea of attending classes to learn the game was pretty daunting. Paul had joined Shrewsbury Bridge Club and encouraged me to go to the class associated with that club. This is run by Mike and Sarah Amos. They are both excellent bridge players but very tolerant and easy going teachers. I started weekly lessons in September 2008 and have been attending fairly regularly, on Monday evenings, ever since. That's seven years of lessons!! I have learnt a lot but still feel like one of the beginners at Border Bridge Club where we play on Friday evenings.

Monday Evening Bridge Lessons



However, one of my main aims in learning to play bridge was for socialising. The Monday evening classes have been such fun, many of us never want to leave. I got to know a lot of people and made good friends with some. Earlier this year Sarah organised a bridge weekend in Llandudno. Paul and I and two of our friends, Bridget and Ian, went along. It was a great weekend!




There was even time to go swimming before Bridge started! (St. David's Day 2015)

Similarly, once I felt brave enough to attend Border Bridge Club (2010 after 2 years of lessons) I found more new friends. After playing cards until about 10.15, a group of us go to the pub. We have a drink or two, discuss some of the games we have played, catch up on each others' news and generally put the world to rights.  I also sometimes play with Paul at the Monday Club in Shrewsbury.

Playing at Border Bridge Club



At Border, as well as weekly bridge sessions, the committee organises various social events through the year. A fish and chip evening, a summer bar-b-q and of course a Christmas party.

Border Bridge Club Christmas Party 2015.

I keep on practising. I received a very useful Bridge practice computer game as a retirement present - 'Bridge Master 2000'. I play on this most days. I also use an internet site called 'No Fear Bridge' where  you can practice your card play and develop your bidding skills. As all the results are put on the internet you can monitor your progress. My best score when playing with Paul at the Monday Club was 61.74% and we came first. My best score when playing with Bridget at Border was 60.05% and we came second. Generally if I score above 50% I am pretty happy!

Now we are moving on from Shrewsbury and leaving our Shropshire bridge friends behind we are looking forward to meeting new people at bridge clubs in Devon. I hope the members will be as friendly and welcoming as the people I have met playing bridge in Shropshire.