Around & About

Graham Hedley reveals the memorable achievement of Stamford Bridge Club in Lincolnshire

due to be realised by the end of this year

WE HAD A DREAM . . .

MOST bridge clubs have a dream. They have a dream that one day That means just about one percent of the population of the area are

they will be able to move from their present inconvenient members of the bridge club.

premises, where they have to put up tables before each session, to With a thriving club came some of the funds required to fulfil

somewhere they can call ‘home’, which is theirs to use seven days the dream. We managed to build reserves in excess of £70,000, not

a week. sufficient to build a club, but a

They dream that perhaps one day substantial starting point.

they will have the funds to purchase a Finally, we needed that certain

building and convert it to their own something we just occasionally get at

use. In their wildest dreams, they the bridge table: sheer luck. One of our

might even imagine being able to members found a small plot of waste,

design a building from the founda- scrubby land, in the corner of a council

tions up, incorporating everything playing field. We then endured a year

they could wish for – well, almost of negotiation and frustration over

everything! deeds of variation, leases and planning

For Stamford Bridge Club that permission.

dream is coming true, but how could After the frustration, came the little

this be achieved without a ‘fairy god- problem of raising over £100,000 in

mother’ giving the club £200,000? loans. We decided to spread our request

The Stamford Club has reached its for loans as widely as possible, asking

goal through the wholehearted support members to offer loans of £1,000 each.

of its members who believed in the The response to our loan requests has

future of the club sufficiently to been truly excellent, ensuring our

donate, or lend, the necessary funds required total is easily exceeded.

for a new purpose-built club house. It Building is progressing well. We

is a rare phenomenon of which the hope we will be holding our 2011

Stamford Club has every reason to be Christmas party in our new clubhouse

proud. where there will be a superb playing

Obviously, the prime requirement is area, excellent teaching facilities, and

a thriving membership. The club must all the equipment perma nently

welcome all bridge players, of all standards. And to back this up, installed to run top-class duplicate bridge.

the club must have an active teaching programme, so new blood is It’s still hard to believe, but just sometimes – with enthusiasm

always being introduced. As a result of all this effort we have a and determination from your membership – you can make a

membership of over 300. The population of Stamford is 28,000. dream come true.

PEMBURY BRIDGE CLUB’S

15TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

In the photo: Founding Chairman of Pembury Bridge Club, Geoff

Plummer, cutting the club’s 15th birthday cake with current

Chairman, Elspeth Fox. The cake was made and iced by Rita Miller, a

long-standing member of the club, and says '15' on top, not

conventionally by using digits, but by counting the values of the three

aces and the king that decorate it.

Pembury is a thriving bridge club, situated in Tunbridge Wells,

Kent, which tries to keep membership to 150 by having a waiting list

to join. For information, visit www.pemburybc.co.uk

40 English Bridge October 2011 www.ebu.co.uk