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Why I set up this site

I had been a member of a great bridge club once, over three decades ago. It was run by Renée Neale, an England bridge international.

A couple of years ago, I started to recollect the fun I used to have. I started to yearn to reacquaint myself with the king of all card games and the fun I had with a great mix of socially diverse folk. 

So I looked on the Internet and found that there was a club quite close by. It was an established club with an up to date website and a long list of members. I rang and a rather military yet avuncular gentleman, William, informed me that the club met four times a week on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. There were prize nights once a week and social gatherings at regular intervals. The cost was less than £5 per night and a cup of tea was provided. I agreed to come along on the first Wednesday and he agreed to find me a partner. 

The night was set. William had rung to say that my partner for the night would be a guy called Mark who was a very good player who used the Acol bridge system. I knew Acol and was more than looking forward to meeting Mark, agreeing terms of combat and getting on with the battles ahead.

I arrived 15 minutes early as is my way. I found a door where I thought the club should be and entered and went up a set of stairs. I walked down a spookily quiet corridor wondering if I had got the wrong building completely. I heard a distant mumble and followed my ear. It led me to the next door which was open and so I passed through. 

I'd imagined about twenty people to be there with an equal mix of sex and age ranges but a noticeably higher proportion of old than young. That was the type of mix I remembered when I last played in bridge clubs some 30 years back. 

I was quite startled by what I saw. There were over 70 people already there and not one under 65 years old. Any conversation was spoken in muted breaths. The distant mumble continued to sound like distant mumble even while I was in the midst of it.

William greeted me and explained that everyone likes to get there extra early but my partner Mark was running late. He sat me down at a table next to Ken and Sandra who had retired to the UK from South Africa. 

We were chatting away very comfortably when William returned to say that my partner was still late and that the game had to go on. I agreed but William was a little more forceful and put his hand under my arm to lift me from my seat. He then frogmarched me hurriedly through the tables whilst somehow apologising at the same time for not getting me a game. He swiftly gave me back the £3.50 I had paid and then pointed me to the door.

I had begun to wonder whether this was indeed a bridge club or some kind of secret society. I had never been welcomed so kindly and ushered away so forcefully in such a short period of time. 

I had been unlucky with this experience and actually there were many bright moments in those few exaggerated minutes, but it did make me think about how the popularity of such a great game has suffered. Had nobody taken up bridge in the 30 years, or so, since I last played?

Being a radical sort, I decided to do something about this and set up a website to encourage beginners to take up the game. Bridge needs new blood and new life.

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Copyright © August 2013 Rols Sperling
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