English Bridge Union
Bridge and Games Bath is a Bridge club run by EBU Partner Teacher and Congress B Director Christine Macfarlane and her husband, Stewart. The club meets in the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institute, a beautiful building in Queen's Square in the centre of bath. Some of the rooms in the building even have stunning paintings on the ceiling! A very pleasant environment in which to enjoy one's bridge, that's for sure.
Christine is a passionate bridge teacher and at the club's Summer School 18 students learnt to play bridge on an intensive 3 day course covering subjects such as Bidding, Defending, Declarer play, Opening Leads, Overcalls, Takeout Doubles and simple conventions such as Stayman. The emphasis is definitely on enjoyment as well as learning and Christine makes sure that her students are well prepared for moving into the bridge club environment so that they feel comfortable. Best Behaviour at Bridge is strongly promoted as well as giving students an understanding of the etiquette required in clubs.
A weekly duplicate session on Monday afternoons attracts 8-11 tables each week and there are revision sessions on Tuesday afternoons as well as an Improvers class on Wednesday afternoons. In addition, the club recently organised a weekend away in Paignton with an impressive 12 tables in both the Swiss pairs and Swiss teams events. From the photographs on the club website http://www.bridgewebs.com/bathschool/ it is obvious that everyone enjoyed the trip immensely.
Christine encourages her students to go to the Brighton Really Easy Congress each year, and this year was delighted that two of her first year students managed first place in the Monday Pairs Competition. A fine achievement for Liz Ball and Christine Ware and an excellent example to others contemplating entering a congress for the first time - you can do it!!
The EBU wishes Christine and Stewart every success for the future as well as to all their students, of course.
