Derek Marsh, from Milton Keynes, recounts memories from his last 50 years playing bridge:
My parents, in fact the whole of my family kept bridge a secret from me until I was over 21. They never spoke about bridge, or even hinted at its existence.
I knew that cards as a pastime existed because my father and his friends hid themselves away in the back parlour to play ‘cards’ on many a Friday night. My contribution was to be as quiet as possible and to retire early, as my bedroom was above where they played.
I must have been about 9 years old when I was allowed to sit and observe the game of Solo in the parlour. I picked the game up quickly and also learnt a few new curses from the players. If I made a sound or pulled any faces at the play I was banished to my room. My elder brother Alan, 9 years my senior, was also one the players.
This is how my big opportunity came about. One Friday he skipped the game as he had developed a bad case of ‘girls’ syndrome complicated by Skiffle Groupitis. I was invited to play with the players for the first time. I was hooked and my father was impressed enough to teach me how to play cribbage. Over the coming years this developed into a marathon event. Father, back from work, would have his dinner then say ‘get the crib board out then’. We played two or three rounds an evening in best of 50 marathons.
When I left school I worked in the Drawing Office of Beautility Furniture in Edmonton, North London. Here I had my first exposure to computing. It was early days for computing and few were willing to spend time understanding the system that collated orders into weekly reports. So as the tea boy it fell to me to learn the system and turn the summary into rough mill workloads. This was almost as good as playing cards. Those were great times right up until my parents left home.
After three years of furniture design study I became aware that very few ever reached the lofty heights of Furniture Designer, so decided on a change of career.
So drawn to computing, I got a job as a Clerical Assistant in the British Iron and Steel Research Association based in Battersea. Nine months later I was promoted to computer operator. Then after another year I moved to the outskirts of the City of London as a computer operator. This was because I believed I had more chance of becoming a programmer with LOLA. The London Online Local Authorities.
Here was where I was exposed to bridge for the first time. Operating was a 24 hours a day job. On the night shift we had the big processing runs on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The shift leader insisted that we play bridge and it was here I learnt kitchen bridge. The rules were simple.
• Don’t outbid the Shift Leader.
• Don’t trump the Shift Leaders tricks.
• If you partnered the Shift Leader, wait for him to bid no trumps first.
On my days off I was drawn to poker games. It was this that was to prove a life changer. You see I also enjoyed watching Leyton Orient be beaten or held to a draw every other Saturday. Yes I was the other supporter you could see from the South stand.
One Saturday I was introduced to a girl called Janet. She was wrapped in thick winter clothing with a massive scarf up over her nose, almost meeting the bobble hat that was pulled down over her ears. But the eyes! I was smitten. When I was invited to join a poker game that evening and also learnt she would be there, I jumped at the chance. Janet took me for seventeen shillings and six pence. One day I will win this back I am sure, it’s just taking a bit of time.
Janet and I started courting. I bided my time and after three weeks I proposed. Janet said yes and we decided to set up home together. I had left LOLA at this time because, although by then a Shift Leader, it was clear I would not get a programming job with them. As soon as I resigned they offered me a programming job, which I declined.
Now to BOC Central Services and then to BOC Gas Equipment, yes, as a Programmer. This involved moving to Southport and working in Skelmersdale. Janet and I set up home in Ainsdale. In the Southport local paper was an advertisement for bridge lessons at the princely sum of 50p per lesson. So we both signed up for 10 weeks of lessons. After six weeks the teacher said we were ready for club bridge and introduced us to Southport Bridge Club and duplicate bridge.
We have fond memories for Southport Bridge Club. One incident sticks in the memory above all others. The club had a non-playing hostess that kept time and served drinks when requested. One evening an almighty row broke out between a husband and wife. He kept shouting at her ‘you led a Diamond after that bidding, why’? The hostess went over to the table that now had the whole rooms’ attention. The husband showed the hostess his wife’s hand and asked her what she would lead to a 6NT contract. The hostess replied that she did not play bridge. To this the husband said ‘yes but what would you lead if you did play bridge’. The whole room fell apart with tears of laughter.
Janet and I married in Southport and decided we would start a family and return south to be near our families. I found a job in London with a computer reseller called Datapoint UK and we moved south to Leighton Buzzard. We played no bridge for the first three years during which Jayne and Suzanne were born. Then Janet joined a babysitting share group which enabled us to find Leighton Buzzard Bridge Club.
We managed to get along there on most Monday evenings. Made lots of new friends and learnt lots of new sides to bridge. Nat and Betty Borman, key members of the club, twisted our arms to attend a Bedfordshire Bridge Association (BBA) county competition for newcomers. It was called the Cadet Pairs. We won the event and as such we were invited to buy a trophy for future years, hence the Bedfordshire Marsh Trophy.
We joined Leighton Buzzards David Pritchard and Alan Combes as teammates and managed to get to the last 16 of the NICKO cup, knocking out last year’s quarterfinalists on the way.
Janet and I had long harboured the ambition to build our own house. We found a plot of land in Milton Keynes in 1981 and proceeded to build, moving in by November 1982 with a little help from our friends, such as David Pritchard.
Like all self-builders we had run out of money to complete the finishing of the house. So I took a year’s contract in Saudi Arabia to finish the house fitting and garden landscaping. Some people say there is nothing to do in Saudi Arabia. No cinemas, no pubs and no racetracks (unless you count the camel races). You can stay in, but then a one hour TV program, of say Mission Impossible, would be about 25 minutes long after censorship. But bridge clubs abounded. My favourite club was in the Indian compound in Khobar. Not only did they have a pre bridge dinner service but also if you missed this, there was a half time buffet that must have taken hours to prepare.
My first partner in Saudi was a Canadian from the same hotel who spoke like Kermit the Frog (I tell no lies). He was a quirky person whose aim was to survive on five Riyals a day (£1). We were OK up until I found out that it was he who was stealing my food from the communal fridges.
While in Saudi I was lucky enough to partner an American, Bob Grover for three months while his normal partner was on assignment back in the States. He is the best bridge player it has been my pleasure to watch and partner.
I also played at the Dammam Bridge Club. Populated almost entirely by Liverpudlian Dockers who are the salt of the earth. They had taught themselves bridge and their enthusiasm for the game had no bounds. Two things stick in my memory from this time. The first was only just avoiding being rounded up and forced to watch a public execution of three Sri-Lankan men in Dammam main square. The second was a head to head bridge match for a mammoth pack of bacon (illegal import). One hand during the match saw my partner and I reach 7S doubled and vulnerable making for 2470. In the other room the opposition showed their heart void by bidding an extra ace. They reached 7NT, were doubled and went down five for 1400. The difference on that one hand was 3890. The bacon was delicious.
Back in the UK again Datapoint sent me to New Zealand for a year to head up a systems development team. Janet and the children came too. Janet and I tried to join the Auckland Bridge Club, but as we came first on both our first two visits the welcome cooled and we did not press becoming members.
In the NZ company offices we met Frank Goffin. He was not only a good bridge player but also the spitting image of the professor in Back to the Future. His team mates had gone to Europe for a couple of months so he asked us to join his team in the Akarana Bridge Club. This was a high powered teams club in which most of the NZ international team played each week.
Our first week in the team was less than impressive and we were approached by the Akarana chairman who suggested we would be better off in the Auckland Bridge Club. I knew there was some heavy side bets being made and felt guilty towards Frank and partner for letting them down. Frank however insisted that we be given a time to bed into the club.
The next match was against a team of national players that derided our bridge at every opportunity (Lionel Wright especially). They had given Frank and partner some ridiculous odds in the side bets. In hand 5, Janet put me to 6NT where I had the pleasure of end playing Lionel to make the contract. Lionel was silent for the remainder of the match. I will never know how much money Frank and partner made from the match, but we were his heroes for the rest of our stay in NZ.
On a side note if you ever get the chance to visit NZ do not miss out, it is one of the most stunning parts of the globe I have ever visited. Not just the scenery but the people and the culture.
Jan and I have played in bridge clubs around the world over our 50 years of playing. The strangest time was in Honolulu. The bridge club was in a complex that juts out into the ocean. To get there we walked along Waikiki beach only to find the body of a young woman being washed ashore. We would have missed the bridge but for a group of Americans who also saw the body at the same time. So I left them to call the police and took Jan away from the scene. Turned out the lady had fallen overboard from a party ship the night before and drowned.
Back home to Blighty, Jan and I found form in the County Pairs, the Eastern Counties Boston Bowl, the BBA mixed pairs and the BBA County Knockout. We partnered Roger Edmonds and George Summers in four successive years of the Gold Cup reaching the fourth round three times. We were knocked out by England International teams on two occasions. In one of these matches over 48 boards we made a mistake on the first hand letting through a small slam we could have defeated, giving away 11 imps. After 48 boards we lost by 11 imps.
Around 2003 I joined a company based in Epsom, Surrey. Premium Credit Limited. This meant I was playing away from home and lost track of the Bedfordshire bridge scene. I played mainly at Walton & Hersham Bridge Club and made many new friends.
On contract initially, I joined the company as staff when they were taken over by MBNA. When the company was absorbed by the Bank of America I amazed Janet when I informed her I had been made Vice President of the Bank of America. But then I had to come clean and admit that there were another 2,000 Vice Presidents worldwide.
I have many stories of my time in Epsom but they do not belong here. I retired at the age of 62 in 2011, Janet retired at the same time. We returned to NZ for an eight week trip and when we returned it was as though we had never worked.
I took up duties with the BBA and have muddled through since then. My IT skills were hopefully helpful when Lockdown turned the bridge world upside down.
So what do I remember most about the last 50 years of bridge? The amount of times Janet stepped up to the challenge? Yes. The stunning game with Pippa Green when we won the BBA Swiss Pairs in 2021? Yes. Mostly it’s the people. I could fill the next few pages with names and stories and fond memories. But rather than look back anymore, let’s look forwards to our new adventures at the table.
Below: Derek and Janet receive Dimmie Fleming Awards for services to bridge in Bedfordshire, 2022
