This week's blog is from Liz Kelly of Douglas Bridge Club on the Isle of Man. She talks about the club's recent revival:
Long before Covid, Douglas Bridge Club on the Isle of Man had a problem getting sufficient numbers of players to have a game. With an ageing membership, sadly some were departing this world and others were too old and frail to continue to play. Action was needed to attract new members.
Living on an island has many advantages but with a relatively small population of around 80,000 we have less potential for bridge players. As with life every silver lining has a cloud! Hey, wait shouldn’t it be the other way round 😅.
The club had taken the initiative to hold lessons, and this did increase the number of players. Sadly, at that time the club wasn’t inclusive enough to allow beginners to join. This resulted in a couple of members starting a new club with the beginners in the hope that eventually they would be of a sufficient standard to join the club. The new club thrived and the members happy in their own new non-affiliated club remained where they were!
So, what now for Douglas Bridge Club? The local college seemed like an ideal place to gather new recruits, with evening classes designed for a wide range of leisure and recreational activities. I made enquiries into setting up a course teaching bridge and after a trip across the water to do an EBU teacher training course was all set to take on my first group of students.
It was funny as many of my students were ex teachers and even a headmaster. There was me, never taught anything before in my life, with only two days very basic training. I loved it and they did too, not because I was a good teacher but because it was great fun.
The course was for 20 weeks and at the end I invited them to my house for a few weeks of practice play sessions. Then hiring a hall, I invited regular members of the club to come and partner a student for a mentor night. Students paid £5 and the club members nothing. It was a bit chaotic, but it introduced the students to the club members. We held a couple of these mentoring sessions. It is quite difficult to get enough experienced players of the right standard to fit the student.
Those students who could keep up the pace and felt able to bid and play without assistance were invited to join the club. Everyone welcomed them, even those that were concerned they would bring the playing standard of the club down. Some students preferred to repeat the course before they felt ready to play at the club. Since Covid DBC started doing alternate monthly mentoring sessions and seminars. These are now run by the Manx Bridge Union where they are open to players who are not club members.
I continued to teach through the college until Covid struck since when I’ve done some teaching with a little help from my friend David Phillips. To assist with the lessons, using the EBU red book for guidance and with David‘s grammatical help, I wrote a new bridge beginners book. Beginning Bridge, Learn with Liz can be bought at the EBU shop.
Five years later our club has gone from strength to strength. Covid did knock us a bit, but we survived by playing online. Perhaps it’s because we don’t have far to travel to the club but now that Covid has taken a back seat we are back almost to where we were. Our online games have dwindled to such an extent most weeks they don’t happen, members generally preferring to play face to face.
We have good parking, tea, coffee, and biscuits are included in the modest £3 playing fee and the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. To stimulate further interest and to make use of the clubs silverware some of the old competitions have been resurrected. Also David has initiated a new player of the month competition. This is based on how much each player improves their NGS during the month thus giving everyone a chance to win.