Simon Westerman (Chair of Tyler Hill Bridge Club Kent) writes a brief history of bridge in Chichester:
Bridge was as popular in Chichester as the rest of the country in the period before the second world war. A bridge drive held at Woodfield, Oving in 1938 raised £27 in aid of the Royal West Sussex Hospital (closed 1995 and now Forbes Place flats). The winner was the Lady Mayor, and Mrs Bittles was second.
Mrs Bittles herself organised a bridge drive on behalf of the women’s section of the British Legion during the Second World War in aid of the wool fund for comforts for the Forces. It was held in April 1940 at Eve’s Pantry on South Street and was an unqualified success, raising a substantial sum for the fund. The indefatigable Ivy Bittles managed the street sellers for the annual poppy appeal each year during the war and in 1943 they raised £366 17s 3d. Mrs Bittles did not just stick to bridge, as she also raised £25 10s with a whist drive for the Chichester District Nursing Association in 1941.
However, Chichester had to wait until the first Chichester Bridge Club was founded. Captain Ellis Keith Scholz, OBE, placed a series of advertisements in the Chichester Observer in 1950 explaining that he was an authorised Culbertson bridge teacher and had been asked to give lessons to beginners in Chichester. It was not stated who asked him, but he was looking to hear from interested people in the winter months.
In April 1951 the Bognor Regis Observer reported that the Chichester Bridge Club had been formed the previous month, was meeting in the Bedford Hotel on Mondays and Thursdays, and had attracted between 25 and 30 players. One has to wonder if Mrs Bittles and her husband, who was the manager of the Westminster Bank, were members.
Apparently, there was accommodation for 4 tables, five at a push, and if novices were to join, they could take over the dining room. Captain Scholtz, a South African from Cape Town, was aided in the organisation by Councillor Selsby, later to be Mayor of Chichester, and Mr Thomas, the local Liberal Party treasurer.
In June 1951 the club changed its sessions to Mondays and Fridays. The much- decorated Captain Scholtz died in August 1954, aged 68, just 2 weeks after being naturalised. He had lived at the Bedford Hotel for 3 years. The local paper noted he was the uncle of John Pertwee, (Doctor Who, Worzel Gummidge) and his brother Michael (screenwriter for The Saint, Danger Man).
Little more can be discovered about the club, which presumably folded on the Captain’s death. So, we should assume that the local population had to travel elsewhere for a game until 1966 unless you played at the Conservative party offices in East Street. A tournament was held there in February that year, won by Mrs Waite and Mrs Jewell.
The bridge section of the West Sussex County Club opened on 27 September 1966 with an annual subscription of £1/10s, table money at 2/- (3/- for visitors) and stake money set at 3d per 100. Anyone wishing to join was invited to contact Mrs Jewell. It is clear this must have been rubber bridge given the stake money.
The club was called the West Sussex County Bridge Club, Chichester and in its first year had more than 90 members. The club met at Little London and play was daily except Wednesdays and Sundays.
When the club started its third year, play was from Tuesday to Friday inclusive.
In March 1970 Dorothy Jewell applied to the Gaming Licensing Committee to register the club as Chichester Bridge Club, based at East Street. She must have been an organising dynamo, since she was a widow of 78 at the time, lived with her daughter and son- in-law and died in 1978 aged 86.
The club advertised regularly in the Bognor Regis Observer, with the paper reporting in December 1972 that four pairs had won nearly 3,000 master points at the club’s heat of the EBU Charity Simultaneous Pairs Competition in aid of the NSPCC.
Moving to 1985 the Club held its first congress in the autumn, which was quite unusual in an unexpected way. Smoking was not permitted until 5.50p.m., a move which did not gain universal support, with some letters written to the EBU objecting to the suggestion of interfering with the patrons’ liberties. The club chose this approach to differentiate it from Worthing, which allowed smoking every other round. Quite an enlightened view from Chichester from 40 years ago!
The teams’ winners were Ron and Margaret Buddery, Denis Ash and Brian Phelps. Ron Buddery, a maths teacher would later found Framfield Bridge Club, become life president, and on his death in 2016, his wife Margaret conferred with that title. Ron was presented with a Dimmie Fleming Award in 2002.
Another Congress took place in 1987 at the Westgate Centre to celebrate the club’s 21st birthday. This was not the home of the club, which at that time was based in Stirling Road.
The club moved to new premises at Bishop Luffa School in 1993 and in 2001 advertised in the Littlehampton Gazette for a very reliable person to serve hot and cold drinks and wash up. The author of this article surmises that Margaret Kennard could have been the successful applicant. She was described in 2019 as much-loved and raised vital funds for a Chichester hospice with support from club members. Each year she took part in the St Wilfrid’s Moonlight Walk, and in 2019 the long-standing chair of the club, Julie Jones, presented her with a cheque for £905 raised from bridge seminars. This enabled Margaret to donate £2,300 to the hospice.
Julie Jones stood down as Chair in 2024 after 20 years in post, at a time when the club had 249 members.
Simon Westerman April 2025