ABSTRACT
A year of returning attendances
and exciting holiday
developments
Colin O'Hara
Chairman
REGIS BRIDGE CLUB
Annual Report 2016
REGIS BRIDGE CLUB ANNUAL
REPORT 2016
1 INTRODUCTION
This report is produced for presentation at the Annual General Meeting of the Regis Bridge Club
scheduled for 22nd April 2016. It summarises the activities of the Club for the period 1 April 2015 to
31 March 2016.
2 ATTENDANCES
Attendance this year has recovered in the second half of the year. In the first quarter for the year
under report, attendances were 7.8% lower than the corresponding period last year. The second
quarter showed the decline had stopped with attendance equal over the two years. However the
third and fourth quarters both reported over 10% improved attendance over the corresponding
period for the previous year.
This means that, for the year as a whole, attendance are up by 4.0% on last year. We continue to be
the best supported single attendance evening club in Bedfordshire.
Last year, I reported that our core membership had reduced to 34 individuals from a previous year
total of 48 people. I am pleased to confirm that 2014-2015 can be seen as a blip as this year, 50
individuals accounted for 75% of all attendance. 45 members have attended on at least 30 occasions
over the year. It is particularly pleasing to see new faces from Peter Pratt’s Wednesday morning
improver sessions starting to play with us. New faces are always welcome and I hope the existing
members will treat new people with respect and empathy.
This year, the mode number of tables in play has reduced to 12. However I can report that between
12 and 14 tables have been in play for 72% of the possible events. 15 tables and above has been
achieved 16% of the time with the remaining 12% being less than 12 tables.
In previous years I have used the illustration that, if all members who attend on at least 20 occasions
and half of those who attend between 10 and 19 times turn up on the same evening would we be
able to accommodate them. This year that equation equals 72 players or 18 tables. That is at the
limit of our capacity, but thanks to Scorebridge, the answer is “Just about” with the room split into 2
sections.
3 COMPETITIONS
Phil Laycock Handicap Pairs Competition
The competition took place on 28 April 2015. 24 Pairs took part in the event. After the handicaps
were applied, Larry Redmond and his partner won by a large margin. Second place went to Chris Day
and Gwynne Hughes. Third place went to Albert Russell and Mike Baylis. Well done to all concerned.
Championship Pairs
This is the premier competition in our calendar. Entry is based on consistent performance over the
year and limited to the 14 top performing partnerships who have taken part in a minimum of 12
events over the year. The deserving winners were George Goddard and Ted Lowther. Runners up
were Melek and Roy Drage and third place went to Lorraine Curry and Roger Gregory.
Jean Balderson Plate
17 pairs took part in this year’s event. The worthy winners were Jacky and Keith Bowditch. Mike
Brabenec and Premchand Shah claimed the runners up position and third place was shared between
Angela Stevens and Peggy Pickup and Lynne and Stephen Gudgeon. It was very refreshing to see the
wide mix of established and new partnerships filling the honours board for the event.
Brian Reeves Memorial Trophy
This trophy is awarded to the partnership that has shown the greatest improvement in performance
over the year. The award is the only one in the gift of the committee who base the recommendation
on the statistical evidence provided. The committee, when reviewing the options, could not find a
newly established partnership who met the criteria and therefore chose not to present the award
this year.
Annual Merit Table.
As I suggested in last year’s report, this award was only out on loan. Normal service was resumed
when Peter Scott reclaimed the award. I did express a hope that someone would break into Peter
and Paul’s private party and my hopes were answered by Brian Abbott who took the runners up
position. Your chairman managed to push into third place leaving Paul Kilduff a narrow fourth. It give
hope to us all that 2016 may be the year we finally wrest the crown from Peter and Paul
4 SOCIAL EVENTS
4.1 REGIS IN BOURNEMOUTH 2016 (RIB4)
We held the fourth annual Bournemouth weekend break from 7th to 10th April inclusive. There were
60 guests who were entertained with 5 sessions of duplicate bridge, excellent, if blustery, weather,
good company and excellent catering. One or two things did not go as planned but, through good
humour and flexibility, those obstacles were surmounted. There was overwhelming support for
another holiday next year and this appears now to be a permanent fixture in the Club calendar.
4.2 ANNUAL DINNER AND PRIZE GIVING 2015
This year’s annual dinner and prize giving took place on 8th March 2016. 58 people enjoyed another
excellent meal at the Golf Club followed by handing out the trophies for the various prize winners
mentioned above. The evening was topped off by 90 minutes of social bridge, all taking part in a
convivial atmosphere. If you visit our website, you can select 2016 Prize Giving in the left hand side
menu and see a selection of pictures from the evening. If anybody wishes to have a physical copy of
one of these photographs, they should contact Paul Kilduff. As usual, I am indebted to the hard work
put in by Melek and Roy in providing a smoothly running event. It takes a lot of preparation to make
an evening seem so informal and casual and I am lucky to have such support.
4.3 SUMMER BARBEQUE
For a number of reasons, we were unable to hold a Summer Barbeque this year. We intend to
resurrect the event on 5th July 2016.
4.4 XMAS PARTY
The party took place on 15th December 2015. We had a good turnout and the evening followed the
usual pattern of social bridge and mid-session gorging on Xmas goodies. Thanks to all who supported
an enjoyable event.
4.5 A week in Madeira
Following the success of our Bournemouth weekends, we have continued to research the possibility
of hosting a slightly longer event at a more exotic location. Our friends at the Milton Keynes Bridge
Club have also hosted a couple of successful weekend breaks for the last two years.
David Gilmore, Chairman of MK Bridge Club, and I have been discussing where we go from here and
we have enlisted professional support from our memberships to plan an event in Madeira. This will
take place in January 2017. We are taking bookings for this event and are currently at 75% capacity.
We aim to charge around £540 per person for 2 individuals sharing a standard room. It is not the
intention of either Club to use this as a profit making exercise but merely break even. At the same
time, neither club will suffer financially as we recognise the adverse effect this may have on people
unable to take part in the event.
4.6 Future Bridge events
It is clear, from the response to Bournemouth and the Madeira venture, that branching out into the
provision of bridge weekends designed by the Club and for the benefit of Club members is a positive
step. However, it does mean that our annual accounts appear artificially inflated as a consequence. I
intend to discuss alternate arrangements for managing future events with suitably qualified
professionals and other interested parties. I will report back to the membership if anything of
importance emerges from those discussions.
5 WEBSITE
The website continues to be required viewing with between 2600 and 3900 pages viewed per
month.
For the last year, the Bedfordshire Bridge Association have supplied us with computer dealt hands
on the third Tuesday of each month or to coincide with special events such as the Phil Laycock
Handicap Pairs, the Championship and the Jean Balderson Plate. These allow much animated
discussion at the end of an evening. I must also thank Paul Kilduff and Roy who update hand details
on those weeks when we cope with freely dealt hands. The records allow us to revisit our triumphs,
and occasional disasters, and help improve the quality of our decision making.
It would also be remiss of me to fail to mention how lucky we are that Gwynne Hughes, the
developer of Bridgewebs, is such an active member of our Club. His work has enabled us to fully
access the technology of the 21st Century.
6 FINANCIAL SUMMARY
This year has seen an encouraging increase in membership from 73 to 82 and a consequent increase
in attendance. Table money is up and expenses down resulting in a healthy surplus this year.
A quick summary of the major variances from last year:



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Table money up £268
Rent up £60 (one more playing week)
Expenses down £801 (mostly due to cancellation of barbecue and reduced cost of trophies.
This more than compensated the £500 membership of DDTC)
Bournemouth contributed a small profit of £40
Overall we made a profit of £816 compared to a loss last year of £125.
Authors Section 6: Melek and Roy Drage
7 IN MEMORIAM
Very shortly after last year’s AGM, at the end of April 2015, we lost a valued and much loved friend
in George Reed who finally succumbed in his battle with Cancer. George had been a regular and
loyal member of the Club for some years. I recall his long partnership with Tom Hinton. Tom
announced his intention to move to Fleet in Hampshire and I thought we would need to find George
another partner to play with. Not so! Tom continued to come up every Tuesday from Fleet, play for
3 hours with George and then drive back home. You don’t get stamina like that every day! Eventually
Tom bowed to the inevitable march of time and George started playing with Jo. They soon became a
fixture in the corner by the lounge bar entrance and I can still visualize them today.
About this time a number of us started to go away on Bridge weekends where we discovered
another talent that George possessed. He would entertain us on the last evening of a weekend
away, goaded on by his bevy of female admirers and reminding those of us of a certain age before
You Tube that live music was a staple of the pub scene. When we started our Bournemouth
weekends, George’s performances became the stuff of legend. He was joined by Bryan Power and
together, they provided a fantastic end to an enjoyable weekend. It is a cruel irony they both left us
around the same time, but the fun and joy they spread on those Bournemouth nights will live long in
our memories.
8 IN CONCLUSION
Readers will see the Club has had another busy year. The Bridge weekends con now be considered a
permanent fixture and we look forward to learning from Madeira in 2017. Although we remain an
unaffiliated club, we try to support the Bedfordshire Bridge Association in practical ways by
supplying contestants for their events, players for the County teams, use of their services and
advertising their programme of events. To that end we have the distinction of being holders of the
County Champion Pairs (Paul and myself) and Senior Pairs Champions (Paul and Peter Scott).
Financially we remain in a healthy position and are able to properly subsidise the annual dinner,
barbecue and Xmas party for the benefit of members.
The Club can only succeed with the support of the membership and the efficient running of weekly
events. That takes place because we have a small and effective committee of talented individuals all
able to support each other and the Club as a whole. I sincerely thank Melek, Roy, Paul and Colin for
all their hard work. But equally, I thank all members who, by turning up each week and enjoying
three hours of friendly competitive bridge, continue to make this the best Bridge club in
Bedfordshire.
Colin O'Hara
Chairman
April 2016