BROADSTONE BRIDGE CLUB

The bridge club was formed in 1977 by Ian and Molly Ince, helped in its early years by the late Eric & Vera Phillips and for a short time by John Evershed. From its inception the club has met in the Liberal Hall in York Road, Broadstone. After ten years lan expressed a wish to give up running the club and a committee, formed under a new chairman, Lloyd Murphy, began running the club in 1988.

At that time the annual subscription for members was £1.50 and table money a mere 30p. The use of the hall every Tuesday evening cost £5.50. In those early years the membership was held at 60. It enjoyed the reputation of being a happy club where duplicate bridge was enjoyed in the most amicable of spirits.

The club still meets at the Liberal Hall and has expanded slightly to a membership of 68, dictated by the space available for tables. Since before 1988 the scoring has been done by Rob Bailey who, for many years, doubled as Treasurer. Chairmanship of the club has passed through several hands. The annual subscription is now £5, table money has increased to £1 and the hire of the hall has risen to £21.50 per evening. The hall has new chairs, courtesy of Mrs Annette Brooke, the local Liberal Democrat MP, and the club has funded new tables, cloths and bidding boxes.

As a cultural asset of Broadstone the club boasts members of many professions, pursuits and hobbies as well as a varied age range, including three nonagenarians.

Archive Summer 2004 | next

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