Guests are very welcome at our friendly club. Our spacious venue has free parking and it's only £2 to play (guests £4). 

Tuesday and Wednesday are our two duplicate nights. Play starts at 6.40pm - please arrive by 6.30pm to be seated for play.  Please note: the Director may start play 5 minutes early, so arrivals after 6.35pm may be too late if play has already commenced. You can however phone your partner to alert the Director if you are running a bit late.

Tuesday evening is aimed at intermediate and advanced players - if you need a partner on Tuesday please use "CONTACT US" (2nd tab on left) and we'll find you one.

Wednesday evening is a relaxed game for beginners and intermediates but all members are welcome (please support learning). You can turn up alone on Wednesday evening and be guaranteed a game, as we run a host system.

Our Clubhouse is the Precinct Centre, Church Rd, St Marychurch TQ1 4QY - a modern, spacious venue in the grounds of St Mary’s Church at the top of the shopping precinct. Free parking is on-site, in Church Road.  

Directions: Go through the lights at St Marychurch (Post Office on right) and the road bends round towards Teignmouth. At the next roundabout (by golf club), go LEFT into Petitor Road. After 200m go RIGHT then immediately LEFT into Trumlands Road. At the junction, LEFT into Church Road and LEFT into the Car Park. The Precinct Centre is at the top.

LESSONS

Our BEGINNER classes consist of an 8 week course (class size is 12) where you will receive tuition from one of Devon's leading teachers. You'll also receive a full set of course notes to accompany the lessons. It's an evening class commencing at 6.30pm, located at Torquay Bridge Club - see directions above.  To register a £30 deposit is required a month in advance.

When the course finishes you can join us for supervised beginner bridge sessions, with mentors available to help you learn.

• The next BEGINNER class starts on Weds 17 September - this will run for 8 weeks (cost is £80)
• The next IMPROVER class is Tues 15 July - topic is WEAK bids, when to make them, responses etc (cost is £6)

If you're interested in classes, please let us know via the "CONTACT US" tab at the top left corner of your screen.

On WEDNESDAY evenings, we have launched a new summer league.  It will run for 3 months with a trophy and prize money awarded to the winner (an individual, rather than a partnership).  You only need to play 5 times during June, July or August to be in with a chance of winning. The more often you play, the better your chances.

The Europa League is open to all members with an EBU grade of 8 or below, because an "8" is expected to score 50% - and the League is aimed at members who fall into this category.

Your aim is to score above your EBU grade on any given night. For example, if your EBU grade is "2" and your partner "4" you are expected to score 38% and 42% - and as a pair 40%. If your actual score on any given night is 45%, then your League score will be +5%. Your best five scores will count.

This week the highest plus scores were achieved by Andy, Ken, Mark, Richard, Pippa and Gill.  Here are the leaders after 4 weeks (they'll be updated here each week):

    Andy              +45

    Gill, Pippa       +43 

    Jean, Val       +28

    Ken                +27

Christine, Geoff   +22 

    Neil                +21  

 Cathy, Mike B     +18

Your EBU grade

This is calculated by the EBU based on your results, and listed on our website - to find out your EBU rating , please see the "EBU NGS grades" tab on the left hand side of this website.

Devon Bridge Association 

The DBA Annual General Meeting will take place on Zoom on Sunday, July 13 at 11am.

Please come and support bridge in your county.

Paperwork including the accounts will be ready and online at least one month prior and as last year, members unable to attend will be allowed to assign a proxy in order to ensure that the meeting is quorate.

The EBU are running events for NGS payers rated up to 9 or Jack:

Nine-High Corwen is a new county-representative event to which counties can submit entries for pairs where both players have an NGS grade Two to Nine inclusive on 1st January 2025. 

Kent CBA run two weekly Saturday afternoon games on BBO. The first is a beginners 12-board duplicate for players with an NGS 7 and below. The second is an NGS 2-9 game of 18-boards.

Additional online events for players of NGS grades up to 9 or Jack are held regularly, please refer to the EBU website for details.

The Handicap Pairs trophy was held on Wednesday 9 April, attracting a nine-table field.

The unique feature of the Handicap Pairs is that the EBU's national grading scheme (NGS) is used to equalise the field so that everyone starts with an equal chance of winning the event. All you have to do is play better than your expected percentage based on the EBU grading scheme. The pair that finished the most ahead of their expected percentage was Mary Nicolle and Tricia Powe pictured receiving the trophy from Carol Roylance, with a score of 69.7% (+21.7% above expected)

It turned out to be a close call at the finish, with second-placed pair Ruth and David Rogers finishing 20.8% above their expected score on 75.8%. In third place were Carol Roylance and Ken Everleigh (+13%) and fourth were Sarah Thomas and Andy Goreing (+9%), who showed that our beginners can challenge in this unique event - very well done to these pairs and to all who made the event so enjoyable on the night.

The Mixed Pairs Championship was held on Tuesday 25 February.

Eight mixed pairs fought for the honour of lifting the silver trophy and they were joined by a further nine pairs in an overall field of seventeen pairs.

The winners with a score of 60.5% were Margaret and Ian Mundy, who finished two percent clear of second-placed pair Sara Seymour and Pete Van Praag.

Well done to Margaret and Ian who fully deserve their win after missing out last year when finishing in second place to Norah and Billy. Expert players Margaret and Ian have enjoyed a successful season at the Club after also finishing second in the Pairs Championship to Sheila and Tony, so it came as no surprise when they lifted the trophy this time around.

The Club Pairs Championship was contested over two weeks on Tuesday 13 and 20 May.  The two scores were aggregated to arrive at the overall winners.

Congratulations to Sheila Ferguson and Tony Allsworth, who retained the trophy with a combined score of 63%, having also won in 2024.  Finishing in second place were Billy Lambert and George Triantafyllidis.

It has been decided to widen the qualifying criteria for this event next year, as several pairs were not available to play on both weeks this year. In 2026, we'll designate all four Tuesday's in May as qualifying sessions, with pairs able to utilise their best two scores to count towards the final result.

Sheila and Tony are pictured here receiving their trophy from Tricia Powe, who won the handicap pairs last month playing with Mary Nicolle.

During July each year we hold the Margaret Pierce Trophy for our Beginners and Intermediates, specifically those with an EBU grade of 8 or below (having an expected score of 50% or less).

Margaret was a former member who taught beginners and brought many new members into the Club. She made a fine proposal that we should play an event dedicated to such members, who were perhaps less likely to win other events due to their relative inexperience.  Margaret donated the trophy to the Club for this purpose, and we have been contesting it for over 30 years since.

Margaret's trophy, which dates back to the 1990s, was lifted in 2024 by Monique Shephard and Jeff Cain, pictured here receiving the trophy from Director Steve Rimmer. This pair have forged a strong partnership since Monique joined the Club only 3 months ago - well done to you both! 

The runners-up - for the second year running - were Howard Bradshaw and Phil Giorgetti. Maybe it'll be third time lucky next year for Howard and Phil?

On Tuesday 24 September we held our Teams Championship for the year. It was a highly enjoyable event using IMPS scoring, and to increase the chances of a level playing field a random draw was conducted to determine team-mates. 

The event was run on an all-play-all format, with 10 teams battling it out for the prestigious Silver Trophy which dates back to the 1970s. The trophy was lifted by the team led by Mike Orriel, with Sara Seymour, Terence Treeby and new member Stefan Lindfors.

The winning team won 7 of their 9 matches, finishing ahead of the second placed team of Jeff Cain, Monique Shephard, Margaret Mundy and Ian Mundy.

The winners are pictured here, receiving their trophy from 2023 winner Ralph Sellick (far left). 

On December 10th, our Christmas Party was followed by the Individual Championship, where everyone played with a different partner on each round. 

A total of 36 members battled it out for the honour of lifting the famous old trophy, which is engraved with club champions dating back to 1960.

This somewhat light-hearted event got off to a chaotic start with the complex movement confusing just about everyone, including our brave director Terence. Once the dust settled, much enjoyment was gained from the novelty of playing with friends that would normally be your opponent. Who knows, perhaps some new partnerships might be forged from the event?

In the end it was a close run affair, with the winner John Haynes narrowly edging out Geoff Clements into second place. John is pictured left receiving the trophy from Jeff Cain.

2025 KEY DATES

We run seven TROPHY EVENTS in 2025 - one every alternate month.  Be sure to put these dates in your diary:

Feb 25:  Mixed Pairs  Winners: Margaret and Ian Mundy

April 9:  Handicap Pairs Trophy  Winners: Mary Nicolle and Tricia Powe

May 13 and 20:  Pairs Championship   Winners: Sheila Ferguson and Tony Allsworth

June, July, August:  Europa Summer Trophy (for members with an NGS rank of 8 or below)

September 23:  Championship Teams

October 15: Margaret Pierce Trophy  (for members with an NGS rank of 9 or below) 

December 16:  Individual Championship + Xmas Party

PROMOTIONS

Congratulations to the following members, who have been promoted in rank by the English Bridge Union in last 12 months:

5 Star Master:  Norah Western

1 Star Master:  Hymie Smith

County Master: Jesper Rundin, David Jones, Bernard Sellick, Josephine White

District Master: Billy Lambert

Area Master:  Claire Carey

Local Master:  Gill Murphy, Carole Hooper, Neil Downie, Mike Baker, Cathy Woodward, Liz Green, Monique Shephard

Club Master:  John Isaacs, Roger Gough, Pippa Reynolds, Joy Praill

Our application to strike off and dissolve Torquay Bridge Club Limited was sent to Companies House on 31 March 2025

Newton Abbot play on Thursday at 6.45pm at the Recreational Trust on Marsh Road TQ12 2AR. There is free parking on site and table money is £2-50 (£3-50 for visitors). If the car park is full in the evening then Cricketfield Road car park is nearby (5 minute walk) where parking is free after 6-00pm.   Also relaxed bridge meetings on Tuesday afternoons at 1.30pm. 

Further details and a map showing the venue is on Newton Abbot Bridge Club, Devon (bridgewebs.com)