Young Chelsea Bridge Club

Bridge Lessons at the Young Chelsea

We currently run two courses of lessons at Young Chelsea Bridge Club on a regular basis. Each consists of eight two-hour lessons, taking place once a week.

Beginning Bridge is for those with no previous knowledge of bridge. Bidding and card play are the two main elements of bridge and we cover the basics of both, providing a firm foundation on which to build bridge expertise.

The next Beginning Bridge course will take place on Tuesday evenings from 8.00pm to 10.00pm starting on Tuesday 19th January 2010, and we have an information sheet available with more details.

Continuing Bridge is for those who have completed the first course or who have the equivalent basic knowledge of the game. It covers a range of declarer play and defensive play techniques for the improving player, and explores competitive bidding and some of the less frequent, higher level opening bids.

The next Continuing Bridge course will take place on Thursday evenings from 8.00pm to 10.00pm starting on Thursday 14th January 2010.

Although the classes start at 8pm, the tutor is normally available from about 7.30 pm for those students who have questions they wish to sort out before the lesson. Email for details or telephone 020-7373 1665. Enrolment forms are now available for the Beginning Bridge Course and the Continuing Bridge Course.

"Bridge For All"

Both courses are based on Bridge For All, the recommended teaching programme produced by the English Bridge Union, the national governing body for the game of bridge in this country. The cost of each course is £140 (or £120 for YCBC club members), which includes:

expert tuition throughout the series of eight lessons, always provided by trained bridge teachers
professionally-produced and very comprehensive student notes, bound into a book covering the material of both courses
membership of the Young Chelsea Bridge Club
membership of the English Bridge Union
two additional free sessions of supervised play to be taken after the end of the course
plenty of opportunity to ask questions of the tutor outside the formal lesson time, enabling you to catch up on any sessions you might find difficult or be obliged to miss.

Supervised play is our strongly-recommended next step after learning the basics of bridge. In a supervised play session you play at a social level under the watchful eye of one of our expert players or tutors, who is available to help and advise where needed. Supervised play is an enjoyable learning experience aimed at helping you to consolidate what you have learned and to improve your bridge and is not competitive.

Supervised play sessions take place every Monday evening (excluding bank holidays) from 7.30 pm till around 10.00 pm. After your free sessions you can come as often as you like, paying just £7.00 per session (or £9.00 for non-members of the club, who are also welcome) and there is no need to book in advance.

All tutors at the Young Chelsea BC are experienced players and accredited EBU Bridge For All teachers. At present tuition is provided by Chris Duckworth, Mike Eden and Jon Green. Chris and Mike are both qualified to the highest level offered by the English Bridge Union. Chris was formerly Education Manager at the EBU, where she managed the English Bridge Union Teachers’ Association and was responsible for training many of the bridge teachers across the country. She has also been coach to the English Ladies bridge team and has been a member of Young Chelsea BC for more years than she cares to count! Mike is a former successful head teacher who has played bridge for 30 years and who also runs bridge courses on the QE2 when he can fit them in. Jon is a former English junior international player.

Novice Duplicates

Since Thursday 5th April 2007 we have run a novice duplicate on the first Thursday of each month. It starts at 7pm with wine and cheese, followed by a gentle duplicate session with a friendly director, for an all-in charge of £10 per player (£5 for bone fide students). Master points are issued, so this could be a first opportunity for you to shine!

Developing Bridge

We have started offering Developing Bridge sessions on a Sunday afternoon, since weekends are more convenient for some people than evenings. The sessions are social duplicates open to partnerships as well as individuals (you don't need to come with a partner), and are either be stand-alone sessions or combined with Ned's duplicate sessions that form the final stages of his weekend courses.

The sessions will run from 2pm till 5.30pm (unless otherwise indicated) and table money is £6. They will be held on the following dates:

Sunday 13th December
Sunday 10th January 2010
Sunday 14th February
Sunday 28th February
Sunday 21st March
Sunday 11th April

Defensive Play Seminars

We have two seminars arranged for this Autumn, to be taught by Chris Duckworth, on:

Sunday 27th September
Sunday 1st November

Further details can be downloaded.

More Advanced Classes

We occasionally run a "Bridge for Improvers" course for those who have completed the Beginning Bridge and Continuing Bridge courses and who wish to continue learning at a more advanced level. Further details will be announced here of any such future courses.

If you have any questions at all about any of the courses, please do not hesitate to contact Chris directly. She is not based at the club, but can be emailed there or (for a faster response) at chris.duckworth@lineone.net, her personal email address. Alternatively you can call her at any time on 020 7385 3534, or email Mike at mike@bridge.me.uk.

If you would like to enrol for a course, you can download an application form, here.

Learn Bridge in a Weekend

The Young Chelsea is also the venue for occasional "Learn Bridge in a Weekend" seminars - a complete course for beginners - run by Ned Paul. The next one will be on 10th-11th April 2010. Further details and an application form can be downloaded.

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By the way, in case you were wondering, the “Young” in the club name dates back to the time when the club was founded 40 years ago, when it was established to cater particularly for young players. Several of the original club members are still playing, however – though we still like to think of ourselves as young at heart. The club still provides a particularly warm welcome for young players, but our membership now spans all ages. Our typical students are young working professionals, but there is no age limit for learners (in either direction!).