NO TRUMPS BRIDGE CLUB RECIEVES NEW DEALING MACHINE
The No Trumps Bridge Club has been successful in being awarded a grant of £3,580 from the Manx Lottery Trust to purchase a new dealing machine
Club Secretary, Ruth Douthwaite said “We are absolutely delighted to have a dealing machine for the club and are very grateful to the Manx Lottery Trust for their very generous grant. Having a dealing machine means that we no longer have to deal the boards by hand, and we now have a copy of each bridge hand we play available to us, which helps club members and students to learn and improve.
The No Trumps Bridge club is actively teaching people who are keen to learn to play bridge. These new students of the game are of all ages and from all parts of the island. It is really helpful that they will be able to study the hands they play after each game to increase their knowledge and understanding.”
Ruth went on to say “A dealing machine is part and parcel of a bridge club which is active, forward thinking and is also a teaching club, providing bridge tuition from absolute beginners right up to expert level. Most of the island's top bridge players came together to form this club and they are used to having a record of the hands after the game to analyse what went wrong and where. A dealing machine was therefore an urgent and a required addition to the club. Duplicating the dealing of a bridge hand numerous times, as required for seminars and teaching, is incredibly time consuming and open for errors. There are resources available that enables us to create the bridge hands online and download these hands to the dealing machine making it an efficient and accurate operation”.
Ruth is also Competition Secretary for the Manx Bridge Union (MBU), which is the Isle of Man parent organisation for bridge clubs here on the Island. The No Trumps Bridge Club is making the dealing machine available to the MBU so it may benefit too. The MBU runs seminars and mentoring events for all bridge players in the Isle of Man irrespective of affiliation. together with its own National Events. Therefore, the whole island bridge community will benefit from the grant awarded by the Manx Lottery Trust.
Diccen Sargent, No Trumps Bridge Club Chairman, expressed his strong gratitude to the Manx Lottery Trust for their help and financial support in purchasing the dealing machine. Diccen noted that their generous assistance would help bridge players across the Isle of Man enjoy their favourite past time for many years to come.
Stephen Turner, Chairman of Manx Lottery Trust, said: ‘We’re pleased to have been able to support The No Trumps Bridge Club with the purchase of a new dealing machine and know it will have a positive impact to the bridge playing community.’
Although still in its infancy, the No Trumps club has made great progress in its first nine months. Ruth said “Our team night on the first Wednesday of each month have proved particularly popular and the event has attracted members of other clubs to play. We hold bridge games at 6pm on Wednesday evenings, which ensures a prompt finish at 9pm. The second Wednesday in each month is held in the afternoon at 1.30pm-4.30pm. Establishing a new bridge club is hard work but initial signs are good and we are particularly encouraged with our class of students who meet every Friday evening and they will eventually be integrated into our club, providing a second evening of bridge each week.”
Anyone who wishes to learn bridge or have a game with the No Trumps Bridge Club, should email them on [email protected] or via their website https://www.bridgewebs.com/iombridge/