The Saffron Walden Bridge Club meets every Wednesday evening at the Conservative Club. We have visited Saffron Walden several times to play matches, but always in winter, so we were very much struck on this occasion with the beauty of the town itself when we played at the club mid-August. We parked in the market square which (unlike Cambridge) is mercifully free of ugly stalls with canvas awnings and one has a clear view of the lovely facades of all the buildings facing the square. The Conservative Club is a few steps up a road leading from the square. The Conservative Club occupies a splendid building in its own right. The Bridge Club operates from a large and comfortable room on the first floor. The ground floor is like a huge pub, with a three-sided bar.
This present location is the Bridge Club's second home. The club was started in the late seventies by Jack DeLee, who is its present chairman. Fortunately, as we arrived, Jack was at the bar, having a pre-game drink, and told us about the club's history. Jack himself learned to play bridge during the war when he spent time in an army hospital. After the war he didn't play at all for a long time. Jack became the proprietor of the King's Head pub in Saffron Walden. Wednesday evening was his night off and he had a firm arrangement with his wife that he stayed home on his night off. In the mid 1970s he resumed playing rubber bridge with three friends in the pub on a Wednesday evening. One table of rubber bridge developed into a club evening with several tables and in 1979 Peter Burrows joined the club and organised duplicate bridge. Fiske Warren joined the club a year later, became very much involved in its organisation and it has continued to flourish.
In 1992 Jack gave up running the pub. The club could not be sure that the new pub owner would have a similar interest in bridge and it therefore moved, to its present premises. There is no club subscription - the club is funded by table money of 1.00 per player. All members belong to the EBU.
The two most famous members of the club are Fiske Warren and Chris Larlham. Fiske has been much involved in the running of the club, especially in its early days. He started teaching evening bridge classes (at Saffron Walden County School) in 1983, and continued for ten years. Having run the local market dry he no longer gives the classes, but gives lessons when asked, and recently has been coaching the enemy (Balsham). The classes used to generate a fair number of recruits to the Bridge Club.
Fiske is a fine player and has reached final stages in both Crockfords and the Gold Cup. He plays regularly for the County A team and regularly represents the County at the Tollemache. He has contributed to the County's qualifying for the final for several years recently, but actually winning the Tolle for Cambs and Hunts is yet to be achieved. Fiske's current role in the club is that of `Honorary Expert'.
Everyone in the county will know Chris Larlham, the County Captain, who selects the teams for the Eastern Counties League, and the organiser of the South Cambs League. Chris's position in the club is that of Club Captain and Tournament Director. Chris has held this post for some years and the club is extraordinarily fortunate to have someone with his cool efficiency and friendly charm to run its sessions.
A quite interesting ending came up on one hand against David Nicholson and Chris Larlham. The full deal (rotated for convenience) was:
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Over a very thin double from David, I raised to 2
and Chris came in with 2
with, it seemed, a lot in reserve. Ann pressed on to 3 with her quite decent hand and side-fit in
diamonds. David naturally passed and I went on to 4, over which Chris bid 4, which I doubled.
Ann led a small to my Ace and I
then played 
AKQ, Chris ruffing high.
He then followed with AK, clearing the
trumps, and exited slightly deceptively with J to the Q. Ann took this and
wrongly switched a small club, which as it happens ruined my
holding in that suit, leading to just two off (+300 was still
very good for us as 4 has no chance).
Suppose, however, Ann plays back a third heart: now declarer
would have ruffed in dummy with the 3
and would have had to attack clubs himself. Assuming that he
has preserved the 6 as a further entry
to dummy (which requires two unblocking plays), what should he
do? Chris suggested that he would have run the 
J, which I would have covered with the Queen, King,
Ace, endplaying Ann. But she of course can foil this by not
playing her Ace. Declarer must then re-enter dummy with the
6 and play clubs again, taking a view
about the position of the A/9. (In
fact, if you consider the bidding and play so far the A must be with Ann.) However, when I later
checked the hand with Chris by e-mail he admitted that he had
probably forgotten to preserve the 6
as an entry!
We were doing quite well until we met Jane & Kit Orde-Powlett in the last round, getting two near-bottoms. The first of these was:
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Jane opened a Lucas 2, showing a
weak hand with just 5 hearts plus at least a four-card minor. I
had an easy 2 over this, and Kit
didn't have much of a problem either - he bid 5! That would certainly have made, probably with an
overtrick, but Ann bid on to 5,
encouraged by the vulnerability, and Kit quite reasonably
decided to double this rather than gamble 6. With the clubs lying nicely for me I easily got out
for two off, losing three hearts and a club, for -300. This
turned out to be a very bad score, one declarer going three off
in 5 but not doubled, another (Chris
Larlham) managing to get out for just one off in 5doubled. Like me, he'd had a Lucas 2 opened against him and I was intrigued to find
out how exactly he'd managed the tenth trick. He said the
defence started with diamonds, ruffed, and he crossed to
dummy's J and immediately played a
club - which is quite risky, with one trump still out - on
which East played the Ace and continued with a second diamond.
Then Chris crossed to the K, finessed
the J, cashed the King, ruffed the
last club, then - the key play - ruffed the third diamond. Then
he exited with a heart and West was well and truly fixed. Well
played!
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The atmosphere at the Saffron Walden Club is extremely pleasant. The bridge is taken seriously - Chris produces by e-mail for those interested an EHA (even-handed analysis) after each session. He analyses the hands, obviously from his point of view, but also indicates how different pairs have performed on various hands. In addition, there is a tremendous feeling of warmth. The members know each other well and an evening playing bridge at the club is also an occasion for meeting and chatting to friends. Visitors and new members are most welcome, as was confirmed by the most enjoyable evening that John and I spent there.