While the various Covid lockdowns may have stopped many social activities, it hasn’t prevented the Grafton Bridge Club members from indulging in their passion for playing bridge.

Grafton Bridge Club members began using an online site called StepBridge during Covid lockdowns in 2020. Initially players competed in the StepBridge tournaments and played against each other socially on the StepBridge website. 

Following the popularity of the online tournaments amongst our club members, StepBridge organised for Grafton Club to play as a club in a tournament online on StepBridge on Tuesday nights. This proved to be very popular and continued online when distancing rules allowed normal club play to resume.

Grafton Bridge Club president, Bob Northam, commented, “StepBridge allowed our club to play as a club and provided opportunities for players, who might otherwise have not played during Covid lockdown, to continue their involvement in bridge events.”

Club secretary, Fran Hiatt, supported this sentiment. “StepBridge is fantastic – it has allowed our club members to play bridge regularly and it has been thrilling for me to make so many friends all over Australia.”

The Grafton Bridge Club Annual Congress was to be played during the coming weekend. This tournament, however, has been cancelled due to the present lockdown, so the bridge club will be holding its annual congress on Saturday August 21 using the StepBridge online site.    

Players from across Australia can play in this competition which will involve playing eight, nine board matches. The competition will begin at 9.30 and run until approximately 6pm.

Applications to play in the Grafton Bridge Club Congress can be made on the NSW Bridge Association web site.

Ian Huxley