Abingdonian 2018

19 www.abingdon.org.uk Lent Term Bridge Club As the year comes to a close, the Bridge Club is able to look back at the past year and celebrate its successes whilst wishing farewell to some familiar faces. This time of year truly is of bittersweet nature, as we say goodbye to various veteran bridge players, such as Bede Pharoah-Lunn, Weihan Huang, Peter Bicarregui, and Henry Churchman-Davies. Their dedication to the game and contribution to the club will leave the current Lower Sixth of the club with big shoes to fill in the year ahead. However, we can also celebrate the successes that this year has seen, such as the expansion of the club to include students from all around the world and of varying ages. As Edmond Wang puts it, ‘the club offers a fantastic opportunity for people to practise the English game and have traditional fun in the meantime.’ The wonderful thing about bridge is that it’s a languageless game which allows players from all around the world to come together and work as a team. Ultimately, bridge is also able to offer an escape from the business of school life during a Wednesday afternoon, in the middle of a long school week, and lets you ‘just have fun with your friends’, as Sam Andersson puts it. But bridge can offer more than just fun and games. For those who wish to excel at the game and put in the effort, bridge can ‘develop teamwork and critical thinking skills’, according to Drew Farwell, as it offers players the ability to work together with a partner, like traditional sports, whilst also requiring strategy and thinking ahead, much akin to chess, and has a competitive edge which makes for thrilling and entertaining games. Those who wish to take the game to the next level have also had the opportunity to meet with a bridge instructor who visited earlier in the year and various bridge courses have been advertised to those who wish to go beyond the call of duty. Overall, this year has been a successful one for the Bridge Club and we look forward to an even better one next year. Piers Mucklejohn, 6NSH