Club History
Melville Bridge Club was conceived in 1970 with approx 20 members and games were played in committee rooms of City of Melville Council on Monday evenings and Wednesday afternoons.
The Club membership increased rapidly and outgrew the committee rooms. We moved to Tompkins Park hall around 1978-79 and started extra sessions on Thursday evenings and Monday afternoons. The Tompkins Park committee offered us Thursday evening at a nominal rental as they appreciated the fact that we greatly assisted them in repaying their loan to City of Melville.
In 1982 a letter was received from the new Tompkins Park committee stating our rent was to increase to at least $5,000 pa on a monthly basis only. Our card tables etc were also being misused by various other users of the hall and quite often broken.
No club could continue under these circumstances so Council was approached for assistance with land on which to build our own premises. The Committee of the day felt that the $5,000 p.a would go a long way in paying off our own clubrooms, plus the fact of leaving tables and chairs set up regularly would prolong the life of our equipment and save our members from shifting tables and chairs for every session.
Use of the land in Canning Highway, Applecross was approved in 1982. A grant of $10,000 from State Government and a loan of $10,000 repayable over ten years from City of Melville were received. The remainder was taken out in debentures and fund-raising from our members. The building was completed and opened in August 1983 for a total sum of $65,000. We have since provided full air-conditioning for members’ comfort for the sum of $35,000 (by membership loans and repaid over 5 years).
The Club has been an asset to many members of the Melville Community, from the aged, handicapped, single parent, young retirees, working people, uni students etc, by providing a quiet venue where competitive bridge can be played in pleasant surroundings. Our sessions vary – during the day older people, retirees and mothers with school children attend. In the evening seniors, workforce people, uni students, parents etc enjoy their competition.
We compete in world-wide, Australia-wide and state events and have brought back trophies to make the Club proud.
We try to hold our special days on a Sunday to enable as many of our diverse membership as possible to attend.
In recent years a former member (Dorothy Kitching) who passed away, left the club a legacy in her will. One of the conditions of the will was that the club holds a handicap pairs championship in order that less experienced players be given a better chance to win a trophy. Hence the Dorothy Kitching Handicap Pairs Championship was inaugurated in her memory. This is a two-session event which is normally held on a Sunday. A trophy is presented to the winners of the championship and all the members entered in the competition are treated to a lunch provided by outside caterers.
The Club is also moving with the times and has initiated action to take the Club into cyberspace. Work has been in progress for some months now, and now finally as you will see on this website it has all come together.
Here you will be able to see the competition results soon after the events are finished. Read our Constitution and see who the current Committee members are and even check player’s bridge statistics.
Members will also be able to send comments to the club via the web, catch up on what’s happening at the Club, view pictures of winners (and grinners!!) of competition events and a whole lot more. We are open to suggestions as how we can improve our website further to enhance your surfing experience. Every effort will be made to accommodate constructive suggestions. Down the road we hope to be able to bring you the day’s hand records on this webpage.
The Committee is constantly working hard to give you an enriching Bridging experience.
GO M.B.C.!!!