On 17th March, for the first time, there will be up to 80 people playing cafe bridge in Sheffield.
Where?
In the heart of the former cutlery industry, Kelham Island has been renovated and has kept many of the striking features of its past. It is home to the famous Kelham Island museum which is free to visit. Here you can sometimes see an impressive live display of a steam engine. Kelham Island is also now home to multiple trendy, quirky and interesting venues that offer excellent food and drink. We have chosen five of the best for your café bridge experience.
What is café bridge?
Cafe Bridge is a duplicate event which takes place in multiple venues throughout the day. Pairs move to a new venue after each round, guided by a personal movement card. The boards remain on their starting tables throughout. The ticket includes lunch at your lunchtime venue. Café bridge is extremely popular in other parts of the country, notably in Scotland and the South. It is popular for the social side of things.……. and the bridge.
First time in Sheffield
In March, for the first time, there will be up to 80 people playing cafe bridge in Sheffield (tickets are limited to this number). We will be promoting this event citywide, as well as to surrounding towns and villages through the YCBA and the EBU.
Bridge outreach & charity
Café bridge is a type of event that attracts all kinds of players including kitchen bridge players and U3A players. It is highly sociable and offers an opportunity to show the outside world the game we love. It is great for attracting new members to our clubs and encouraging others to learn to play. Money raised during café bridge events is often donated to charity. In our case, to the Kelham Island Museum.
The early bird price for the Kelham Island Café Bridge event is £25.
In this podcast, Lesley Millet interviews Rowena White and Richard Croot about youth bridge development, focusing especially on Yorkshire. Rowena describes running a long-standing school bridge club and a weekly youth academy that is informal, free, inclusive, and flexible to accommodate busy schedules and students with different needs. Richard highlights how youth bridge can grow through academies, school clubs, enthusiastic teachers, external volunteers, and even students themselves taking initiative, while noting how difficult it can be to gain access to schools. They discuss upcoming Yorkshire youth competitions, bridge camps, and the wider social, educational, and personal benefits bridge offers young people, particularly those who may struggle elsewhere or lack other opportunities to represent their schools.
They also discuss the importance of developing youth bridge through academies, schools, and universities, emphasizing that encouraging young people to play bridge offers social and cognitive benefits compared with solitary activities like computer games. The speakers stress that successful youth programmes rely heavily on the support of local bridge clubs, which can provide volunteers, resources, and links to schools and universities. While only a few youth bridge academies currently exist and none are large, they are seen as a workable model when driven by committed individuals and supported locally. Overall, the conversation concludes that the future of bridge depends on closer collaboration between schools and local clubs, with flexible, realistic volunteering as the key to growth.
Yorkshire Pairs 2026 Winners
11th January 2026
1st: Nick Woolven & Geoff Kenyon 2nd: Bob Marchbank & Kevin Higgins 3rd: Rachel O’Brien & James Carpenter
In this 12 minute podcast, Leley and Nick give a run through on the importance of competitions and how our annual YCBA competitions calendar is structured to benefit all of our members.”
News from the York Bridge Club Youth Academy
16th December 2025
News from the York Bridge Club Youth Academy
The Youth Academy is proud to announce that 2 of their former students, Sophie Morris and Bertie Mittra have been selected to play for the Under 16 England team in the EBL (European Bridge League) Online Teams event. Only 4 pairs have been chosen to play for England so this is a remarkable achievement. Qualifying rounds will begin in late January. Many of the international players will be at next year’s Junior European Championships and this will be an ideal opportunity to experience bridge at an international level without having to travel. We wish both Sophie and Bertie the best of luck for the event.
Yorkshire Schools Cup/Osborn Trophy Sunday 25th January at York Bridge Club
4th December 2025
Click here for a flyer for the Yorkshire Schools Cup/Osborn Trophy Sunday 25th January at York Bridge Club. We have had to modify the tournament a little to accommodate the number of beginners attending.
The format will be:
Students to arrive and register at 12.00
Play/tuition to begin at 12.30
High Tea to be served at 2.00
Play/tuition to resume at 2.30
Day ends at approximately 4.00
There will be 2 levels of competition:
Pairs competition for Advanced/Improvers consisting of 24 boards. (Yorkshire Schools Cup)
which will run from 12.30 – 4.00 (with break)
Teaching for 2 sessions for 1.5 hours to include activities. Lunch break followed by further 45 min teaching. This would then be followed by a minimum 6 board competition. 12 beginner boards consisting of 1NT and 1 of a suit opening hands would be prepared but not all would necessarily be used. (The Osborn Trophy).
This competition held on 26 th / 27 th November as competed by 150 pairs in 9 Yorkshire bridge clubs. The winners of the handicapped event (5 th in scratch rankings) were Andrew Suter and Catherine Laverack from York bridge club. They are donating their £125 prize money to St Leonard’s Hospice in York.
The second placed pair were Penny White and Angela Roberts from Doncaster bridge club. They are donating their £75 prize money to the Alzheimer’s Society. Achieving a scratch score of 54.2%, their high handicap took them from 37 th to 2 nd in the rankings.
