Christine and Stewart MacFarlane

Expert Overview

Christine MacFarlane – Bridge Director

Christine is originally from New Zealand and came across to London for a holiday in the 70’s but never returned. Being an engineer, she was immediately caught up in the booming offshore oil industry and was offered opportunities for progression that were not normally available to women at that time. Christine married an Englishman, had a family in London, and worked full time and life was busy!

However, Christine had always enjoyed playing social bridge. Her older brother taught her to play when she was a teenager, and she had opportunities to play when a fourth was needed to make up a table in the office at lunchtimes.

In 1998, Christine moved to the US and, after playing socially for a couple of years, joined a bridge club in 2000. It was there that Christine realised there was a whole world of bridge waiting to be taught, played and directed.

Upon returning to the UK in 2004, she joined the local bridge club and, a year later, the club offered TD training for anyone who was interested. Christine took up the challenge and moved up the ranks by becoming a County TD and then joined the EBU panel in 2010. During this time, she also completed my EBUTA teacher training and in 2008, started teaching people to play. This led to the creation of her own bridge school and club which was very successful, but sadly Christine took the decision to close it when the lockdown years started in 2020.

Christine's favourite bridge destination is Paignton; she has many fond memories of taking the students away on bridge breaks and playing bridge to the sound of waves crashing against the cliffs. The Sense de Luxe resort in Antalya was also high up in terms of places Christine loves to visit. The destination that is on her wish list is the French Chateau & Alps.

Her other interests and hobbies include; gardening, grandchildren, cooking and travelling.

Top Bridge Tip from Christine: Never grumble at your partner no matter how bad their bidding (you may be next!). If you dwell on past failures, you will never succeed on the next hand.

Stewart MacFarlane – Bridge Host

Stewart's formal career was Project Management as an Engineer in the international oil industry. He and his family were based in London, Aberdeen, New Orleans, Houston and finally settled in Somerset in 2004.

When he moved to Somerset, Stewart's main role was looking after the technical and administration aspects of running the bridge school and club. However, he also assisted in the lessons and ran gentle duplicate sessions for the newer players.

Outside of running bridge holidays, Stewart's main hobby is restoring a 1973 E-Type Jag.