Short Breaks

Christine and Stewart MacFarlane started their own Bridge School and Club in Bath. Together, they have taught and introduced many people to this wonderful game and started running weekends away for their students in 2009. This progressed to running bridge holidays and working on cruise ships as the bridge instructors.

Jane brings her organisational and interpersonal skills to the forefront to make an excellent hosting team with her husband James. James has been playing bridge for over 30 years and is regularly picked for his county. Jane and James have travelled extensively in recent years to explore exotic parts of the world, such as Peru, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

Anne is a host who works alongside our directors with the aim of ensuring that everyone enjoys their bridge holiday. She is friendly and approachable and enjoys her bridge, playing in several competitions near her home in Leicestershire. Anne is a qualified bridge director, and she looks forward to welcoming players of all standards.

Mark learned the basics of bridge in his early teens from his father, and later played informally at school. It wasn’t until university that he began playing regularly in clubs. Remarkably, Mark is entirely self-taught, having never taken formal lessons – instead learning through books and conversations with fellow enthusiasts. With over 50 years of experience at the bridge table, he has played continuously since university, including at EBU congress level and as part of his county team.

Maggie started learning bridge in 1980. She played with my future husband, John Pyner, at Congress level for several years and reached the level of Life Master – and will hopefully become a Premier Life Master.

Gary is a Senior EBU Panel Director, Chief Tournament Director for Hertfordshire, and a dedicated trainer for EBED.

Julia teaches bridge to beginners and runs a supervised play session once a week. It is important to her that people learn in a friendly, welcoming environment at the pace they feel happy with.

Ilona learnt to play bridge as a child round the kitchen table, but really started to adopt conventions during lockdown. She went on her first bridge holiday in March 2024, which was the Majorcan Congress.