THE ANNUAL Barnt Green Cafe Bridge Event has helped raise a staggering amount for Cancer Research UK.
The festival – known as ‘Bridge – It’s a Big Deal’ – had a target of raising £60,000 for the cause with this event and others across the county. It looks likely to raise significantly more.
The players in Barnt Green travelled between the various venues – the Victoria Inn, the Barnt Green Inn, Fika and Cafe Morso, playing a few hands of bridge in each and stopping for lunch at whichever venue they were playing in at lunchtime.
Richard Jephcott, who co-ordinated a number of events across the county, said: “We’re delighted that not only has the festival brought together the whole bridge-playing community, but it has also raised a significant sum in a very good cause.”
The Barnt Green event alone raised over £1,100 because of both the generosity of the players and because of the local businesses which contributed raffle prizes.
Other Cafe Bridge events took place in Worcester and Pershore and a number of individual clubs contributed their proceeds from sessions to Cancer Research.
Playing in the Barnt Green event were locals from the village’s two bridge clubs, the two in Burcot and the one in Bromsgrove, as well as visitors from as far away as London.
The winners were Richard and Angela Wharton, from London with Judy Balthazor and Mike Bell, from Bromsgrove in second place.
They were presented with their prizes by Sam Boswell, a well-known international triathlete who lives in Bromsgrove and is, herself, a cancer survivor.
The event concluded with much merriment and tales of both triumphs and disaster, along with a celebratory glass of prosecco in the Victoria Inn.
