I write to you all about a very important issue that will have a huge impact on Huddersfield Bridge club in both the near future and potentially for years to come. 

At our first committee meeting after the AGM the committee minutes stated:

Premises Proposal  – The committee will look at the long-term suitability of Cambridge Road as a Bridge Club. It has been agreed that this will be done by Katie checking out available premises or land to purchase and considering the value of the current two buildings. She will come back with a proposal to the committee for a “more fit for purpose” bridge club.  The relevant criteria for a more fit for purpose bridge club would be: - ample parking, ground floor playing rooms, near town centre, bridge club owned by members, toilets, kitchen, storage room, on a bus route, accessible entrance etc etc. Katie will try and accomplish this before Christmas and allow the committee to put a proposal which includes the best option(s) to members and trustees in 2024.

Katie Thorpe then very diligently measured the areas we use and calculated the space we would need for a fully functioning bridge club before she contacted estate agents, council officers, local clubs amongst others and found it impossible to find anything that satisfied all the criteria the committee detailed for an ideal bridge club. The current premises don’t fulfil that “ideal criteria” either. After a long conversation with York Bridge club who have recently moved into a purpose-built club on the outskirts of York, we (her and me) also concluded that we have neither the financial clout nor expertise to build our own club should we find some land on which to do so. At our October meeting Katie reported back that there appeared to be nothing suitable, but she had two last leads to follow up.

Therefore, after a chance conversation with one of our newer members Katie and myself visited Lockwood Rugby Club and Trust who had an empty building that they were about to convert into a number of individual offices for rent to small businesses. It is on the former Fitness First gym site with one half of the total area designated for the development. The other half becoming a Gymnastics space. They were extremely friendly and welcoming and said they would happily abandon their office conversion idea and turn the space in a purpose designed bridge club to rent to us if we were able to give a commitment to them by early December, when the work was scheduled to begin. I then convened a committee meeting inviting the bridge club’s Trustees and this was followed up by that group visiting the site this week. The address is Brewery Dr, Lockwood, Huddersfield HD4 6EN.

The main issue raised at our meeting was should the club sell our existing premises to rent a more suitable space. This is a decision that will be needed to be made by our current members for the benefit of future members and the ongoing viability of Huddersfield Bridge club if they believe it is the correct thing to do at this time.

Having been given some indication of rental costs, estimated value of 4 & 6 Cambridge Road, knowing current income levels and interest rates etc etc, myself and Katie believe we could sell our properties and the rent would be covered by annual income and income generated by banking the money from the sale, allowing us to not touch the capital.

HOWEVER, there are lots of variables in that calculation that can easily change and are not under any committee’s control. That also applies to the current premises with the houses getting older and requiring more money to maintain or improve their condition, money to make them more accessible to members etc and we are located in an area which is not the best so property values could also decline.  

There is a lot to consider, so you are invited to a meeting to discuss this opportunity which in my opinion feels like a now or never opportunity. This meeting will be held at the club on Thursday 30th November commencing at 6pm. Following this meeting all members will be given the opportunity to vote by email or post with the options being:

MOVE     

STAY       

LET THE COMMITTEE DECIDE ON MY BEHALF

I think it is fair to assume that those members that don’t vote will have no strong opinions and are happy for the committee to decide.

To help make that decision we will be making drawings of the potential new ground floor club available on noticeboards and at the meeting. Your attendance and participation at the meeting would very be very much appreciated by all Trustees and Committee members. Issues that members wish to raise but who cannot attend in person are also invited – please send to Sue Measures by the end of Tuesday 28th November for inclusion at the meeting.

Michael Robertson, Chairman.            16/11/23