Story by Stephen Goldspink (BBO: Goldy1959)

Back in the 1970s, I had a group of teenage friends in London who introduced me to bridge. There were five of us who played, and we would get together socially and occasionally enter tournaments. In those days, of course, everything was played in person.

Forty years later, we were still in touch, although by then I was living eighty miles from London. I would occasionally make the trip down, and we would spend an evening playing bridge together. Eventually, though, my work changed and I was no longer visiting London.

Fortunately, BBO gave us another way to keep playing together. For the last few years, we've been meeting up for social bridge using a video call alongside BBO, and it's almost like being there in person. We can deal and play the hands together, then discuss what we did wrong afterwards. One of our group teaches bridge classes, so he also keeps us up to date with new conventions.

Fifty-two years after we first started playing, we're still at it, and remarkably, all five of us are still around.