
Family Friendly Bridge Club
St Camillus Church, 1175 Concord Turnpike
(Route 2, Exit 132 (Formerly 57)), Arlington
For Memorial Day (5/29/23):Monday, May 29, 12:30 PM: We are OPEN
Survey Results
Overall Survey Results
As evidenced by our steadily growing games, you enjoy playing at our club.
“Thanks for having FFBC as an alternative choice. It’s a very friendly place!”
“I enjoy playing in these games. They are what bridge should be -- pleasant and fair.”
“You've achieved "friendly" … that's a huge achievement.”
“Thanks to Bob, Ann Marie, Ru and the Committee for all the hard work!
“Thanks for providing a pleasant venue, great parking, and a wonderful coterie of talented supporters -- now all I need are good cards!”
The number of boards in a game and pace of the game
Just over half of you who answered the survey like the number of boards we play, with most of the rest of you preferring more, not fewer, boards.
We don’t want to make the game longer, given the rush hour traffic that starts up late afternoon, and so we will continue playing our current number of boards per game.
Many of you want to speed the game along, with a few people suggesting shortening or eliminating our hospitality break if that is what it takes.
We will keep our hospitality break; it is part of what makes FFBC special, by giving us a chance to connect briefly with friends, and to welcome new players and integrate them into our community.
However we hear you regarding the desire to speed up the game a bit.
Therefore, going forward, we’ll always have one non-playing director. S/he will manage the pace by coaching slow tables to speed up, and by letting people know when they are too late to start their final board. (Players get their average score for that board.) This should mean less waiting between boards and rounds for our players.
Interim results on the Bridge Mates
By a margin of 3 to 2, those of you participating in the survey prefer that interim results are not shown on the Bridge Mates during play. Every person who wrote a comment on this topic recommended that we stop showing the interim results, or was neutral. The reasons generally have to do with distraction, noise, slowing the game, and (sometimes) poor sportsmanship.
We appreciate your feedback and take it seriously.
Since many of you didn’t respond to the survey, Bob has decided to conduct a second “one question only” survey in January on this question. This will ensure that everyone has the opportunity to voice his or her preference on this aspect of our game.
Facilities
The vast majority – over 85% of you – think our facilities are fine as they are.
Several of you said you are happy we moved because of the smoke free atmosphere, easy access from Route 2 and parking, and handicapped accessibility.
You also appreciate the improvements we’ve made since arriving. “After considerable cleaning and rearranging the space is comfortable.” “With the enhanced lighting all is well.”
Going forward, here are some things we’ll be introducing, thanks to your suggestions.
Hand Sanitizer. Great suggestion, and done! We have it in the rest rooms, kitchen, and pencil / scorecard area. Especially helpful during cold and flu season.
Noise Level. A number of you asked if we could reduce it. A non-playing director will help, because s/he can ask people to keep their voices down or take their chat to the kitchen. Also, we all can do a better job of managing ourselves.
Crowding. We’ve begun using the lower level when needed to keep tables reasonably spaced apart.
Refreshments
Roughly 75% of you find our refreshments satisfactory, and the rest of you gave us a number of good ideas. Going forward, here are some changes we are making.
Snack choices. You told us you'd like more variety in what we serve, and more healthy choices, including fruit occasionally. A couple of you asked for gluten free and dairy free choices. We'll do our best to accommodate you, and we will label gluten free / dairy free options.
Drink choices. You asked for brewed decaf, “endless hot water for tea”, and low fat milk for tea and coffee. Done, with the exception that on Thursdays, we will offer half caff/ half decaf given the smaller crowd.
Keeping the food in the kitchen. We’ve been asked to suggest that players confine eating to the kitchen area, so that tables don’t get cluttered with plates left behind by E/W who have moved on to the next round. Let's do it.
Common Game & Communications
We're glad the Common Game is well received, and we'll offer a class on the Common Game in the first quarter for those interested.
We’ll also experiment with an “opt-in” partnership desk via email. We’ll share more on this after the holidays.
We are glad you like hearing from us by email, Facebook and on the web. No changes are planned.
While we have you … please like us on Facebook, and bookmark our website for easy reference: www.familyfriendlybridge.com



