Amesbury Bowls Club hold a number of social events throughout the season, including Quiz Nights, Bingo, Race Nights, Games Nights, Beetle Drives and Raffles. All events are open to both Bowling and Social members. See latest News Posts for the next planned event.
In additional to the above Amesbury Bowls Club also host the following Clubs and Groups.
Whist Club
Regular Whist sessions at the Club: please see the Calendar for dates and times.
Both novice and experienced players are welcome
Contact: email hidden; JavaScript is required
What is Whist?
Whist is a trick taking standard deck playing card game that was played widely in the 18th and 19th centuries and is often mentioned in literature from that time period.
The most basic version of the game features fixed partnerships with no bidding. The game uses a single deck and follows the basic mechanics of most trick taking games: the starting player leads a suit, and then the other players are forced to follow unless they have none of that suit left, in which case they are allowed to either toss a useless card of another suit, or to play a trump.
The object of Whist is to acquire tricks in excess of 6, each 1 of which scores 1 point. In this basic form the game usually goes to 5, though 7- and 9-point variations were also common. The trumps in standard Whist were determined by facing the last card to be dealt.
In addition, like most card games, there are a large variety of variants. A common one involves pre- determining the trump suit and running them in order from hand to hand. (For instance: Hearts first, then Diamonds, Spades, and finally Clubs, and then start over again).
Another, less popular and luck-oriented variant involves giving a 4-point bonus to a partnership if it held the ‘Honours’ run of A – K – Q – J in the suit that was trump for that hand or 2 points if it had 3 of the 4. As this is based on the cards as dealt it is a very luck-based option, and as such has fallen out of common use though it was once considered a standard way to play the game.
Art Group
Regular Art Group sessions at the Club: please see the Calendar for dates and times.
Both novice and experienced artists are welcome.
Contact: Bob Whitehouse (01980 555785)
Whether you are a complete beginner or have some experience, come and explore – you will get plenty of guidance, encouragement and support from the members of the Group.