The Melville Bridge Club is a contract bridge club situated in the centre of Edinburgh. It was established in 1936 and with 300 members it is currently the largest bridge club in Edinburgh and one of the largest in Scotland.
The club has members ranging in all abilities from beginners to grand-masters. It is home to a significant number of Scotland's current and past internationalists. In the first World Mindsport Games in 2008 in Beijing all bar one of the open team and the majority of the ladies team came from the club.
The club hosts pairs and teams duplicate events and also rubber bridge. The club is also extensively used for matches and events organised by the Eastern District of the Scottish Bridge Union - the governing body for the game in Scotland. Various national events are also staged in the club.
Visitors are welcome to play at the club and details are on the web site.
The club first rented property at 44 Melville Street in the Edinburgh New Town, one of the grander streets in Edinburgh named after Viscount Melville. In 1950 the club moved to four storey Victorian Town House at 9 Grosvenor Crescent which it still occupies.
9 Grosvenor Crescent was built in 1868 firstly as a private house but during the years has changed its use, becoming a maternity home during the Second World War and then part of the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science.
During the excavations for the new building some Bronze Age swords were found some of which are now part of the collection in the National Museum of Scotland - see for details.
The building is opened to the public each year as part of Scotland's Doors Open day which is organised in Edinburgh by the Cockburn Association.
A bridge club of the same name exists in The City of Melville in Australia.
Famous quotes containing the words melville, bridge and/or club:
“The two great things yet to be discovered are these—The Art of rejuvenating old age in men, & oldageifying youth in books.—Who in the name of the trunk-makers would think of reading Old Burton were his book published for the first to day.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“I see four nuns
who sit like a bridge club,
their faces poked out
from under their habits,”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“At first, it must be remembered, that [women] can never accomplish anything until they put womanhood ahead of wifehood, and make motherhood the highest office on the social scale.”
—“Jennie June” Croly 1829–1901, U.S. founder of the woman’s club movement, journalist, author, editor. Demorest’s Illustrated Monthly and Mirror of Fashions, pp. 24-5 (January 1870)