By Daniel Honan
Registration is open for Camp Creative 2027, the annual five-day workshop festival held at Bellingen Public School from Monday 11 January to Friday 15 January, with more than 80 courses across visual art, music, design, dance and craft on offer.
Among this year’s programme is Intro to Bridge, a beginners’ card game course running each morning from 9am to noon across the five days. No prior experience is required and places are open to anyone aged 16 and over.
The course is taught by Richard Levy, a National Master of the Australian Bridge Federation who began playing at 70. Mr Levy has a background in banking, finance and business consulting, with a focus on stress management and performance.
“Bridge is a partnership game, which sets it apart,” Mr Levy said. “Not only do you have to think about what you’ve got in your hand, but also what your partner’s got, and how those two hands fit together against the pair playing against you.”
Bridge is played in fixed pairs using a standard 52-card deck, each player dealt 13 cards. The hand has two stages — an auction, in which players bid for the right to set the contract, and the play of the cards. With an estimated 700 trillion possible hand combinations, no two games are alike.
“It can be frustrating,” Mr Levy said, “but it’s never boring.”
Assisting Mr Levy are Lyndall Edsall, Barry Butler and Judie Bartley. Participants who arrive without a partner are paired with others during the course, and Mr Levy said many go on to join supervised weekly sessions at bridge clubs in Coffs Harbour and Nambucca Heads.
Enrolments have already been received from Armadale, Port Macquarie and Sydney. Mr Levy said he was hoping for strong local interest, with enough registrations potentially providing the foundation for a Bellingen bridge club.
“I would love the people of Bellingen particularly to come and take it up, because it’s such a vibrant community,” he said. “There’s room for a bridge club if we could get enough people there.”
Tickets for Intro to Bridge are $279 for adults, $265 for concession card holders, and $183 for teens aged 16 to 17. Camp Creative’s full 2027 programme is listed at campcreative.com.au.