Margret was a lifelong Bridge player. She learned the game sitting on her father's knee, watching him play. Her husband, Donald was her bridge partner as well as her life partner and they played at the Angas Plains Hall. In her later years, Bridge became her passion. She accumulated an extensive library and organised two-table Bridge sessions at her home in Strathalbyn as well as driving to Victor Harbor to play club Bridge there with her favourite partner, Marjorie Quinn. When the Hills Bridge Club started in 2008, she began playing there.
It was at the Hills Bridge Club that Margret and I first came into contact when I began playing at the end of 2008.
In February 2011 Margret asked me whether I would be willing to start a Bridge club in Strathalbyn if she supplied the money to get all the required equipment. Always looking for a handy Bridge game, I immediately agreed.
We got together 2 tables of interested players and potential players and I provided some instruction under Margret's supervision. I, myself had only been playing for a little more than two years and had just completed David Lusk's Introductory course at The South Australian Bridge Association where I had become a member and was playing once a week.
On the 24th of March we held a public meeting at The Strathalbyn Senior Citizens' Club to gauge interest but did not attract any new players. Margret's donation of $300 was announced and and a further unsolicited $25 was received. There were fifteen attendees and we resolved to form a club and that I would be the organiser.
Margret and I had discussed the name of the club and she wanted it to be more inclusive than just "Strathalbyn" so we had decided on "Alexandrina".
During April Margret suffered a stroke that put her in hospital at Daw Park for several weeks and resulted in her losing the use of her right hand and some of her mobility. Margret began playing Bridge again on 1st of February 2012.
Alexandrina Bridge Club played its first game on Thursday 25th of May 2011. We played at the CWA rooms in Sunter Street. There were fourteen players: Jane M and Isabel G, Marion K and Ruth D, Beryl W and Heather O, Linda S and Cynthia H, Trevor R and Jill R, Norman B and George G and Patrica D and Bill D.
Margret and I first played as partners on the 18th of April 2012. We became regular partners on 15th August 2012. She persevered with me despite my bidding failures because I calculated the scores in my head. If I got the bidding right she would thank me, but if I mucked it up she said nothing and when I mucked it up monumentally (my passing on her 2 Club bids became a joke for a while) she pursed her lips and just got on with the game.
On 23rd April 2014 at the Inaugural General Meeting for The Alexandrina Contract Bridge Club the first act of business, following election of officers, was the installation of Margret as Founding Patron, moved by Norman B, seconded by Linda S and carried by acclamation.
The newly formed Club's first Management Committee meeting approved an annual trophy that, as long as the club existed, would remind members of the prime mover for the Club's existence. Alexandrina Contract Bridge Club's Margret Warren Cup was presented to the 2014 Club Champions, Beryl L and Fran G. The names of the previous two annual Club Champions were already inscribed on the Cup, Lesley B and Ron B for 2012 and Margret W and Norman B for 2013. Club Champions for 2015 were again Margret and Norman.
Margret was not present at our Annual Birthday Celebration at the beginning of June and I visited her the next day to let her know that we were the 2015 Club Champions and to give her the Cup. While she was physically impaired and reduced to a wheelchair, she was in no way mentally diminished and when she told me what she had already told her family, that she felt she had had a good life and was ready to let it slip away, then I was prepared to respect her decision. She said she was happy to have been instrumental in forming the Club and was pleased with the way it had turned out, friendly and welcoming, a little bit social and a little bit competitive with everyone having a good time. She thanked me for everything I had done and asked me to pass on her thanks to everyone at the Club
Many from the Club went to visit Margret. I would go in an see her once or twice a week and we would chat for a little. During the final weeks she was usually sleeping but always dignified. Ron and Lesley were the last from the Club to see her. She passed away peacefully on the 24th of September. She was 95.
