Four women with a desire to have fun recently took lessons from life master duplicate bridge players, John and Linda Randall.

That hunger for fellowship and love of the challenging game has turned into a weekly duplicate bridge group of three to four tables that meets to play every Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the Harrison Regional Library in Columbiana.

Judy Blaylock, Fran Sharp, Terry List and Olivia Kalin started the group, which has grown to become the only American Contract Bridge League sanctioned duplicate group in South Shelby County.

There is also an ACBL group that meets in North Shelby in Riverchase.

The co-directors of this rookie level group are Eileen and Beryl Hedrick of Alabaster.

Eileen is an ACBL Life Master.

The Hedricks start each Friday with a 30-minute lesson for honing your bridge skills. The game is open to all party bridge players, no matter how rusty you might be.

The game is duplicate, where players play the same hands and compete to see who plays the hands the best.

Points are given to the winners and entered into Eileen’s laptop for ACBL points.

There are several levels of ACBL duplicate bridge: club, sectional, regional and national. Points are given at each level: black points at the club level; silver at sectional; and red and gold at the regional and national levels. ACBL has more than 200,000 members nationwide.

The Friday group at the Harrison Library is considered a beginner’s game.

It is a rookie level so do not be intimidated if you do not know how to play well, “I did not know my card suits when I began,” Kalin said. “I was a true beginner.”

The fellowship does not stop at the end of the bridge for the group goes out to lunch every Friday. The cost is $6 per week. A portion of that cost, $1.25, is donated to the Friends of the Library.

For information, e-mail Eileen at bridgeclub2006@aol.com.

Phoebe Robinson can be reached by e–mail at phoeberobinson@bellsouth.net