Winterbourne

by S Daniels

A history of the chess club, published in the 75th League anniversary issue of the Bristol Chesstimes in 1982.

Origins

The club was formed in February of 1978 and the first meeting was held at the local Winterbourne Community Centre. The first club meeting was on a Monday evening, and the club has met on this night ever since.

At that first meeting, Stan Pytel, Eddie James, Richard Clifton and Ted Searle became the founders, and in the following week Brian & Duncan Webb and Tyson Mordue joined the ranks. Now we have between 25-30 members on our register.

League Chess

Support for the club grew during the summer of 1978 and a team was accepted into the League for the 78/79 season.

In the following season, 79/80, this team won the Sixth Division Championship. In the latter half of this season, when the mini-Seventh Division was created, we provided support with a second team: our B team was created.

For the 80/81 season, the A Team established itself in the Fourth Division, as did the B Team in Division Six.

Last year the club was successful in winning the Fourth Division Championship with the A Team. The B Team continued in Division Six and our C Team, in its first year of existence, found its feet in Division 7. Our record stands at two championships in four seasons of League play!

Events

For the past five years, we have held an annual friendly with Downend & Fishponds, each team hosting the match in alternate years. After winning the first encounter, the honours have gone to Downend in the past few years.

In September 1981, we lured Shaun Taulbut, an International Master of no mean standing, to Winterbourne one Monday evening for a simultaneous display. 35 boards were filled with our club members, as well as guests from Downend, Keynsham, and Hanham & Kingswood clubs. This turned out to be a most successful evening.

During the summer months we run various events. This year, for instance, a 4 Round Quickplay Competition was a particularly well-supported feature.

Prospects

It must be recorded that the success of Winterbourne Chess Club from its inception has been largely through the untiring and driving efforts of Tyson Mordue. With his continuing help, and with the strong support of all our members, we look forward to our second five years with keen anticipation.

1997 postscript: Winterbourne folded in the summer of 1991. - JR