Club History 5: Into the Twenty-first Century

County League Champions in 1991

In the nineties the club met at Claines Church Institute and Bishop Perowne School. Prominent players and officials in recent years have been: E Alan Copeman and Dr Ray Collett. The latter was Secretary of both the County Association and the District League as well as being an individual Worcestershire County Champion. Other members who won the Worcestershire Individual Championshio were: Eric Myers; Ray Sayers; and Andy Taylor. The picture below shows some of the strongest players in the team that won Division 1 of the Worcestershire League in the early 1990s.

Some members of the County Division 1 Team 1991 Championship side (left to right): Ray Sayers, Nick Harris, Jim Keene, Paul Turberfield, Alan E Copeman and Anthony Gregory

Ray Sayers (left) Andrew Gregory faces Andrew Gregory in a five-minute game watched by Nick Harris, ?, Paul Turberfield, and Jim Keene

During these years the club secretary was Ken Burrows, who took up the game as his 'retirement project' developing his play to club level with a chess computer. He was a keen player and played regularly for the Division 2 County League side. Another stalwart of the club was Roger Nall who was at various times President and Competitions Secretary devising the Christmas chess variants night, which has featured in the Club fixture list for many years.

President Roger Nall (left) and Secretary Ken Burrows (right) officiate at an early 1990s AGM

The Club met at Bishop Perowne's School for a few years, but then settled at the current site at St.Stephen's Church Hall, St. Stephen's Street for the main chess season. In 2006 the club decided to meet informally during the summer months and were fortunate in finding support from tenants of the Northwick Arms near their winter HQ. In 2009, however, the new tenants wanted to expand their evening catering operations and Andrea Schultz, landlady of The Cardinal's Hat, Friar Street came to the club's aid to provide a summer venue. When Andrea's lease of the 'Holy Titfer' came to an end, The King's Head, round the corner in Sidbury became the Summer watering hole for Worcester's chess players in 2010 to 2012. In 2013 members were invited to play during the summer months at King Charles' House (the premises the king escaped from after his defeat at the battle of Worcester) in New Street and in 2015 held a public event as part of Worcester Festival to raise money for Magg's Day Centre, a refuge for homeless families. Since 2017, the club has met in another city centre public house The Paul Pry, whose landlord, Alex Pope, has made the members very welcome.

More recent history is in the old news pages.