Club
Tribute to Geof Tyrrell |
||
| CLWB GWYLLBWYLL PENTYRCH CHESS CLUB | ||
| The members of Pentyrch Chess Club, along with many others in the village, were deeply shocked and saddened by the death on April 5th 2010 at the early age of 63 of the founder of the club and our club captain Geof Tyrrell. He is pictured (right), along with Pentyrch 'A' team captain Mike Maguire, at the club's 25th anniversary event at the Kings Arms in September 2006. | ||
|
||
| Having played chess for the Whitchurch High and Cathays school teams respectively in the early 1960s, Geof and I met up again in 1980 as neighbours in Maes-y-Sarn, Pentyrch. The first thing he asked was whether I was still playing chess and I had to say "no, not for 15 years or more". The best part of a year later, he gathered some people from the village at his home to test their strength at chess and then launched the club in September 1981 in the lowest division of the East Glamorgan Chess League. We started out playing in St Catwg's Church Hall but after a couple of years we moved to the Kings Arms and we've been there ever since. | ||
| In Mike Maguire's words, we shall always remember him as full of life, great company, warm, friendly and enthusiastic. He had a great wealth of interesting stories and was a real character in Welsh chess, for which he did a huge amount earlier in his career. In the 1970's and early 1980's he had been a non-playing captain of the Welsh Chess Team at several Olympiads and European events and for some years until 2008 was President of the Welsh Chess Union. A fulsome tribute from his great friend, Howard Williams (former top board player in the Welsh team), is on the Welsh Chess Union website at | ||
| Welsh Chess Union - Tribute to Geof Tyrrell | >||
| Geof's presence at the club will be missed enormously. | ||
| To continue in the spirit in which he instigated the chess club in the village, we are always more than happy to welcome new members. Anyone wishing to join should contact me on (029) 2089 1402. Our website is at www.pentyrchchess.co.uk . | ||
|
||
| Vivian Martin | ||
| Club Secretary | ||
