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Some
History, some memories and some personalities
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Bill Brumby
Bill
Shankly the one time manager of Liverpool F.C. alleged that
football was greater than life itself. It may not be quite like
that for contract bridge and Newcastle Bridge Club in particular
but it was, is, and always will be quite something.
It
was in the early fifties that Les Walker and Bill Brumby
ventured or should it be said plucked up courage to go to the
Chronicle Hall to be known as "the boys". The elders
were daunting, Mamie and Harry Esther, Jimmy Tweddle the
Newcastle Education Chief and his partner the teacher Mr.
Morgan, plus the odd turf accountant. Tough going but with some
success and nice to hear Harry say " Mamie you've been
done."
These are reminiscences of the fifties and Ray Richardson can
recall the late forties and his partner another of the turf
accountants who would certainly know the odds of how suits would break.
Returning to the fifties Capt. Ewart Kempton, who founded the
club in 1935, played in the business houses league for the
Chronicle giving some of us an opportunity to meet him. Bridge
apparel was somewhat different in those days with the North of
England versus the South being played in the Station Hotel
Newcastle with evening dress for the players being essential.
Since then of course there have been many technical Improverss
to assist the spectators but nevertheless it was rewarding to
watch with the play being good even without the many
conventions, which have come about since then, and there was
plenty of humour.
The names of the Kempson Cup and the
Kempson Vases owe their names to Capt. Kempton of course. One
memory of a Newcastle team in the Kempson Cup was of having the
feeling of the best ever session only to discover that the team
had played North/South in both rooms. A more pleasant memory was
of Gladys Humphreys dancing round the room after defeating the
team, which had won the Kempson for the three previous years.
After the opponents had left of course. Now that was a
formidable partnership, that of the ladies, Gladys with Lily
Pape.
Prior
to the formation of the Brunton club Newcastle had a strong
Inter Area team including Arnold Deane with Roger Crankshaw and
other stalwarts..Les and Bill were pleased to join them in
winning the First Division once. Since the formation of Brunton
Newcastle have only won the First Division once again. Some of
the current members play for other clubs so that a fully
representative team would be stronger. Some of the Inter Area
matches provided excitement and drama with one of the most
dramatic being a visit to Middlesborough.
It
had not been possible to play on the usual Sunday because of the
weather conditions so the match had been re-arranged for a
weekday evening. The Newcastle weather on that day was wet snow
all day but melting. Progress reports with Middlesborough were
favourable. What a nonsense! Dennis Clarke and Arthur Herron
were picked up in Newcastle at what was a reasonable time. We
reached there at some ludicrous time and took until Midnight to
play 24 boards out of the usual 32. Middlesborough wanted a
reasonable result to avoid relegation but as we were so far
ahead they conceded after the 24. Now the big problem had really
arrived, that of getting home. What a nightmare ! The car had to
be pushed back on the road at least three times. We feared for
the slight Arthur who was becoming very pale. Silly us as he was
probably the strongest with his high-level footballing
background. We must have been the very last car to clear the A19
with those behind having to spend the rest of the night in cars
or village or church halls.
At
the Chronicle Hall there were as you might say disagreements or
even rows between partners resulting from the tenseness of the
game (remember Bill Shankly), but normality was soon resumed..
The move from the Chronicle Hall was to Bentinck Road in
Newcastle. There we even experienced a short bout of fisticuffs
on the Wednesday club night. This again was quickly resolved
with laughter all-round when it was discovered that the fight
was concerned with play on the Monday evening, a competition
which they had won. Bridge is a very serious game.
After
enjoyable evenings at Bentinck the time arrived for the next
move that to Gateshead under the Railway arches. As the premises
were not in ideal condition for a bridge venue this meant that
the committee and volunteers had to arm themselves with paint
pots and brushes to do the necessary. Well done with such
devotion confirming the merits of the game. Owen Griffiths and
Duggy Bolton were some of the players at the time and also Len
Wood. Owen left a good selection of bridge books to the club,
and Doug was of course an unfortunate POW in the Far East. Len will be remembered as a very deep thinker in
respect of the various problems posed by the hands. John Bailey
also became prominent at that time playing with a colleague from
British Paints.
Before
mentioning the next move it might be good to mention something
about the various congresses which played a big part in the
activities of the Newcastle members. The annual exodus to the
NEBA congress at the Zetland Hotel Saltburn was a significant
part of the member's curriculum. Before Bridge moved into the
electronic age we were indebted to directors and others who
scored manually. This meant that players would sit up until 2 am
waiting for the results. There was of course Bridge and other
card delicacies to play in the meantime. After all this the
really keen element would have an early round at the local Golf
Course. If anyone forgot to pay their green fees it was probably
because of the excitement caused by the imminent return to the
Zetland Mecca. A true highlight of the weekend was the Sunday
morning gathering at the pub at the side of the beach It was a
pleasure to hear the experts expound. The weather at that time
of the year was variable and once the Corbridge contingent
suffered when their roof blew off. Remember Nancy Brown and Mary
Ward, and also inimitable Arthur Beatty who would recall hands,
on returning from the Congress, with such intensity that the
driver would sometimes get lost. The trouble was that they were
not hands from the Congress but some from years ago.
The
popularity of the NEBA Congress waned somewhat when the Saltburn
venue had to be changed. For several years play was at various
Durham University colleges. However Susan Green, indefatigable
in working for her Newcastle Club and NEBA was particularly
involved in getting the congress back on track at Otterburn and
other venues. At Otterburn Bob Cuerden was brilliant in ensuring
that he was the first to order the wine for the table. Good old
Bob!
Another
congress very popular with Newcastle members for a long time has
been that at Peebles by the Scottish Bridge Union for bridge
players and gourmets. The following is an extract from the
bridge-scoring programme used at Peebles. The date 15th
October 1991.
Ranking
List
Posn.
Pair
B/Fwd Session Cum %
4
B.Boast/ E.Cameron
B 7E
72.0
95.0
167.0 59.64
6
D.Rule/ G. Stafford
B 7N 76.0
88.0 164.0 58.57
Pretty
good out of 22 pairs and Edith and Belle were shown as the top
session improvers. Belle and Edith, Dorothy and Gwen. The first
time I played with Belle I was in game before I had properly
sorted my hand, and made it. What can be better than walking
down the aisle at Peebles for a major prize?
Walking down the aisle with Edith shouting in the
background " Howay the Lads". As for Gwen, could there
be a better storyteller at Peebles? Remember Edith's husband
George ? He was on the team that beat the Kempson
Cupholders and also on the team the last time Newcastle
won the Inter Area 1st Division.
Newcastle
as a club does very well in holding two congresses each year. At
first it was a single congress with pairs in the afternoon and
teams at night. Originally
it
was before computer scoring and the scorers between sessions did
a very good job. One of the evening teams saw Brenda Osborne and
Sam Khadaroo win their first prize at this level, Brenda to form
a long partnership with Alec Simpson (the advent of the weak two
in three suits to the Newcastle Club) and Sam to form a long
lasting partnership with Issy Mitrani. Others on a winning
evening teams congress were Ray Richardson and Manny Silver who
was unofficially confirmed each AGM. as the club doctor on the
basis of the endless advice he gave to members. The change to
two separate congresses meant a great deal of work and
administration for committee members and helpers. The early
workload included getting tables to the Pairs venue and at the
YWCA for the teams we had to wait for the residents to finish
lunch before proceedings could commence. One exciting Pairs
congress featured the computer breaking down so there was hand
scoring at the interval and at the end to determine the results
for the three sections. The congress was complicated further by
losing the director for the final session. All ended well but
very late. Congratulations to Desmond Dunleavy and Tony Bell for
winning the last two congresses.
Returning
to club nights following the congress memories the move from
"underneath the arches" saw the achievement of
University status but only because play was to be at university
premises on Jesmond Road Newcastle. Some of the players
featuring there were the aforementioned Arthur and Dennis who at
the time were very keen to win their first Newcastle club trophy
having gone close many times. They hadn't long to wait. Also
there was the pairing of Frank Springett
(later to feature in many other strong partnerships) and
John Naylor, Les and Pat Wilson who undertook sterling work for
the club before moving to Sterling, Les to become the I.T.
professor at Sterling University and Pat to later have a spell
as President of the Scottish Bridge Union. Pat also formed a
partnership with Ian Spoors at Jesmond Road.
The
next move was to St. James Church Northumberland Road. Enjoyable
years were experienced there, but parking problems exacerbated
on evenings featuring play at St.. James's Park and or
performances at the City Hall plus the fact that the venue was
becoming costly forced the consideration of a further move. Up
to 26 tables were achieved there, just enough to cope with the
current movement and the available space. The team's championship included up to 19 teams. With the
time approaching the current era most of the personalities
involved are well known, and unfortunately although happy
memories exist of all it would be a lengthy task
to mention them all. . We cannot, however, pass on
without a word for Jack Sugden, for his character and for his
work as a director and club chairman, and also for his partner
Renee Golding. One more mention is for Bill Scott to whom
everyone was grateful for allowing them to improve their defence
against his perpetual Three No Trumps.
Following
the difficulties experienced at Northumberland Road there was
the move to the current premises at West Denton. The club is now
well established there with the premises being used for club
nights, and for the club's Teams Congress as well as for some
NEBA events. The various moves necessitated and accomplished,
the introduction of club congresses and the current successful
running of the club are all down to people. Firstly the
directors. Newcastle is fortunate to have the services of two
very personable and able directors. John Bailey partnered by
Jean and now for some time by Terry King , alternating with the
gentlemen Tom Smith and his popular partner Stuart Russell.
Recently remembered chairpersons and secretaries, although they
cover quite a span of years, are Jean Marshall very able and
hardworking both for the club and NEBA with Fergus's
refreshments at committee meetings being much appreciated. Susan
Green, whose workload has already been discussed, partnered over
the years by Brenda Charlton. Kathlene Armstrong also a good
club worker with a penchant for club parties, her alternating
partners being Mike Stanbury and Keith Forster. Talking of
parties it will be fitting to mention a previous chairman Tom
Glenn. Tom very much pro British and an Arnhem veteran always
wore his Union Jack garb at Christmas parties and regaled us
with typical Tom stories. The current secretary Anne Hauxley
undertakes a huge workload including that for NEBA, scoring for
club nights, and maintaining a significant web site. She only
allows herself time for a cup of cocoa before scoring up after
the club night finishes and posting the results on the web. The
current chairman Desmond Dunleavy is carrying on the good work.
Other big contributors to the successful running of the club are
of course the treasurers. With two congresses each year the
turnover to be managed by the treasurers is much greater than
the normal expectancy for a club treasurer. Those handling this
situation were John Routledge, ever smiling and with a multitude
of jokes, the very popular Mary Laws, and currently as part of
her workload Susan Green. The club is in very good order at the
moment with good turnouts and several members who have joined
comparatively recently. Those with the club longer and have not
been mentioned in the memories be assured that all are all well
remembered for their personalities
and the parts played
over the years to ensure the continuing well being of the club.
There should, however, be a mention of the West Denton ladies,
Doris Henshaw, Marian Chipperfield and the unforgettable Renee
Benneworth. Apart from their contribution to the club and the
enjoyment they have given to many, memories of them go back many
years to when they started playing for their local club in the
Business Houses League. This League is mentioned because over
the years many Newcastle members have enjoyed many teams of four
battles in it.
Seventy
years on from Captain Kempson?
What will happen in the next seventy years? We can be
sure that with the continued good works of the members, that
barring unforeseen circumstances the Newcastle Bridge Club will
still provide many enjoyable hours, and leave some of the then
members with a host of memories that they can pleasantly run
through their minds from time to time...
Bill Brumby
More memories from
Godric (Ric) Dearing
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