Long-serving members of the club Mike Stinchcomb and Pete Saunders cast their minds back, and share their recollections of the club’s colourful history. 

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The Twyford House and Sea Mills Years

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The club can, in one form or another, trace its history back to 1949, when Twyford House Chess Club was founded. In its prime, Sea Mills was a very strong club, who reputedly had a grandmaster as part of their team.  Alan Ashby wrote a history of Sea Mills Chess Club back in 1982, which was published in the 75th League anniversary issue of the Bristol Chesstimes. I’ve taken the liberty of reproducing it here (with some minor edits to reflect the time of writing, i.e. 2024).

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“Sea Mills Chess Club was started in 1949 when the warden of Twyford House, Shirehampton, advertised for someone to start a chess club as part of their facilities. Len Dorrington replied and thereby got stuck with the job of Secretary until last year [sic 1981]. The club was then called Twyford House Chess Club. At the time of writing in 1982, C. A. Yeo (Chair) and K. Dansie were survivors from that first year, and O.H.Taylor left because of ill health only last year [sic 1981].

One of the original members, J. Bowman, presented the club with its Championship Cup and named it the Wenman Cup -- because P. Wenman was ex-Scottish Champion and also his father-in-law.

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While at Twyford House we were asked if, as a special favour, we could cope with a lad who was terribly disabled. Of course we did, but the favour was the other way round. He was the most regular attender of all club members and became Club Captain and Captain of the A team. He qualified as an accountant and was founder and Secretary of a now large national organisation -- Possum Users Association [sic since renamed The Sequal Trust]. Most readers will remember him - Robert Bowell, who died three years ago [sic 1979] aged 32.

 

The move to Sea Mills was in 1962 - there were fears of Twyford House closing down and this coincided with the offer of the present accommodation at Sea Mills; hence the change of name. While at Twyford, the club had proceeded from one team in div 4 (bottom division then) to three teams in Div 1, Div 3 and Div 4, respectively. The League K.O. Cup has Twyford House inscribed a couple of times. The K.O. Cup also has the name of Sea Mills on it; on this occasion the final was won 6-0.

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Other activities include telephone matches, both at Twyford and Sea Mills. One telephone match was a Bristol League Ladies team of 10 boards (Capt. Mrs. I.M.McKeag) v London Ladies. The match was drawn. This was in 1962. A recent [sic date unknown] match was Bristol League v Glasgow over 10 boards. This match was lost on just one adjudication.

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In 1972 the club's name was changed again following a marriage with Headley Park. The marriage was not a success and a divorce was arranged after only one season, so Sea Mills & Headley Park became just Sea Mills again.

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Sea Mills have twice had two teams in Div 1, but it must be admitted that both times the B team went straight back to Div 2. The season before last [sic 1980] it seemed that Sea Mills might for the very first time become Div 1 Champions but poor results from the last couple of matches produced a three-way tie with equal points (Bristol & Clifton, University and Sea Mills). In the last match a default could have been claimed through a late arrival of one of the opposition. It pleased everyone that the game was not claimed even though the game was lost and also the match as a result.

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Sea Mills became popular in as a venue for County matches. Devon played many of their matches at Sea Mills, including the 1982 Minor Counties Championship final. Gloucestershire and Somerset found it convenient, and for a number of years the North/South match alternated between Sea Mills and Dowty's, Cheltenham. In 1982 a Junior Teaching session was accommodated on behalf of W.E.C.U. This occupied a Saturday and Sunday and was organised by Richard Johnson (then WECU Jun. Sec.).

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Len Dorrington established quite a reputation for brewing tea at all these events which compensated somewhat for declining abilities at playing chess.”

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1997 postscript: “Sea Mills continued as a major club until Alan Ashby's tragic death in October 1993. Sea Mills A finished bottom of Division 1 that season and the team was disbanded, leaving Sea Mills with just one side - in Division 5. In the Summer of 1994, they moved to play at the Lawrence Weston Community Rooms, Stile Acres, and renamed themselves Sea Mills & Lawrence Weston.” – JR

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Twyford House, Where it all Began  

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The Lawrence Weston Years

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Mike takes up the baton to tell the tale of what happened to the club after the move to Lawrence Weston.

“I started playing league chess in 1993 and was a member of Thornbury chess club. In 1995 played in a match against Sea Mills & Long Cross Chess Club at Long Cross Senior School, Lawrence Weston, where my opponent was Kelvin Harvey. I discovered that Kelvin lived locally to me in Patchway and after a year of friendly chess matches, I made the move over from Thornbury to join Sea Mills & Long Cross. When I first joined there were only about 10 members and we only had one team.

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After our time at the school finished, we played at the Long Cross Pub’s pigeon club venue for a few years. It was a bit drafty though, especially in winter as there were many bricks thrown through the pub windows by the local hooligans!” 

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The Long Cross in 2012: ©Jonathan Wilde/ PubsGalore.co.uk. The pub has since closed down and been demolished ​

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The Patchway Years

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“Our next move was to Patchway Community Centre as Kelvin worked there as manager. It was here that Kelvin persuaded me to be Father Christmas for two years in their Santa Claus afternoon events for kids. Great fun, although some kids were a nightmare!

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The club had been renamed to Patchway Chess Club by now, and we continued to ply our trade in the Bristol & District Chess League. After a few years we moved again, this time to Patchway Library where we could access any books we wished to read between matches, including Chess opening books!”

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After his stints as Father Christmas, I’m sure Mike appreciated the brief period of peace and quiet that the library setting afforded. He continues:

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“We stayed at the library for about two years, after which we moved to Coniston Community Centre, Patchway, where we stayed for the next few years.

 

Eventually, we discovered that Patchway Fire Station had rooms available in the evenings for  free of charge [a huge incentive that every chess club treasurer will sadly empathise with], and we made the move. After a while we got used to games occasionally being interrupted by the sound of a fire engine being called out – we used to have to warn opponents about it before matches started! The main issue with the fire station was that players weren't allowed to bring alcohol onto the premises, for obvious reasons, and some members were craving for a drink to help with their chess performance!” 

 

It was upon the move to the fire station that Pete Saunders was elected Club Captain and Chair, a post he has held ever since. Mike continues:

“We stayed at the fire station for about three years. When the fire brigade began closing stations in Bristol we were sent packing. Luckily Pete discovered the Ratepayers Arms in neighbouring Filton.

  

For a few years during the mid 2000s we also used to hold a summer blitz night tournament at my house, which was great fun.

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I’ve known many people over the years and made lots of friends during my time with the club. Pete Saunders and Tony Golding have been members for almost as long as I have, but I would like to reserve a special mention for our longest serving player and previous treasurer, Rob Lowery. Rob played for the club’s various incarnations for over 50 years until he sadly passed away about three years ago. He’s still fondly remembered at the club and is very much missed by all who knew him.”

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Ratepayers Arms: © PubsGalore.co.uk. The pub has since closed down and been demolished

 

The North Bristol Chess Club Years

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The club made the move to the Ratepayers Arms, helpfully facilitated by Pete’s contacts with Filton Council. The club was re-named North Bristol Chess Club, the name it proudly bears to this day.  Pete had also founded a juniors’ club, Pete’s Potentials, who moved to the Ratepayers at a similar time. Pete takes up both clubs’ combined story:

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“I started playing for the club from the first move to Patchway where I met Mike and Kelvin. On the move to the fire station I was elected club captain and Chairman. 

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At this time I was running a junior chess club out of Clifton College. I had some great children all around 8 to11 years old who I coached and entered into all of the available junior chess activities around the southwest. In around 2007 I entered a team of children into the Bristol & District League: Pete’s Potentials was born! Our home was Clifton College. Children playing in that league was unheard of at that time, as there was no proper junior club other than mine. We met with a lot of resistance from teams who didn't want to play against children. Bad language and foul tempers from some. In our first year playing in division 4 we finished halfway up the table. No shame: our team’s average age was 10.

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The following year we had to leave Clifton College. I was at that time the League Treasurer and Junior Officer playing for Patchway, still Club Captain and Chairman. I had contacts with Filton Council and got the Ratepayers for Patchway. The club was renamed North Bristol.

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I moved Pete’s Potentials to the Ratepayers. I went in at 5pm to run the juniors club, and prepared everything for the matches those nights. Many of the children stayed behind after the juniors night finished, and played against North Bristol’s adults. Several of the children became very strong players, and played for North Bristol, including in their A Team when we reached Division 1.

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Our time at the Ratepayers marked a recent high point for the club. We made Division 1, and had 4 teams, playing in 4 different Divisions of the Bristol & District Chess League. Sadly though, the Ratepayers went bankrupt, and we had to move again when the building was demolished by its new owners. We found our new home at The Inn On The Green pub in Filton. The clubs were still thriving, with a weekly average of 27 children attending Pete’s Potentials and North Bristol riding high in the league. Then disaster struck. Covid was rampant, Pete’s Potentials ceased to exist and the league shut down.  Things finally started up again once the Covid lockdowns eased, but with the children playing on Monday nights and the seniors playing social chess and league matches on different nights – firstly on Thursdays and then on Tuesdays. The ravages of Covid left us with a depleted pool of players, and we played the 2021-2022 season with just two teams, both competing in Division 2. Had covid not hit, we would have been able to field a team in Division 1.

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When the club moved to Little Stoke Social Club in summer 2023, I was unable to commit to Tuesdays due to my work in schools. Thus, I now run Pete’s Potentials separately from North Bristol Chess Club on Mondays: 6-7.30pm at The Inn On The Green. Pete’s Potentials is still going strong, with around 15 children at the last count. I enter the children in all the local junior events and indeed had 3 Gigafinalists this year [sic 2024]. Pete’s Potentials will be my legacy of 25 years.”

 

My own time at North Bristol Chess Club started in the summer of 2022. My sons both developed a passion for chess through their primary school’s chess club, and my wife found Pete’s Potentials for them so that they could continue playing during the school holidays. Playing at home with Dad was just too boring… That summer I became an Inn On The Green regular, grabbing a quiet drink and catching up on work in a quiet corner of the pub while the boys played upstairs every Monday evening. It didn’t last. I got chatting to Pete one pickup time, and let it slip that I liked chess myself; Pete wouldn’t rest until I’d sampled a North Bristol club night. I turned up at the club a couple of Thursdays later, full of trepidation that I’d be outclassed and humiliated, but was warmly welcomed with open arms. My chess has since improved leaps and bounds, largely thanks to the many good-natured drubbings I’ve received from more talented players! An interest that had lain largely dormant since my own school days was re-awakened with a vengeance. My sons no longer attend Pete’s Potentials as they’re both busy with other things on Mondays, but we all been play at North Bristol Chess Club whenever we can, and are loving every minute of it. It’s been a privilege to compile and share the club’s history.

James Bingham. September 2024.

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Everything set up for the club's 2024 Blitz Night at Little Stoke Social Club​

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​​​​​​​P.S. I'm a mere hobbyist as a historian, and I'm sure there are certain inaccuracies above that could be improved upon (though hopefully no blunders!) If you have any corrections to make to the above, or have any interesting facts, memorabilia or anecdotes about the club then please do let us know, and we’ll be delighted to add them to the club’s history.