Came across the Beckenham and Bromley Chess Club website on Google, by accident. Took me back to 1955...when as a shy sixteen-year-old I waited outside Verney's restaurant in Beckenham High Street, where they met at the time, too nervous to go in, until an old buffer (younger than I now am!) who was just going in took me with him. Played at the club for two years until I was called up.
I was so glad to see it still going. In those days it had a large membership, and was very lively: lots of members of all ages. I look back with painful nostalgia on those happy days, and took the trouble to find as much information as I could about the now merged Bromley and Beckenham Chess Club.
The website itself doesn't work at the moment [don't know how this happened. Ed.], but I found various related sites, including a blog by Andy Heard where he complained that it was his players - the 16 chess men - rather than his management that had led to a bad patch of form! I knew what he meant. My queen has a penchant for finding squares where she can ogle the opposing knights and pawns, and then usually gets trapped. My bishops are not as sly as the ones my opponents have which seem to slither through my kings castle with impunity; and my king is not match fit, and gets out of breath when chasing pawns down the board in the end-game, even when it seems to me that he starts off well within striking range.
I haven't played seriously since my sons gave the game up in favour of beat 'em ups and Warcraft ten years ago, but I sometimes fill a half-hour or so playing through a game on chessgames.com.
My sincerest good wishes to all of you who keep the chess flag flying in South-East London: long may you reign.
I replied, of course, thanking Charles for his interest; and after suggesting he might like to come along to the club for the B v B match, I also pointed out that he'd apparently resolved the origin of the Verney Cup. I then received the following:
A quick ramble down Beckenham High Street on Google Earth shows that Verney's is now a Prezzo's - one of which is about to open in Felixstowe, where I live now. Somehow I'm glad to see it is still a restaurant. The 6th of June, which you kindly invite me, to is my wife's birthday. Much though she would like a celebratory trip to London, I doubt I could convince her to spend the evening at a chess match.
Bromley were great rivals to us when I played, but many players belonged to both clubs, and Bromley always seemed to be slightly better than us. I could launch into a lot of ancient anecdotes about the personnel of the day e.g. the heavily bearded Mr Thompson, who dressed in an outfit which appeared to be designed to play Fagin in the musical Oliver. and who, when I was with him in a waiting room en route to a match, would save expenditure by lighting a dead match, stored in his matchbox, in the waiting room coal fire, to light his pipe. He was a good player though, but handicapped himself by starting b3, an opening he called The Hippopotamus. Move 2? Kb2! He was beside me in a simul against Paul Keres and essayed this against the Soviet grandmaster who gave me a knowing look as he passed; but it took him some time to dismantle the weird setup, which was too much for many a player in the 'Lewis Cup' in Kent. And then there was Mr Hobbs and...no no, I must stop!
Charles Nightingale