Roy Skelton – A life in Worthing bridge remembered

Those who were able to attend Roy’s funeral on 13 March will have been impressed by the very large number of bridge players wishing to pay their respects. Undoubtedly this reflected the huge respect and affection in which Roy was held by all who knew him throughout the bridge world. From a Worthing Bridge Club perspective, Roy’s commitment to the success of the club was unmatched over four decades from the time in the 1970s when he and a handful of others provided the loan finance which enabled the Club to buy its own premises leading to him becoming one of the original Trustees of the Club, through his very many years of service on the management committee, including four years as Chairman, to his appointment as President of the club in 2016. Roy’s very many years of service led to him becoming one of the very few to have been awarded honorary membership status at the Club.

The onset of Parkinson’s curtailed his play at congress level, Roy ending as a Premier National Master. Those who played with and against him would attest not only to the accuracy of his bidding and play but also and more importantly to his unfailing politeness and consideration for others. During his time as Chairman, his commitment to the code of conduct ‘Best behaviour in bridge’ was marked by an ideal combination of firmness and fairness. Those who knew him less well might glean from this that he was a bit boring. Far from it; Roy’s wry sense of humour and rapier like wit was a regular feature of his time at Worthing which those who worked with him will readily recognise.

Following his retirement from committee business in 2011, Roy remained very supportive of succeeding committees and was always happy to provide advice and guidance as required. It was therefore no surprise that the present committee decided unanimously to appoint Roy as President of the Club in succession to Alan Jeffery. During the final years of his life, Parkinson’s disease presented Roy with another major challenge, a challenge which he rose to with great fortitude and great good humour, continuing to play his beloved game of bridge every week until only very shortly before his passing. We shall all miss him greatly.

Dick Wheeler

14 March 2017

RegistryWBC Trustees and Land

The property of the Club is legally vested in at least two Trustees.

The Title Absolute (on the 9th Sept 1997) showed the Trustees to be Lesley Barnacle, Harold Birch, Malcolm Alexander and Roy Skelton.

In Aug 2005, following the deaths of Lesley Barnacle and Harold Birch, the two remaining Trustees appointed David Hughes and Elaine Hennings as two additional new Trustees.

Following the death of Roy Skelton earlier this year the Club was again down to two Trustees.  (Malcolm Alexander had died in 2005)

We now wish to appoint two additional Trustees to bring the total back to four.

The names of Ernie Rivett and Gill Skelton have been put forward.

To save holding an Extraordinary General Meeting to approve these nominees we ask all members to contact the Secretary, Penny Mitchell, by Monday 24th July 2017 if they have any objections to either of the proposed new Trustees.

Additionally:

The four original trustees mentioned above were named in the Land Registry documents that show the ownership of the Club land (and our position with parking rights).  It is essential we have names of Trustees on the Land Registry documents and therefore we intend to put David Hughes, Elaine Hennings, Ernie Rivett and Gill Skelton on the Land Registry documents.

This notice will be displayed in the Club and will also be available via Pianola

Freddie North (Grand Master, former international, author, creator of Aunt Agatha, and columnist)   died in Sussex in  2009 aged 88. He played at Worthing to the end and usually won.

Remembering Alan Jeffery

Worthing Bridge Club’s President, Alan Jeffery, passed away peacefully on 3 March 2016. Alan reached the wonderful age of 101 last Christmas but his consummate skill at the bridge table, displayed regularly at Worthing until only a few weeks before his passing, reflected the fact that he honed his game on the London high stakes rubber bridge circuit in the 1950s, alongside running a highly successful bookmaking business. He moved to Worthing on retirement in 1980 and became a qualified duplicate bridge teacher. At Worthing his name appears on the honours board more frequently than any other but his bridge career in Worthing can be best summed up by one of his regular partners, Ken Shillam, who writes:

“Alan was an absolutely outstanding bridge player and even at 101 years was without doubt the best player at the Worthing club. I had the great honour of being his main partner during recent years.

He was a few points short of being a Grand Master - a level he would have achieved several times over had he continued to play in EBU events. These demand great stamina, much travel, late nights etc and who can blame him for not wanting to take it a bit easier as the years ticked by. Plus his work as a high level bookmaker for Ladbrokes frequently took him out of the country for long periods. That said, over the years he had been selected and played in the first teams for Surrey, Kent and Sussex - not many people can equal that. His name appears some 100 times on the Worthing Club honours boards. Many people have benefitted from his series of bridge lessons and can testify on his teaching skills and general bridge wisdom.

Alan was not an easy person to play with simply because he was unbelievably good. I am confident he would have more than held his own, even at 100, with the County first teams of today. Watching him taking the correct line in bringing home tricky and seemingly unmakeable contracts always made one think: I couldn't have done that. Conversely when I was declarer he would watch every move with eagle eye, and was often aware of my mistakes even before I made them! But he was quite tolerant of his partner's shortcomings. What I particularly liked was the absence of any swagger or bravado about any of his superior moves.

Above all, I shall always remember one great tip of Alan's. If you want to be really good at bridge, try playing Rubber for money that you can't afford to lose!”

In addition to representing Sussex, Alan was also a regular winner of Sussex events, winning the Sussex Pairs, the bi-annual Congress Pairs and Teams on several occasions and he was a six times winner of both the Senior Sims and the New Year Swiss Teams, his last win being in the Seniors as recently as 2006 at the age of 91. He was appointed President of Worthing Bridge Club in 2012 and was always active in encouraging the Management Committee to continue the positive evolution of the club and its offerings to members. He will be fondly remembered by all at Worthing, particularly those who benefited from his expertise as a teacher and his incisive advice at the table, and will remain a hugely impressive example of the mental benefits of the mind sport that is contract bridge.

For those who may wish to attend Alan’s funeral, this will take place at 12.20pm on Thursday 17 March at the Kingswood Chapel, Worthing Crematorium. Donations should be made to St Barnabas House Hospice, either direct or via the funeral directors H D Tribe Ltd.

Worthing Bridge Club

8 March 2016