About a year ago, I got an email from a Mr. Hendrik Chervet at the Royal Library in The Hague:
I would like to informe (sic) you that from our stacks a little piece of Bromley Chess Club history emerged. The handwritten minutes and the match-results of the years 1889-1903.
This notebook also includes some newspapercuttings.
Please forward this information to some one with an interest in the clubhistory.
I passed the contact to our club chairman and author, Fred Wellings, who obtained the minutes, and has been following up the story from other sources, including records at the British Library (amazing!) and the the club's own archives which date back to the 60's.
Having published an early draft, Fred was then given an article from the British Chess Magazine from 1920 that clearly indicates that Bromley Chess Club (no Beckenham) did reform after the War.
Fred has now written this up in this fascinating short history of Beckenham Chess Club.
In a dull moment this summer, when I should have been playing cricket, I collected together the results from all the matches that I captained in the London League. This, then, is a summary of who scored the points in eight seasons of trying to get promoted and then trying to stay in Division 3.
For the simple reason that I played more games than anyone else, I also scored the most points. My predecessor and successor as captain came in second. The third placed player doesn't play any more, which is a pity...