Monday 8 July 2019

From the Archives - Part 8, 1990-91 - The Glory Days Are Over

The story continues...…


May 1990 - The results are in for both the Tilley and Soesan Trophies, and these were won by, respectively, Steve Burnell and Geoff King after 7 and 8 player all-play-alls. Possibly for the first time ever, all games were scheduled for specific club nights, when a no-show presumably meant a loss by default. The admin effort obviously affected the Secretary's playing ability, though, as Bernard could only score 3.5/6 to finish third equal with Joe Soesan. Bruce only manages 1 point in the Tilley Trophy, but this still leaves him clear of Roy, who has a solitary draw to his name!

September 1990 - On September 13th 12 people (including Bernard, Bruce, Chris and Roy) attend the latest club AGM at Kenilworth Sports and Social Club (yes, a name change for our venue!), with 6 apologies for absence. How nice that people remembered such courtesies in those days. I bet our members still gave up their seat on the bus to old ladies, too. The meeting hears that the delayed 1988-89 KO Cup final was lost to Rugby, and that Roy had won the 88-89 Soesan Trophy. Much good it did him given his performance in the 1989-90 Tilley Trophy!

Adam Collinson had increased his grade to 210; Joe had again finished second in the British Veterans Championship; and Steve Burnell had beaten Ed Goodwin in the LDCL Individual Cup. But it seems as though the good news ended there. The A team had come second in Division 1, but the club's glory days seem to be over, as the B team finished last of the seven teams and the C team repeated this performance in Division 2. The D team was third of 6 in Division 3. And the KO Cup - where we had reached the final against Leamington - was again running late (the League didn't run a very tight ship in those days, did they?). Though this minuted information looks highly suspect, given that the name of Rugby is engraved on the Cup itself (currently on my mantelpiece) for 1990!

Financially, we seem to have recovered from the spend, spend, spend years of the previous Treasurer, and another surplus (£14.36) was reported, taking our balance to £144.37. This enabled subs to stay unchanged yet again, at £6.50 for adults and £3.00 for juniors, while also making provision to buy two new clocks. That's the way it should have been done, Bernard!

The Club Officers were all re-elected, but there were some changes to the match captains. Most conspicuously, Roy was back as C team supremo!

May 1991 - Joe Soesan wins the Tilley Trophy with 6/7. Bernard is second on 5 points, while Bruce scores his traditional 1 point (a win v Roy!), and Roy doubles his score of the previous year, and might have done even better if he could have been bothered to play all the games! The Soesan Trophy is a massive triumph for Chris who scores an amazing 6.5/7! And only two of those were wins by default! One A.Weeks is less successful with 0/7 - mind you, he only actually played his round one game.

September 1991 - 15 people attend the AGM on September 5th, but one of them is Steve Rumsby from Banbury! Who let him in? And why? There are 2 apologies for absence. Bruce arrives late, but nowhere near as late as he subsequently took to arriving for our Thursday evening sessions, as the meeting closes at 9.35.

The A team finished 3rd of 8 in Division 1, and we now we learn that, despite their woeful efforts the season before, neither the B or C teams were relegated. The B team had come 6th in Division 1 and the C team 6th of 7 in Division 2. A massive improvement for both! The D team seemingly likes coming third in Division 3 and had done so again. We lost again in the KO Cup Final, this time against Rugby. (Who we may or may not have lost to the year before!)

Joe had won the League Individual for the umpteenth time, and had also triumphed in the British Veterans' Championship! A national title for Kenilworth!! He also won the League Best Game prize. Tony Russell is the League u-125 Champion, while it is noted that Bernard came second in both the League's QP tournaments. That's one more than I ever knew there were!

Another surplus is reported (£19.00) even after buying two clocks, and the subs are unchanged yet again.  Apparently some club members had not paid their Sports & Social Club dues. Nothing changes.

Unfortunately, Geoff Temple has to stand down as Chair because of ill health, having overseen the KCC Glory Years. The meeting gives a massive vote of thanks. Chris is voted in as successor, with the rest of the Committee unchanged. Bernard takes over as A team captain (for the first time I think) and Roy is C team Captain once again.



How exciting! There is a vote over the formation of the A team! Joe proposes the 4 best players should be in the A team and so on for the other teams (obviously a revolutionary concept!), but the meeting votes this down by 6-4. A rival proposal by Bernard (seconded by Roy) that varies the first by excluding Alastair Dawson from the A team is approved by 7-3. As Alastair is then elected/appointed B team captain, I presume it would have been rather inconvenient to put him in the A team! Fancy that, though, team selection by democracy!? Let's hope this crazy idea doesn't catch on.


So that brings us up to just 28 years ago, and there are still only four current (2019) members in the club. When will all the newbies start turning up, I wonder?

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