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Little is known before 1969 but it is thought the Club has been in existence for many years prior? Originally, Runcorn and Widnes Chess Club joined the Warrington and District Chess League in September 1969 and enjoyed a modest first season finishing 3rd. The following year saw an expansion to two teams and the Division 1 Title was captured and then retained the following year with the B team finishing 2nd! A third title was narrowly missed in 1972/73 when they lost on Board count to Central. In line with the Council's decision to rename Runcorn and Widnes as the Borough of Halton in 1973 the Chess Club followed suit and Halton Chess Club was the result, along with an expansion to four teams! I joined in September 1974 after seeing an advert in the Weekly News and played Board 6 for the ‘D’ Team. What a great team we were, bolstered by Captain Joe Morris and Vice Captain Bob McKechnie – the rest of the team (Darroll McCulloch, Peter Morris, Howie Morris, John Harvey, Kevin Pitt and myself) were a mixture of youth and inexperience. We took the team to new heights and achieved promotion from Division 3 in our first year. But over the next year or so many people left and we lost our home in the Norton Priory School. Prime mover, Mike Fox also left for parts unknown and we began ‘The Wilderness Years’ with our venue being in one of the furthest reaches of Runcorn – Murdishaw! In 1979 the Club fragmented further with some members joining St Helens and the rest forming Runcorn Chess Club and re-locating to the Church Hall in Ivy Street. We had 6 members and some great people, (Darroll McCulloch, Martin Hewitt, Dominic Hewitt, David Shaw and Tony Cairns. We voluntarily took relegation to the 3rd Division and finished the season in mid-table, but new members were starting to appear and a second team entered the League the following year in Division 6. In 1981/82 The B team captured the 6th Division title ahead of local rivals Widnes E! The next year saw the B team hold their own in Division 5 but the A team sank to a new low - bottom of Division 3. Something had to be done! At the AGM we pleaded to stay up as we were about to unleash our secret weapon - Allan Short! Allan had originally been a member of Runcorn Chess Club but had defected to Tanner's in a moment (three years) of madness. He had crafted his skill well and became our new Board 1, it was all we needed - he inspired everyone else and by the end of 1983/84 season we were crowned 3rd Division Champions but disaster was just around the corner……. To be continued |
A History of Runcorn Chess Club