In October a group of us went to the Mayor‘s Parlour at the Civic Centre in Port Talbot. The mayor this year is Councillor Robert Wood who joined our club when he was about 8 years old, played in the annual schools’ tournament, and then more recently returned to play for the now defunct Briton ferry club on top board. The mayor‘s secretary is Julie Robinson, the mother of another former member Nicola, who still plays on-line for us. With such chess connections it is not so surprising that we were invited to the Parlour for the evening.
To mark the occasion the mayor took on four of our juniors and one parent simultaneously – whilst the rest of us watched and scoffed the buffet on offer!! No doubt trying to be diplomatic, we let the mayor win all the games, though Scarlett put up some stout resistance and played the best game of the five.