Tony was elected to Chair of Somerset Contract Bridge Association at the 2017 AGM, taking over the role from Gina Howard. Tony will be remembered, above anything else, for his unstoppable drive: there were no half measures, his focus and commitment to whatever he was working on was boundless.
Once elected Chair, it’s safe to say Tony hit the ground running. By the next AGM in 2018 he had successfully secured a grant from the National Lottery of £10,000 to fund the Fast To Play Bridge programme. This included a weekend of learning and several follow-up lessons. He recognised at the time this condensed programme would most likely appeal to a younger demographic. He often claimed how absolutely critical teaching was to the success of the game. It is only those clubs with a robust and ongoing teaching programme that are successful in the long term.
Tony recognised and cherished the concept that his role fundamentally existed to represent and support each and every player at whatever level in the County, without exception. He visited every single club in the County in his first year. He devised and created ideas to bring clubs together, believing that working together was more fruitful for players and clubs whether for social reasons (claiming philosophically that “Happy Bridge is Good Bridge”) or to promote inter- and intra-club competitions. He invited every Chair in the County to attend a meeting to exchange ideas, which attracted a sizable number. Sadly he concluded that the response ongoing was fairly lukewarm.
There is no doubt the finances of the County flourished under his stewardship. By 2018 revenue had increased by £1,000, mostly due to the success of the WOE Congress.
The Covid years certainly presented challenges. Tony himself caught Covid very early in the pandemic and went on to catch it another three times! He along with others from the Committee, however, mobilised themselves and saw to it that Somerset was the first in the County to offer plentiful online bridge in which thousands participated. During the lockdown, Somerset held three games per week and helped many affiliated and non-affiliated clubs play. Tony supported County clubs to keep themselves going by organising online bridge; most clubs set up games themselves under his guidance.
Undeterred by the Covid lockdown, he planned and executed an enormously successful nine-day online WOE Congress.
2021 was recorded as one of the most lucrative in the County’s history. The revenue from online games including the WOE Congress enabled the County to create a generous development fund to assist clubs coming out of lockdown.
By Easter 2023 Somerset boasted that they had more players than they did in 2020. This was extraordinary as nationally numbers had fallen.
Sadly Tony felt it was time to move on, and he resigned from Somerset, taking up a role with the EBU. True to form he was very quickly promoted to Vice-Chairman, a position he absolutely revelled in. Within a matter of weeks he had launched BIABD—Bridge It’s A Big Deal, a national bridge festival taking place over the course of a week—an event that you could not be unaware of, having been promoted relentlessly with details splashed across the EBU website and Facebook. Within months, unfortunately, he became very ill and could not continue in his role, but not before he was awarded the EBU Silver Award, recognising his extraordinary achievements in the game of bridge.
And finally, Andrew Ridgers remembers:
When Tony moved to Evercreech, his cottage had a lovely garden that he took an interest in. He decided to start growing some vegetables, decided there wasn't enough room, and so looked to get a space on the local allotments. He couldn't get one (I can't remember if there was a long waiting list or just that there were no allotments in Evercreech). As you might expect, he got involved, and in April 2009 Evercreech got a spiffy set of 31 new allotments. He grew far too many vegetables for a year or two, and then got bored with it . . . .
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