English Chess Forum

I understand that Andrew Leadbetter died in a tragic accident on 8th September.

Andrew was a stalwart of Stafford Chess Club, Staffordshire Chess Association and the MCCU. He was a member of the BCF/ECF Governance Committee for many years.

A full obituary will appear on the Staffordshire C.A. website.

I remember Andrew well as an attendee at Council and a fellow
member of the Governance Committe. He stood up for the
rights of individual members of Council and (although I often
differed from him on points of procedure) I had a lot of respect
for him.

I Took over as MCCU rep from Andrew and i do echo Mike Gunn comments on the Council meetings.

He did stood up for a lots of stuff and i had a lot of time for him.

There's now a post on the Stafford Chess Club Facebook page and website with a link to a page where you can leave messages of condolences and sympathy:

https://www.facebook.com/staffordchessc ... 2632391026
https://www.staffordchessclub.co.uk/
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... A/viewform

"Andrew's funeral is to be held at St Paul's Church, Lichfield Road, Stafford at 9.30am on Wednesday 28th September. All welcome.
Whilst Andrew's family have not commented about flowers or charitable donations, I would remind everyone that all messages received on this Condolences page will be forwarded on to Andrew's family: forms.gle/9GUNwHQz32vhSTJ97"

https://www.staffordchessclub.co.uk/

If I am not mistaken, he was also involved in running the National Schools' competition, possibly in parallel with Mitchell Taylor at some stage. Because of a lack of teacher support, I as rather naive Year 12 and Year 13 had to organise matches and I remember him being the contact at the BCF.

Richard Thursby wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 17, 2022 8:22 pm

If I am not mistaken, he was also involved in running the National Schools' competition, possibly in parallel with Mitchell Taylor at some stage. Because of a lack of teacher support, I as rather naive Year 12 and Year 13 had to organise matches and I remember him being the contact at the BCF.

He was a zone controller in the National Schools for many years, retiring in 2015.

I've just returned home from his funeral. The church was packed and even though I've known him for over 40 years I hadn't been aware how many different interests he had in his life including the church, Amnesty International, film clubs, learning Italian, the list seemed endless.

This is very sad news, and a lesson that cycling is not necessarily good for the health once the years start to tell. In fact, though, I was surprised to learn that Andrew was nearly 80, he carried his age very lightly. While I was active in (then BCF) national chess administration, Andrew was one of the key personalities who never actually reached the Management Board, preferring to confine his activities to the Governance Committee, for which, he once confided to me, he had no relevant previous experience whatsoever! He was a nice man whom I liked a great deal and a committed servant of chess in addition to his numerous other interests.

Steve Williams wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 11, 2022 2:20 pm

This is very sad news, and a lesson that cycling is not necessarily good for the health once the years start to tell.

I may be missing your point here, but isn't the gist of the news reports that this was a hit-and-run?

With respect to the last two posts, the links mention "a collision". Whilst the police, as they always do nowadays, request dashcam footage, there is nothing to suggest this was a hit and run or that age had anything to do with this tragic accident. Until we see a coroner's report or the police indicate a prosecution we are surmising what occurred.