Richard Haddrell

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LawrenceCooper
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Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by LawrenceCooper » Mon Oct 03, 2016 11:56 am

He was very helpful to me when I was International Rating Officer.

Mike Gunn
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Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Mike Gunn » Mon Oct 03, 2016 12:48 pm

I doubt that Kevin will be surprised to read the last personal communication I received from Richard on July 18th:

"Mike,

So I fixed it and reprocessed. Use the Checker...!

Richard

Result File Summary : Rejected - 1 error
..."

Mick Norris
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Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Mick Norris » Mon Oct 03, 2016 1:16 pm

Very sad news indeed, Richard was great to talk to, and I can only concur with the comments already on this thread

His amazing service to the SCCU can be seen from how often his name appears on the officials list and the ECF grading information accuracy is part of his legacy

RIP
Any postings on here represent my personal views

Roger Lancaster
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Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Roger Lancaster » Mon Oct 03, 2016 4:25 pm

Sad news. Always helpful in my experience. RIP.

Nick Grey
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Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Nick Grey » Mon Oct 03, 2016 7:13 pm

We will miss him. His advice to me - leagues ought not to combine secretary & grader functions as they require different skill sets.
I said Richard you do an awful lot yourself other than grading. Very helpful. I spoke to him at my last input to the August List to talk about his health & for him to get in touch if he needed accompanying to a London specialist hospital. Too many chess friends passing away.

Will miss the pithy and witty remarks on SCCU. Richard would have made a witty comment about Keith Richardson's 1.5 points on Saturday's U180 match with Sussex v Surrey. Hopefully those replacing in various ways can show the same dedication and wit. That will give the new Surrey captain an IT issue which he will not be up to so Michael Flatt may want to contact him directly.

Will also miss his comments on the Council meeting.

A fount of knowledge pre-computer & internet & whilst we may find the old internet site of SCCU a bit aged it has done it's business very well.

David Blower
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Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by David Blower » Tue Oct 04, 2016 4:14 pm

I never met Richard, but here is one of many stories that unless you were personally involved with, you would never know about.

During the 2013-2014 chess league season, the existing local grader for the Cannock Chess League (which also included Brewood's internal club championship grading results) seemed to vanish halfway throughout the season, without warning, and then also did not respond to any emails.

Half a seasons work, was non existant, or at least it wouldn't have been without the hard work of Richard Haddrell. Without any fuss, and with no notice, Richard managed to complete the work in one month, to get to the point where you wouldn't have noticed the difference. All credit to Richard for that, I know that the grading system is not perfect, but this is one story of hard work that no one outside of Brewood would know. I'm sure there would be many other things he has done that I don't know about as well.

One of those things he did where saying "thank you" does not quite seem like enough but "thank you Richard" anyway.

David Robertson

Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by David Robertson » Sun Oct 09, 2016 10:19 pm

Richard Haddrell - Cato the Younger
RIP

Mike Truran
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Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Mike Truran » Sun Oct 09, 2016 11:46 pm

I confess to having considered you for many years as worthy successor to the great republican.

Gary Kenworthy

Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Gary Kenworthy » Mon Oct 10, 2016 9:10 am

Quoted from Wiki... Cato the Younger
" A noted orator, he is remembered for his stubbornness and tenacity (especially in his lengthy conflict with Julius Caesar), as well as his immunity to bribes, his moral integrity, and his famous distaste for the ubiquitous corruption of the period."

Michael Flatt
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Location: Hertfordshire

Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Michael Flatt » Mon Oct 10, 2016 11:12 am

David Robertson wrote:Richard Haddrell - Cato the Younger
RIP
Richard accumulated many different roles for the lack of anyone else to do them.
A very genuine and hard working man with no agenda other than to do what he could for other chess players.

John Reyes
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Location: Manchester

Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by John Reyes » Tue Oct 11, 2016 1:45 pm

Nice person and an lost to british chess!!
Any postings on here represent my personal views only and also Dyslexia as well

Mick Norris
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Location: Bolton, Greater Manchester

Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Mick Norris » Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:47 pm

Any postings on here represent my personal views

Julie Denning
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Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Julie Denning » Tue Oct 25, 2016 12:26 pm

It is the wish of Richard's family that there should be chess playing at the wake following Richard's funeral on 3rd November. This will be at the Spa Hotel, Tunbridge Wells (further details on the ECF website), and the local club, of which Richard was a very longstanding member and officer, have agreed to make sets available. I don't expect this to include clocks, so if you're attending and keen to play timed games, please consider bringing your own.

Richard's sisters have asked that this intention, which they believe would please Richard, be passed on.

Ian Thompson
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Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Ian Thompson » Thu Nov 03, 2016 6:33 pm

Here's the text of one of the speeches that was given at Richard's funeral earlier today (with permission of the author):
Trevor Jones wrote:I first met Richard when I joined Tunbridge Wells Chess Club upon moving to the town in September 1971, and I last visited him in his home on 4 August 2016. He gave me 2 or 3 good well-fought games of 5-minute chess and told me he was 73 years old, and I took two photos of him at the chessboard.

In 1971 Richard was already running a local schools chess league played at the Club in Tunbridge Wells, as well as being Club Secretary and teaching French and sometimes Spanish at the then Technical High School (later renamed Grammar School). After a few years he and I jointly started a Tunbridge Wells Junior Chess Championships tournament held annually at half-term, usually at The Skinners’ School where I taught for about 5 years, and later on we also ran a Kent Junior Championships. I also remember once taking I think about 20 young pupils the short walk after school from Skinners’ to the Technical School for them to play a “friendly” match against Richard’s youngsters. I forget which side won.

Whilst I had been doing pencil and paper grading since my Cambridge University days, Richard got involved ahead of me doing grading on his new home computer soon after computers became available for the home market, as I remember him showing me in his home what he did, probably in the late 1970s when I was still living and working in Tunbridge Wells although no longer teaching.

Richard was always keen to follow rules correctly and was also good at drafting new rules as and when required. Within the context of the rules he was always very fair, never to my knowledge doing any “gamesmanship” to achieve any unfair advantage, but naturally using his knowledge of the rules if any dispute did arise. But I do remember, as his team captain, once dissuading him from claiming a win by default when his opponent walked through the door just as his flag fell indicating losing by default for being half an hour late. But he did have a sense of humour, as I remember once using a magnetic set in a pub after a match when some pawns stuck together, my saying “these pawns love each other” and he quickly responding “perhaps they are mating”!

In his chess organisation and administration, he was always reliable in doing well whatever he said he would do. I remember him telling me (before the days of home computers) how he would always double-check a phone number after typing it into a letter or something like that. He and I often travelled together by train or in his car to SCCU Executive meetings and Kent County Chess Committee meetings when we were both on these committees.

Richard remained until very recent years an able upper middle club chessplayer, sometimes graded a bit above me, sometimes a bit below. He often played in summer 5-min chess tournaments I used to organise in my own home, firstly in Tunbridge Wells and then in Guildford after I moved there in 1990, until his ECF grading work made him unable to find the time.

Whilst I was still in Tunbridge Wells, he and I would occasionally go out for daytrips together by train for a walk somewhere in the country or by the seaside, nothing to do with chess. I also remember us doing trips together into the Lake District and onto Exmoor when we were sharing hotels to play in the BCF Chess Congresses at Morecombe in 1981 and at Torquay in 1982. He was actually quite sociable in these contexts, enjoying the scenery as well as a drink in a country pub.

Mike Truran
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Re: Richard Haddrell

Post by Mike Truran » Thu Nov 03, 2016 9:41 pm

We saw Richard off in style today. Lots of chess friends and colleagues in attendance, and many whisky glasses raised to Richard and John at the Spa Hotel afterwards. Lots of chess sets and clocks in attendance as well (I saw off Julie in a Leningrad Dutch before we both decided we had better things to do).

We hope to be able to post all three eulogies to Richard in due course - maybe on the ECF website.

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