Lottery Grant

September 29, 2006

Chess Scotland's application to the Big Lottery Fund (see my report to the August AGM) has been successful. We have received £5,000, which together with £600 from Chess Scotland funds will be used to appoint a consultant to help Chess Scotland undertake a fundamental review of how we promote schools and junior chess in Scotland.

To celebrate we asked Robin Harper MSP, leader of the Green Party, who acted as our formal referee in the application, to present the Awards for All grant certificate to a small group of juniors in the foyer of the Scottish Parliament. The The Green Party's press release below outlines what happened. 

Chess Scotland would like to thank Andrew Green, Clara Pickering and the four members of the Dunbar Primary school chess team for making the media opportunity and photo-shot possible. We set up a large garden chess set, some regular sets and a mahogony set presented to the players by Fidel Castro at the 1966 Havana Chess Olympiad. We soon had games being played everywhere.

We had whale of a time ... and a number of gatecrashers from a visiting primary school party from Bellshill! Afterwards, Robin Harper took us on one of his inimitable tours of the Scottish Parliament.

Thanks are primarily due to the participating juniors, their parents and to Robin Harper and his staff, but I'd also like to thank George Clarke (our photographer) and Donald Wilson (CS President) for attending. I shall provide more detailed information about the use to which Chess Scotland will put the Awards for All grant in due course at the CS Education page.

Craig Pritchett

 

 

photos by George Clarke and Sally Cowburn

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE/PHOTOCALL

Photocall: 11am, Friday 29 September, public foyer of Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh

Release embargoed until 0001hrs, 29 September, 2006

GREENS CO-LEADER PRESENTS £5000 TO CHESS SCOTLAND AND TAKES ON PUPILS FOR PARLIAMENT GAME

Robin Harper MSP, co-leader of the Green Party, will today (Friday 29 th September) present an Awards for All grant for £5,000 to a group of junior chess players in the Scottish Parliament. The youngsters will receive the money on behalf of Chess Scotland who will use it to appoint conduct a root and branch review of schools and junior chess development in Scotland.

Mr Harper, who acted as referee for Chess Scotland's Awards for All grant application, warmly supports Chess Scotland's bid to raise its game in junior chess. Robin will exchange a few moves with the juniors drawn from Stewarts Melville College and Dunbar and South Morningside Primary school chess clubs.

Andrew Green (aged 16), Stewarts Melville College, who captained  Scotland's Youth Team this summer, will lead the juniors, supported by some very keen 10 year-olds: Clara Pickering, South Morningside Primary 2006 under-10 champion; and Joseph Cameron, Craig Thorburn, Freya Willens and Katie Pritchett, from the Dunbar Primary School team.

Among the sets the players will use will be a fine mahagony chess set and box presented to Craig Pritchett , Chess Scotland's current schools chess development director, by Fidel Castro on his debut, as a junior, in the Scottish senior team at the 1966 Havana Chess Olympiad.

Mr Harper said, "Chess is the king and queen of all board games. It develops patience, planning, strategy, spatial awareness and concentration. It promotes quick thinking, the ability to formulate strategies and think ahead, and is arguably just as exciting and far more challenging than any computer game yet invented. It is also a game in which girls are excelling in Scotland. I am very happy to have been asked to this award which will hopefully help promote chess to more and more children."

An Awards for All spokesperson said: "We are delighted to have awarded a grant of £5,000 to Chess Scotland, the organisation which widely promotes chess and its benefits to juniors nationwide. It is one of the many local community projects who will receive a slice of the winnings in the latest round of announcements made through the small grants scheme. The money will be used to carry out a fundamental review of the organisation in order to encourage more young people to get involved."

There is now a large body of research, particularly in the US and more recently in Aberdeen (jointly sponsored by the Scottish Executive Education Department) showing that chess can be highly beneficial for young people:

·       Students involved in chess benefit educationally
·       Schools chess clubs prompt improvements in behavioural and social skills
·       Capacity for self-regulated learning improves
·       Chess promotes wider family and community benefits, including inter-generational networks and life-long learning skills

Chess cuts across age, gender, class and many other boundaries. Chess Scotland's president, Donald Wilson, one of the country's leading international arbiters, who regularly officiates at many junior (as well as senior) competitions in Scotland, will also attend on Friday and assist in extolling the game's potential to promote “inclusion”.

ENDS
Note on Chess Scotland

Chess Scotland is the recognised body for the promotion of chess in Scotland and within the World Chess Federation (FIDE). A mainly voluntary organisation, it organises national junior and senior team and individual championships, promotes participation in international championships and runs the national rating system.

More information about Chess Scotland can be found at www.chessscotland.com , on its comprehensive national, international, schools and education pages. It offers a free advisory service to schools, including a range of chess teaching and organisational freeware, via dedicated schools contacts.

Esther Black
Press Officer
Scottish Green MSPs
Scottish Parliament
Edinburgh EH99 1SP
t: 0131 348 6360
m: 0771 761 8771