St Mungo's Academy Chess Team 1967 to 1972

By Jim Anderson

I was inspired to write this article by the splendid account on Chess Scotland about Allan Glen's Chess Club and the excellent article covering Paisley Grammar by Douglas Mill. Both memoirs brought back many happy memories and familiar names, so I agreed to Alan McGowan’s request to pen an article covering St Mungo’s Academy during the above period, given that I still retained many of the records from those years and also that we had managed to have a team reunion in 2023 which is now an annual event.

I learned to play chess in 1966, and duly joined the school chess club, which had by then passed its former glory years during which it had produced several high-ranking players, including a Scottish Champion.

In the mid-sixties and throughout the time I was there, the school was split over several locations, called annexes, mainly in Duke Street and Barony Street with the upper school being in Parson Street. This made it somewhat difficult to coordinate and nurture any talent across the locations.

My earliest memories of players in the school club at that time were of Paul Cairns, Andy Girvan, George Bajan and Denis Harley. I also recall some unhappiness over the original teacher in charge’s policy of playing board order by academic year rather than how good the players were. We therefore had the ridiculous situation where if you were a duffer in 6th Year you automatically played on Board 1 and if you were a Grandmaster (though surprisingly enough we didn’t have any!) but were only in 1^st Year, you would be allocated Board 6!

By 1968 however, things had become more organised under the auspices of one of our teachers, Tony McAlister, a keen Bearsden CC player, and several of us were taking the game more seriously, playing in tournaments and joining Glasgow League clubs such as Polytechnic and Cathcart.

From late 1968 onward, we were running a Senior and a Junior team, and some talented juniors were coming through the ranks. By 1969, Paul Donoghue and myself played in the Scottish Boys Championship in Glasgow without great success. We prepared by going to the Mitchell Library with a small chess set, and sat quietly in a corner, reading from their vast collection of chess books. To our surprise, we were quickly “chucked out” and told that we couldn’t use a chess set in the hallowed halls. As an irate teenager I wrote them a strong letter, asking why they had spent vast sums of ratepayers’ money on chess books which couldn’t be read without the use of a set, unless you were a genius. I didn’t receive a reply, and this traumatic incident is undoubtedly the reason we failed miserably when the tournament commenced. That was what we told people anyway.

Allan Glen's, our local neighbours, were always the team to beat, and due to their efficient club organisation and constant stream of talented players, they continued to thwart us until we managed at last to bring a halt to their Glasgow Schools' League five-year consecutive championship run in 1972. I had joined Polytechnic in 1968, and many of their ex-school team formed Polytechnic A. They were all welcoming and generous with their time and support. Players that I particularly recall were Craig Pritchett, Alan Scrimgour, Craig Duncan, Roger Walker, David Jenkins, Gordon Anderson and others and they all contributed to the great atmosphere around the club which helped people like myself, Ronnie Hart, and later Paul Carpenter to develop our skills.

The team pool throughout this period involved myself, John Burke, Brendan Cornes, Danny Kerr, Mick Lydon, Paul Donoghue, Kevin Kelly, Ronnie Hart, Tony Hart, Peter McGill, Stephen Skiba, Paul Thompson and Brendan Wilson, with some able reserves in William Hunter, Mick Joyce, David Lindsay, Tony McBride and Charlie Mullen.

Season 1971/1972

This was our high point. We had a fairly strong team with players experienced in league, club and school competitions and had also built up a good team spirit over the years. The club was well run by our teacher, Hugh Donnelly, who was very supportive and gave of his time on evenings and weekends to transport us around in the school bus.

While some records are missing, the following is a fair recollection of our match results in that year. The highlight of our season was defeating Allan Glen's 4–2 in the league, although we only managed a 2–2 draw in the four-a-side competition a couple of weeks later.

Some Individual Successes from 1969 to 1972

1969 Glasgow Congress
Under 14: John Burke 2^nd= on 5/6.

1970 Scottish Chess Association Congress
Junior 1 Tournament: Danny Kerr 1st with 8/9.

1970 Glasgow Congress
Under 16: Danny Kerr 1st on 5/6.

1971 Glasgow Congress
Under 17: Brendan Wilson 1^st= on 5/6.
Under 16: Brendan Cornes 1^st on 5½/6 and Peter McGill 2^nd= on 4½/6.

1971 Griffin Major: 1^st Jim Anderson on 7/8.

1971 Bellahouston Premier: Peter McGill 3^rd= on 4/6.

1971 Edinburgh Open: Peter McGill 3^rd= on 3½/6

1972 Junior West of Scotland: Danny Kerr 1st.

1972 Glasgow Congress
Reserves: Brendan Cornes & Peter McGill 1^st= on 5/6.
Under 17: Paul Carpenter 2^nd= on 4½/6.
Under 16: Mick Joyce 2^nd= on 5/6.

1972 Shettleston Open: Peter McGill 1^st= on 5/6.25 (1.25 points per win).

1973 Glasgow Congress
Premier: Paul Carpenter 1st on 5/5

1969 Junior Team

L to R, Danny Kerr, Mick Lydon, Ronnie Hart, Tony Hart, Philip Dickov, Stephen Skiba, John Burke, Tony McAlister (Teacher).

1970 Paisley - February Jamboree

Back, L to R: Paul Thompson, Jim Anderson, Paul Donoghue, Stephen Skiba.

Front, L to R: Tony McBride, John Burke, Ronnie Hart, Mick Lydon, Danny Kerr, Tony Hart.

1971 Dunfermline - February Jamboree

Back, L to R: Brendan Wilson, Peter McGill, Ronnie Hart, Danny Kerr, Paul Donoghue, Kevin Kelly.

Front, L to R: Brendan Cornes, Mick Lydon, Jim Anderson, Paul Carpenter.

1971 St Andrews - November Jamboree

Back, L to R: Brendan Wilson, Ronnie Hart, Danny Kerr, Mick Lydon, David Lindsay, Hugh Donnelly (Teacher).

Front, L to R: Peter McGill, Brendan Cornes, Jim Anderson, Mick Joyce, Paul Carpenter.

Jamboree Scores

November 1969 at Dundee, unplaced with 7 points out of 10.
February 1970 at Paisley unplaced with 5 points out of 10.
February 1971 at Dunfermline 2^nd of 30 schools a half-point behind Allan Glens.
November 1971 at St Andrews 3^rd place with 8½ out of 10.

1972

Present were: Jim Anderson, Paul Carpenter, Brendan Cornes, Hugh Donnelly (Teacher), Danny Kerr, Peter McGill and Brendan Wilson.

Above are some rather disorganised photos taken the day that we won the Glasgow Schools League in 1972. The school Janitor Jimmy insisted on gatecrashing the photo shoot with his dog, which on close examination has a rook balanced on its head!

Reunions

We had our first reunion in 1983, followed by another in 1984. Despite a ten-year gap since leaving school, after some lengthy work in the Mitchell Library (no internet in those days) and ploughing through several issues of the old Glasgow Phone Books, I managed to track down most of the team including our teacher, Tony McAlister.

We all then drifted apart again until I decided in 2023 to try to reunite the team some 50 years after our last match. Sadly, Danny Kerr had died in 2021, but most of our number were available and keen to attend.

We had a lunch in Glasgow and it was a great success, so much so that we now hold the lunch annually in August. I also invited along Hamish Glen, Past President of Chess Scotland, and one of our old foes and chess mates, to add a touch of officialdom and keep everyone in order. Hamish failed miserably, but enjoyed himself so much that he now attends every year and we have elected him as an Honorary Mungo Boy. Great memories and great times.

1983 (a)

L to R, John Burke, William Hunter, Stephen Skiba, Paul Thompson, Tony McAlister (Teacher), Paul Donoghue, Mick Lydon, Brendan Cornes, Danny Kerr, Charlie Mullen.

1983 (b)

L to R, Paul Thompson, Tony McAlister (Teacher), Paul Donoghue, Mick Lydon, Brendan Cornes, Danny Kerr, Jim Anderson, Charlie Mullen.

2023

L to R, Peter McGill, Brendan Wilson, John Burke, Stephen Skiba, Kevin Kelly, Hamish Glen, Paul Carpenter, Paul Donoghue, Paul Thompson, Tony McAlister (Teacher), Brendan Cornes, Jim Anderson.

2024

L to R, Brendan Cornes, John Burke, Paul Carpenter, Brendan Wilson, Paul Donoghue, Hamish Glen, Kevin Kelly, Tony McAlister (Teacher), Paul Thompson, Jim Anderson.

2025

L to R, Kevin Kelly, Hamish Glen, Paul Carpenter, Paul Donoghue, Paul Thompson, Tony
McAlister (Teacher), Brendan Cornes, Brendan Wilson, Stephen Skiba, John Burke, Jim Anderson.

2026

L to R, Hamish Glen, Stephen Skiba, Peter McGill, Brendan Cornes, John Burke, Jim Anderson, Paul Carpenter, Kevin Kelly, Paul Donoghue, Tony McAlister (Teacher), Paul Thompson.

With Fond Memories of Our Schoolfriend & Team Mate
Danny Kerr 1955 to 2021

Footnote: Amazingly, over fifty plus years have passed since these initial events took place, so our records are somewhat incomplete, but I hope that the foregoing is an accurate and substantive record of the happy times that we all shared.

Jim Anderson September 2026