07-12-2013, 01:08 PM
A maths teacher Mr Gardner ran the school chess club most efficiently for I think the first 4 years I was there (mid-70 to 74) , before moving somewhere on the west coast to take up a position of headmaster. JL Gardner could hold his own against his crop of juniors (Steve Swanson excepted), but didn’t play often. He took us to matches and provided the whole chess environment (and encouragement, tournament notices etc) which I regret to say to say I rather took for granted. I sometimes wonder what became of him. I guess the head wouldn’t run a club, but I sometimes wonder if he played or still plays locally. He was a young teacher then and it’s possible he only retired recently so I’d be interested if anybody has any information.
The club met on Thursdays after classes and for me it added a real glow to that day of the week. Craig, did Mr Goldin invent the coloured chess badge system at Glens? I always assumed it was Mr Gardner. The metal badges looked quite impressive - I think the order was red, orange, yellow, green (?) and finally blue which was like, GM title. I saw a blue one once in Mr G’s drawer and I didn’t follow any lessons the next day. It was quite cool to wear one of these badges – there was one guy who having won the first three, wore them all and he was also in a the rugby team that won something which meant he could wear a stripe so his blazer looked like the one in Andrew McHarg’s moniker. Trying to see it all now from the educational point of view, it was great for us to be able to choose something to be enthusiastic about, and the school had loads of clubs and societies, all run by the goodwill of teachers of course – a vast additional resource that seemed to go unappreciated by the powers that be.
So the building is gone – a bit sad at that, need to take a walk up and see. Thanks for the reflections.
The club met on Thursdays after classes and for me it added a real glow to that day of the week. Craig, did Mr Goldin invent the coloured chess badge system at Glens? I always assumed it was Mr Gardner. The metal badges looked quite impressive - I think the order was red, orange, yellow, green (?) and finally blue which was like, GM title. I saw a blue one once in Mr G’s drawer and I didn’t follow any lessons the next day. It was quite cool to wear one of these badges – there was one guy who having won the first three, wore them all and he was also in a the rugby team that won something which meant he could wear a stripe so his blazer looked like the one in Andrew McHarg’s moniker. Trying to see it all now from the educational point of view, it was great for us to be able to choose something to be enthusiastic about, and the school had loads of clubs and societies, all run by the goodwill of teachers of course – a vast additional resource that seemed to go unappreciated by the powers that be.
So the building is gone – a bit sad at that, need to take a walk up and see. Thanks for the reflections.