MP checks in for party (From Wiltshire Times)

MP checks in for party

2:47pm Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in Wiltshire

A good knight was had by all when MP Andrew Murrison met members of Trowbridge Chess Club to celebrate them being given a national award on Friday.

Mr Murrison visited West Wilts Conservative Club, in Lovemead House, where the Trowbridge group meets, to congratulate them on being named the English Chess Federation’s small club of the year for 2012.

As part of their prize the club were given a trophy, a digital clock and a certificate.

Club captain Tony Ransom said: “It was absolutely brilliant to be awarded this honour, it feels like we’ve won the FA Cup and it shows that you don’t have to be big to be noticed.”

The club, which has 13 members, applied to the federation to be recognised for the award and found out they’d won the honour, beating off competition from around 1,000 other national clubs, towards the end of last year.

During Friday’s presentation, the club laid on refreshments to celebrate their success and members enjoyed sharing tactics with fellow chess player Mr Murrison.

Mr Ransom said: “He does play and we talked about certain plays; he stayed for about an hour and it was really nice to welcome him down.

“Looking to the future, we are keen to expand – we welcome people of all ages but we don’t have the facilities to home a youth division and this is something we are planning to discuss.”

Trowbridge Chess Club members meet every Thurs-day at 7.30pm, at the Conser-vative Club, and they compete in two Wiltshire leagues and two Somerset leagues. On February 14, the club will be competing in the semi-finals of Somerset Knock-out Cup.

Anyone who would like more information or to find out about joining the club can call Mr Ransom on 01225 774538, or log on to www.

trowbridgechessclub.co.uk