The earliest years

It was in 1965 that Selkirk Chess Club was set up, there being three main movers in this:

Jack Edwards was a slightly eccentric character who was fanatical about chess. He was a strong postal player, and in over-the-board was around 1800. Jack always seemed just a little disorganised in his personal life, but he was a fine man who was good company, and who taught many youngsters to play chess properly. I liked him a lot.

Jack left Selkirk in 1966 to live in Oban.

Harry and Muriel Leask were at that time teachers at Ashkirk School, and have done a huge amount for Scottish Chess over the years (in 1974 Muriel won the Scottish Ladies Championship, and scored a shared first the following year). Again, very fine people indeed.

The club met in the Antiquarian Hall (now Halliwell's Museum) though for the summer months of 1965 moved to the Leasks' home in Ashkirk schoolhouse.

Another notable member of the time was Gerda Thomson, who played for Selkirk for many, many years.

The club took on a handful of young people, some picked by Jack Edwards as having the understanding of the game to join an adult club. Two teenagers of that era were Alan Miles and Dave Bogle, both of whom still play for Selkirk today.

Alan Miles was appointed Assistant Treasurer (to Andrew Hall) in September 1967. Alan has had other committee posts since then, but is our current Treasurer and so has been involved in one capacity or another for over 50 years.

In 1967 the name of the club was changed to the Border Chess Club (Selkirk) but this name did not last very long, and we became Selkirk chess club again.

The 1970s

The Leasks left the area in 1970, but by that time the club was well-established and running well under Gerda Thomson and others. In the late 1960s some friendly matches had been organised with other ciubs, notably the Thistle Foundation in Edinburgh - an organisation for disabled people. Our association with the Thistle Foundation continued for some years, and the matches were very much enjoyed by both clubs.

A change of both venue and club night was agreed for the 1969-70 season, when the club moved to the Woodburn Hotel, and the club nights changed from Mondays to Tuesdays. This was later changed to Wednesdays - and a year later to Thursdays.

By the mid 1970s, other clubs had been set up in the Borders, and in 1975 John Hainsworth left us to support his home team of Galashiels. There was apparently a Borders League at this time, but details have not been recorded.

Ian Thompson makes his first appearance in the minutes of 1978.

In 1978, following a high bill for refreshments from the Woodburn for a visiting team, the club decided to look for new premises, and member Lee Bowers agreed to make his Courthouse Coffee Shop available to the club.

The 1980s

The Borders League was in full swing by now. The Selkirk club itself had meetings in the Glen Hotel, The Courthouse Coffee Shop and The British Legion. Ian Thompson was appointed Chairman in 1985, and Doreen Officer was appointed Treasurer.

The 1990s

A match result from 1994 gives a snapshot of the main members at that time; Selkirk B v Selkirk A went:

1. 1-0 John Moore v Bernard Hill
2. 1-0 Jim Burrows v Alan Miles
3. 1-0 Rob Gilchrist v John Mitchell
4. ½-½ Geoff Hope v Ian Thompson
5. 1-0 Bill Miller v Rob Crosbie

After 2000

We met in the County Hotel for the early years of the decade, but in the mid-2000s the County reinvented itself, and with the bar becoming a restaurant we decided to look for another home. The Heatherlie House Hotel gave us a warm welcome and we stayed there until November 2017, when the hotel closed. In general the premises - and the service - suited the club well, but regular attendance did drop off somwehat in those years and this may have been because of the distance from the town centre.

Selkirk were only entering one team in the league in those years, and there were only occasional successes in the Border League.

We moved to the Town Arms in early 2018, and the move has been very successful, with Selkirk having two teams (of 4 players rather than 5, it must be said) in the 2018-19 Border League. Actual results have not been startlingly good, but that's not the main thing. The main thing is that the club is healthy.

2019 onwards

The 2019-20 season had to be abandoned in March 2020 because of the Covid regulations, and continuing restrictions meant that there was no 2020-21 season at all. The situation became a little more relaxed in the summer of 2021, and some players started meeting up in the Town Arms again when it reopened (not for chess, but just to keep in touch). The first meeting for about 18 months happened on Aug 31 2021, when the AGM was held.

2025

Our stay in the Town Arms had proved very successful, and by 2025 we were regularly attracting 10 or more players weekly. In Sep 2025, however, the Town Arms began significant refurbishment of the upstairs room which we had been using;  it was to be turned into a sports lounge, with dartboards, two pool tables and a large TV.  It would clearly be unsuitable for us, and with no guarantee in any case of the room to ourselves one night a week,  we had to leave.  Thankfully the nearby County Hotel were happy to offer us an upstairs lounge (perfect for our needs) and we moved there on 16 Sep 2025.