From 21st June 2019 Newcastle Chess Club meets on Fridays at the Newcastle Bridge Club on King Street (A53), Newcastle ST5 1EL, though the E team play their home matches on Mondays. The club does not have its own carpark, but on-street parking both sides of King St is usually available immediately outside the club. There is a small soft drinks bar in the club.
Newcastle Bridge Club
A potted recent history
When I first joined the club (then Penkhull) it met in one of the outbuildings at Penkhull School. Shortly afterwards we were allowed into the main school building. This though was a mixed blessing as a ladies aerobics class took place further down the corridor providing background(?) music in the early part of the evening.
An increase in rent forced us to seek pastures new, and we alighted upon the Kings Arms in Stoke, and changed our name to Stoke Kings.
The low point of our existence followed as the landlord decided that our liquid consumption left something to be desired, and we found ourselves homeless again. We began to think that we might all have to start looking for other clubs, but eventually we found a home at the Arts Centre on the Brampton in Newcastle, and changed our name again to Newcastle. Although we were able to spend several years there, our comfort depended upon a changing cast of caretakers. The worst of these delighted in putting the lights out a few minutes before we were due to leave - just in time for any scrambles! The best was very flexible on time, and indeed played a few home games for the club when we would otherwise have defaulted a board.
Councils are always on the lookout to improve their services to the communities they serve, and Newcastle Council decided in due course that it would be a good idea to sell the Arts Centre. Time to move again.
Through John Day we have come to an arrangement with the Bridge Club which has proved to be very satisfactory from our side. As John is also treasurer at the bridge club, I assume that they are happy with the arrangement too.
