It is with great sadness that we receive the news that David Smith passed away yesterday afternoon on his birthday, aged 87, from pneumonia, having returned to hospital about a week ago.
I have an abiding memory of playing David on his first evening at Wanstead & Woodford Chess Club as a new member. After he had duffed me up in several games of 5 minute blitz, I said, with heavy irony, “You’ve played before!”. He had, in fact, previously played against Wanstead, when a member of Southend CC. In his working life, David was a branch manager with Nationwide, in which capacity he moved around the country, joining the local chess club each time he moved; when Wanstead was drawn away to Cosham in the National Club Championship, that turned out to be another club of which he had been a member.
David, who hailed from York, was an extremely generous soul, serving as W&WCC Club Secretary and, for the County, as a team captain and Chairman. If he saw a team needing a captain, he would volunteer. When the County teams moved from 1st Team, 2nd Team, to grading-limited sections, it was David who first volunteered to get an Essex U175 team off the ground and took them to the first U175 Final, on 1 July 1995, only to lose to Notts. When the number of teams was extended, firstly in the SCCU competitions, to include U100, it was David who made this happen for Essex by volunteering as Captain. And it was also David who posed the question in Wanstead’s Committee: ‘is the Club doing enough for our Junior members?’ – a query that led to the setting up of Wanstead’s extremely successful Junior Coaching Club.
David served as SCCU President and ran the SCCU County Championships for some 20 years. He also served on the BCF/ECF board back in the days when Union representatives served on the Board of the national federation. Closer to home, he served on the Managing Committee of Wanstead House Community Association – the County’s home venue – for almost 19 years.
David deservedly received the ECF President’s Award for Services to Chess.
Our thoughts are with Jane, who served the County by providing refreshments at home County matches.
Funeral details will follow.
Ian Hunnable