As a young chess player, stories about Luton chess club and the Bedfordshire league were told and retold many times over the years by various club members, as you might expect. But I distinctly remember the man who beat me in the final of the 92 Luton Chess Championship once told me that ‘Luton used to have its own league once!’ whilst we drove in the dark along country lanes to another club match together. What records have survived do not show this to be true but then not all divisions in the Bedfordshire league were published in The Luton News by Tom Sweby on a yearly basis -and that is the only primary source material in play here. What Grandmaster slayer Mr. P. Montgomery may have meant instead as he drove, I think, was in the wake of the commonly described ‘The English Chess Explosion’ following the Fischer – Spassky match, Luton dominated the Bedfordshire league in terms of registered clubs, and also had enough teams to create its own league -of this there is no doubt. There were working men’s clubs for the employees of the parent company, long before the so called ‘English Chess Explosion’ but when chess started booming thereafter they flourished and all were able to field teams in the league, sometimes more than one. Vauxhall, which was reported in the local news as early as 1937 (please see https://mccreadyandchess.wordpress.com/2015/06/05/bedfordshire-chess-in-the-70s-its-past-and-its-future/ for proof) had three teams at one point (no prizes given for correctly guessing which player, who went on to play for both Luton & Kent’s/Luton years later on, once brought his electric guitar to Vauxhall chess club and began playing it whilst games commenced, only to be taken outside and get beaten up in the snow by Dave Considine [also former Kents/Luton player, rated around 140-150]!). (Clue provided here in point 3: https://mccreadyandchess.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/fond-memories-of-bedfordshire-chess/)
As is shown above Vauxhall attracted the most players and was the first to establish itself as more than a host of league matches. SKF had a team on Sundon Park Road also, and how could we forget Kents (meters)? Commer and AC Delco (Dunstable) Texas Instruments (Bedford) and Scicon (Milton Keynes) also had teams and participated in the league too but hard evidence of those is proving difficult to locate (I do have it somewhere!). Contrarily, Electrolux on Oakley Road Leagrave also had its own club, and for the following information regarding its short-lived existence, I am indebted to former Luton player Peter Gayson’s first hand account:
Regarding our chat online Peter said ‘…before that I played occasional games for Electrolux (the club started by my dad), but school/university limited the opportunities…‘
I then enquired: ‘So may I ask, it was your father who started The Electrolux cub as you said? Was that based on Oakley Road, Leagrave?’
Peter replied: ‘Yes, my dad worked at Electrolux in Oakley Road. He started the club right after the 1972 Fischer-Spassky match. There was huge interest at first, but gradually players drifted away, and the club eventually folded later in the decade.‘
I then prompted him further with the following: ‘May I ask, what position did your dad have in the company? Can you remember exactly where they played in the factory grounds and why? Was it always your father that ran it?’
Peter kindly answered with the following: Dad (George Gayson, 1928-1999) was a fridge paint sprayer at Electrolux, who worked there from the late 50s up to retirement. He started the club in 1972. Attendance was pretty good in the early days, with around 40-50 members, but gradually tailed off, and the club folded around 1978-1979. Play was in the Electrolux recreation club, run by Luton FC’s Billy Waugh ( he once introduced me to Joe Payne, one of the club’s famous players, who also worked at Electrolux). I believe the club once hosted a simul by Canadian GM Duncan Suttles, possibly arranged by Brian Cox. After the club folded, I joined Luton chess club, back when it was in the church hall in Bury Park.
With regards to the aforementioned simul, Peter has informed me he did play in it, and I do have proof of its reportage.
With regards to the footballers mentioned, it can easily be confirmed that they did indeed play for the hatters with the following links:
Billy Waugh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Waugh_(footballer)
(the famous) Joe Payne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Payne_(footballer,_born_1914)
Mark. J .McCready, 9.24pm October 28th 2023, Al Fursan, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
McCreadyandChess 