Lawrence Alfred J Glyde

Club President from 1976-1983.

L.A.J. Glyde

By Brian Denman

Lawrence Alfred J Glyde was born on 1.10.1905 in Hastings. He was educated at Hastings Grammar School which developed a good chess club. One of the teachers there was George Packer, who was to win the Sussex Championship in 1925. The early 1920s was a good time to be a junior chess player, as the Hastings CC set in motion its Boy’s Congress. The president, Herbert Dobell, was keen on the development of junior chess as was the local chess columnist, Edward Ackroyd.

The Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 7.4.1923 reported on a 20 board simultaneous at the club by the strong German player Jacques Mieses. He did not lose any games, but young Glyde managed to obtain a draw.

Laurie soon graduated from playing for Hastings schoolboys to representing the club at senior level and in 1924 he made his county debut. In 1927 he gained a good win in the McArthur Cup when he defeated E M Jackson in a Hastings v Bexhill match.

He was a local government worker and in the late 1920s he moved away from Hastings. He still had a soft spot, however, for the Hastings CC and he played in a number of Hastings v Brighton matches in the 1930s. In the Hastings and St Leonards Observer of 4.1.1936 it is reported that he was playing for the Hastings branch of the NALGO local authority union in the Pullinger Cup. George Norman was another significant Hastings CC player in the same team.

After the war Laurie helped to build up a strong Ilford CC team and he has been accredited with starting the annual Ilford Congress. Ilford were one of the regular opponents for Hastings and many hard fought games between the two clubs were fought.

After retiring in 1967 he returned to Hastings to live, which was a major boost for the chess club. In 1969 he was elected as congress director and at the end of 1970 he announced that the Hastings Premier event would be extended to include more players. He himself played quite a lot of chess in this period and in 1970 he won the Anslow Cup (N.B. this cup was presented to the club by George Anslow in 1939. You may well know if it still exists).

Early in 1974 Laurie resigned as congress director. An extraordinary meeting of the club was called on 26th January at which it was announced that the finances for the last Congress showed a deficit of about £600 and Jim Slater would in future be reducing his contribution to the event. Bill Dunphy took over as congress director and the club eventually recovered from the crisis.

In 1976 Laurie took over the president’s position from Reg Manfield. This does not seem to have been a bad period for the Congress with sponsors being found. However, it seems that some financial problems were experienced within the club. In order to raise money books in the club’s extensive library were sold as were club memorabilia.

In 1977 Laurie won the club’s lightning competition and thus received the cup that he had donated to the club. He may have been the first winner of the event.

He died suddenly on 14.6.1983 at the age of 77.