ers are split in to four groups with coaches Andrew Martin, Nigel Davies and Graeme Buckley. The fourth group goes swimming for 45 minutes and also has a session on the Laws of Chess both taken by Peter Purland. This year we again had the Torintone Suite with four teaching rooms, an eating area and a social area where the parents could relax, chat and drink tea or coffee. Some of the parents relaxing between sessions can be seen below.
Sunday morning saw the coaches working together with the whole group in three one hour sessions. The players worked in groups and thoroughly enjoyed the morning.
In the afternoon we had a themed tournament where the coaches set the opening and each player then had 10 minutes each on the clock to finish the game. Competition was fierce and, although we could only fit in 4 rounds we had no one on 100 %. In fact, five players tied on 3.5; Daniel Abbas( Manchester), Judd Bennett( Lancashire), Tim Chatys( Tameside), Jack Healings( Staffs) and Ravi Mahapatra( Manchester).
After the conclusion of the tournament we had a brief prize giving before all the parents were away shortly after 4pm.
After two sessions a buffet lunch was enjoyed( beefburgers proving much more popular than salad!) and after two more sessions we had an hours free time followed by dinner in the orangery after which the braver( or madder) of the parents joined many of the players in a six round crazy lightning tournament. This included such rules as Queens move as knights, remove all pieces from the a and h files and, the favourite of sadistic arbiters, swop places!! Yes, at least one player was deprived of a mate in one. At the end the luckiest( or craftiest) players were Joe Benton from Richmond and Miles Hemingway from Yorkshire. Meanwhile the other parents were enjoying a more formal dinner in the Oak Room. This is part of the original Thornton Manor and is a magnificent setting for a meal. The rest of us had breakfast there in the morning. At the end of all this it was time for the players to go to bed although some coaches and parents took advantage of the Thornton Hall hospitality for slightly longer!
Thanks are due to the staff of Thornton Hall for making our stay so enjoyable, the coaches for all their hard work, the parents for their continued support, the players for working so hard and behaving so well and finally to Glynis Purland who organised the weekend and did all the behind the scenes work. We have already booked the equivalent weekend next year( Jan 7 \ 8) so if you are still in years 5, 6 or 7 do come along. If you are a promising player and would like an invite contact Glynis Purland next autumn( glynispurland @ yahoo. co. uk)
Yateley Manor Schools Championship Last Chance Saloons
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Has your school been knocked out of the Yateley Manor Schools Championship? Or perhaps you didn’ t enter at the Zonal stage? Either way, you can still get into the last 15 of the National stage by qualifying through a Last Chance Saloon. There are two, both on 6th February: Last Chance Saloon North at Nottingham High School; and Last Chance Saloon South at Eton College. Enquiries to Richard Haddrell Email: rjh @ sccu. ndo. co. uk Tel: 01892 532361