Cornwall has lost its only Life Member with the death of Arthur Brown. Arthur had been a tireless and ever-present competitor and worker for the county association since its formation, on a spilt with Devon in the 1980s.
Starting bridge during the Berlin airlift in 1949, Arthur moved into club play in the early sixties in St Austell. Showing his ability for administration, he sat on the Devon & Cornwall Committee and was selector for both counties.
When Cornwall became an independent association Arthur Brown was the first chairman of the county, despite having argued strongly against the split. All his energies were now harnessed to making the new association a success. Many ideas flowed from the chairman, improving tutorials for the strongest players, lessons for club players and most important of all, people were talked into jobs which they had probably never thought of doing before.
He invented the post of Tournament Secretary, responsible for all the county events outside the congress, and continued in the post after his term as chairman had finished. When he retired from being Tournament Secretary, Arthur was made a Life member for services to Cornish bridge. On the Congress Committee, Arthur continued an active role, giving good advice to anyone who was prepared to listen. As a perfectionist he was most upset if anything in Cornwall wasn't done correctly and was always very disappointed when the Tollemache team failed to win more than an odd match.
Tournament directing also improved: from a typical invitation, 'You are all coming to Birmingham', Gill Pain and George Williams started their careers as EBU directors.
As a player Arthur was one of the best produced by the county. Although born in Yorkshire, he was fiercely proud of any achievements by Cornish bridge. The first home-grown Life Master, Arthur won many events both in and out of the county, including the Seniors Teams last year. In 1995 he was presented with a Dimmie Fleming Award.
Sympathies go to his wife Wendy, herself a stalwart of the county bridge scene.
English Bridge magazine - December 1996