John Pyner 1947 – 2022
John sadly passed away on April 2 2022 having contracted pneumonia after a recent operation.
Born on 7 January 1947, John spent his early life in Ilford, Essex, along with younger sister Ann and late brother Keith. He attended Chigwell School, an education which ignited two of his life-long interests: cricket and bridge. John attended Nottingham University and studied Archaeology & Classics, graduating with a degree in Classics in 1969. Despite his love of all things classical, John spent most of his career working in Information Technology, initially at Plessey in Nottingham & Banbury followed by a move to Sandvik in Coventry.
John moved to Coventry in the mid-70s where his love of both cricket and bridge continued to grow. In 1975 he presented himself at Coventry Bridge Club in Spon Street and immediately found partners and entered events. It did not take him long to become an active member of the Committee and to take on Tournament Directing.
John was asked to join a bridge team in Coventry Bridge League, Wyken, which he was quick to accept when he knew they were members of the Wyken Working Men's Club. The team was Eddie Kilmurray, Lyn Hilton, brothers Harry & Fred Tutching and Colin & Malcolm Dean; latterly joined by Mike Meakin and Alan Cooper.
Not long after John’s move to Coventry it became possible to earn Green Points (brownie points for doing well in the game of bridge) from special events, and Warwickshire County Bridge Association ran such an event in the King's Norton area which attracted 132 tables (528 players). John excelled himself in the running of this event, which was the prelude to him becoming a Tournament Director for the English Bridge Union (EBU) in 1981.
Beginning his National Tournament Directing career in 1981, John rose through the ranks to become a European International Tournament Director in 2001 and an EBU National Tournament Director (highest rank below Chief) in 2005.
During this time, John ran with excellence and professionalism countless local, regional, national and international bridge events involving tens of thousands of players. John’s knowledge of movements, scoring, laws and regulations was outstanding and players and colleagues had the utmost respect for John’s stewardship.
Gordon Rainsford, EBU Chief Executive and Chief Tournament Director, writes of John:
“John was a hard-working, quiet and friendly TD who was an asset to every TD team he was a part of, with the sense of calm he always brought to every event. For many years he was a stalwart of the Spring Foursomes, where he kept the results notice boards in perfect order with his immaculate hand-writing. We are fortunate that printed output had arrived by the time he stood down, as he would have been hard to replace! I remember the first Corwen Trophy I was in charge of, when we had terrible problems with the movement of lines (players). John sat with me until 2am in the morning, calm and uncomplaining, helping to work through the possibilities until we found the solution.”
As well as a passion and expertise for Tournament Directing, John was also a keen player and administrator of the game of bridge. Joining the Warwickshire Contract Bridge Association Committee in June 1980, he was to serve for some 37 years. During this time John held a number of roles including Vice-Chairman 2000-2002, Chairman 2002-2004, EBU Shareholder (representing Warwickshire and reporting to the Committee) 2004 until 2014, along with a number of sub-committee appointments.
Joining the Coventry Bridge Club committee soon after his move to the area in 1975, John served for nearly 50 years. Most notably for his role as Coventry’s Chief Tournament Director, John was also known to turn his hand to anything that needed attention. Elayne Meakin recounts memories of the times John had to stand in for the organiser of an event, The Three Spires, which involved providing meals for some 30 players, as well as bridge!
John also led tournament directing training courses both locally and for the EBU. It is likely that a large number of our current club and county tournament directors will have benefited from John’s tuition, guidance, patience, and support at some point over the years.
Many will also know John for his work with bridge break/holiday organisers where he, with Maggs, were part of the team responsible for running bridge sessions, teaching, and hosting.
It was through bridge and his move to Coventry that John met, at the bridge table, his wife, Maggs, and they were married in 2004, with their very good friends Mike & Elayne Meakin at their side. John and Maggs also worked together in Maggs’ business for a short time following his ‘official’ retirement. In 2017 John & Maggs moved to Norfolk, a county to which his family had moved during his teenage years and one which he came to very much love.
John is loved and respected by all who knew him, especially his bridge partners, and some of their memories include:
~ He never become angry with his bridge partner and was known to have an interesting comment to hand, “bad luck partner”, being his main reaction to an atrocity he had just witnessed from his central hand opponent ie, his partner!
~ Going away with John was always a pleasure. He would carefully research the area, where to stay, where to eat, and what to see when there was no bridge being played. If we were ever out with John and we lost him, we always knew the first place to look was the second-hand bookshops! Sure enough, there he was with a sheepish look and a bag of books he was trying to conceal!
~ There was one occasion when on the way back from the Harrogate Congress it was suggested, and collectively agreed to be a good idea, that we go the scenic route along the Pennines. No sooner was it suggested than John was busy planning the route and despite realising that it was going to take forever to get home, he just got on with the directions; John being too nice and caring to spoil everyone’s fun… Although, if we had known how long it was going to take we might have agreed to go the direct route home!
~ John’s main fault was that he was hopeless with gossip! We always knew when he had some juicy titbit to add to the discussion but ever the gentleman, discretion was always maintained – which we found annoying, but admirable.
A true gentleman, John was kind, cheerful, funny, thoughtful, very intelligent, and welcoming, he always put others first. He was never seen to lose his cool and always maintained a level head in moments of crisis.
John will be sorely missed by his wife, Maggs, sister, Ann, his bridge partners, and all who had the pleasure and privilege to know him. To you all, we send our sincerely and heartfelt condolences.
As he takes his seat at the Eternal Bridge Table, and the Eternal Tournament Directors’ Table, we bid John a loving farewell; until we meet again, our friend.
With appreciation to John’s family, friends, and colleagues,
who were able to contribute to this, thank you.
An Online Tribute Page in memory of John may be found at:
https://johnpyner.muchloved.com
The family has requested no flowers, please, but donations to the British Heart Foundation will be appreciated. If you would like to make a donation, please do so via the above Tribute Page.
Thank you.