Peter Thompson died last march, following a long period of being unwell. he was a co-founder of Tewkesbury
Bridge Club nearly fifty years ago, and during that time had been treasurer, scorer, secretary, Chairman, Chief
tournament Director and finally President. he had also been an active member of Cheltenham Bridge Club and
virtually single-handedly formed the Gloucestershire teams-of-Four League in 1977; there are now over forty
teams playing in five divisions. Peter also started the U3A group in Tewkesbury in 1993, which now plays twice
a week.
Peter received the Dimmie Fleming Award in 2007 in recognition of his services to bridge over many years.
Below is the Dimmie Fleming Citation for Peter:
Peter has been playing bridge for over 60 years, when he was introduced to the game at the age of 14. Soon after moving to Tewkesbury in 1960 he joined the Tewkesbury Bridge Club. Peter became Secretary in 1973 and held this position for 10 years. He also joined Cheltenham Bridge Club at this time, learning about Tournament Directing, and became Chief Tournament Director at Tewkesbury – a position he holds to this day. When the EBU started TD training courses, Peter attended and was awarded his Club Directors Certificate, dated July 1993.
Over the years Peter has accumulated over 40,000 master points: with only one quarter green point included, this shows that nearly all his bridge has been played at club level. It is because of exactly this, his services to grass-roots bridge, rather than any personal achievement in national competitions or tournaments, the Club feels that his services to bridge undoubtedly merit this award.
Peter served on the GCBA Executive Committee for eight years starting in 1976. During that time he focused on the smaller clubs within the County and his innovation of a Clubs League, with a restriction on Master Points rankings, so that the average club player would be assured of a competitive game, has proved to be a great success over the past thirty years.
Peter has always been a tireless and unselfish worker.