Pictorial Report on the Norwich Meeting 2012
by Michael Negele
Successful Meeting in spite of British Weather
KWA General Meeting in Norwich, 13-15 April, 2012
The witty travel report of an insider
At about 5.15 am in the morning, I started from Wuppertal via Düsseldorf and Stansted towards East Anglia. Due to my business trips to Norwich there were no orientation problems, we safely arrived at the George Hotel already before 11 am, but there were no rooms available (only from 2 pm).
Despite a light rain we went together with Guy Van Habberney and the Grondijs family to the coastal Cromer to enjoy there (finally, for me) the famous Cromer crabs.
Back in the George Hotel, all guests had arrived in the meantime (apart from Jimmy Adams and Tony Peterson, both announced for Saturday).
Here 18 additional photographs from the visit to Cromer and some further arrivals in the hotel: Gallery 1.
At about 4 pm we started - with tea (or coffee or even a beer) - a short KWA session where Guy Van Habberny once again described our concerns.
At 5.30 pm the group (without Cafferty and Giddins) started for a tour of the ancient city of Norwich, in spite of the beginning rain we saw everything (except the nice houses on the Wensum), particularly the interior of the Cathedral deeply impressed me. (Naturally I had never seen it before during my business trips, as being closed from 6.30 pm.)
Due to the rain, we went a little earlier to the fish restaurant Loch Fyne, the atmosphere was excellent there, the service was kind, the quality of the meal however "variable". But I found the atmosphere very pleasantly light and friendly, not the rule in English pubs or inns.
Our Gallery 2 shows 39 photographs from the tour of the city and from the dinner.
Relatively far into the night I still pottered about on my lecture, when my "room mate" Jurgen Stigter asked me aplenty questions about Twiss and his chemistry book.
Next morning at a (very good) breakfast, I could briefly talk with Bernard Cafferty and Steve Giddins about the "BCM affair", it was quite funny. We started on schedule at 9.30 am, to our great pleasure Michael Clapham (the wonderful chess pictures provided by him had been hung on the wall) and Kathleen & Owen Hindle had prepared a small chess exhibition in the large meeting room. Technically everything worked properly as well, if you ignore that for a short time Jurgen pulled the plug on the projector...
Especially Owen Hindle's contribution has impressed me, but also Gordon Cadden presented his research convincingly - even if Tim Harding still doesn't seem to agree completely.
In the course of the morning also Tony Peterson and Jimmy Adams joined us, with surprise guest Ray Cannon on their coat-tails. (In the end Kathleen and Ray became new members and paid without resistance 30 GBP "special tariff".)
- here his Presentation as PDF (0.6 MB; in the member section).
He has also reported on our assembly in his Kibitzer column at ChessCafe.com: An Unusual Chess Congress in Norwich
Here the presentation on the project tobiblion: Tools for Bibliographers' and Librarians' Open Networking (PDF/0.5 MB; in the member section)
Further links:
- Topics of the general meeting, compiled by Michael Negele
- Guy Van Habberney's Report on the member assembly
There was also voted on the Zukertort donation, some didn't agree and abstained from voting.
Afterwards the book market, mainly "equipped" by Mike Sheehan, Tony Peterson and Michael Clapham. I didn't buy much, only a quite high-priced Murray on Board games other than Chess.
Our Gallery 3 offers 21 additional photographs from the meeting (including the chess exhibit and the book market).
A fine dinner in the George Hotel followed, in a good mood and with a clearly better price-performance ratio. I had a great conversation with Jimmy Adams about his Breyer book project, I am very curious.
Sunday morning we went to Bletchley Park, after all 2.5 h to ride. Unfortunately the Grondijs couldn't join us as they didn't travel by car and had to return to Norwich – where their plane had arrived directly from Amsterdam.
I had already reported about Bletchley Park before (see On a Flying Visit to Bletchley Park), it was my second visit now and certainly not my last. The Sarembas and Van de Veldes looked impressed, but the other attendants as well, particularly the Hardings and Steve Giddins. Jurgen Stigter made again some waves because of much luggage and transfer to London ...
About Alan Turing
Enigma & the Bombe
Chess masters as cryptographers
Our Gallery 4 presents 30 additional pictures from the visit to Bletchley Park.
The intended visit to Brompton (Zukertort's grave) - Mike Sheehan arguably appeared there at the cemetery and missed us - was cancelled due to the advanced time, the traffic jam on the M11 and the beginning hailstorm at temperatures below 10°C. The accompanying ladies were happy about my turn into the direction Radisson Hotel Stansted, and it was "rewarded" with a fine evening meal in the Italian restaurant there.
Finally sincere thanks go to Kathleen and Owen Hindle as well as to Michael Clapham, but also to those who made the book market possible.
Text: Michael Negele Photos: Andreas Saremba, Michael Negele & Guy Van Habberney