4 days ago
- General
- Powys County Times
Powys man recieves British Empire Medal for chess club
A Welshpool man who has been using chess to help young people for decades received his British Empire Medal in the Powys town.
After being listed among the New Years honours list at the end of 2024, Welshpool resident Steve Rigby received the British Empire Medal at a ceremony in The Westwood Park Hotel.
Mr Rigby was presented with his British Empire Medal by the Lord Lieutenant of Powys, Tia Catherine Jones, in her role as the King's representative.
He was recognised for his work as part of 3C's chess club in Oldham, having started the club with his friend Roy Williams as a way to give children in the area a chance to do something that would help give them opportunities.
He's also taken the game to several corners of the world, listing Uzbekistan, Galveston and Texas as just some of the places he's played chess and gotten to know people through the game.
At the time the honour was announced, he said: 'All this publicity isn't me. People are doing this as a gesture to me, I find it very flattering I am absolutely amazed.
'The first thing I thought was about all the people who aren't with us any longer since when we started in 1978 and I immediately thought of them and in a way it is for them.
'In 78 I was a teacher in Chadderton in Oldham, which is not the most fashionable part of the country and had quite a bit of deprivation.
'I always thought that if you give kids the opportunities if you give the families the opportunities they will take it.
'For me chess was a vehicle that allowed me to get to provide opportunities to socialise and learn how to play chess and develop friendships.
'I could take them to places they could experience different venues away from the estates.
'Me and Roy thought this would be a great vehicle to get them out of this academic isolation and get them out there.
'We have had children who have been enormously successful in the chess world but when you have children from quite poor homes and you can take them up and down the country and give them opportunities to see things beyond where they live it's a big thing – it matters.'
