ISLANDSBC BRIDGE CLUB OCTOBER 25 NEWSLETTER

Readers mail…..
From ISLANDSBC ONLINE BRIDGE CLUB…..

This quarter, we have news on Bridge activity across the TRNC, writes Colin Pearson. Apart from our regular Halls of Fame winners for the first six months of the year from both the Monday Korineum Bridge Club and the Islandsbc online Tournaments, we have news of the bridge for beginners’ classes and the Wednesday Chicago sessions along with a dinner celebration held at the Down the Hill Restaurant Bahçeli plus an interview with one of our well-known players in the TRNC.

WEDNESDAY CHICAGO SESSIONS IN ALSANCAK

Tony Armstrong reports that at least two tables are running with a number of the recent beginners’ classes joining. He expects the sessions to continue to early December. The beginners classes have now finished for the year but may restart in 2026.

DINNER CELEBRATION – DOWN THE HILL RESTAURANT BAHÇELI

22 Members of the KMBC enjoyed a very enjoyable evening dinner. It was especially pleasing to have Phil Conkie amongst us. He unfortunately suffered both a broken ankle and a head injury in May this year. Although he has been making steady progress a return to bridge hasn’t yet been possible.

ONLINE Bridge Club celebration Dinner at The Hill Restaurant, Barceli

As many of our readers will know bridge is played at many different levels – not all of them competitively and so this quarter we feature one of our longstanding casual bridge players who can lay claim to the fact that his family has had close connections with Cyprus for almost a century.

PIERS OAKEY

FAMILY AND THE LAW

Piers Oakey is a well-known figure in the TRNC and was the only son amongst many sisters of a legal family based in Leicestershire that goes back through eight generations of lawyers to 1702. A firm which originally thrived on ecclesiastical work left little doubt that the only son would be required to assume the responsibility of running the family firm. This didn’t prevent the young Piers from gaining a few distinctions along the way. Before embarking on his legal career Piers did however had to contend with what he claimed was the most influential person in his life growing up and that was Nanny Rivett, his family nanny who always admonished him with. “We’re not at home to Mister Full Of Myself” – a lesson that Piers would fully acknowledge had never completely sunk home even in later life.

Sent at the age of five to boarding school Piers distinguished himself by earning the accolade of being disciplined more than any other boy at the school by the time he left. Pier’s reward was to be sent to an isolated public school in Lancashire for the remainder of his school career. After a year out in Florence studying art, he commenced his legal training in London and chose to specialise in the Law of Equity which is unique to UK Law. After being banned from doing his articles in anywhere within a 100-mile radius of the family firm Piers gravitated to Birmingham where he found himself representing a high proportion of the local prostitutes.

As a junior legal clerk his role was to go out and search for his clients before the court hearings were due to take place and by some means ensure that they were modestly dressed for their hearing. In 1974 on the death of his father Piers assumed responsibility for the family firm and worked as senior partner until he chose to retire in 1998 and hand the firm over to a cousin. During this period Piers also acted as a Recorder on Immigration Tribunals.

LINKS to CYPRUS

Pier’s mother aged 19 was present at the opening of the Dome Hotel in

On an early “ski bike” made in Nicosia in the Troodos Mountains.

Kyrenia in 1937 and he remembered many holiday trips in the 1950’s which continued into the 60’s and 70’s. Although the Oakey family along with the many cousins who travelled with them often toured around the whole island, they almost always gravitated back to Kyrenia. Many of us have experienced the wonder of visiting the recently opened Varosha complex next to Famagusta as a piece of 1970’s nostalgia. Not however Piers who visited the site in 1970 and described it as “the armpit of the world” with its high-rise hotels/apartments blocking out the view of the sea. His visits in the 80’s and 90’s were often characterised by month long stays where the opportunity to devour books trumped what little other entertainment existed at that time.

Piers bought his first property next to Destiny Deniz Restaurant Karakum in 1998 and since then has owned two restaurants/bars, more recently a farm holding with goats and sheep and now property development in Lapta.

BRIDGE

Both his mother and father were very keen Bridge players often playing 5 times a week both at home and at Crockfords where they played rubber bridge often for £5 a point which could lead to significant financial gains. In the 1940’s and 50’s rubber bridge was more popular than duplicate. Piers used to be roped in aged 5 to act as dummy when someone failed to turn up. By the age of 7 he was playing regularly although as he admitted it hasn’t led to an improvement in standard. During his time in the TRNC, he has played social bridge on regular occasions with many of those who prefer this to competitive duplicate bridge.

Piers main claim to fame was winning the award for the lowest number of points obtained during one of the overseas trip organised by Michael Raine in the early part of this century. Piers has always been generous with his time and includes a substantial list of people who he has played bridge with over the years. He remembers in particular the actress Fabia Drake who featured in the film “A Room With A View” with Maggie Smith and Helena Bonham Carter, John Quayle who acted in Coronation Street and also Dorothy (Dotty) Jowett who was a very keen player but extremely kind to those who were not of her level of expertise.