SCOTTISH BRIDGE UNION
Eddie McGeough's funeral mass is to be held at St Quivox RC Church, St Quivox Road, Prestwick KA9 1LU on Saturday 6th December at 10am, followed by burial at Hawkhill Cemetery, Stevenston. Family flowers only.
The Scottish bridge community was rocked to its core by the news that Eddie had passed away. For too long to remember, Eddie was a constant presence in Scottish bridge.
Be it the Overseas Congress, Peebles, Oban, Newtonmore, Strathpeffer, Aviemore, Montrose, Mull, the National League, the Winter 4s, Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh or the Ayrshire BC, Eddie would be there, as true as spring following winter. He sometimes partnered Angela, but more often with Jim – a partnership that thrived despite the distance between their respective homes.
A true gent both at and away from the table, he was never one to criticise either partner or opponents Eddie reached the rank of Grandmaster and won the Bowman Trophy twice, the Mens’ Pairs, the Marion Hill Trophy and the Lord Thompson Cup. He was a much underrated player.
At the recent NL weekend, Eddie found the lead of the D9 from J98 against 4H. The contract should make but the lead took me down a blind alley, with the trumps 4-1 I had no chance. No gloating from Eddie, just a knowing looking exchanged between worthy opponents.
I never heard a bad word from Eddie, his quiet and respectful demeanour at the table made it a joy to play against him. It must have been so easy to partner him.
Eddie contributed much to the administration of Scottish bridge. He was SBU President from 2018-20 and a long standing Council member, he was a member of the Master points group at the time of his death. He served Ayrshire District with distinction. He was a National Tournament Director and as recently as January of this year directed at the Camrose weekend hosted by the SBU. At the Aviemore Congress, just last weekend, I had a long chat with Eddie about a project that he was working on. He was keen to introduce an improvement to Mempad which would greatly reduce the time spent by our volunteers in processing the result files.
He was always available to give his opinion, when asked, on developments in Scottish bridge. You could be assured that it would be reasoned and objective, and not something that could be dismissed lightly.
A keen walker and cyclist, it was not unusual for Eddie to travel to events taking his bike on the train and cycling the last stage to the venue. His professional background was in computing and IT and he was particularly helpful to Cathy when she took on the role of SBU Secretary. He spent many hours going through the SBU website, showing her how to use it and explaining the workings.
Eddie, you were one of our own, you will be missed.
Bob McKinnon