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When first asked to produce this I thought about exactly how long that I’ve been playing role-playing games and the number of people who I’ve met that I’ve become friends with because of this hobby... it was scary.
The Bournemouth Berserkers Club was founded by Chris Hawke way back in the mists of time when D&D was called AD&D and there were only ten or so other systems on the market. The exact date that the club was formed and its first meeting has past into obscurity, but then again so have all the local game shops that fed our appetites for the hobby in those early days*. Best guess is mid 1988, that makes the club approximately 20 years old.... also scary.
The clubs first location was a small room in the BCCA (Bournemouth Centre for Community Arts). It was an “art” room with paint splattered wooden tables and chairs that, even then, had seen a long life. I didn’t attend the first few meetings, though Chris Martindale was there a few weeks prior, along with about five others (none of whom are still members). Martin Burt and I arrived later to scout it out and discovered a game in progress run by Mark Silvester. We quickly rolled up characters and dove in. I seem to remember playing a druid.
It wasn’t long before the club quickly grew to the state where two game tables were required. Perhaps fortunately, the Art room was often un-available and we were pushed into a large hut (rather grandly called the Studio) on a regular basis which, though colder, was more spacious and eventually served as the clubs home for the next 15 years. The membership grew steadily larger with the peak reaching four games tables a night for several months. This was only possible due to the availability of the vacant room next door, which we were allowed to use for free if it wasn't in use.
Over time and with changing circumstances the members have come and gone, with many taking extended breaks for family, university, college, jobs and “getting a life”. Chris Hawke eventually handed me the responsibilities of paying for the hall and collecting fees after departing to Southampton after serving as the clubs guardian for about five years.
After many happy years based at Boscombe, the decision was made to move venue to our current venue at the “Hall on the Hill” in West Christchurch. The reason for the move was the availability of adequate car parking. The BCCA was ideal for our games but not for the number of cars that we drove. The car park was often crowded and sometimes full, causing us to park in nearby roads or risk our cars being blocked in or worse still damaged. When building work further exasperated the problem we regretfully made the decision to leave.
We moved to our current venue, “The Hall on the Hill” in early 2005, with better parking, nearby shops and better facilities. Our decision proved to be the right one. The recent move downstairs to a larger area allowed a third table to relieve the overstretched GM’s and add greater diversity to the games available.
Our activities as a club have been many and varied. With our members having links to other clubs (both RPG and wargaming). We have run ad-hoc LARPS in the New Forest and on St Catherines Hill. We even appeared on TV and got to meet media superstars Fred Dinage and Fern Britton!
For several years we also ran monthly day-long Sunday games days at the Regent Centre in Christchurch and now are hopefully arranging the re-launch of a similiar monthly event at the Hall on the Hill.
Members of the club are also a major driving force in the organisation and running of Conception, our very own local 5-day residential gaming convention that is co-hosted by a few members of "Have Dice Will Travel" and supported by the Round Table for the past few years. Attendance at this event has further increased our profile within the gaming community and assured that our members have a place to game and friends to game with.
Long may it continue!
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