The following snippets are from Alan Cox's history of chess in Buckinghamshire which was written in 1982 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the BCCA.
Bourne End also initiated the '45 minute' one‑day congress in the county. Held on the Saturday before Easter, the Congress is now a regular annual event. It is organised by George Parker with assistance from Laurence Mullen, Peter Rose, Dave Thomas and other club committee members already mentioned.
In 1976 a new kind of chess congress entered upon the Buckinghamshire scene when one of the county's youngest clubs, Bourne End, organised a one‑day tournament of five rounds in which all games had to be played to a finish with players having only 40 minutes on the clock (this was increased to 45 in subsequent years). Although such tournaments are now almost a commonplace, the format was new to most players and it proved very popular with some exciting finishes and brilliancies as well as some spectacular blunders. One innovation was the "slow‑starters prize" for players with the highest score after losing their first two games; this has proved to be a splendid way of retaining the interest for those whose chance of first prize disappears early in the day.
152 competitors entered the first Congress, being divided into sections of eighteen to twenty, and entries have steadily increased both in strength and number in each subsequent year. In addition to individual prizes, there are prizes for club teams of four which add to the interest. Like Marlow/Amersham, this Congress is now an established feature of the chess calendar. It is held on the Saturday before Easter every year at Bourne End Community Centre.