We are saddened to report the death of Kay Downes, one of the great figures of Irish bridge. Kay was a fine player with a national title to her name, but it was as an administrator that she made her most significant mark on Irish bridge, serving with distinction in many of the major offices of the game.
Kay was a former President of the CBAI, and also served a long stint as Joint Honorary Secretary of the IBU. In her region, Dublin South, she was on the committee for many years, and served as both President and Treasurer at different times. She donated the Presidential chain of office for the Dublin South Region, and also a lovely trophy for the region’s annual Novice Pairs competition, which bears her name. She was a long-standing member of the Regent Bridge Club, and was its President on two occasions, almost thirty years apart.
She was pre-deceased a few years ago by her husband and great friend, Dermot. Kay and Dermot travelled extensively in support of the Irish bridge teams, and were great ambassadors and congenial company wherever they went. Kay also fulfilled an ambassadorial role as Ireland’s delegate to both the EBL and the WBF, and was awarded a prestigious EBL award for her services to the game. She maintained her interest in supporting bridge well into her nineties, appearing whenever she could to present the Kay Downes Trophy, and making a special guest appearance at last summer’s Regent Centenary Congress to see some of her old friends.
The Downes dynasty lives on, with her daughter Brideen playing and teaching in the South Dublin area. Two of her grandchildren, Hugh and Niamh Gormally, played junior bridge for Ireland, and while busy working lives have limited their bridge recently, we have no doubt they will return to the game in due course. We extend our sympathies to them, and to Kay’s other daughters Maeve and Áine, her brother Vincent, her sisters Peggy and Ann, her extended family, and her very wide circle of friends. Kay was one of a kind, and her loss will be felt heavily within the bridge world. May she rest in peace.
