Wayne Kelly

Chairman / ABSP events organiser / Deputy Ratings Officer / WESPA Rep

Wayne Kelly

Wayne first entered the Scrabble scene in 1995 when he joined Warrington Scrabble Club, and took over the running of the club in 1996 when the previous organiser moved away. He is also a member of the Ashton and Whitefield clubs. He joined the ABSP in 1997, having previously played in the British Amateur Scrabble Tournament and the NSC, and started his Scrabble career on a high winning Division C at his first weekend tournament - Summer Matchplay 1998.

Since then Wayne has played regularly, clocking up 100 tournament games or more each year since 1999, finally hitting 400 in 2011. Wayne has won 4 major titles - the Spring Matchplay in 2006 and 2012, the Easter Matchplay in 2010 and most significantly, Wayne was the National Scrabble Champion in 2011. He has played in one World Championship in India in 2007.

Wayne joined the Committee in June 2003 and is the contact if you require ABSP scoresheets for your tournament. He is also responsible for keeping the ABSP handbook and other important documents up-to-date. Wayne is also the ABSP Titles Registrar, keeping records of Experts and Grand Masters. Wayne achieved his own Grand Master status at the end of 2009. Wayne is also the current organiser of the ABSP Masters event and helps with entries for the BMSC, and has taken part in working groups for the recent change in WSC qualification and the NSC reform group.

Other than Scrabble, Wayne is interested in pop music, particularly Kylie Minogue, and all sorts of quizzes and games. He has appeared on several TV shows, being a past Countdown finalist and a daily winner on Fifteen to One.