Last weekend at Colets saw the culmination of this season’s Club Tournaments with 63 matches played in 16 different events.

It was a pleasure to see many non-playing members present to support the event and catch up with old friends.

Saturday was semi finals day and as usual the competition was close in some matches and not so in others.
Highlights of Saturday were a tight game between England O’65 players Barry Featherstone and Aubrey Waddy and the O’45 Doubles between Stuart Hardy and Dermot Hurford against last year’s winners Chris Ansell and Graham Hooper, Barry winning the singles and Stuart and Dermot the doubles.

The Ladies O’50 was played as a round robin on Saturday with Mandy Akin and Claire Baker coming out on top in each division. In Sunday’s finals England #1 Mandy proved too strong for Claire and Lynne Davies won the Plate Final over newcomer to the club, Julia Ledger. With only two entries in the Ladies O’40 the final was between Sam Mueller and Alison Goy with England Captain, Sam, winning 3-1. The Ladies Doubles Final was a repeat of last year but with the opposite result. Mandy and Karen beating Tammy Bennett and Kim Ricks. Kim arriving back from skiing just in time for the final.

Sunday proved to be a little frantic at Colets. Squash matches were played on 5 courts from 9.45 through to 3.00.
The England Under 20 Development Rugby squad had a selection training session. The Colets Manager celebrated his birthday with a football match and the Colets Sunday Cyclist held a bike maintenance session in the bar.
It was to say the least, a bit crowded.

The men’s tournament provided some good squash. Mark Hildred drove from Boston in the morning to beat Nick Dart in the O’45 final. Darren Withey was pushed by Ian Mann in the O’50 Semi before Darren won 3-1 and then went on to beat Dermot Hurford 3-0 in the final. Stuart Hardy retained his O’55 title, as did Steve Jackson in the O’60 Philip Ayton O’65 John Woodliffe O’75 and Wilf Mann in the O’80. Brian Phillips won the O’70 singles and with George Aplin the same age doubles.

Doubles on a singles court played by top players can be a frantic affair. I’m pleased to say that no-one was injured in any of our matches. Darren Withey and Chris Harland coming out top in the O’45 event, Syd Spittle and Carlos Marques O’55, Geoff Howes and Aubrey Waddy moving into their correct age bracket the O’65, and not surprisingly John Woodliffe and Lance Kinder in the hastily arranged O’75.

The AGM followed the finals with a presentation to the retiring John Woodliffe, thanking him for his 20 years of service as Chairman and the election of Tom Hendry as a “Temporary” replacement. The Cups, Salvers, Trophies and glassware were then presented to the winners and runners-up. The Burrell Trophy was awarded to David Garrett and the newly donated Norman Hunt Trophy “For a member considered to have made a special contribution to the spirit of the tournament” was awarded to our top referee Dean Clayton.

My thanks must go to Dean for marking almost non-stop over the weekend and to all those others who helped with this task. To Jane Belle for manning (ladying doesn’t sound right) the desk and recording the results all weekend. Also to Terry Woodliffe and Christine Howes for their assistance on Sunday and to Colets for hosting the whole event. Finally to the supporters and all players whose attitude and good humour makes this tournament a pleasure to run.

Geoff Howes
Tournament Director
15 April 2014