Finals results : 2024

We had two very different days of weather for our Finals weekend. Saturday was decidedly autumnal : quite chilly and blustery. Sunday felt more like one of the warmest days of the summer. The one thing which was the same was the high standard of the tennis!

Saturday’s highlight was the Men’s Final won by David Jones with a stunningly impressive performance. Almost as good was the U18 Boys Final where the hitting was nearly as powerful as David’s with many long fiercely-contested rallies.

Sunday’s highlight was without doubt the U10 Boys final played with junior green balls. The only other concessions to their age were having the net slightly lowered and allowing a sit-down after each game rather than just at the change of ends, very necessary on this hot day. There were plenty of long rallies with deep controlled shots from both players. They got a very warm and well-deserved round of applause from all the veteran finalists when they finished.

Here are the full list of winners and runners-up

EVENTWINNERRUNNER-UP
U10 BoysAustin Jarrett-KerrIsaac Blake
U10 GirlsIndia GillettSaskia Ellison
U12 BoysCalder McFeeJoshua Reid
U14 BoysGeorge DunhillLuke Glennon
U14 GirlsIsla GillettMelissa Cox
U16 BoysOliver CasseltonAleksander Mach
U18 BoysOliver CasseltonMichael Palmer
EVENTWINNERRUNNER-UP
Mens SinglesDavid JonesPeter Grant
Mens Vets SinglesPeter GrantStuart Lamb
Mens DoublesAlistair Jones and David JonesBen Martin and Harry Bywaters
Mens Vets DoublesDavid Pharo and Peter GrantDavid Alston and Mike Thornley
EVENTWINNERRUNNER-UP
Ladies SinglesSam RushChloe Tarling
Ladies DoublesDebbie Ryder and Jane VincentJane Baldwin and Sam Rush
Ladies Vets DoublesDebbie Ryder and Jane VincentElaine Leitch and Sam Williamson
EVENTWINNERRUNNER-UP
Mixed DoublesPeter Grant and Jane VincentMark Elliott and Gill Stoney
Mixed Vets Doubles (Over 50s)Peter Grant and Jane VincentStuart Lamb and Debbie Ryder
Super Vets Doubles (Over 60s)Cliff Church and Sue WhiteDavid Alston and Ailsa Fraser
Platinum Trophy (Over 70s)Roger Barnacle and Val TalbotDerek Carder and Sue White

American Tournament results 2024

Our American Tournaments continue to be popular. Maybe it is the mix and match format where pairings are decided at random each round, or maybe it is the lovely teas, or maybe just an opportunity to play some competitive tennis in a more relaxed social setting. This year, we only held three of them as the one scheduled for the early May public holiday was a total wash-out.

Here are the results

Mens

 1st2nd3rd
April 1stCliff ChurchChris ColeJames Carlisle
Mark Hill
Mike Thornley Paul Tippins
May 27thJames Carlisle
Jonty Maston
Ed Long
Mark Hill
Paul Tippins
August 26thChris ColeMike ThornleyGeoff Day
Pete Archer

Ladies

 1st2nd3rd
April 1stSam RushKim FieldGill Stoney
May 27thSam RushFran JonesPat Cutting
August 26thDiane DoyleCath PearsonWendy Day

Our August tournament runs on slightly different rules and players are competing for the Albany Trophy.

Well done to Diane Doyle, playing an American for the first time, and Chris Cole as winners.


Handicap Finals 2024

Our Finals for the handicap tournament was, as always, full of great tennis. It was particularly good to see some new names for the winners’ trophies : Rob Bozier, Guillaume Kaczmar, Verna DuFon and Jill Wilbraham. Indeed Verna and Jill had entered the event for the first time. Well done to them and all the other finalists. A special mention too for Tom Van Klaveren who repeated his win last year in the Mixed Doubles.

 
Winner
Runner-up

Mens Singles
Rob BozierAndy McElliogott

Ladies Singles
Sam RushJill Wilbraham

Mens Doubles
Graham Friel and Guillaume KaczmarMark Hill and Mike Santtu Asp

Ladies Doubles
Verna DuFon and Jill WilbrahamFran Jones and Alison Jameson

Mixed Doubles
Tom Van Klaveren and Alison JamesonMike Thornley and Sam Rush

Family Tournament : April 2024

The Family Tournament was well attended yesterday afternoon with 12 families partaking. As the name suggests, a pair enters with one U18 player and an adult family member.

Matt Tarling ran the event and said a good time was had by all with lots of positive feedback.

For the second year in a row, Reuben and Mark were winners with Chris and Robert in second place, Dave and Harry third and Matt and Seb 4th.

Congratulations to all the finalists, especially Reuben and Mark for defending their title and thank you to all who attended. And a big thank you to Matt for running the event!


Smiths Cup events : April 2024

There were 5 pairs in the Men’s Smith’s Cup, including three father and son teams. The event was blessed with good weather, sunny and mild for a change, and some good tennis and fun points. The winners were Robert Bozier and Stuart Aberdeen on 23 points, with Chris Ezra and Santtu Asp on 21.
The Ladies’ Smith’s Cup was also well-supported. The winners were Jaime Sims and Sue White winning 28 points. Runners up were Sam Rush and Gill Stoney on 26 points.


50th anniversary celebration : 2023

Saturday September 2nd was a very special Finals day ; we were celebrating 50 years at our present site on Ewshot Lane. We had invited former members to join us and it was great that so many came. We have never had such a crowd for our Finals and the buzz around the club was amazing. The tennis almost took a bit of a back seat as there were so many people chatting and catching up with old friends

An added bonus was that three of the Junior trophies – the Seymour trophy, the Ryder trophy and the Archer trophy – were presented by guests Simon Seymour, Jill Ryder and Bill Archer.

Even the weather in this most fickle of summers was kind to us, indeed it was almost too warm. The catering team of Debra Norton, Linda Robson and Ann Hanson were kept very busy. Ann had a special reason for coming (though she always does come to help out) ; she was one of the club members who moved from our earlier site off Albany Road to our present one.

We hope these photos give some impression of the lovely day we had.

Thanks to Lina Robson for these photos. Please click on any one to start a slideshow of full size photos.


Results from Finals weekend 2023

Here are the results for all the matches from Finals weekend in 2023

The accolade of competing in the longest match went to the two lady pairings. We all thought 2h 30m was long when they played the Ladies Doubles on Saturday; their Ladies Vets match was even longer at 2h 45m! The stand-out achievement in the Junior section was Oliver Casselton who won the U14 and the U16 boys singles finals. If he had entered for the U18, he may well have won that too!

EVENTWINNERRUNNER-UP
U12 BoysFilip MachLuke Glennon
U12 GirlsMelissa CoxIzzy Hayward
U14 BoysOliver CasseltonAlek Mach
U16 BoysOliver CasseltonJacob Diskin
U16 Girls Amy PalmerIsla Roddick
U18Michael PalmerJacob Diskin
EVENTWINNERRUNNER-UP
Mens SinglesDavid JonesBen Martin
Mens Vets SinglesPeter GrantStuart Lamb
Mens DoublesAlistair Jones and David JonesDavid Pharo and Paul Kemsley
Mens Vets DoublesDavid Pharo and Peter GrantCliff Church and Paul Hampshire
EVENTWINNERRUNNER-UP
Ladies SinglesSam RushGeorgie Charles
Ladies DoublesDebbie Ryder and Jane VincentElaine Leitch and Sam Williamson
Ladies Vets DoublesDebbie Ryder and Jane VincentElaine Leitch and Sam Williamson
EVENTWINNERRUNNER-UP
Mixed DoublesPeter Grant and Jane VincentMark Elliott and Gill Stoney
Mixed Vets Doubles (O50s)Peter Grant and Jane VincentAlistair Jones and Fran Jones
Mixed Super Vets Doubles (O60)Peter Smith and Ailsa FraserChris Iles and Sally Charlton
Mixed Platinum Trophy (O70s)Roger Barnacle and Val TalbotEdward Woods and Jane Woods


American Tournaments

The American Tournaments this summer have been very well supported, finishing with the Albany event on the Bank Holiday in August, the only one of the four with no rain at all. Well done to Gill Stoney and Mark Hill for winning. Fran Jones came third in the ladies category but lost out on family bragging rights to sister Cath Pearson in second place. Paul Tippins, playing in his first American event came second in the Mens and Oliver Mills, one of our excellent Juniors in the club, came third. Oliver had a choice of a huge bar of chocolate or a scented candle as his prize. With his mum looking on and a bit of teasing from the rest of us, he chose the candle, bless him.

A key draw for entering the tournaments is the tea break – possibly the best part! Our thanks to Debra Norton for co-ordinating the catering and especially to Ann Hanson who comes along each time to do the serving and clearing away, allowing the rest of us to enjoy playing.


Handicap Finals 2023

Congratulations to all the finalists in the Handicap Finals who gave us a great afternoon of tennis. Several of the events went to 3 sets with the Mixed Doubles being particularly close. It was so entertaining that the Red Arrows flew over just to have a look.

Wendy Day and Alison Jameson had an unusual event – against one another in the Ladies Singles and partners in the Ladies Doubles. Both the events went to 3 sets, so they had a busy afternoon!

 
Winner
Runner-up

Mens Singles
Graham FrielAndy Cholerton

Ladies Singles
Wendy DayAlison Jameson

Mens Doubles
Mark Hill and Richard VallisChris Feeney and Mike Thornley

Ladies Doubles
Wendy Day and Alison JamesonCath Pearson and Jax Sinclair – Brown

Mixed Doubles
Tom Van Klaveren and Pauline SnellJon Clackett and Fran Jones


Family Tournament : July 2023

The Family Tournament is what is sounds like : a doubles event for one U18 player and one adult from the same family.

It was held on Saturday 1 July with eight families participating. Winners were Mark and Reuben; runners up David and Harry . Congratulations to everyone for taking part. Thank you to Matt Tarling for running the event.


American Tournaments April / May

Springtime is always a busy time for the American Tournaments as we hold them on each Bank Holiday Monday, giving three in quick succession. This year of course there was an extra Monday holiday because of the Coronation but we drew the line at holding a tournament on that day too. We did have a mixed bag of weather. The forecast for Easter Monday was for a lot of rain and understandably several people withdrew – and then regretted it as the afternoon was quite pleasant. The two Mondays in May were better and we had a full house of 36 players for the late May event.

Congratulations to all the winners , especially to Mark Hill who had a “podium finish” each time.

Mens results

Date1st2nd3rd

Easter Monday
Cliff ChurchMark HillOliver Mills

May 1st
Pete SmithCliff ChurchMark Hill
May 29thJoao Branco
Guillaume Kaczmar

Mark Hill

Ladies results

Date1st2nd3rd
Easter MondayWendy DayTrish Harriss
Mandy Broadbent
May 1stLynn McKenzieWendy Day
Katherine Rusbridge
May 29thSam RushVicky Judge
5 way tie!

Smiths Cups

We have two Smith Cup events – one for Ladies played on Saturday April 1st with the Mens following it on Sunday April 2nd. The normal idea is for everyone to get back into a bit of competitive play before the start of the summer league season. This year for the first time, the winter league scheduled to finish at the end of February had still to complete after so many re-arrangement for snow, rain etc!

Well done and thank you to all the pairs who played. I watched the Ladies play, it was a real mix of pairs from each of our teams : A, B, C and D, with the D team pair in particular enjoying the opportunity and challenge of coming up against strong opponents. They can be justifiably proud that they won games in all their sets. The winners of the event were Elaine Leitch and Sam Williamson.

I’m sure the Mens event was played in the same spirit. Winners here were Nick Ward and George Nicolaidis. Well done especially to Nick who also won last year with Andy Cholerton.