Forrest & Dinmore Hit The Bullseye In Ipswich

Forrest & Dinmore Hit The Bullseye In Ipswich

07/01/26: Peter Forrest & Charlie Dinmore started 2026 with a bang, taking home the coveted Ipswich Tournament Graves Cup trophy at the weekend.

Increasingly, the focus of the sporting world at the start of the New Year has been at the World Darts Championships at Alexandra Palace. The more discerning sport lover, however, can be found looking elsewhere for their early January fix of overweight sporting stars, dodgy-looking match kit, prolonged bouts of heavy drinking and demonstrations of high-level sporting skill and excellence, namely the Fives courts of Ipswich School, home to the prestigious Graves Cup competition for nigh on 50 years.

It may not yet have hit the mainstream, languishing in the sporting shadows with the likes of bog-snorkelling, camel-racing and Scottish football, but for those in the know, the Graves Cup is an institution, bringing together current and former Ipswich School Fives players plus an assortment of esteemed guests for one of the best weekends on the Fives calendar.

This year started with a surprise, namely the first of the potential keyholders arriving to open the pavilion - only ten minutes after the advertised start time - being four-time champion (and winner of the inaugural tournament) Peter Boughton. This came as a relief to the rather chilly-looking waiting group of youngsters naive enough to turn up on time, although as some of the more gnarled veterans were quick to point out, it wasn't always the case that the pavilion offered luxuries such as central heating and indoor toilets. But in much the same way as Jollees nightclub in Stoke evolved into Frimley Green and then Ally Pally, so have the Graves Cup facilities improved beyond recognition over the years to cater for the pampered modern generation of Fives players.

And there were plenty of the modern generation there to enjoy them. Nineteen pairs took part over the course of the weekend, with a handful of school players, a few guests, a smattering of veterans (including Boughton, now rapidly approaching uberveteran status) but by the far the largest contingent coming from relatively recent leavers, although your correspondent's definition of recent leaver probably does stretch back to include any time this century. Anyway, this was a demonstration both of the enduring pull of the Graves Cup and the current strength of Ipswichian Fives and also an encouraging indicator that the club will continue to prosper long into the future.

The Graves Cup doesn't need the marketing flim flam of walk on music and dancing girls with pom poms and just gets straight to the action, a sensible policy in early January with the temperatures hovering around zero and a few snowflakes in the air. The seeding committee had done their usual masterly work over a few bottles on the Friday night, pairing up the participants to produce a fascinating draw, with four groups battling it out for Sunday morning quarter-final places. The four group winners would go straight through to the last eight and would be in a position to be starting on their pre-dinner tipple while the second and third placed pairs played each other to try and join them.

Day One's Luke Littlers were the Group C pairing of two time champion (1996 & 2009) Peter Forrest and one half of the school's 2025 national U16 champion pair Charlie Dinmore, cutting a stylish swathe through the other four pairs in their group for the collective loss of only 13 points. The rest were left trailing in their wake, with Elliot Caldwell (2019 winner) & Nadia Mason and Pete Scholey & Betsy Laws heading into the play-offs and Henry Gardner & Dmitri Seymour-Howell and Tim Gregory (champion in 1988, 2001 and 2008) & Sam Parmenter into the plate.

The other five pair group was much tighter, with no one emerging undefeated. Simon Cass (2022) & Oscar Taylor sneaked into first place courtesy of two 12-11 wins, including a crucial one over second placed Mandie Barnes (2024) & Daniel Ingram, who were playing together this year having been on opposite sides in the 2024 final. The staff/pupil pairing of Tim Wyndham & Harry Mercer defied a bruised Mercer hand to pip Jeremy Hughes & Will Carron to third place, with last year's winner Gareth Hoskins (1996, 2011 and 2025) & Abbie Gammage in fifth.

Group D was the most clear cut, with Alex Phillips & Harvey Garrard cruising through unbeaten ahead of Cam Lyle (2010 and 2017) & Sam Cook in second, Charlotta Cooley (2023) & Ollie Garrard in third and Karen Hird & Jackson Servant in fourth. Group A on the other hand was anything but clear cut, with James Gray (2016 and 2022) & Alex Williams coming first with three wins, but only after a 15-14 win over Harry Asquith & the other half of last year's winning pair Noah Urmston. Harry & Noah then found themselves in a threeway tie with the other pairs in the group as they, Peter Boughton (1980, 1983, 1989, 2005) & Alex Yusaf (2009) and Seb Cooley (1999, 2002, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2019 and 2020) & Logan Williamson all beat each other. The organiser had to get her calculator out, the upshot being that Harry & Noah came second and Alex & Peter third while Logan & the Phil Taylor of Fives were banished into the Stubbs-inhabited badlands of the Plate.

While everyone else put their feet up and stayed in the warm, the day's on court action was concluded with the play-off round to see who would join the four group winners in the quarter-finals. Mercer finally succumbed to his bruised hand as he & Wyndham bowed out against the SamCam combo, while Harry Asquith showed she's made of sterner stuff, defying her own impressively bruised right hand to partner Noah to a come from behind victory over Pete & Betsy. Yusaf & Boughton started to find their best form, dismissing Elliot & Nadia 15-3 while the closest game saw Dan & Mandie sneak past Charlotta & Ollie 15-12.

The Saturday evening dinner was as enjoyable as ever, with the opportunity to see who was taking their Sunday chances seriously and who was adopting a more traditionally relaxed approach to the rest of the tournament. It also provided the chance for a more sombre and reflective moment as we remembered John Caudle and Annabel Griffiths, both of whom we sadly lost during 2025.

The Sunday morning quarter-finals were an opportunity for the play-off winners to overturn the form book and take down one of the group winners. Impressively it was the evergreen Boughton & the experienced Yusaf who upped their game, ending the run of Cass & Taylor with a convincing 15-8 win. None of the other matches were particularly close either, Ingram & Barnes falling to Gray & Williams, Asquith & Urmston unable to find a way past Phillips & Garrard and SamCam running into the Forrest & Dinmore brick wall.

It was the semi-finals that turned out to be the closest matches of the day, as is often the case. Yusaf & Boughton were on a roll and for the first time all weekend, Forrest - the self-confessed "best returner in the club" - & Dinmore found themselves under real pressure. They won the first game 12-7 but the second went to 11-11 before Charlie & Peter spared themselves a tricky third game decider with the winning point. The other semi-final was also very tight, with the all action James Gray and his more laconic partner Alex "Pixie" Williams taking on the tournament's youngest pair, Alex Phillips & Harvey Garrard. The first game went to 11-11 but it was Alex & Harvey who seized the initiative just at the right time; having won the first 14-11 they were able to hold their nerve and keep their noses in front in the second to win 12-9 and make it through to the final.

Having come through a close semi-final, Peter & Charlie then found a different gear as they started the final against Alex & Harvey. There was some fine Fives played, as you would expect from the two best pairs in the competition, but Peter & Charlie were always in control, winning 12-7, 12-7 to add their names to the distinguished roll call of previous winners.

This was not the only Sunday action, of course, and under the appreciative gaze of the currently injured plate specialist Tony Stubbs, the rest of the field threw themselves into various plate competition. There was a welcome appearance from Singapore's number one OI Fives player Oli Watts, who replaced the injured Mercer and partnered Tim Wyndham to victory in an epic Plate B (for the four losing play-off pairs). The final match on court in fact was the decisive match in this competition, a fabulous 12-11 thriller between Cooley & Garrard and Caldwell & Mason, with the winners of the group resting entirely on who won the last match, despite neither of the participating pairs being able to win it themselves. You don't get that at the darts.

Giant of the game Seb Cooley tried to channel his inner Stubbs but fell at the final hurdle in Plate A against Carron & Hughes. Early departures meant Plate C missed out on a potentially thrilling conclusion and Hoskins & Gammage were rewarded for their perseverance with a 12-11 win in Plate D against Sunday interlopers Will Kelly & Bella Wyndham.

The Graves Cup is a real Ipswich Fives institution, very much the glue that holds together Ipswichian Fives and our thanks go to Charlotta Cooley, Peter Boughton and others for putting it all together so magnificently. As it approaches its fiftieth anniversary, it continues to assert its relevance and go from strength to strength.

Bullseye!

Second Round

D.Ingram & M.Barnes beat C.Cooley & O.Garrard 15-12

A.Yusaf & P.Boughton beat E.Caldwell & N.Mason 15-3

C.Lyle & S.Cook beat T.Wyndham & H.Mercer 15-4

H.Asquith & N.Urmston beat P.Scholey & B.Laws 15-8

Quarter-Finals

J.Gray & A.Williams beat D.Ingram & M.Barnes 15-9

A.Phillips & H.Garrard beat H.Asquith & N.Urmston 15-6

A.Yusaf & P.Boughton beat S.Cass & O.Taylor 15-8

P.Forrest & C.Dinmore beat C.Lyle & S.Cook 15-6

Semi-Finals