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2023/24 Club Reports

Read on to find out the clubs' views on their 2023/24 seasons. Missing reports will hopefully be added shortly...

 

Aldenham

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Fancy Dress Fives; Tuesday night at Aldenham; Celebrating a win!

The Aldenham Fives Club (The Heath) had another busy year with our ladder competition proving ever popular.

The ladder is played every six weeks and is particularly popular with four to five courts regularly filled. Each winner is awarded the Phil Marsh Trophy which they retain until the next ladder competition. These evenings are rounded off with a meal at the Akash Indian Restaurant which is always well attended by players and non-players alike!

The club play every Tuesday evening throughout the year (only Christmas and New Year preventing the full 52 sessions) and players from other clubs are very welcome to join us.

Phil Lyndon

 

Brigands

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Double Plate success at the Aberconway; Bourne Cup winner

The Indian Summer of 2023 meant a particularly sizzling but rather unorthodox ‘topless’ opener to the Brigands Fives season in September. Early expectations that the ‘Brigands 2024 Wall Calendar’ would be an immediate sell-out subsequently failed to be borne out. Temperatures thankfully dropped with the advent of October and allowed some regular Wednesday evening fully-clothed Fives to be played on the Charterhouse courts and, indeed, a first friendly match (and a first win of the season!) against the ever-improving school pupils.

Before we knew it November had arrived and the first of the ‘Brigands Majors’ was upon us. A shortlist of sixteen Brigands was drawn up to compete for the Silver Salver and after a couple of hours of heady Fives, it was Nick Bourne and partner Alex Constantine who were to face off against Grant Smith and Alex Abrahams in the final. An intense match with some excellent powerplay and deft touches left the galleries even more exhausted than they already were and in need of sustenance provided by the Brigand-friendly Stag-At-Eashing where Club Secretary, Rod Smart presented Alex A and Grant S with the trophy.

A friendly match against Lancing towards the end of November was a welcome new fixture and helped cement the future regular appearance of several Lancing players at the Brigands Wednesday evenings for the remainder of the season. One of these new recruits, Matt Davis, was quick to pick up the London Tournament Festival Plate A1 (with Charterhouse School teacher partner, James Branchflower) whilst Tom Leach and son, Jan Michalski-Leach, won the London Tournament Festival Main Plate A.

There was time for one more match in December against Windsor & Eton on their home courts. The Brigands were too strong and effected a clean-sweep with Alex Constantine and Tom Leach at 1st pair, Stuart Clarke & Matt Davis at 2nd pair and Sandy Savage & Martin Powell at 3rd pair. A friendly dinner with the opposition at Don Beni ensued with some cabaret as a fellow diner was ejected. Thankfully no-one was ejected at the Brigands Christmas dinner the following week and after these various festivities our eyes focussed keenly on 2024.

Very sadly it was at the turn of the year that a Brigand brother, Ronald Pattison - one of the game’s greatest advocates - passed away. Amongst other honours, a Pattison Plate will be played for at the end of the season at Charterhouse school between pupils, staff and fittingly Old Carthusians and Brigands.

January saw two more competitive fixtures for the Brigands. First up was a tough match against North Oxford at Eton. Our 2nd pair of Andrew White & Tom Leach looked out of touch and lost quickly 2-0 but thankfully Jean-Baptiste Garway-Templeman, another new recruit from Lancing, & Brigand stalwart, Martin Powell, hammered out a 2-1 victory at 4th pair to balance the match. In the 3rd pairing, Stuart Clarke and Matt Davis battled out a nail-biter eventually also prevailing 2-1. All eyes were then on the 1st pair of Alex Constantine & Oliver O’Callaghan-Brown who had won their 1st game 12-10 but lost their 2nd game 13-12 against what was essentially Eton College U18 2nd pair. The decider was equally tight eventually resulting in a 12-10 win for North Oxford and an overall tie for the match.

A repeat of the Brigands v Charterhouse school fixture from October followed towards the end of January. It was obvious that the boys had clearly improved since the Autumn match and it was great to see one of the U14 boys bring along not only his parents and sister but also the majority of his house year group to spectate! Brigands fielded 5 pairs, all of which won, but with a very close match at 3rd pair and the promise that next season’s fixtures will be much tougher.

The second and final ‘Brigands Major’, the Bourne Trophy, took place at the end of March. Again, there were 16 players selected. And again it was tight until the end with several players in the running as it came down to the final matches. Eventually Alex Constantine emerged victorious thanks to his consistent and accurate Fives.

Brigands featured in the end of season competitions, notably the Aberconway Cup where Alex Knight with daughter Grace were worthy winners of the Plate B whilst Tom Leach and son Jan Michalski-Leach triumphed over Tom Dunbar and son, Jamie, to take home the Mike Fenn Plate.

A week later no fewer than 7 Brigands featured in the Veterans tournament and whilst there was no silverware in the Over 40s for Alex Knight & Tom Leach or Oliver O’Callaghan-Brown & Alex Constantine, nor for Martin Powell and Andrew White in the Senior ranks, there was success in the Over 60s for Simon Woolfries (together with his long-time partner, Peter Boughton) as they picked up the Walters Cup.

The end of season dinner at the White Horse in Hascombe and the annual golf day at West Surrey GC (won by David Martin & Tom Leach in glorious weather) completed an undefeated and buoyant season for the Brigands.

The Brigands play every Wednesday evening from September through to April at Charterhouse School and players in Surrey (and environs) of all abilities are welcome to join by contacting Club Secretary, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Tom Leach

 

Bunch of Fives

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The Bunch of Fives, sturdy pensioners who play at 11am every Thursday at Iffley Road sports centre in Oxford, have distinguished ourselves as interior decorators this year.

We have been the main guinea pigs during a long and intricate renovation of the two courts - very welcome in principle but strewn in practice with curious obstacles.

We suggested at the outset that blue courts might be stimulating - pace Geneva - and much to our surprise this wish was granted. But there followed a complicated saga of different types of paint, stripping and repainting and photographic exchanges with John Reynolds, the guru of such matters who was also the very welcome Guest of Honour at our Christmas lunch.

We meanwhile continue our efforts to expand beyond a keen but overly-modest core. Our latest initiative has been this film (link if poss) for the sports centre’s internal TV and an invitation to Iffley Road’s weekly Zumba group to hold their post-session coffee get-together on the apron of the courts rather than in the café with the chance to have a go, if inspired.

We hope for fixtures with the students and North Oxford in the year ahead.

Pics show redone courts and Stefan Nowinski trialling washing-up liquid to remove ball marks.

Martin Wainwright

 

Cambridge University

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Varsity Match teams; Universities Mixed and Women's champions

No report received yet

 

Jesters

No report received yet

 

Lancing

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Ladies Finalist Ashley Lumbard; The Steeles at the Aberconway Cup; Relaxing off court

It is impossible to start this report on a very sad and upsetting note in relation to the Fives courts at Lancing. In April 2023 Richard Black and I attended a meeting at the school with the Headmaster and master in Charge of Fives . We were told that a decision had been made to convert the 2 front Fives courts to a café and retain/refurbish the rear courts.

Despite numerous and well-argued representations to the decisionmakers at Lancing to halt the conversion, the plans were implemented and construction started in August. Given that there was nothing that could be done to reverse the decision, extensive efforts were made to ensure that the refurbishment of the rear courts was undertaken to the highest possible standard and appropriate for the playing of Fives. The Estates, design and construction teams did engage with us and took on board requirements that they were simply unaware of. Valuable input was received from John Reynolds and Ed Taylor on detailed specification matters.

The hope is that the refurbish courts will create greater interest and participation in the game , which has been at a very low ebb for the last few years. The OLs will continue to try to promote and encourage the game at Lancing, which as Howard Wiseman has been known to say, “is a tough gig”.

On a brighter note George Linfield has stepped up to organise the OL team for the Westway Summer leagues and after 2 rounds , the OLs are top of the table! There were also individual successes for OLs during the season, with Ashley Lumbard again reaching the Ladies Championships final and Alex Abrahams putting in some strong Division 1 performances and reaching a first Kinnaird quarter-final.

Matthew Beard

 

Newbury

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Newbury in action at the Aberconway Cup and EFA Trophy

No report received yet

 

North Oxford

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Black Cup winners; EFA Trophy team; League action at Aldenham; Celebrating a win at Orpington

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 Northern Festival winners; Ladies Champions again;Three Code Challenge; Three Code Champion

The 2023/24 season has been another enjoyably busy one for the Fives players of North Oxford, with close to 50 matches played and 70 different players representing the club on at least one occasion.

The early part of the season saw our weekly Monday evening games at Summer Fields hit peak numbers, with some enthusiastic SF gappers and staff and some moonlighting OUEFC students joining the regular merry band and on occasion the best part of 20 people turning up to play on our two courts. Luckily, the indoor courts and dry, warm seating (for the resting) or adjacent squash court Fives (for the energetic) kept everyone happy. The gapper turnover in January, the Iffley Road courts being back in action and one or two absentees meant that attendance returned to a slightly more manageable number by the end of the season, but we have still enjoyed welcoming a wide variety of occasional guest players as well as acquiring some new regular recruits such as James Wheale, Olivia Prankerd Smith, Tim Boyes-Weston and the returning Caleb Broomfield to join the long term Monday nighters.

Competition-wise, the emphasis has been very firmly on quantity, with a decent amount of quality thrown in from time to time. Once again, we entered a team in all three divisions of the league, this year with the additional complication of reduced availability from Matt Chinery and Karen Hird, both of whom have seemingly played in virtually every match in recent years. This simply meant greater opportunities for others, of course, and the Division 1 team managed to finish in a very creditable fourth place, using a wide range of players and trying where possible to focus on younger players. Alex Abrahams and Noah Caplin led the way, with strong support from Matt Asquith. Another injury-plagued season meant we didn’t see as much of Tom McCahon as we would have liked (let’s hope for better luck next year) but there were valuable contributions from Ben Hart, Beau Swallow, James Piggot, Will Ponsonby, Archie Cameron-Blackie, Steve Kaaber-Gore, Isaac Wagland and Nathan Turnbull. There were a couple of appearances from Seb Cooley, who looks a decent prospect; Stephen Thatcher, Paul Holland and Darshan Patel all stepped up when required and the old guard of Gareth Hoskins and Chris Austin and the even older guard of Graham Pulsford and Pete Scholey all did their bit.

The Division 2 season – especially with Matt & Karen’s reduced availability – was somewhat up and down results-wise but was again notable for the wide range of players who contributed. Twenty-four different players turned out in at least one match of the eight played in Division 2, with only Thatcher (5) and Pulsford (4) playing in at least half. Otherwise there was nice mix of old favourites – Austin, Hoskins, Turnbull, Scholey, Patel, Hird, Chinery, Ian Mitchell, Spencer Chapman, Henry Turcan, Robert Thorogood – and some new blood, with Will Thomas, Paul Holland and Jack Hopkins from Newbury, Lewis Drummond & Jamie Levinson from Cambridge, Old Summerfieldian contributions from Beau Swallow, Fred Prickett and Toby Bush and homegrown talent in the form of Harry Asquith and Gael Guetard.

NOEFC President Andy Bishop steered the Division 3 team to a respectable mid-table finish, often seeming to come up against opponents very much at full strength but again taking the opportunity to give lots of players a chance to get on court. Andy himself, plus Ian Mitchell, Stefan Nowinski and Toby Bush were the backbone of the team, with strong contributions from the NOEFC female contingent – Mandie Barnes, Bee Millar, Freya Butler, Sophie Clifford-King and Harry Asquith.

It was the North Oxford women who provided the highlight of the season once again by retaining the Richard Black Cup. With Karen Hird again playing for Repton, and Rachel Wood absent on maternity leave, this was a slightly against the odds victory and the result of some fantastic performances on the day. Harry Asquith led from the front and she and Francesca Turnbull produced the result of the day, winning comprehensively at first pair in the decisive game against the Shrewsbury pair who later in the season reached the national semi-finals. Natalie Lilienthal and Mandie Barnes provided experienced back up while newcomers Bee Millar and Grace Day deservedly tasted victory in this competition for the first time.

Elsewhere in the team competitions, we entered two teams in the Boughton Bowl, finishing third (a slightly disappointing result, maybe) and fifth and one team in the EFA Trophy, who made it through to finals day easily enough but then lost agonisingly – as usual – in the semi-finals, with Alex Abrahams & Matt Asquith narrowly failing to pull off what would have been an epic comeback win from 2-0 down.

Away from team competition, there were plenty of notable tournament performances from North Oxford players: Karen retained the ladies and mixed titles, Rachel returned from maternity leave to make the semi-finals of the ladies alongside Freya, Tom Hoskins & Fred Prickett took Exeter University to the semi-finals of the Universities tournament (which was won by Beau), Matt won the Northern Festival in a scratch pairing with Jon Shorrocks, Mandie won the Graves Cup and Alex reached new heights in the majors, including a first ever Kinnaird quarter-final appearance. There was nearly some extra silverware at the end of the season, too, as Andy Bishop & Stefan Nowinski came within a whisker of winning the Over 60s category at the Veterans tournament.

Away from the competitive (ish) arena, we played the usual assortment of friendly matches and travelled as far and wide as possible, with Cambridge, Iffley Road, Rydal, St.Bees, Warminster, Nelson, Bath, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Ipswich, Orpington, Newbury, Rugby, Winchester, Broughton Castle and Zuoz all on the itinerary along with more pub lunches, sticky toffee puddings and curries than you can shake a stick at.

Here’s to doing it all over again next season!

Gareth Hoskins

 

Old Berkhamstedians

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Northern Festival winner Jon Shorrocks; League action; U25 finalist Jack Pemberton; Mixed Action

No report received yet

 

Old Cantabs

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EFA Trophy action; Cantabs at the Mixed; 10th Anniversary celebrations in Cambridge; Fashion trendsetting; Past v Present

The Old Cantabs Eton Fives Club (OCEFC) is a new team for fives players who went to Cambridge. We welcome players old and new - with more and more players being introduced to the sport at university, we are a friendly club to join after graduating to keep on playing fives!

We've had a busy inaugural season! Our entry to the boughton bowl was great fun, with the partners of some very established players getting a chance to try out the game in a competition! Serious hairstyle decisions were made in the EFA Trophy, where we finished third in our pool, missing out on qualifying just by a match's difference. There was a brilliant light-blue representation at the Mixed Tournament - both the main and festival were won by Old Cantabs pairs! To round off the season we're currently playing in the Westway Summer Superleague too (watch this space!)

Official tournaments aside, we've also had some more casual matches in Cambridge. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of the opening of the fives courts in the Cambridge University Sports Centre and had a friendly match & training session with CUEFC just before the Varsity match.

If you'd like to get involved with our club, contact me This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We've got a mailing list where I send updates about tournaments and other fives news, and our aim for future seasons is to enter teams in the division leagues.

Seasoned, returning, or completely new players - it would be great to hear from you!

Jessye Tu

 

Old Cholmeleians

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U25 champions; Universities champion Joel Robb; Boughton Bowl winners; London Tournament finalists; Ladies finalist Emily Scoones

The OC Fives club has had an up down season with some key players missing due to a mix of injury and life events. Where possible we have had lots of good games in the league with a variety of players donning their gloves in both Division 1 and 2. The beginning of season started well with Team success in the Boughton Bowl followed by individual success for Marj Briscoe and Pheobe Bracken in their last Under 25s winning the title for the 5th and 8th time respectively - An epic achievement and the end of a era. Throughout the rest of the season we saw Joel Robb being a key part of the Oxford University Team, including winning the Universities’ title. At the major tournaments we have seen OC players and pairs take part with Jonny Ho and James Hopkins reaching the final of the London Tournament (James’ first major final) while Emily Scoones reached the final of the Ladies’ and Mixed championships.

We look forward to next season!

Emily Scoones

 

Old Citizens

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Wood Plate; London Plate Final; Festive Fives; Geneva; Zurich

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Barber Cup; Kinnaird Festival; Adams Cup players and winners

We’ve played fives (and reached finals) in Geneva and Zurich, we avoided last place in the national league (by half a point), 16 of us competed for the Adams Cup, the neophytes won the Old Versus Young match at Christmas and also dominated our Barber Cup team – oh, and we had a tour of West Country courts in the spring (including a visit to the amazing Prior Park courts in Bath) and have just celebrated the Zuozers' centenary. In short, we’re still thriving 130 years after our founding and 38 years after losing our home courts.

John Reynolds

 

Old Etonians

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Barber Cup action; Turnbull Trophy finalists; Universities champion Beau Swallow

No report received yet 

 

Old Harrovians

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League Action

Injuries and retirements made for a tough start to the campaign. However, as the season progressed things improved markedly and some spirited displays resulted in a good Barber Cup showing.

We are as always indebted to Ian Hutchinson, our excellent Fives Coach at Harrow who continues to support the OH Fives Club in every way possible.

We are hoping that our promising young OH players, most notably Fred Pickett and Oskar Denby, will come through strongly in the next couple of years.

Tom Dunbar's unprecedented run in the Kinnaird came to an end this year but we are hopeful he will be competing strongly again next year.

Graham Dunbar

 

Old Ipswichians

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Over 60s winners; Graves Cup dinner and champions; EFA Trophy team

The OI team enjoyed a season of progression culminating in a creditable league finish of fifth with 10.5 points, but most importantly we only conceded one pair across the season. The squad of players continues to expand across the generations, helped by the continued popularity of the game at the school, supported by weekly club nights. This year we had two victories at 1st pair, one of which happened to be Tim Gregory’s 100th appearance for the club, a fantastic achievement but still some way behind the other notable milestone of the 400th victory achieved by Peter Boughton.

The club qualified for the EFA trophy finals, unfortunately not quite having the ability or numbers in the morning to be competitive on the day.

Special mention to Isaac Wagland, Nadia Mason, Ed Habershon and Ralph Morgan whose regular participation ensured we could fulfil our league fixtures.

Ipswich hosted the annual Graves Cup and the two day competition and dinner were again very well attended by OIs, school pupils and distinguished guests. The pairing committee excelled themselves to produce a tournament of many close games, with no single obvious early favourite The winners this year were Isaac Weaver & Mandie Barnes, who beat Dan Ingram and Alex Yusaf in the final.

Peter Forrest

 

Old Millhillians

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50th Anniversary Dinner; Midlands & U25 champions Charles Plummer; Northern semi-finalists

2024 is the 50th anniversary of the Old Millhillians Eton Fives Club joining the EFA and we celebrated with a black tie dinner at the RAF club on April 20th attended by players across the fifty years, MHS & Belmont teachers and a number of luminaries from the Fives World and the Old Millhillians Club. Whilst Steve Plummer, who has such a played key role at the club, both as Master-in-Charge and as a player, was unable to join us, we were delighted that Andrew Summers, the Club’s Founder and President, was able to attend and share how it all started.

On court, the club had a better year than 2022/3 with the return of Charlie Plummer as a teacher at Milll Hill bolstering our Division One team and reinforcing the connection between the club and the school. Despite the pressures of his new role, Charlie managed to win the U25s tournament this year – a fantastic achievement. Across both divisions, we saw a reduction in penalty points as availability improved and we hope that this will improve further this season. Whilst our performance in Division 1 didn’t challenge the leaders, we saw a notable improvement in Division 2 climbing from the bottom of the table last year to second this and we look forward to continuing this progress in 2024/5.

The anniversaries are coming thick and fast and this year is also the 150th anniversary of the first Fives game played at MHS. This will be celebrated at the school on September 21st during the annual Summers Cup when combined schoolboy and Old Boy pairs compete against each other.

Chris Vincent

 

Old Olavians

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Kinnaird Festival winners; Barber Cup finalists; EFA Trophy finalists; Aberconway Cup winners; Ladies champion Charlotta Cooley

 No report received yet

 

Old Salopians

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Turnbull Trophy winners; Richard Barber Cup winners; EFA Trophy winners

No report received yet

 

Old Westminsters

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League Champions; Barber Cup winners; Andrew Aitken Cup; EFA Team of the Year

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Major winners; Celebrations; Player of the Year; On court

It is with great pride that I announce that we have had the most successful season in the club’s 100-year history. In its centenary year, the Old Westminsters Eton Fives Club won the Alan Barber Cup for the first time. We overcame the titans of the game, the Old Olavians, who have won 22 times in the past 24 years. We also had an epic Division 1 battle against the Old Salopians, neck and neck throughout the season and only narrowly coming out as victors at the end.

There have additionally been several fantastic performances at an individual level. Hugo Young and Riki Houlden won the three “Majors” together, including the Kinnaird for the first time. Hugo added another U25 title and Riki another Mixed Champs title to their names. Laurie Brock played an immense role in both Division 1 and the Alan Barber Cup, earning him a nomination for EFA Player of the Year. Harry de Quetteville entered the Veterans Tournament for the first time and narrowly missed the title – he is having to make do with Runner Up this time, but I see a fire lit under his belly to go one step further next season. Ben Merrett reached the semi-final of the Midlands and the quarter-final of the Northern, putting him on the rankings list for the first time, demonstrating continued improvement from last season and showing that he is one to watch for the future.

The future of the club is bright as well – we had a record Westminster turnout for the Turnbull Trophy as well as healthy entries to our now biannual Westminster Cup, with socials after these and other fixtures full of laughter and fun!
I am so proud of my team for all that they have achieved, and so happy for them that the hard work they have put in over the years has materialised with this season’s results. I am so happy to be able to call you my teammates and look forward to many more years on and off court together!

Onwards and upwards!

Riki Houlden

 

Old Wulfrunians

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Veterans Champions; EFA Trophy action; Oxford University first pair Ben Hart

The club nights on a Wednesday evening at WGS have been very well attended this season with Toby Grainger, Andy Husslebee, Ellie Frith, Greg Hammond & Dave Jones being the backbone of the group, further supplemented by a reinvigorated Mark A Yates, guest appearances from the nomadic Richard Ambler, the legendary Salopian Tony Walters and the occasional appearance from Rob Pye when back in town who came along with sister Sophie Pye to play in our pre-Xmas session.

Competitively, we again enjoyed some success this season.

Oxford-based Ben Hart was again our busiest player playing multiple matches for the North Oxford league team, retaining his winning run in the Varsity match at first pair and combining with his Varsity partner to be the Wulfrunians sole representative at the Kinnaird tournament - getting through to the second round but then coming up against the eventual winners.

Rob has also been keeping himself busy by playing regularly at the Westway Centre in London and representing their league team on many occasions. He will also be celebrating the EFA Centenary by playing in the Lyceum Alpinum event at Zuoz School in Switzerland.

Elsewhere, Ellie Frith and Mark W Yates had a good run in the 2-day Midlands Tournament at Repton School and Chris Austin & Sid Simmons finally won the Over 40s Veterans Cup at the 8th time of trying as a pair after several near misses in previous years.

The only outing for the team this season was the annual EFA Trophy qualifiers - this year at Aldenham School due to Eton's courts still being out-of-action due to the building works. The Midlands-based contingent consisted of Andy, Sid & Toby with London-based Chris and Rob joining us there. Completing the team was Dan McKernan, who was keen to test out how his hand injury would hold up after missing the majority of the previous season. Due to this being a tough, long day of Fives we managed to recruit our good friend Graham Pulsford and his fellow Aldenhamian Frankie to our ranks to enable some rotation and rest.

Despite everyone's best efforts and being on the wrong end of multiple 15-14 game losses, we sadly finished 3rd in the group of 6 teams where only the top 2 qualify for the finals day. This however was Toby's debut in the tournament and only Rob's second appearance so the experience gained by both of them will be invaluable moving forward in their development.

I'd like to personally thank all of the players for a very enjoyable season and hope that next season can be even more so. Special thanks must also go to Mark and Greg for their sterling work behind the scenes keeping the club moving forward.

Sid Simmons

 

Oxford University

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Varsity Match teams; London Plate winners; Universities Champions

No report received yet

 

Repton

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London Festival winners; Midlands Tournament champions

This year has been a mixed affair, relatively quiet on the club front but with some fantastic results from our members.

To kick the year off, Archie Cameron-Blackie and Charles Plummer put in a fantastic display to pick up the trophy at the Midlands Tournament. Meanwhile, Karen Hird continued her stellar career by defending her Ladies' title and also picking up the Mixed Title, once again demonstrating her dominance at the top of the ladies' game. We are, of course, very thankful to have her joining us for most of our Wednesday club nights. These weekly sessions remain a cornerstone of our club activities, and we regularly fill two courts with players of all standards. As the evenings grow longer, we look forward to playing through the summer and potentially ferrying some players down for game nights in and around London.

A major thanks need to go out to Stuart Kirby at Derby Moor for his continued support of our club nights, bringing over younger players from Derby despite not always being able to join in himself.

On a personal note, I have enjoyed covering the various events throughout the season, attending all of the major tournaments. While I haven't performed quite as well as I might have liked in all of them, it has been fantastic getting to meet so many regulars on the scene and creating videos for The Fives Channel on YouTube. Looking forward, we are excited about the prospect of playing some fixtures against Repton School in the upcoming season, fostering stronger relationships with the local fives community, and providing some competitive play for our regular members.

Once again, a callout to any Midlands locals: the courts at Repton are in fantastic shape, and we'd love to have players of all levels join us to use them. We play on Wednesday evenings from 7pm until we head to the pub for pizza and drinks.

Archie Cameron-Blackie

 

Team Westway

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Team Westway at the Boughton Bowl and the Mixed Tournament

What a year for the Westway teams culminating in a nomination for Team of the Year!

The club goes from strength to strength with the addition of lots of new regular members from around London as well as occasional visitors taking advantage of the open-courts policy where everyone is welcome to the three weekly club sessions. Membership is now up in the 80s which means all club sessions are well attended.

In the league this year both Division 2 and 3 teams finished with well-deserved top three placings, a big improvement over the previous season. With a larger player pool boosting Div 3 and providing newer/returning players with match experience across the season, and a more consistent Div 2 team set up, both levels are showing their calibre.

For the Div 3 team we had some enjoyable trips away this season with the new Berkhamsted School team putting on a strong showing including an all female-players match; fun and pub lunch was had in Aldenham against North Oxford; and a season ending defeat by Newbury which was followed by plenty of friendly mix around matches before we retired to the pub. When we played at home we had so many keen players that we added a 'friendly 4th pair' wherever possible to extend match practice for the growing team. Unfortunately St Olaves forfeited their match so we only had five competitive matches and will have to see how that one plays out next season!

Westway teams also featured for the first time at the Mixed Teams Tournament and made a return to the the EFA Trophy qualifiers. We also had lots of pairs enter the Mixed tournament and overall tournament entry by Westway players is on the up. So watch out for us next season in our snazzy new team kit!

Natalie Lilienthal

 

Windsor & Eton

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Windsor & Eton at the Northern

No report received yet