The county squash championships were held this weekend at Nunthorpe Squash Club, Middlesbrough with entries from most of the elite players in the county which ensured some very good squash on display .All early rounds in the men’s championship went with the seeding and only the number seven seed Peter Lonsdale not making it to the quarter finals after losing to the unseeded Ian Hilton 3-0. The quarter finals then went as seeded with the exception of Andy Cross seeded 6 beating Andrew Parnaby the number 3 seed 3-1, in the semi finals Gareth Lumsdon beat Paul Davies 3-0 but Chris Gillespie had an epic match lasting 1hour 40 minutes and surviving a match ball against him in the fourth game to finally go through to the final 3-2 against the number six seed Andy Cross. The final was an exhibition of attacking squash but one sided with Gareth easily taking his 5^th county title winning 3-0 (9/4 9/1 9/5)

In the Ladies Championships the only surprise was that county 1^st team regular Sarah Hirst lost to the 15 year old Sarah Dowson in the semi finals 3-1.In the final however Sarah was unable to cope with the powerful display of squash from the reigning County champion Katy Ramirez who ran out a comfortable 3-0 (9/4 9/6 9/3) winner to also take her 5^th county title.

In the plate competitions for 1^st round losers Michael Burton beat Robert Harrison 3-2 and Shawnee Hall beat Helen Dowson 3-1.

There had been good entries to the competition this year with the youngest competitor being just 13 and the oldest 57 and this helped to make it a very enjoyable competition which was played in very good sporting manner and it was encouraging to see so many youngsters entering the championships for the first time.

At the presentations the County chairman James Larcombe thanked Craig Watson of Hathaway & Cope (Life & Pensions) Ltd for their on going sponsorship of the event after completed their sixth year as sponsor, because without their sponsorship it would be very difficult for the county to continue the event in its present form

Many thanks to Brian Duke the tournament organiser

Mens Draw Webpage WordDoc  Ladies Draw Webpage WordDoc

Mens Plate Webpage WordDoc Ladies Plate Webpage WordDoc

Pictures

2008 Pesentation with Kevin Whitfield

Durham & Cleveland Squash League Cup

Sponsored by

Principia Bridal & Men’s Formal Wear

20 Dundas Arcade
Middlesbrough TS1 1JA

The finals of Durham & Cleveland League cup took place on 15/16th March 2008 at Nunthorpe Squash club. It was the culmination of a season long handicap event involving 54 + teams and ended with the semi-finals and final being played out in front of many spectators. In every match the scores were 3-2 with at least 5 games lasting over 1 hour, but the longest game of the weekend was between Stephen Rowsby (Sedgefield) and Ben Collard (Bannatynes 2) which was 1hour 32 minutes with Ben winning 3-2 to ensure his team progressed into the final.

 In the ladies competition the semi finals were between Darlington Ladies 1 and Darlington Ladies 2, in this close match the strength of the ladies 1^st team edged them ahead and were 3-2 winners and in the other semi final Norton and Aycliffe fought out another close match with Norton edging it to win 3-2.

In the final Darlington Ladies 1^st teams overall strength in depth paid off with the number 5, 4, and 3 strings all winning before Norton took the other two strings and so Darlington were 3-2 winners. The result could easily have been the other way if Pat Chambers had won a very tight 4th game 14/15 to miss out on a 3-1 victory.

    Norton       v  Darlington Ladies 1                 

          Daniel Hockborn   v  Sarah Hirst               3-0 15/2 15/7 15/3

                            Shawnee Hall   v  Diane Harker            3-1 9/15 15/14 15/1 15/10

             Frances Whittingham   v  Dianne Woodall       0-3 11/15 6/15 11/15    

                       Helen Hall  v  Linda Coleby            0-3 5/15 4/15 2/15

                                Pat Chambers  v  Kate Jenkins             2-3 8/15 15/14 15/9 14/15 7/15

 In the men’s competition Bannatynes 2 beat Nunthorpe SRC 3 in a very close match 3-2 with the match between Katy Ramirez (Nunthorpe) and Stephen Carr (Bannatynes 2) being the deciding string which Stephen won 15/13 in the fifth game.
In the other semi final Bannatynes 1 beat Sedgefield 1 in another very close match 3-2 to make it an all Bannatynes final.

The final was again a very close competition with little to choose between the two teams and the handicap of 12 points proving to be just about right with Bannatynes 2 taking the title 3-2 in their first season in the Durham & Cleveland leagues.

Bannatynes 1        v     Bannatynes 2

                                         Jamie Southwell   v Simon Stansfield        0-3 2/15 11/15 5/15

                                                   Mike Burton  v  Andrew Hunter          3-0 15/9 15/11 15/13

                                                             Rob Miller  v Steven Carr                1-3 8/15 11/15 15/14 9/15

                                              Neil Bunyan     v   Mark Herod              0-3 4/15 1/15 8/15

                                                                        Ben Collard   v   Trevor Atkinson         3-2 11/15 11/15 15/10 15/10 15/5

It was a very competitive but enjoyable finals with competitors and spectators enjoying the squash and thanks go to Nunthorpe Squash club for hosting the event and Brian Duke for organising the competition but especially to the very well natured but very competitive players

Special thanks go to Geoff Brady of Principia Bridal and Men’s Formal Wear for their ongoing sponsorship of this event.  

Durham & Cleveland County Closed Squash Finals

January 2008

At

Nunthorpe Squash Club, Middlesbrough

Sponsored By Hathaway Cope (Life & Pensions) Limited

 4 Is the number

The Durham & Cleveland county squash finals were held this week at Nunthorpe Squash Club Middlesbrough and with a good entry, the competition followed the seeding with few surprises but in the quarter finals Andy Parnby ( Yarm ) comprehensively beat his club No.1 Josh Harris to move into the semi finals against Paul Davies (Guisborough) and in the other semi-final Gareth Lumsdon (Norton) met Peter Lonsdale (Guisborough). These matches went with the seeding with Gareth Lumsdon beating Peter Lonsdale 3-0 9/3 9/3 9/7 and Paul Davies beating Andy Parnaby 3-0 9/2 9/3 9/6. The final was very entertaining with Paul doing everything he could to stay with Gareth but unable to match the array of shots exhibited by Gareth and  Gareth ran out 3-0 winner 9/3 9/4 9/3 winning his fourth county closed title
 

In the ladies finals, both finalists had comfortable semi final matches with Katy Ramirez (Nunthorpe) winning 3-0 (9/2 9/1 9/1 ) against Laura Setterfield (Norton)  and Jacky Gardner winning 3-1 ( 10/8 9/1 7/9 9/1) against Sarah Hirst ( Darlington ) in a repeat of last years semi finals The final however was an exhibition of powerful attacking play by Katy and Jacky had no answer to the bombardment of shots before Katy won  3-0  9/0 9/3 9/1 winning her fourth county closed final
 

In the plate competitions Graeme Lewis (Nunthorpe) beat James Larcombe (Norton) 3-0 9/6 9/1 /90 and Katie Clark (Redcar) beat Shawnee Hall (Norton) 3-1 9/10 9/7 9/5 9/5
 

Many thanks go to Craig Watson of Hathaway & Cope (Life & Pensions) Ltd for their sponsorship of the tournament for the fourth year and for presenting the trophies on the night and to Brian Duke the tournament organiser.
Mens Draw 2008  Ladies Draw 2008  Mens Plate 2008  Ladies Plate 2008
 

Pictures of the winners available from following link:

Pictures 2008

Durham & Cleveland County Closed Squash Finals

18^th to 21^st January 2007

At

Nunthorpe Squash Club, Middlesbrough

Sponsored By Hathaway Cope (Life & Pensions) Limited

And Hathaway Cope Limited

The county squash finals were held this weekend and despite the weathers best attempts to keep players away from the start of the competition, after a slow start it developed into an entertaining weekend. This years competition held few surprises with most games following the seeding but in the semi finals Yawar Abbas was forced into a five set match by newcomer to the championships Ben Hardwidge of Yarm who had previously beaten No.3 Seed Andy Cross, The match was very entertaining with Ben taking a 2-1 lead before the experienced Yawar took control to close out the match with a 9-0 final game. In the other semi final Gareth Lumsdon completed a very comfortable 3-0 win over Tim Clark of Yarm. In the final Gareth displayed an awesome array of shots to win his third title by beating Yawar 3-0 (9/1 9/0 9/2)

Mens Competition Details

Mens Plate Competition Details

In the ladies finals both finalists had comfortable semi final matches with Katy Burgin (Nunthorpe) winning 3-0 (9/6 9/2 9/0 ) against Laura Setterfield (Norton) and Jacky Gardner winning 3-1 ( 9/2 9/4 4/9 9/2) against Sarah Hirst ( Darlington).The final however had a few surprises before the match started when Katy found she had left her shoes at home and had to borrow a pair of shoes from one of Nunthorpe's Club members and rumour had it that she also forget another piece of equipment which couldn’t be seen and then smashed a glass on court, delaying the final further. When the final did get underway after a very close first game won by Katy she seemed to lose her way before recovering from 2-1 down to take the fourth and fifth games to win her third title 3-2 ( 10/8 5/9 3/9 6/4 9/5

Ladies Competition Details

Ladies plate Competition Details

In the plate competitions James Larcombe (Aycliffe) bets Stu Spavin (Norton) 3-1 and Shawnee Hall Norton) beat Heather Graham (Nunthorpe) 3-0

 Pictures of the winners available from following link:

Pictures 2007

Many thanks go to Craig Watson of Hathaway & Cope (Life & Pensions) Ltd for their sponsorship of the tournament and for presenting the trophies on the night and to Brian Duke the tournament organiser

Durham & Cleveland Squash League Cup

Sponsored by

Principia Bridal & Men’s Formal Wear

The finals of Durham & Cleveland League cup took place this week at Nunthorpe Squash club. It was the culmination of a season long event involving 54 + teams and ended with the semi-finals and final being played out in front of many spectators this weekend.

 In the ladies competition the semi finals were between Darlington Quakers and Aycliffe with Darlington Quakers having a comfortable win 4-1 and in the other semi final Darlington Ladies 1^st team were awarded a walk over when Sedgefield Ladies or Durham University couldn’t turn out a team to compete in the semi final.

In the final Darlington Ladies were weakened by the absence of two of their first team members and the substitutes were not strong enough to compete against a strong Quakers team who ran out 5.-0 winners

Michaela Harris             Beat                Dianne Harker            3-2

Karen Naughton            Beat                Dianne Woodall          3-1

Carolyn Maxey             Beat                 Linda Coleby              3-0

Melanie Albrighton      Beat                 Paula Scott                  3-0

Julie Clark                    Beat                 Kate Jenkins                3-1

The competition was much tighter in the men’s competition with Nunthorpe SRC 4^th team playing Guisborough 2^nd team in one semi final and edging the match 3-2 to take on Norton 3^rd team who comfortably beat Aycliffe 1^st team 5-0 in the other semi final.

The final was again a very close competition with little to choose between the two teams and the handicap of 6 points   proving to be just about right with all matches being quite close.

Norton 3^rd s were the eventual winners 3-2 but it could easily have been the other way as  the result balanced on a very controversial point in the  match between Darren Shimwell and Mark Hall when with the game  at 2-2 and 14 -14 in the fifth and final game  a dispute about contact during the shot was argued about but finally conceded by Darren and so Mark Hall took the match 3-2, had Darren known the whole match could have turned on this point, a let call should have been played and the match outcome may have been different. However this was a very competitive final and congratulations to both Darlington Quakers and Norton on their wins.

Stu Spavin              Beat         Peter Harrison     3-0

Dean Hutchinson    Lost to    Eric Fletcher        2-3

Steve Toas              Lost to    Katy Burgin         1-3

Mark Hall               Beat        Darren Shimwell  3-2

Phil Davidson         Beat       Steve Innocent      3-1

It was a competitive but enjoyable finals weekend with competitor’s and spectators enjoying the squash and thanks go to Nunthorpe Squash club for hosting the event and Brian Duke for organising the competition.

Special thanks go to Geoff Brady of Principia Bridal and Men’s Formal Wear for their ongoing sponsorship of this event.  

The final results can be downloaded from the following links:

Mens Final Draw

Ladies Final Draw

• I have received a communication from Paul Lake (Ex YMCA & Yarm) who now resides in Malta - he has provided information regarding Squash in Malta including information regarding Squash tours in Malta. You can get more information from the following web site. Additionally you can download the following document:

 http://www.maltasquashacademy.com/

Malta Squash Trips

• Details of 2007 League Cup competition are now included. Please note that no postal detail will be issued this year so please check out the League Cup details at the following link:

League Cup 2007

• The first set of results have now been input so all detail from last season has been removed and as such the league tables etc now refer to this seasons matches. There are still a number of teams who have not played a match and thus the tables are not complete but hopefully this week should see all teams having played at lease one match. .

• The County Veterans Championship was held at Ashbrooke last weekend (5th to 8th October 2006); for results and pictures follow the link

County Vets

• For all the usual reasons Sunderland have had to withdraw from the league. I have updated the fixtures for Division 3 accordingly. Please inform anyone who may be affected of this situation

• I will be inputting the first set of results this week and thus  expect to have a set of league tables uploaded in the near future

• Following discussion between Darlington and the County Exec it has been agreed that Darlington will enter a further team to take on the Dolphin position in Division 5. This will bring the division up to full strength. I have amended the fixtures to incorporate Darlington 7.

• I have today been informed that Nunthorpe are withdrawing their Ladies team. As such I have amended the league structure and revised the fixtures accordingly

• Following discussion with Norton it has been necessary to withdraw their 2nd team (for all the usual reasons). As such Norton 2nd fixtures (in Division 2) will not now take place and thus fixture lists should be amended accordingly.

• Darlington have indicated that they are unable to field 2 teams in the 1st division (again for all the usual reasons) and as such have withdrawn their 2nd team. As such Darlington 2nd fixtures (in Division 1) will not now take place and thus fixture lists should be amended accordingly

• Following extensive discussion the situation with respect to Redcar 1st & Guisborough will be as initially identified viz:

Redcar have had to withdraw their 1st team from Division 1. The associated key players have in fact moved to Guisborough and thus would be playing for Guisborough 1st team. It is apparent that those players would strengthen the team such that playing in Division 4 (Guisborough 1st) would mean that matches would be extremely unbalanced. In consultation with Guisborough it has been decided that the Redcar 1st team as was should be played as Guisborough 1st thus retaining the correct number of teams in Division 1 and ensuring a more balanced set of matches. What this all means is that the Redcar teams have been renamed such that the 2nd team is now the 1st and so on - the same applies to Guisborough in that the original 1st team becomes the second etc. I appreciate that no precedent is available for this change and also this can not be seen as setting precedent for the future (every change is considered on its merits). I trust that this change is acceptable to everyone, if not please give me a call to discuss.

The changes identified above have been reflected in the fixtures and League pages contained on the web site and should therefore be applied to your handbooks

The following details the awards for the Season 2005/06

I have included some photographs from the presentation evening at the following link

Presentation Evening

Durham & Cleveland SRA Golf Tournament

2006

The competition was held on

Friday 12^th May 2006

at

Blackwell Grange Golf Club

Sponsored by Wellsprings (Properties Ltd)

An excellent day was enjoyed by all despite the short bursts of torrential rain....... The morning was a Texas Scramble format and was won by Bannatynes (Durham) with Aykley Heads a close runner up.

The main event was a Team Stableford conmpetition being played for the:

Tom Whitfield Trophy.

The winning team was Yarm which comprised Simon Beaumont, Alan Harper, Brian Reed and Tim Scott

The runner up team was Darlington with Aykley Heads coming in third

The individual Winner was Robbie Clarkson of Redcar 2nd team with Mick Gillham of Darlington in second place. Third was Neil Hirst from the Bannatynes team.

Many thanks go out to Gary Armstrong for organising the event ably supported by Mickie Lawler, and to Kevin Whitfield for the most welcome sponsorship - once again a very successful and enjoyable day

Durham & Cleveland SRA

Principia League Cup 2005/06

 Saturday and Sunday 1^st and 2^nd April 2006

Nunthorpe Squash Club

The Durham and Cleveland Squash League cups sponsored by Principia Bridal & Men’s Formal Wear Ltd came to and end this weekend in one of the closest finishes for many years with all matches ending up 3-2

In the semi-final stages of the men’s competition Nunthorpe 2 played Sunderland H& RC 2 with Sunderland edging out Nunthorpe in a very tight 3-2 win and in the other semi-final it was a very similar situation with Nunthorpe 3 playing Darlington 3 and Darlington edging through to the final wining 3-2.

The final was just as tight with Darlington 3 taking the title with a 3-2 win from Sunderland H& RC 2.

In the ladies competition Norton had a walkover in the semi final when Sunderland H& RC had to withdraw but Chester Le Street played Darlington Quakers in a close game with Chester Le Street winning 3-2.

In the final the handicap made a great difference and Norton easily won at numbers 1,2 and 3 to win the final 3-2.

 Durham & Cleveland County squash committee would like to express their thanks to the members and committee of Nunthorpe Squash club for hosting the event and to Brian Duke for organising the season long competition with special thanks to the Sponsor Principia Bridal & Men’s Formal Wear for there ongoing support to this very popular competition

Semi Final:

NSRC 2 V Sunderland H& RC 2

Alec Howard     v  Neil Dawson      11/15 5/15 8/15                          0- 3

Brian Duke        v  Paul Cochrane    12/15 15/8 15/9 15/13               3- 1

John Redding     v Steve Elwick       15/5 9/15 9/15 6/15                   1- 3

Malcolm Leech  v Dermot Hamblin  13*15 7/15 15/5 15/14 13/15   2- 3

Mick Smith        v  walkover                                                               3- 0

NSRC 3 V Darlington 3

Josh Harris               v Andy Scott           15/7 15/12 15/5                          3- 0

Andy Goldsbrough   v Jonathon Slee       9/15 7/15 15/14 13/15               1- 3

Richard Collins         v Rob Wytcherley   15/13 9/15 15/11 4/15 15/14     3- 2

Brian Lewis              v Colin Shields        12/15 8/15 15/12 13/15             1- 3

Mick Smith               v Mike Hewitson     10/15 13/15 15/14 14/15           1- 3

Darlington Quakers  V Chester Le Street

Michella Harris         v Lynn Henry            7/15 15/8 15/6 15/9                     3- 1

Karen  Naunton         v Joanne Hilton         12/15 15/13 12/15 15/12 14/15   2- 3

Carolyn Maxey          v Sue Middlemast     12/15 15/13 15/10 15/9               1- 3

Melanie Albrighton   v Lelsy Vitty         10/15 9/15 7/18                                0- 3

Julie Clarke               v Rosie Malley      15/3 15/14 15/1                                3- 0

Finals

Darlington 3            v            Sunderland H & RC 2

Andy Scott                v    Neil Dawson                        6/15 0/15 8/15                     0-3

Jonathon Slee            v   Paul Cochrane                      15/11 12/15 15/14 15/12      3- 1

Rob Wytcherley        v   Steve Elwick                         9/15 15/11 12/15 15/9 6/15  2- 3

Colin Shields             v   Dave Laws                            15/12 15/12 15/13                3- 0

Mike Hewitson         v   Mike Cottam                           12/15 15/8 15/4 6/15 15/7   3- 2

 Norton                      v           Chester Le Street

Laura Setterfield        v     Lynn Henry                      15/-6 15/1 15/1                       3- 0

Laura Hall                  v     Joanne Hilton                   15/6 15/2 15/-1                       3- 0

Shawnee Hall             v     Sue Middlemast               15/1 15/-1 15/-7                      3- 0

Helen Hall                  v     Lesley Vitty                      7/15 5/15 3/15                        0- 3

Frances Whittingham   v   Rosie Malley                   15/12 11/15 15/6 11/15 14/15   2- 3 

Durham & Cleveland SRA

County Closed Championship 2006

Sponsored By

 Hathaway & Cope (Life & Pensions Ltd)

&

Hathaway & Cope Insurance Brokers

45 High Street,

Stokesley,

TS9 5AD

The Durham & Cleveland county closed squash championship sponsored by Hathaway & Cope (Life & Pensions) Limited was held at Nunthorpe on the 19th to 22nd January.

Following record entries to the event it culminated in a few surprises on the final day when defending champion Gareth Lumsdon retired injured in the semi final against Michael Grehan after only 5 minutes of the game, and in the other semi final Yawar Abbas defeated Andrew Cross 3-1 with the match lasting hour and ten minutes.

In the final at Nunthorpe in a packed full house of over 100 spectators Michael Grehan dominated from the start and Yawar Abbas, who was obviously feeling the mornings long match, could do nothing to stop Michael winning his first Senior County Title 3-0: 9/5 9/5 9/0

In the  Ladies tournament both finalists had comfortable wins  in the semi finals with Katy Burgin defeating Sarah Hirst 3-1: 9/6 9/2 7/9 9/0 and defending champion Selina Sinclair defeating Jacky Gardener 3-1:  9/0 5/9 9/2 9/1 and in the final Selina secured a very comfortable victory 3-0: 9/1 9/6 9/1

In the Ladies Plate competition Faith Sinclair made it a family double by defeating Joanne Hilton 3-0: 9/4 9/6 9/6 and in the Men's Plate competition Stu Spavin defeated Simon Robinson  3-2: 9/7 9/5 1/9 3/9 9/1

The competition was very well organised and ran by Graeme Lewis  and many thanks should be given to him and to Nunthorpe Squash Club for hosting this very successful tournament

Details and more pictures available from the following link

2006 County Closed

County Veterans Closed Championship 2005

 Sunderland Ashbrooke - weekend of the 21st to 23rd October - Check out the results......

Web Page

Document Download

Check out the Picture gallery at the following ling

County Vets Winners

The following details the awards for the Season 2004/05

I have included some photographs from the presentation evening at the following link

Presentation Evening

Durham & Cleveland Principia League Cup 2005 Finals Weekend

 The Durham & Cleveland League Cup Finals sponsored by Principia Bridal & Men’s Formal Wear was held

At Nunthorpe Squash Club on 2^nd & 3^rd April 2005.

In the men’ semi finals Redcar 2 played Darlington 4 but Darlington were easily outclassed and Redcar had a resounding 4 -1 victory, In the second semi final Norton 4 played Norton 2 and Norton 4 ran out comfortable 4 – 1 winners.

Redcar 2;

Dominic Hill, Leon Armston, Andy McDermott, Mike Pugsley and Nick Pugsley

Darlington Quakers

Sarah Hirst, Tracy Spears, Elaine Redpath, Emma Richards and Janet Redpath

Many thanks got to the very generous sponsorship of this event By Principia Bridal & Men’s Formal wear and to Nuthorpe Squash club for hosting the event and to Brian Duke the competition organiser

Detailed results may be found at the following links

Finals (Web Page)

Finals (Downloadable)

Durham & Cleveland SRA Golf Tournament

2005

The competition was held on

Friday 13^th May 2005

at

Billingham Golf Club

Sponsored By: Robert Miller

Financial Management Ltd.

The morning 8 hole Texas Scramble was won by the County Exec, however the main afternoon Team stableford competition was closely fought with the winners:

REDCAR 1:

Dave Gray (Captain) -off 21

Chris Tudor - off 17

Darren Nalton - off 5

Keith Clarkson  - off 24

The best individual score for the afternoon competition was:

Kevin Carr of Chester-le-Street

 Many thanks go to Gary Armstrong who organised the event

to Robert Miller for the welcome sponsorship and to

Kevin Whitfield, our key County Sponsor who donated the winning team Trophy

Durham & Cleveland 0'35 Team Retain National Title

2005

County Closed Championship 2005

Check out the link for results

Hathaway & Cope

Registered Insurance Brokers

45 High Street

Stokesley

North Yorkshire

TS9 5AD

Tel: 01642 712323

Hathaway & Cope

(Life & Pensions) Ltd.

3 Guisborough Road

Great Ayton

North Yorkshire

TS9 6AA

Tel: 01642 725025

Nunthorpe Squash Club

Guisborough Road

Nunthorpe

Middlesbrough

TS7 0AJ

Tel: 01642 300758

Northern Echo Website

You may be interested in a new website recently introduced in association with the Northern Echo, who publish our results and tables each week (Local Heroes). The site is dedicated to Tennis and Squash and may be found at the following URL:

www.tennisandsquash.co.uk

If the any Clubs/individuals have any information they would like to be included in future editions please simply e-mail them to  derekedwards1@aol.com and he will forward them for inclusion. Details will also be placed on-line at the web site unless otherwise requested.
 

County Veterans Closed Championship 2004

 Sunderland Ashbrooke - weekend of the 21st to 24th October - Check out the results......

Please Note that I have updated the results to include the Over 55 competition which was missing.

Web Page

Document Download

County Vets League 2004/5

Message from John Ashworth

To : All Vets League Secretaries/Captains for 2004/2005,

Greetings to all of you, and the time has now arrived to get out the embrocation, work on the excuses for moderate performance, and generally to convince yourselves that a trip to Barney (and everywhere else in distant Durham) is really more fun than solidifying in front of the telly all winter long !!!

Its time to reconsider Vets League once again, and the following is an email which I sent to John Sims at Redcar a little while ago, explaining our "rules" and listing out the contacts for the forthcoming season -

The standard is very much League 6 ish, and officially we describe it as an Over 40s league, though in practice, many of the participants are indeed over 50, (with a few over 60 !!). Matches can be played at any time, generally from September through to April, but a few teams may be interested in one or two summer matches, especially if court time is tricky.

Food must be provided after the match, and there are no restrictions on numbers of pints to be consumed !!!! - though in most cases the bar bill is very similar to a normal League match night !!

You will enjoy the squash which is as competitive as League squash, but nobody is allowed to fall out with anyone !!!!

You don't have to commit to playing everyone, but in fairness to the only league rules (in bold above) its best to play a limited number of teams on a home and away basis, so that entertainment is reciprocated.

We usually sort out fixtures, by phone or email, once the main League fixtures are published.
 

Redcar were (at the time) considering joining the rest of us in finding an excuse for a good chat, a few beers, and a spot of food, miles away from home, .....oh....and fitting in a game of (still pretty competitive) squash at the same time !!!.   Ring John and ask him for a fixture - best way of getting things going that I know of !!!

We've never had any "rules" until now, so I hope you will all be content with the ones I've invented !!!

So.......now that we have our League fixtures sorted out, please go ahead and try to find some court time for some Vets matches - the only excuse for not organising any would be that  "...the juniors are taking up all of the spare court time..." - if this is indeed the case - we might still come through and play them instead !!!

Please check the contact details (Contacts) and let me know if your people have changed, and I'll update and re-issue.  Similarly, if your email address has changed (or if you know if somebody else's has) please let me know - if I get any "message not sent" responses from the aether, then I'll send some copies of this note out by post, along with copies to those not on email !!!   If you can't open up excel files, I'll resend this as a pdf file, or send you a hard-copy.

So.....as ever, its up to yourselves to sort out as many matches as you want to.

Please let me know if you need any more information.

DO ENJOY THE SEASON - AND KEEP ON PLAYING !!!! - I know we will at Glaxo.

Regards to all,

John Ashworth

john.a.ashworth@gsk.com
 

The AGM took place on Tuesday 25th May as was represented by a fair majority of clubs (not all clubs were represented however). There was a good deal of discussion regarding teams not turning up to matches, start time for matches next season, the Ladies league reverting to 5 string matches and the format of next seasons league.

Agreement was reached on the key issues:

• Fines for teams not turning up for matches will be included in the invoice for the next seasons league assuming this has not been paid within t he season where the incident took place.

• Start times for matches next season will be mandated as 7:00 pm or as near as possible taking account of court booking slots.

• In principal the Ladies league will revert to 5 string matches unless a major problem is identified before the start of the season.

• The Men's league for 2004/05 will be a straightforward single stream hierarchy - Divisions 1 to 7 (as opposed to the present pyramid structure). The detail of how this has been organised may be seen in the updated League page

The new Executive committee for the 2004/05 season was determined with the following results:

• President:  Andrew Cowie

• Chairman:  Brian Duke

• Secretary:  Geoff Smith

• Treasurer:  Ian Dewell

• League Secretary:  Mike Green

• Committee:  Dermot Hamblin, John Shaw, Richard Brown, Dominic Hill, Norman Turnbull

• Co-Opted:  Terry Cooper, Allan Setterfield

The following indicates a "selection" of your committee:

The presentation evening took place on Thursday 13th May 2004 at Norton Squash Club.

John Shaw provided an eloquent introduction to all the winners who were presented with their trophies by Kevin Whitfield our much appreciated sponsor. I have included a Picture Gallery of the winners.

County News (2003/04 season)

DCSRA Over 35 National Squash Champions  - More Detail

Promotion for County under 19s - More Details

Durham and Cleveland Junior Squash County Closed - More Details

Principia League Cup Final Results

Men's Final Result

Ladies Final Result

Men's Semi Final Results

Ladies Semi Final Results

Details of county closed results and pictures - see below for links

Sponsor of 2004 County Closed

Jacky Gardner (Winner) - Faith Sinclair (Runner-Up) - Yawar Abbas (Runner-Up) - Gareth Lumsdon (Winner)

County Closed Report

County Closed Results

Photo Gallery

Durham & Cleveland SRA Golf Tournament

2004

The Competition took place on on:

Friday 21st May 2004. at Hartlepool Golf Club

Teams were entered from Redcar, Yarm, Bannatynes, Aykley Heads, Chester-le-Street, Mill Hill and the DCSRA Executive.

The Morning nine hole Texas Scramble was won by the Mill Hill (Hartlepool) team captained by Norman Turnbull - Norman did an excellent job in making sure his team played the right holes in the right sequence and ensuring the score card was filled in correctly - which he managed with no major injury to his pencil holding fingers......

The afternoon team competition was won by the Aykley Heads captained by Mickey Lawler with 37 points and his very able team of Jonathan Slee with 36 points, Kevin Whitfield with 31 points and Gary Armstrong with 30 points. This team deserving a major vote of thanks for Gary who organised the event and Kevin our very much appreciated League major sponsor.

Runners up were Chester-le-Street who also boasted the individual winner in Kevin Carr (who I understand left his horse tied up at the first tee !!!!)

The thanks of the Durham and Cleveland SRA go out to Hartlepool Golf Club, who hosted the event. The course was in excellent condition and the catering staff provided excellent food.

The small profit made from the event will go towards providing a Trophy for the event in future.