Tournaments and winners 2024

Ladies Floodlight Doubles - Sharon Box and Lynda Hill

Men’s Floodlight Doubles - John Brooks and Gordon Cordeiro

Winter Mixed Doubles - Sharon Box and Tony Symmons

Spring Hurlingham Shield - Saturday 20th April - winning men: Pete Simon and Adrian Riddock, winning lady: Joan Coney

Friday 28 June, the annual Rosebowl Tournament was held. Six pairs battled for the prestigious trophy on a sunny but breezy evening. The winning pair, Clare Pelling and John Brooks were five points ahead of their nearest rivals so huge congratulations to them!

Thursday 3 October - Cecil Heard Trophy - tie between Carol Hunt and Gordon Cordeiro and Sharon Box and John Brooks.

Thursday 17 October - Autumn Hurlingham - Men’s winner - Gordon Cordeiro. Ladies winner - Val Leafe.

Men’s Singles Tournament - Gary Bickle defeated Adrian Riddock

Ladies Singles Tournament - Sue Brown defeated Sarah Grey

Over 65s Ladies Doubles -Joan Coney and Jane Ker-Reid

Over 65s Mixed Doubles -John Brooks and Rose Sullivan

First Hurlingham of the Month - February - Terry Williams and John Brooks

First Hurlingham of the Month - March - Val Leafe and Dougie Galley

First Hurlingham of the Month - April - Fiona Jackson and Val Leafe

Mixed Doubles Success

Thursday 17 October 2024 - Once again, we were blessed with great weather for our autumn Hurlingham doubles tournament. Fourteen members competed for the trophy and this time, the first for a while, we had an equal number of men and ladies. Close matches took place under the floodlights and with the temperature dropping the winners were decided. For the men. David Brown and Adrian Riddock tied for third place with 13.5 points each, John Brooks was second with 15.5 points and the overall winner was Gordon Cordeiro with 18.5 points. For the ladies, Sharon box was third with 13.5 points, Joan Coney was second with 14.5 points and Val Leafe retained her title from last year with 15.5 points. Huge congratulations to them all and to everyone for turning out!

Autumn Hurlingham Winners 2024 - Godron Cordeiro and Val Leafe

Tennis Tournament Tied

The Cecil Heard Trophy was held on Thursday 3 October (2024) in glorious weather even when it got dark! Before play commenced, much discussion was had as to the format for this doubles tournament as it hadn’t been held for a while. Cecil Heard was very involved in the Tennis Club until his death in 2003 aged 71. He was always keen that members of all standards should enter club competitions and so he devised the format of playing three games with your partner and two games against your partner to make it fairer. He donated the trophy and won the tournament in its inaugural year (2000) alongside Gary Bickle!

With seven pairs all playing against each other, the tournament did take a long time to finish, and the floodlights had to deployed, but everyone had a lot of fun and there were some great rallies and close matches. After all the scores were added up, there was a tie for first place between two pairs: Carole Hunt and Gordon Cordeiro and Sharon Box and John Brooks both with 38 points – huge congratulations to them!

Before the floodlights were installed in 1994, Cecil encouraged tennis members to play badminton in the Parish Hall to keep the club together during the winter. He was also very involved in the wider community, organising annual pantomimes, Eisteddfods and music festivals and he ran the local youth club. He gave up his time voluntarily and provided trophies and certificates – he was a very generous and kind person.   

It is without doubt, that past and present members, like Cecil, have ensured that the club is still thriving with over 100 members, young and older of mixed abilities and a professional level 4 tennis coach – Inga Ziemina.

Cecil Heard 2024 Winners - John Brooks/Sharon Box and Carole Hunt/Gordon Cordeiro

On Friday 28 June, the annual Rosebowl Tournament was held. Six pairs battled for the prestigious trophy on a sunny but breezy evening. The winning pair, Clare Pelling and John Brooks were five points ahead of their nearest rivals so huge congratulations to them!

A Sunny Start to the Season

Last Saturday, 20th April (2024), the annual spring Hurlingham Tournament announced the start of the 2024 season at Bude Tennis Club.

This social mixed doubles tournament saw nineteen members compete in perfect conditions; sunny with blue skies and relatively little wind. The standard of play matched the glorious weather with some very close fought games. In joint second place for the ladies were Margaret Slator and Sarah Grey (17 points) and the winning lady with 18 points, Joan Coney who has incidentally, won the last five tournaments held in this format! In second place for the men was Josh Schouten de Jel (21 points) and joint winning men with 24 points each were Pete Simon and Adrian Riddock.

Following the presentation of the shield, members enjoyed a tasty buffet sitting out in the lovely weather.

Spring Hurlingham Winners 2024 - Adrian Riddock, Joan Coney and Pete Simon

Winter Mixed Doubles 2024 - Tony Symmons and Sharon Box

Ladies Floodlight Doubles 2024 - Sharon Box and Lynda Hill