Despite the awful weather in February the club managed to play all 3 scheduled Banbury League fixtures albeit in some very difficult conditions. In the Floodlit League Caroline Morland, Eira Owen, Geoff Prince and Marcus Sharpe stretched league leaders Charlbury in a closely contested match. The visitors went home with a 5-3 win but the overall games score of 38-34 shows how close it was. That was followed by an even closer encounter at Brackley when Helen Cooper and Colin Mercer joined Geoff and Caroline. In the ladies doubles Caroline and Helen lost a very long tiebreak in the first set but bounced back to take the second and halve the rubber. Geoff and Colin also halved their rubber after staging a great recovery from 2-5 down in the second set to take it 7-6 on the tiebreak. In the mixed doubles Caroline and Geoff won both sets but Helen and Colin lost theirs, which meant the match ended in a draw with each team winning 4 rubbers and amazingly both winning 42 games. Harbury are now in third place in Division 3 with 2 matches to play.
Debs Brookes, Eira Owen, Joe Robson and Nigel Eaton travelled to Towcester for a Winter League Division 4 match with high hopes of completing a league double over their hosts. This was achieved with a 5-3 win, which matched the result of the home fixture. Debs and Eira achieved a quick 2-0 victory in the ladies doubles and then had to wait in the rain, cold and wind for Joe and Nigel, who, after losing a tight first set, managed to even the tie in the second set. The mixed pair of Debs and Nigel were well beaten in their match by their younger opponents who showed better teamwork and consistency although the score did not reflect the many long games. Luckily, the second pair of Eira and Joe comfortably won both their sets. Harbury now occupy second place in the league with just 1 game to play.
The Junior programme being delivered by coolsportz is going really well and numbers are increasing which is really encouraging as we’re still in the winter season. We’ve now introduced a Junior Club Night on Tuesdays between 4.30 and 5.30. This is a new session coolsportz are starting for us in addition to the Monday and Thursday lessons. It’s aimed at children (8 years plus) who can rally and play points to develop match play experience. It’s fantastic value at £2 per session for Club members and £3 for non-members. For more information about this and times and days of all lessons contact Lianne Candappa on 07919104093 or visit www.coolsportz.co.uk