Thanks to the endeavours of stalwart member Rod Hall, the Northumberland Gazette has published an article about the club, detailing the court improvements and dugout construction, and also highlighting the successes of three of our teams in winning their respective league titles in the 2023 Northumberland & Durham League season.

The Ladies 1st team, lead by Jill Taylor, won all of their matches in group LD convincingly, the closest score being 8-4, the best being a resounding 11-1 hiding of David Lloyd Newcastle 2.  As a result they have been promoted to group LC.

The Ladies Vets 2nd team, with Jane Cockburn at the helm, took the title in group D, winning all of their five matches, the most crucial match being against nearest challengers Stocksfield 2, where the team of Lilian Brown, Janet Robinson, Nuan Armstrong and Susannah Garside prevailed in a cliff-hanger, with sets tied at 4-4 and games going 37 to 35.

The climax of the Men's Over 60s competition came when the top two sides, Morpeth and Shotley & Benfieldside went head-to-head at Longhirst on a Wednesday morning in September.  With two tie-break victories, Morpeth raced to a seemingly unassailable 4-0 lead.  But Shotley & Benfieldside showed grit in winning the next three sets played.  So, it all came down to the final set, with Paul Ward and Guy Rollisson needing to win or at least get to a tie-break to take the title for Morpeth.  With great resilience, the Morpeth pair pulled it off with a 6-3 final set win, meaning that Morpeth were champions of group A, the top group.

The photo above shows the victorious Men's Over 60s team fresh from that victory over Shotley & Benfieldside, with Gordon Rutter and Rod Hall making up the triumphant four.

For details of the article in the Northumberland Gazette, click this link.