The day began with players, spectators and organisers looking skyward hoping the weather would be kind to us and the forecast thunderstorm would somehow skip Welwyn Garden City. The scheduled singles matches started at 11am between Danielle West & Clare Robinson in the Ladies Singles, and James West & Adam Reid in the Men's Singles. The Umpires Aleem Cummins and Miriam Mohns took their seats and announced play. We were treated to some marvelous play in both Matches, and despite young Elliot Reid giving dad some tips and encouragement, the West siblings both emerged victorious. The final scores were 6.3, 6.2 to James in the men’s singles and 6.2, 6.1 to Danielle in the Ladies singles.
Clare Robinson, Miriam Mohns (Umpire), Danielle West
Adam Reid, Aleem Cummins (Umpire), James West
The Matches just finished before the forecasted thunderstorm hit but the only thing that suffered a slight delay was the lighting of the BBQ. Some early cream teas and strawberries were served and the rain thankfully eased up for the Men’s Plate final at 1pm. The men did however stoically start their final match in the rain. Steve Widden their Umpire trying very hard to stay dry and avoid a soggy scoresheet. Krishnan Nair and Fergus Munroe took on Mark Nicholson and Steve Friend on court 3 in the first ever running of the Men’s Plate competition. The match drew a number of spectators and proved very popular. The spectators were treated to a competitive match in which Mark and Steve emerged as victorious.
At 2pm, with the rain gone and the BBQ started, it was time for The Ladies Doubles on court 2 and Men’s doubles on court 1 to start. All spectators took their seats to watch James West & Stuart Leach take on Ian Adams and Adam Reid in the Men's Doubles with Aleem Cummis as Umpire. There were a great many Oo’s as the audience were treated to some hard hitting and exciting play. Stuart and James eventually won the match in 2 very hard-fought sets.
Ian Adams, Adam Reid, Stuart Leach & James West
The Ladies Match, with Miriam again in the Umpire chair, was contested between Ashleigh Cattle & Jean Satterley and Clare Robinson & Sue West. This was a return partnership for Sue & Clare who were defending their title from last year and first appearance for Ashleigh who joined the club earlier this year. The Match was so exciting to watch and went to a tie break in both sets. Ashleigh & Jean managing to wrestle the title from Clare & Sue. Well done to all ladies!! That is the closest final of the day and well fought with the final score 7.6, 7.6.
Clare Robinson, Sue West, Jean Satterley & Ashleigh Cattle
At 4.30pm all the mixed doubles took to the court. The eagerly awaited Mixed doubles was played between James & Danielle West against Stuart Leach & Ashleigh Cattle. Julia Howard was in the Umpires Chair for this match. Except for last year, when James and Danielle did not play the championships, they have won the title on each appearance but were up against an excellent pairing in Stuart and Ashleigh. It proved an excellent match, with some impressive rallies and hard hitting. James and Danielle managed to take the match in 2 sets with the final score being 6.4, 6.1.
Stuart Leach, James West, Ashleigh Cattle & Danielle West
The Mixed Double Plate was umpired by Terry Martin and featured Erin Howard & Eren Ozkan against husband & wife team Cathy & Steve Widden. Cathy & Steve joined Orchard earlier this year and are a welcome addition to the club with their participation in team tennis as well as the championships. The match was well fought and very enjoyable to watch. The games went with serve in both sets up to 4 games all but Erin and Eren managed to break away both times and took both sets.
Steve & Cathy Widden, Terry Martin, Erin Howard & Eren Ozkan
The Mixed vets doubles took place on court 3 and drew a good audience. The final was played between Kate Cox & Martin Hogermeer and Sue West & Gavin Johnstone. Dave Wesson our club chairman was in the umpires chair for this hugely enjoyable match. Gavin and Sue have played in the final previously but this was Kate & Martin’s first appearance as a partnership in the mixed Vets final. The match was played in good spirit with Kate and Martin emerging victorious in 2 sets 6.2, 6.4.
Kate Cox, Martin Hogermeer, Dave Wesson, Sue West & Gavin Johnstone.
The day ended with the Raffle being drawn for the lovely Prize hamper, the contents of which were generously donated by all the finalists, and also a further hamper and assorted goodies. Raffle tickets were on sale through the day and our thanks go to the wonderful Clare Smith for organising the raffle which raised the impressive sum of £192.
Fresh from his Umpiring duties, Club President Dave Wesson, presented the Trophies to the winners of all the days worthy winners. Pictures of the presentations by Dave can be seen below.
Finally we would like to say thank you to the wonderful team of helpers who helped set up, pack away and make the day go so smoothly, not forgetting Simon Winfield for running the BBQ.
Well done to all participants and huge congratulations to the winners!!.