With the new season approaching things seem to become quieter and quieter. Latest gossip is that young George Francis cannot be available for tennis league matches this winter – he has been selected to play National League Basketball which is really great. We all wish him good luck and hope he enjoys the matches, win or lose. So at home on Saturday our Apsley Bees entertained Kingsgate who always send a good team. Read on.

On the plus side we can say it was dry, if a little gusty and there was Apple Cake for tea. It was close even if the scorecard suggests otherwise. So to the nitty-gritty. Simon Watson & Amanda Buttfield started well but could not avoid losing the first set 5-7 which was followed by a neat second set loss of 5-7. Mark Welby & Christine Johnson dropped their first set 2-6, came back strongly to win the second in the tie break and then took the third to 6-6 where their effort came to nought as they lost the tie break. Nigel Green & Julie Kelly suffered the same result as Simon & Amanda losing 5-7, 5-7 but Steve Johnson & Nicky Cozens pulled out all the stops to win 6-3, 6-3. Joy indeed. After the apple cake the girls could not get moving, Amanda & Christine going down 3-6, 0-6 while Julie & Nicky managed 2-6, 2-6. The boys on the other hand had real ding-dongs, Simon & Mark winning the first set 6-4, dropping the second 4-6 and then repeated the score 4-6 in the third. Would Nigel & Steve reverse this trend? Unfortunately not, losing their first set 3-6, taking the second 6-3 but then going out 4-6 in the third to round off a most unlucky day. So you have to ask how you can win 81 games out of 185 and lose the tie 1-7! I guess that is the way it goes. We can always blame it on the apple cake!

Next week: Nothing on the calendar but maybe there is something. I will round up the Vets season in next week’s news even without any data but that is my forte. Apsley B will be back in action on 1st October at home though.

Title: “That’s the way it goes”: George Harrison, 1982