Tigers Match Report

Dan Fernandez writes: 

In the unlikelihood of Gareth finding a pen as he moves house, I dusted off the keyboard and jotted down a few comments on the Tigers season so far:

The team of Mike 'Real McCoy' McLaughlin; Jonny 'running machine' Machin; Adam Pyne (when fit); Dan Dare; Gazza and Chris 'Rhino' Gildersleve have settled in to the season well, turning out regularly, playing some good squash and building a good team spirit.
We started off the season at the end Sept with an expected win over the relatively weak Chesham 1B , followed up by a great victory over a strong Holmer Green side with top performances by Mike, Jonny & Chris. Next up we had a feisty battle (1-4 defeat) with the Lions who have hardly taken the 'split strength' ideal to heart (Treadwell at no4!). This was followed by a 2-3 defeat to a super strong Aylesbury team (both Phipps + Marshall at 1 + 2), however, Mike was 2-0 and 5-1 up v Tom and Gazza pulled off his best victory to date beating Ian McGowan from 0-2 down.
End Oct before a 3 week break we played current champs Chesham 1A and an upset was on the cards as Mike and Jonny won (JM beating the improved Sam Pothecary in 5). However the 'senior' members of the team at 3,4,5 didn't cut the mustard, unfortunately all losing comfortably.
So bringing readers up to date, this week we played GX who have started poorly but 'strengthened' by bringing in SWright at 2 for his 1st match. At no1 Mike v Trev Loran was played early with the McCoy winning comfortably 3-1. At 2 Jonny tucked up S Wright in 20mins. Despite being tall he was so out of ranking order playing that high up he had vertigo. At 3 I had a thriller with Andy Peers. Never having beaten him before and off the back of an inter-county weekend I was feeling good and in a ding dong match of me hitting winning shots only to see his younger legs return them with interest we ended up at 2-2 with my hamstring on fire. Despite the pain I managed to dig in to win the 5th. Gazza at 4 had a tough ask v Hefferman and despite a good performance in 1st never got on top of Heffs deceptive forehand pushing him into back corners, going down in 3. At 5 Rhino was in a battle royale v the rejuvenated Mike Burnett who on form should be higher up order (a consistent GX theme!) having beaten CK 3-0 last week. After an hour+ they were 2-2. We all hoped after a long weekend away with Mrs G, that Chris had some lead left in his pencil to claim a famous win, however, despite long rallies the points went the other way.
So a good team win 3-2/15-9 putting us firmly mid-table with a record P6 W3 L3.
Its a shame the club management despite requests don't seem to be able to promote the forthcoming team matches as a few more faces on the balcony cheering the home teams on would be welcome.

Christmas Hat Club Special: Friday December 20th

Tickets are selling fast for our Christmas Hat Club.
We have but 40 left so, please, get your name down on the club clip board to be sure of a space for what is sure to be an evening of quality music with a seasonal twist. After two successful Hat Clubs we offer up a seasonal musical bird. And this bird ain't no turkey; she's the beautiful and very talented Lucinda Drayton.
Back in 1994 Lucinda wrote a number one hit single for Toni Di Bart, 'The Real Thing'. Luce is also well known for her work with the band 'Bliss', whose contemplative tones gathered many a fan of gentle, ambient fare. She has since gone on to pursue a successful solo career that integrates her spiritual life into her mellow, melodic muse.
Her music is now 'somewhere between Enya and Lorena Mckennit, with a bit of Joni Mitchell thrown in...". As Luce says, "for me this music is as honest as I can be about my journey and the experiences I have been lucky enough to have. Many of the lyrics feel like they are given to me rather than me writing them...often when I hear the songs being played while I am meditating I am also touched, as if I were listening to someone else... I could describe how our music has changed in terms of production and instrumentation but quite simply, it comes from a different place and has a different aim, it is made to open peoples' hearts and to bring beauty and peace and healing... I can't say more than this without becoming seriously cheesy... it speaks for itself."

Lucinda will be performing at The Hat Club with her partner Marcus Cliffe. 
Marcus has played with many fine folk, including Mark Knopfler, Sting and Rod Stewart. 
He also happens to be my musical partner too, we are the duo: Miracle Mile.

I'm posting a couple of tracks below; firstly Lucinda's evergreen 'A Hundred Thousand Angels' and then a performance by Marcus, Luce and band of 'Sit Right Here'.

Raging Bulls v Chesham Juniors

Kevin Mears writes:

Having been narrowly defeated by The Bears last week, The Bulls regrouped and were determined to return from their first visit to Chesham Bois with a handsome victory.

With Captain Pig having a business meeting (at the 02 arena watching tennis), the services of 1^st division undefeated Magic Johnson were called upon.  With Seb at two and Olly returning at 5, what could possibly go wrong against some fresh faced ‘juniors’ from Chesham Bois?

First up was Olly: Looking somewhat lacklustre in the first, Olly and Peter Stevenson traded games until the 5th, when Olly’s experience and flare brought him to a comfortable victory.
Welcome back Olly to your winning ways.
3/2

Jim played Simon Clark. While Jim beat Simon last season, Jim never got out of the starting blocks, whereas Simon was energetic, accurate and ultimately unstoppable.
0/3

Kev played Tom Ormiston. Rather similar to Jim’s match, Kev never got going and was extinguished by Tom’s unorthodox style.
0/3

All was not lost with victories needed from Seb and Toby, both more junior than the youngest junior from the Juniors.

Seb dropped the first two games against Andy Piper and after a pep talk from Jim, returned to win the 3rd. Alas, Andy’s form returned and his accuracy and reach was ultimately too much for Seb.
1/3

Finally an in-form Toby stepped up to provide the Bulls with an exhibition of first division squash. Toby’s fitness training, coaching and first division experience has resulted in him being undefeated this season. Surely returning to division 2 would be a breeze for our Magic. The first went according to plan 9/1. Peter East is however no push over and his mixture of fitness, accuracy and reach were more than Toby had bargained on. Trailing 1/2 Toby dug deep and won the 4th 9/0. Surely this would now be a victory for our Magic. Sadly, this was not the Bull’s night and having squandered a couple of match balls at 8/6, Peter never gave up and secured a solid victory over a startled Toby.
2/3

The top of division 1 table shows the Bulls 1st with 75 points, Bears 2nd with 75 points and Farnham Common 3rd with 73 points. This is however flattering, since all other teams in the division have played less matches.