Cippenham’s three teams in the Veterans British Clubs League all had reasonably successful weekends, culminating in top four finishes as the season concluded at Derby Arena.

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The men’s first team of Martin Adams, Dave Barr, Andy Trott and Rob Hansell were sitting in second place in Division 1A after the first weekend and so the single promotion place on offer was always going to be difficult to achieve. So it proved as the Cippenham squad effectively mirrored the first half results, ending up in third place, just missing out on second place by sets aggregate to The Musketeers, the team’s first opponents. Andy got the better of both Jason Thompson and Sujay Jagannathan in that first match and Rob overturned Jason Thompson, but neither Rob nor Martin could beat over-60s national champion Tim Dyson in a repeat of the previous 3-3 draw.

The next few matches saw Cippenham flourish as expected, pushing aside both St Georges and Foresters B with 6-0 scorelines.. Foresters C put up more resistance, but a 4-2 win ensued, with a brace of wins each from Andy and Player of the Match Martin. The final match was against C. Jenkins Windows, the already-crowned table toppers and a team comprising of Scottish and Irish international players. A draw was needed to ensure second place but despite an epic effort from Rob, who beat both Gerry Campbell and Philip Wallace in a Player of the Match performance, Dave and Martin were unable to add to the tally and a 2-4 defeat resulted in a third-place finish.

The Cippenham men’s second team were a little unlucky to ultimately finish fourth in Division 3A as, in a competitive division, only one point separated them from the runners-up position. Steve Joel was the team’s most successful player, winning seven of his ten matches across the weekend, picking up two Player of the Match awards in the process. Altogether the team won three matches, all by 5-1 scorelines, and lost two, the first and last matches of the weekend.

CVS Rams were the first to inflict defeat on Cippenham. Steve and Samson Bekele won one apiece while Steve and Hari Gehlot were unlucky to both lose out 11-6 in the fifth game against Howard Whewell. Paul Baker replaced Samson for the Saturday afternoon match against Graham Spicer Club and managed to beat Paul Elliott while Hari and Steve added four more between them. Saturday concluded with a similar scoreline against Draycott 3. This time it was Steve and Samson who won two each with Hari just missing out against Alan Cherry.

The winning ways continued on Sunday morning against Admiral Paws, the eventual winners of the division and a result that ended their opponents’ one-hundred-percent record. Steve tore apart both David Tiplady and Pawel Meryn, conceding only twenty-five points in six games, Samson added two more and Hari also beat Tiplady. Having beaten top-placed opposition, Cippenham faced fifth-placed opposition in St Georges 2 for the final match and were surprisingly defeated 1-5 with only Hari managing a win.

The Cippenham team playing in Women’s Division 3 qualified for a top-half finish in third place from the eight-team division and then retained that position during the second phase. With team captain Denise Weller unfit to play but cheering on from the sidelines, it was left to Mary Heffernan, Julie Dean and Sue Hayes to carry the flag.

Saturday saw the two matches left over from the first weekend to complete the first phase. Mary picked up the first of her three Player of the Match awards as Cippenham beat Foresters sixth team 5-1. Julie added two and Sue one. Third place was assured as Fulham Brunswick were defeated 4-2. Julie and Sue picked up one win apiece to supplement another brace from Mary.

At the point the division was split into two halves for the final three sessions. Saturday evening saw Cippenham score a useful 3-3 draw with Northern Belles after an all-round team performance in which all three players contributed a win each. With Sue resting a shoulder injury, and a third-place finish already assured, Cippenham could field only two players for the remaining matches on Sunday. The first of these resulted in a 1-5 defeat to Butterfly Lilleshall Lightning before a great performance, which saw both Cippenham players unbeaten, resulted in a 4-2 win over Fulham Brunswick.