Category: Tennis (real and modern)

Alleyn Old Folk Take On The Old-School-Real-Tennis World, The Cattermull Cup, 11 & 12 April 2026

Me and Simon Barton in our Alleyn’s School shirts. Photo by Paul Cattermull

Soon after I started playing real tennis, in 2016, I ran into Paul Cattermull in the viewing gallery at Lord’s. Paul and I had worked together years before, at Binder Hamlyn. I told Paul that I was enjoying the game enormously but finding it really difficult.

But why, Ian? It’s a bit like cricket. Move your feet, get your head over the ball, watch the ball and keep your head still as you hit it…

Indeed, all the shortcomings and techniques I struggled with at cricket are also there to torment me in real tennis. But at least with tennis, if you make a mistake, you just lose one point. Well,15, if you are counting the time-honoured tennis way, but you get my meaning.

Technique wanting in 2016 and still

Actually it is more like fives than cricket – and at Alleyn’s I was just a bit more than OK at fives.

An Uneventful Day Playing Fives, 9 June 1975

Anyway, with perseverance and years of fun sporting activity, I have worked my way up the real tennis handicap charts to being very, very average at the game. Indeed, when the Tennis & Rackets Association re-based the handicaps last year, my doubles handicap straddled the median pre and post adjustment value of 55.

As I progressed from “absolute beginner” into “showing some progress towards ordinariness” category, Paul suggested that I find a fellow alum from Alleyn’s School to enter his eponymous “old school” handicap doubles tournament. It was a lovely idea, but for the absence of such an alum with whom to partner.

Then, in January 2025, just before I went into hospital to have my right hip replaced, I had an interesting locker-room chat with relative newbie Simon Barton, which I reported here, learning that Simon too went to Alleyn’s:

After Soccer At Alleyn’s: Barton Found In 2025, Plus Soccer-Free (Trying Hockey & Playing Fives) Remainder Of January 1975 For Me

Thus the plot was hatched and we agreed to attempt the tournament.

Simon is able to boast having had a single digit handicap and even now maintains a handicap of 14. Unfortunately for me and for our Cattermull Cup campaign, that’s his golf handicap. Simon’s real tennis handicap is in the 70s.

That makes the Cattermull Cup a tough ask for Alleyn’s. Simon’s handicap is above the cut off for this tournament and my limited ability will struggle to cover that shortfall. But we agreed that it would be good experience to give the tournament a go this year, albeit as the lowest ranked pair. We entered in hope, but not with expectation.

Alongside this uphill sporting endeavour, Simon and I have also formed a rather unusual, some might say ghoulish, connection over our avocational history research projects. I am looking at the MCC’s role in the development of cricket and tennis (real and lawn) in the mid to late 19th century, not least the extraordinary efforts of Robert Allan Fitzgerald. Meanwhile Simon, who is described by the website topdoctors.co.uk as an expert in sexual health, is, as one of his hobbies, researching the history of STDs in a similar period.

Parenthetically, biology teacher Tom Gascoigne would have been extremely proud of Simon’s post Alleyn’s medical achievements (as would Chris Liffen & John Clarke), despite Mr Gascoigne’s preference for researching sacoglossan penial styles rather than the penial afflictions of humans.

Robert Allan Fitzgerald, first paid Secretary of the MCC, 1863-1876. “Retired due to ill health” 1876 and died tragically young in 1881, a victim of tertiary syphilis.

I’m pretty sure that Mr Jenkins would have thoroughly approved of the unusual subject-matter in Simon’s and my history projects. With Mr Jenkins’s consent, I researched the 7th century origins of Islam for my third year history project and the 19th century origins of the cinema as my ‘O’ Level history project.

 Eadweard Muybridge – moving image pioneer. Mr Jenkins style of history favoured eccentric characters with unusual back-stories, especially chaps with fulsome beards

As Simon put it oh so succinctly after our third thrashing in three warm up matches in preparation for our tournament:

Simon Barton: Better on syphilis than at tennis…

…which I think is a great tag line.

As I have also been bringing Jacobethan music and drama to the world of real tennis of late…

Hampton Court, Tennis, Gresham, Music & Drama

…I might similarly go for:

Ian Harris: Better on Jacobethan music and drama than at tennis.

…but Simon’s poxy tag line is more infectious than mine.

Anyway, all the above blurb is merely a maxi preamble to my mini match report on the 2026 Cattermull Cup from the Alleyn’s School team perspective.

No Sets Please, We’re Alleyn’s: The Tournament Itself, Middlesex University Real Tennis Court

All the gear…

We were properly prepared. Simon procured a brace of Alleyn’s School tennis shirts, which went down well with the organisers. My choice of team name did not go down quite so well.

I had imagined that the teams had alum-oriented team names and that some of them might be imaginative and witty. But it turned out that “Alleyn Old Folk” was the only team with a waggish name.

We found ourselves in a group comprising Clifton (multiple former winners), Harrow 2 (Harrow are also multiple former winners), Highgate & Alleyn Old Folk.

Let us not delve too deeply into exactly what happened in our round robin group. Suffice it to say that we were not humiliated in any of our matches – no bagels and no breadsticks. Harrow prevailed in our group, deservedly so, winning all three of its rubbers.

When I called Janie before setting off for home, we had the following conversation:

JANIE: How did you get on?

ME: Not too bad – we came fourth in our group.

JANIE: That’s amazing! How many teams were there in your group?

ME: Four.

JANIE: Ah, not quite so amazing then. But did you enjoy yourselves?

ME: Of course we did.

As always with real tennis, it was a convivial yet competitive afternoon with a great bunch of people, many of whom I know well from other matches and tournaments. It was a great learning experience for both of us. In Simon’s case, his first taste of such a match/tournament against lower handicappers. In my case, the challenge of trying to find tactics that would give us a chance to win some games in the sets, as once you are in the mix with games on the board, anything can happen in a one-set-to-six shoot-out.

And there’s always next year, by which time, hopefully, Simon will have a bit more experience under his belt and a better (hopefully uncapped) handicap to bring to the party.

I am imagining what Simon’s and my sports masters would have to say about all of this.

Good on you, chaps. Fine sporting effort for the school. Keep trying.
Better luck next time.
Harris – would you please mark some matches for me on Tuesday?

Colin Page (1926-2021)
Messsrs Banson & Page watching on c1977

I told you both that you were utterly useless at sport.

Barry Banson (1933-2025)

Epilogue: The Finals

Janie & I played our traditional game of lawn an hour earlier than usual in order to get to Middlesex in reasonable time. At least I manged to scrape one set this weekend…just.

We arrived as the losing Sherborne pair were departing, bemoaning their narrow fate in a tight semi against Rugby (6-2, 6-5). On taking up our viewing positions, I asked one of the victors, Charles Whitworth, to encapsulate the Sherborne match in a few words:

Adrian Warburton’s devilish bobble serve,

came the reply.

We had arrived early in the second set of the second semi-final: Norwich School v Harrow 2. The Norwich School team comprised Tim Edwards, whom Janie and I got to know when we were in Newport Rhode Island for the World Championship last year…

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Four: Cliff Walk, Tennis Talk, Museum Visit, Lawn On The Lawn & Dinner At Stoneacre Brasserie, Newport RI, 26 September 2025

…and Reuben Ard, whose finest ever performance on a tennis court so far, in my opinion, was his “electric virginals” rendition of The Earl Of Salisbury Pavan at The Royal Tennis Court during the 2023 Gresham Society Visit performance I organised and referenced earlier in this piece. The video below, thanks to Janie, really is a charming and atmospheric Elizabethan musical interlude.

Norwich’s opponents were Harrow 2, Sebastien Maurin & James Charatan, who had proved 2-much for me and Simon Barton the previous day in our group.

Harrow 2 also proved to be too much for Norwich in a close run match (6-5, 6-4), despite Reuben Ard’s relentless pounding of the grille and tambour. At one point he achieved a hat-trick of grille winners, which I have only ever witnessed once before, when Alex Gibson pulled off such a stunt in the 2023 MCC Club Weekend C/D Groups Final. Unfortunately there is no video evidence of Reuben’s achievement, which was rather more muscular than Alex’s, whereas the last two of Alex’s three grille shots are captured here:

I have ever since called that achievement the “Coup De Gibson”. I briefly considered changing the name now to “Coup D’Ard”, but that sounds more like something emanating from the manosphere than a real tennis achievement, so we’ll stick with Coup De Gibson.

Both semi-finals were played between pairs with vastly differing handicaps and were won by the pair that was receiving a significant handicap. The final was very different – just a four point difference separated the two – (Harrow received half 15 from Rugby).

It looked on paper as though it was going to be a tight match, but when it came to the action on plaster and wood and stone rather than paper…

…it was an incredibly tight match. I think at least half of the games went to 40-40. Certainly the first handful of games in each of the first two sets did so. It was compelling viewing and it was impossible to tell which way the match would go until the last few minutes, when the Rugby team applied one or two new tricks which did just enough to confound the Harrow pair. (5-6, 6-3, 6-4).

Callum Grier & Charles Whitworth of Rugby, receiving the trophy from Janie

Will Burns, James Charatan, Sebastien Maurin, Callum Grier, Charles Whitworth, Paul Cattermull & Jack Carter

It was an enjoyable watch in good company, as is real tennis’s way. Hopefully next year…or at least some year…I’ll be at The Cattermull Cup on finals day as a player rather than a spectator.

MCC Real Tennis Skills Night, Lord’s, 4 March 2026

The original Hinds Trophy being presented in March 2023

The following text (or an edited version of it) will shortly appear on the MCC website, along with some of the photographs taken on the night. When that happens, I'll add a link.

Sixty years ago, in March 1966, one of the most coveted trophies in global sport, The Jules Rimet Trophy, was stolen from its apparently secure display location in Westminster. A couple of days after an aborted ransom sting, a dog named Pickles discovered a parcel containing the trophy in a hedge beside his owner’s home. Pickles became an overnight sensation, the Jules Rimet was presented at the 1966 Football World Cup Final, before being retained by Brazil, then, a few years later, in Rio, permanently stolen.

The Hinds Trophy (aka The Skills Night Wooden Spoon Trophy), another of the most coveted trophies in global sport, recently had a similar journey. The original Hinds was snatched from its secure location behind the Lord’s hazard end galleries, at some point in the summer or autumn of 2024. No ransom was ever demanded, nor was any canine heroism involved, as far as we know. But just a few weeks ago, long after its replacement with a replica trophy, the original Hinds reappeared just as mysteriously as it had disappeared. The replacement Hinds will continue to be engraved and displayed.  The original Hinds is now preserved at a highly secure, secret location.

Ironically, the coveted Hinds Trophy was nearly won this time by Andrew Hinds’s own team, Three Ravens.  Numerically and temporally challenged in many ways, that team started with just two but ended up with four players. They need words, not numbers; the collective noun for ravens is “an unkindness”.

The ravens team was especially unkind to two teams.  By performing so well on the final discipline, they knocked Souldiers Three (Hugo Fenwick, Gavin Yeats & David Pritchard) into the Hinds Trophy slot.  Then, with the final scoring of the event, those unkind ravens denied Three Things In Store late surge to the top spot. Instead, Three Poor Mariners – Richard Boys-Stones, Mary Strevens & Huw Humphreys – were, fairly, reinstalled at the top of the podium.

The Close But No Cigar Award went to neophyte Gerald Slocock, whose ability to almost-but-not-quite hit a target might become the stuff of legend, if he maintains form in that regard.

The Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award went to Shaheed “Sid” Rashid, not least for being the only player to score two points off one hit on the central beam of the dedans gallery.

The Philip The Bold Golden Moment Award went to John Thirlwell, for an extraordinary hat trick of coups du pataugeoire -landing the serve in a paddling pool – which is much harder than it sounds.

There is a serious purpose to skills night; honing skills.  True, most of the skills honed on such nights involve eating curry, drinking, singing and the like, but the evening does include some real tennis skills too.

Skills night unquestionably proves the skills of the MCC admin team who organise the event so well, and our tennis professionals, who make the game swing with great reliability.  Which is more than can be said for most of us players’ tennis swings!

Here is a link to the piece, with pictures, on the MCC website, available to those who have a suitable login. Apart from the pictures, it is the above text, unexpurgated. What are the editors thinking?

…and here’s a link to scrape of that piece with pictures.

The Dedanists’ Society v The Queen’s Club, 6 February 2026

Paul Cattermull & Emma Norris (front), Linda Sheraton-Davis, Me, Richard Prosser & Simon Mansfield (back) – looking on from the dedans.

The team at The Queen’s Club gate are regular faces and clearly very well trained. On arrival, I announced myself by saying:

I am here for one of the great events in the global sporting calendar.

The attendant replied:

That must be the Dedanists’ match. Let me get the list…

I was especially looking forward to the fixture when I learnt that I would be paired with Giles Stogdon, with whom I have partnered many times in the past, but not since the arrival of  Pinky, my new hip, less than a year ago.

Playing one of the early matches gave us the opportunity to warm up with some of the other early arrivals. During warm up, Giles tried but failed to emulate the “lights out tennis” he had mustered against me the previous week in the MCC weekend:

The early arrival also of Linda Sheraton-Davis & Chris Hancock enabled us to start our bout about 15 minutes early. Just as well – the battle was a hum-dinger which would not have been concluded in a mere hour. Indeed, even with the extra time, we needed to start the decisive third set at 4-4.

At one point, Linda Sheraton-Davis made an impressively elegant, almost balletic manoeuvre, in order to dodge the ball and avoid losing a vital point, allowing a modest chase instead.

Later in the evening, in conversation – yes, the chatting, watching, eating and drinking is at least as important as the tennis on these occasions – it transpired that Linda had indeed pursued ballet as a hobby in her youth. Several people expressed regret that Linda’s “croisé devant” had not been captured on camera during our match.

But in the modern era, one needn’t let an absence of real images spoil a good story. I instructed DeepAI to produce an image that reflected Linda’s move. The AI did rather well, although I couldn’t persuade it to produce anything that looked faintly like “a real tennis court”…or even “a court tennis court”…as the background. But it has most certainly captured the dance move.

Being a polite chap, I did ask Linda for permission to produce and publish an automated artist’s impression of the moment. Linda replied:

Only if you also point out to your readers that starting the final set at 4-4 put you and Giles at an advantage, because in both of the previous sets you had won the first two games and then lost the next three!

You see how much it means to us all! In truth, we all turn up in the hope of having good bouts like the one we enjoyed on this occasion, but tend not to be too fussed about the result if it is a good match.

As much as anything else, this Dedanists’ fixture, like many others, tends to be populated mainly by Dedanists, such that we often find ourselves batting for the other side. As in 2023, in 2026 I was representing The Queen’s Club…despite having no real right to do so.

Plenty Of Real Tennis, Including The MCC Club Weekend & “Batting For The Other Side” In The Queen’s Club v Dedanist’s Society Match, Late January & Early February 2023

Giles Stogdon has no more right to represent Queen’s than me. He hadn’t even twigged that we were listed to represent Queen’s rather than The Dedanists’.

The fact of the matter is – the “which team won?” aspect doesn’t really matter. We raise some money for the Dedanists’ Society good causes, have a good fun match and a most companionable dinner afterwards. In that sense everyone wins and tennis wins.

Richard Vallat & Gary Duncan (service end) v Graham Defries & Stuart Kerr (hazard end).

On returning to the gallery after their battle, Richard Vallat confessed to me that he had completely forgotten which side he was representing this time around. Classic. But the last set of that match was a most enjoyable watch while we worked up our appetites for a delicious boeuf bourguignon dinner, followed by a very tempting cheese plate.

But just in case anyone has come here to see a results sheet – here is that sheet.

Paterson Bowl Final At Lord’s: Eddy Gray v Ben Havey, 3 February 2026

The players greet graciously; the manner in which the whole match was played

Big Match Build Up

At the end of the MCC Club Weekend, a couple of days before this match, I reassured Tom Carew Hunt that I had put aside the evening to join him at the Paterson Bowl Final. Tom said:

I’m so glad, as I am now a serious doubt for being able to get into London that evening.

I had a dreadful feeling that I would end up master of ceremonies for the post match presentation; a feeling that was utterly justified.

That sense of dread was magnified when I arrived at Lord’s to discover that the RG Paterson Bowl itself was under lock and key in the MCC museum, which meant that it would not be possible to present the actual trophy on the night.

On reflection, I realised that it is, in fact, an MCC tradition to restrict access to trophies in this way – The Australians have had nearly 150 years to get used to such limited access in the matter of “The Urn”, win or lose.

I also had a slight sense of dread, on Eddie Gray’s account, when I learnt of the handicap Ben Havey was due to receive. Both players are relatively new to the game and both are fast improving, which is rather wonderful, but Ben in particular is currently going through one of those “growth spurts” that talented players can achieve.

I had done battle with Ben only a couple of days earlier, albeit at doubles. Here’s a single rest (rally) clip of me serving to him:

Let The Big Match Commence

So, to the Eddy Gray v Ben Havey match itself. Both players started a little nervously, I thought, with one or two uncharacteristic errors. It was the first “big final” for both of them. It was also the first big final for our apprentice professional Henry de Lord, who has been working on his own game with both of these players lately. But all three of them settled quickly and then did very well.

Jonathan Potter also represented the tennis committee on the night. He was able to comment from first hand experience on Eddy’s recent progress.

Eddy indeed showed us his array of weapons, with several forces to the grille and some superb winners on the floor too. But Ben also has powerful winners, plus a very strong defensive game. That made the nine point handicap difference extremely difficult for Eddy to try and overcome.

Here is one point by way of example, in which an Eddy error results in the glorious ringing of the winning gallery cowbells…but from the wrong side. “Hell’s bells” I like to call them – they used to reside in my late mother-in-law’s apartment.

Here is another really excellent rest (rally) in which both players demonstrated their fast-improving skills, eventually resulting in Eddy landing a hazard chase.

Very soon after that one, Ben’s girlfriend, who was sitting a little nervously close by, asked me if the match was nearing its end. I said

…if I have been counting correctly, this is now match point.

Which it was:

The result: Ben Havey bt Eddy Gray 6-1, 6-1 on handicap.

As their handicaps move towards each other (hopefully both still improving) I suspect there will be some close battles between Ben Havey & Eddy Gray, plus some excellent representation for the MCC by both of them.

We held a short presentation ceremony on court, during which I said that sort of thing and presented both of the combatants with their mementoes. I also gave Ben advice on how to visit his trophy and handed him his well-earned bottle of Pol Roger fizzy pop.

The MCC Tennis Club Weekend, Lord’s, 30 January to 1 February 2026

My self-report card: 10/10 for a wonderful weekend, 9/10 for effort, 6/10 for performance, 0/10 for results.

I have written at length about the MCC Tennis Weekend before and certainly don’t want to bore regular readers. For those who have not read about such matters before: the 2024 report majors on tennis derring-do and nervousness about method acting…

The MCC Tennis Weekend 2024: The Secret Diary Of Ian Harris Aged 61 and 5/12ths, 26 to 28 January 2024

…while the 2025 report majors on potty adventures of one sort or another:

The MCC Real Tennis Club Weekend & Related Potty Adventures, 31 January To 2 February 2025

This year I’ll focus on the tennis. To get the least interesting bit out of the way, I’ll simply say that my partner, Jeremy Norman, and I, did not do well. Group B was especially strong this year, as evidenced by our group’s runners up eventually taking the top prize – Mason Sharp Trophy. Someone has to bring up the rear in each group.

We did, however, try hard. We also provided some entertainment…in a good way. We even influenced the result of the tournament by eliminating one of the stronger pairs in our last rubber, thus providing the eventual winners a semi-final slot. The following clip shows probably our best, albeit in vain, efforts during that last round robin match.

20 stroke rests don’t happen all that often at our level.

At the very start of our campaign, on the Friday, we were up against Giles Stogdon – my partner from last year, who literally produced a “lights out tennis” moment on court:

Jeremy Norman and I are absolutely convinced that, had it not been for the lighting deficiency on court for the rest of the tournament, we would have prevailed in all of our matches. 😉 . We would say that, wouldn’t we?

As for the Chair of tennis, Graeme Marks, he seemed hell bent on using the prerogative of the chair to sneak those extra few points that can make all the difference. A net cord that still makes the winning line, a spin-backer onto the grille ledge, another spin-backer into the dedans from his partner in crime, Paul Wollocombe…

…not that such “tactics” were enough to get them through to the semis, despite recording a good round robin win against the eventual trophy winners. Such is tournament tennis sometimes.

I was able at least to relax for most of the Sunday, after playing my heart out for pride just before lunch. The semi-finals and finals were a good fun watch, not least because of the convivial (and at times almost rowdy) atmosphere amongst those members who chose to stay and watch the concluding afternoon of the tournament.

It really is always a grand finale and enjoyable afternoon, regardless of the quality or excitement of the tennis matches. This year, as it happens, the tournament built up to a humdinger of a Mason Sharp final, which went all the way to a deciding game.

Firstly, for those who want to watch it, the final of the Osborn Parker (C/D Groups). Iain Harvey & Sebastian Maurin v Andrew Hinds & Giles Watkins.

Secondly, for those who would like to see the whole match, the final of the Mason Sharp (A/B Groups). Steven Bishop & Paul Cattermull v Nigel Smith & Paul Wickman.

If you only fancy the last three minutes of the big final, having already learnt that it went to a deciding game…here is just the deciding game:

It is most unusual for a team from the B group to prevail in the final – let alone the runners-up from the B group. In this case, even more unusual because Paul Wickman went home after their round robin loss on the final morning assuming that his pair had been eliminated. In fact, as the group had panned out, the comparative scores meant that Havey and Walker needed to thrash me and Jeremy Norman in the final round robin rubber of the group in order to overtake Smith and Wickman.

I did berate Paul Wickman, while also congratulating him on a fine tournament win, for assuming that Jeremy and I would be thrashed. “I hadn’t thought it through to that extent”, was his excuse.

Fortunately, “going home” for Paul did not mean “going over the hills, far away and unable to return.” He and Nigel put on a fine show, both in the semi-final and the final. Two of their very best rests were in the semi-final, which I shall use as a closing clip for this piece.

The atmosphere at Lord’s was terrific all weekend. So much effort goes in from staff and volunteer organisers to make the tournament seem effortless on the weekend itself. The organisational effort and skills cannot be demonstrated in a 90 second YouTube clip…but, fortunately, the tennis skills and effort can:

Looking forward to next year already!

Real Tennis British Open At Queen’s & Victory In Australia by Richard Whitehead At Lord’s, 22 & 26 November 2025

Richard Whitehead talking, Alan Rees listening.

Two Men’s Singles Semi-Finals & The Women’s Singles Final At Queen’s, 22 November 2025

Janie and I warmed up for this event by having our regular hour of “lawn” at Boston Manor, albeit at 10:00 rather than our regular hour of 11:00. We then hot-footed it (if you can hot-foot by car) to the flat dropping off some old computer equipment headed for charity, then picked up Janie’s flashy new specs, then got to The Queen’s Club about 30 or 40 minutes into the first match.

Simon Talbot-Williams greeted us both warmly from his stewarding position, while simultaneously telling me off “for being late”, before helping organise our seating.

Just as well we warmed up for the event, as the dedans gallery had a real chill breeze feel to it, despite the nicely positioned radiator near our feet.

Must have felt even colder up there in the “makeshift media gallery”.

We caught the end of the match between Nicky Howell and Rob Fahey. Then saw all of the match between John Lumley and Bryn Sayers.

After taking some tea and chatting with the assembled real tennis glitterati, Janie and I saw Claire Fahey’s historic win in the final against Tara Lumley.

Our first sight of women’s tennis played at the highest level

Historic, in that the women’s final hadn’t been at Queen’s for decades. We both thought that the format including both men’s and women’s matches was an excellent idea.

More of this men’s and women’s tennis on the same day, please, Janie and I say.

On searching on-line for the results, Google’s AI Overview, for once, has not hallucinated. The following summarises matters expertly.

Men’s (Open) Singles Semi-finals

Two Men’s Singles semi-final matches were played during the afternoon. 

  • Fixture: N. Howell bt R. Fahey
  • Score: 6/2 6/2 6/5
  • Start Time: 2:00 PM
  • Fixture: J. Lumley bt B. Sayers
  • Score: 6/5 6/3 6/2
  • Start Time: 4:00 PM (approx) 

Women’s Singles Final

Claire Fahey defeated Tara Lumley in the final match, which began at 6:45 PM. 

  • Fixture: C. Fahey bt T. Lumley
  • Score: 6/0 6/0 

What the AI cannot do is express how much we enjoyed our afternoon and early evening at Queen’s, watching high grade tennis. It’s just a shame it was unseasonably cold!

Victory In Australia by Richard Whitehead, MCC Library Book Club, Lord’s, 26 November 2025

Janie and I very much enjoy these library book club supper evenings. This one, at which Richard Whitehead discussed his book about the 1954/55 Ashes tour, might not have attracted our attention, but for Alan Rees (head librarian) taking pains to let me know how much he had enjoyed that book and was thrilled to have secured an evening with Richard.

Save the date…

said Alan a good few weeks before the evening was announced. Hence, once it was announced…we pounced to get tickets.

We were very glad we did. The food and company is always good. On this occasion, as a bonus, we found ourselves next to my real tennis pal of old, Jim Chaudry. Jim has been “off games” for some while now, but I occasionally see him at cricket and have spotted him a few times at the library book club dinners, but until this time, not at my table.

Jim knows how to hold his knife and fork, whereas…

The food was, as always, excellent. Janie went into full tilt food porn photo mode this time.

Both courses depicted on arrival at her place. Thanks, Janie.

As usual, after the talk, the Q&A, and the book signing, Janie and I went home thoroughly pleased and satisfied. That’s some of my holiday reading for our next trip sorted out for sure.

Two Club Nights & A Silver Racquet, Lord’s, Kimchee & Lord’s, 22 to 26 October 2025

Club Night 2018, with the 2025 register in brackets: Linda (present), Me (present), Sandra (present), Martin (absent), Liza (present), Andrea (present), Mark (RIP), David (present), Simon (absent), Ivor (absent)

22 October – Real Tennis Club Night At Lord’s

When I talk about club night at Lord’s, I am talking about a 9 or 10 times a year midweek informal event, enabling real tennis players of varying standards to rock up for some doubles.

Being a quintessentially varying standard player of the most average sort, I have stumbled into the role of curating these events. In truth, it’s probably more to do with the fact that I’m quite good at marking – i.e. umpiring and scoring.

The abacus (this photo at Hampton Court) is for show – I normally mark in my head.

We had a great turnout at Lord’s on 22 October – about a dozen brave souls gave it a go. There were one or two new faces, which always makes the handicapping just a little harder. One chap, who was new to the game and said he’d only played a few times and had a couple of lessons, nevertheless hit the ball like a seasoned player. It took the more experienced players a while to work him out and he’ll soon enough work out what they were doing to work him out.

It’s a great sport – requiring thought and mental agility as well as sport and (hopefully) physical agility.

23 October – Youth Club Night At Kimchee

But the term “club night” also makes me think of youth club night, which used to be an almost weekly thing in Streatham back in the 1970s. More than 10 years ago, several of us regrouped (as it were) and have been meeting up for youth club nights, mostly as an annual event in the late spring. The headline photo is from May 2018.

This year’s spring event was a very small scale affair, while I was still recovering from my hip operation. I sense that the four who gathered then felt that four was not a quorum. Hence the radical idea of having an autumn rescheduling at the scene of the spring “crime” – Kimchee in Kings Cross.

Six of us gathered: Andrea (thanks for organising), David, Linda, Liza, Me & Sandra.

This was the first “scale” gathering since the sad and untimely passing last year of Mark Phillips whom I (and indeed several of us) had known since we were very little indeed; before youth club.

When the idea of having these gatherings was first mooted (I think we started in 2013 or 2014 – I’ll need to diary trawl for the earliest one – as the first few were pre-Ogblog) – both Mark and I agreed to attend with some trepidation. I know this because I used to see Mark’s mum, Shirl, when I visited my mum in Nightingale. I also learnt via Shirl that Mark, like me, was surprisingly pleased with the gathering and resolute in wanting such gatherings to be repeated, which they have been.

My favourite Mark-related story from our gatherings is from 2019, when I discovered that Mark was now the headmaster at Deptford Green School, around the time that my cricket charity, the London Cricket Trust, was putting facilities into Deptford Park, in part for use by his school. The link below is the story of what happened – the punchline being that the great South African cricketer, AB de Villiers, rocked up at Deptford Park to open our new pitch a few weeks later

Mission Implausible, The Annual Streatham BBYO Alumni Gathering, Bill’s, 30 May 2019
AB & Me & The LCT, Deptford Park, 16 July 2019

26 October – Silver Racquet Match At Lord’s

Bertie Vallat (left), Chris Bray (centre) & Ben Yorston (right)

Janie and I brought our Sunday morning lawners slot at Boston Manor forward an hour, so we might get to Lord’s in time to see most of the Silver Racquet match between Bertie Vallat and Ben Yorston.

Aficionados of Ogblog will no doubt remember Bertie’s first mention, from 2018:

Tennis At Queen’s Followed By Dinner With Simon Jacobs At Brasserie Blanc, 12 September 2018

I mentioned a key feature of that match to Jonathan Potter, soon after Janie and I sat down in the dedans gallery.

HARRIS: I have played Bertie myself. I took a couple of games off him playing level.

POTTER: How old?

HARRIS: (thinking…) I was about 56 I think.

POTTER: Not you. Bertie.

HARRIS: (sotto voce) 12.

Strangely, it turns out that Bertie remembers the occasion too…or at least his early moment of “fame” here on Ogblog.

But you want to know about the Silver Racquet match, not my ridiculous ramblings about one of my many historic on-court humiliations.

And so you should, because it really was a corker of a match. We weren’t really expecting an epic battle, but we got a five set epic, which included some truly exceptional shot-making and especially impressive defensive retrieving by both players.

The dedans was pretty full for the second and third sets, but several attendees, not expecting quite such a long battle, had other engagements to get to, so only a few of us were able to stick around and see the match reach its conclusion.

Janie and I really were impressed and engrossed in watching the match. Even the final set, when both players were clearly pushing themselves towards and beyond their physical limits, was a great watch. Amateur sport at its best.

But you don’t need to take my word for it – Paul Cattermull has written an excellent match report for the T&RA, which you can read by clicking here.

You don’t even have to take Paul’s word for it – see for yourself on the MCC YouTube recording for that day, from 2 hrs 20 minutes in until the sweet/bitter end:

Been going since 1867. The Silver Racquet, I mean. Not Bertie, obviously.

Winning the Silver Racquet doesn’t just mean a trophy and bottle of pop. It also confers the right on the winner to compete for the Gold Racquet. Unfortunately, Janie and I won’t be able to make that match. Maybe next time.

Hamsters v Dedanists’ Society At Hampton Court: Pies, MVPs & Some Real Tennis, 16 October 2025

Captain’s log…

Once again I found myself match managing for the Dedanists’ Society in Tony Friend’s absence. This year he tried to be more specific about the match report:

The readers will want a pie report. And make sure you tell them about the MVP.

In my first draft, I waxed lyrical about several performances, even mentioning my own, before unequivocally stating that Oliver Buckley, who played two excellent rubbers for the Hamsters, was clearly the “most valuable player” on the day.

Tony was not impressed:

What are you doing? MVP doesn’t stand for “most valuable player” in a pie report. It stands for “most viscous pie”. Tell ’em about the pies.

The desserts were excellent too, but none were, strictly speaking, pies.

I needed to resort to gustatory memory and visual forensics

I detect Chicken, Ham & Leek on the one hand, Steak, Mushroom & Merlot on the other…

It was a tough choice. The dauphinoise potatoes need an honourable mention, as do the desserts, but they were none of them pies. On balance, the steak, mushroom and merlot was just a little more viscous than the chicken, ham and leek, but both were unquestionably delicious.

A huge thank you to Ian Hancock and Elwyn Hughes, who confessed to me when I arrived early and offered help, that they were “hosting virgins”, i.e. had neither of them hosted a match before. This would not have been obvious to most attendees. Nor to me at first, as the table was already laid at 9:30 am.

Then at 9:40, Lesley Ronaldson popped in and wondered why they hadn’t extended the table before laying it. I “helped” by photographing the ensuing refit.

At one point Lesley could be seen under the table, for reasons I couldn’t quite fathom. The next photo might have captured the moment that Ian & Elwyn realised that she was there.

Anyway, the point is, our hosts at RTC pulled off a blinder, as usual, providing wonderful hospitality for this convivial and enjoyable match.

There was also tennis, which, the results table below confirms, registered a 3.5/2.5 victory for the Hamsters.

But wait! Graeme Marks appeared for the Dedanists’ at 11:30 and then later for the Hamsters at 15:30. What confusion!

Many of us frequently find ourselves representing one team while also being qualified to represent the other. See the case of MCC v Dedanists’: [2025]. On such occasions, we might even find ourselves putting two shirts in our kit bag, unclear when setting off for the match which side we’ll end up representing. See the case Dedanists’ v MCC: [2020].

We even, very occasionally, find ourselves selected for a team for which we are not qualified, in order to help make the match-ups work. See Queen’s Club v The Dedanists’ Society: [2023].

Batting for both sides in the same match, though? Surely the Latin maxim “Nemo potest duobus dominis servire” – no-one can serve two masters – applies here. And if we scratch the two offending rubbers from the record, the match result looks oh-so different.

But wait! There is another Latin legal maxim: “Nemo iudex in sua causa” – no-one can judge their own case. So I suppose I must shut up with judgmental ramblings about the result, other than to say that the winner, as always, was real tennis, not least because a few hundred quid will find its way to The Dedanists’ Society coffers and then on to good causes.

Yet, I am still entitled to judge the MVP (most viscous pies):

Gold Pie: Steak, Mushroom & Merlot

Silver Pie: Chicken, Ham & Leek

And the other type of MVPs – i.e. most valuable pastry-cooks? Unquestionably Ian Hopkins & Elwyn Hughes. With thanks again for the warm and friendly hospitality in the fine tradition of Hamsters v Dedanists’ matches.

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Five: Strolling, Lunch/Exhibition Doubles At The Club & Tournament Dinner At Newport Beach House, Newport RI, 27 September 2025

Daisy (Janie) making an exhibition of herself at the Newport club

Mercifully a less action-packed day. We took it easy in the morning and ambled back to the Newport Club via some shops that Janie wanted to see and the wharf area where we took some pictures.

A Streetcar Named Fisher doesn’t have the same ring to it as A Streetcar Named Desire

A street car that defies description

They didn’t lie to us – not a spare court in the whole club

With the World Championship over, the afternoon was a far less formal affair, with the main combatants pairing up with Newport pros Tony Hollins and Josh Smith to play an exhibition doubles for us.

The lunch once again was very good and it gave us a chance to chat with some of the members, not least Paul, Chris, Noel, Ellen, Kelsey and Sarah who made us feel very welcome. We even met Sarah’s mum that afternoon.

The informal atmosphere enabled us to view some of the tennis from each of the Newport vantage points, which was a nice bonus.

By the time we got home for a rest ahead of the tournament dinner there was not much time, but still we (I) had a short rest and then we Ubered it to the Newport Beach House for the dinner.

We chatted with the young Lumley’s for a while over cocktails and then sat at a table for the meal with some very interesting people, including Jonathan Pardee to Janie’s right and an architect-regular-combatant of Jonathan’s to my left.

After dinner, we chatted with Freddy, Judith (Freddy’s mum) and Rob Lake for a while, until it dawned on us that we were almost the last people left around!

ROB: “let me tell you a thing or two about Ealing Lawn Tennis Club…“

Gosh it had been a tiring few days, but very enjoyable and interesting.

If you want to see yet more pictures from that day, yes really, here’s a Flickr link – and/or below:

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Four: Cliff Walk, Tennis Talk, Museum Visit, Lawn On The Lawn & Dinner At Stoneacre Brasserie, Newport RI, 26 September 2025

If the cap Fitz…some beards simply defy description

This turned out to be a crazily busy day but very enjoyable.

With the weather now restored to dry…even borderline sunny, and thinking that we’d get no other chance for exercise, we took a long, photogenic cliff walk.

Here’s our route…except we cannot take the start of this route…

…traversing the island to the forty steps, then being re-routed as a small chunk of the rout just south of the forty steps is being repaired…

Salve Regina…

…hac lacrimarum valle

…but then walking the cliff route past The Breakers, as far as The Marbles, then returning via Bellevue Avenue.

Less than two hours but more than 90 minutes of walking. Lots of photos.

Then, quick shower and change and off to the Newport Casino Theatre where I was to deliver my “1875 And All That” talk.

Nigel (above) prepares to hand the baton to me…

My talk seemed to go down well. I heard no snoring, no walking out in disgust and people were polite enough to say that they had enjoyed it. Judith, Freddy’s mum, was especially effusive in her praise.

Judith, effusive.

Here’s the very paper I presented – I talked through a little more than half of this paper:

1875 And All That

We enjoyed the whole afternoon of talks, although only I had remembered my jumper and Janie was feeling the cold more than me, so I let her use the jumper while I suffered in near silence about the cold. Near silence, I said.

As the weather had improved, Janie and I enquired about playing tennis on the grass, only to discover that the place was so very fully booked out on the Saturday that our only sensible slot was 17:00 that afternoon. We worked out that we could still see the museum, dash home to change, dash back, play an hour of lawn, dash back to change again and still get to the conference dinner on time. So we agreed to do that and I handed over an infeasible guest fee for an hour of lawn and a clutch of tennis balls.

Me & Jimmy Conners (above), Janie & Steffi Graf (below)

We gave the museum and the hall of fame a solid but quick once over

The museum tour was very interesting – well laid out in the modern style and with more space available than we have at Lord’s for the cricket equivalent. The International Tennis Hall Of Fame gallery was a bit of a highlight. The opportunity to chat with some of the other speakers and attendees of the conference while milling around the gallery was also a highlight. Janie and I took it at fairly high speed though, to ensure that our timings would allow us to fit in the prized extra item of an hour of lawn.

Freddy grabbed us for this photo op. as we arrived courtside in our whites

We were back in our whites about 15 minutes ahead of our slot. Kim in the pro’s shop took pity on us and showed us to a court that we could use straight away. “Centre Court” (ie the middle one of three) at the side of the court tennis building. We very much enjoyed our hour, playing alongside a friendly bunch of regulars who made us feel very welcome. It was a great honour, privilege (and expense) to have been able to play on the grass at Newport. A big tick on the bucket list.

Exhausted, but unbowed, we returned to the apartment, showered and changed there, then on by Uber to the Stoneacre Brasserie, where we dined with the conference crowd.

Sitting nearest to me and Janie: Michael Wooldridge, Adam Inselbuch, Nigel a Brassard, Marc Lewinstein, and Marc’s dog. All made for excellent conversation apart from the dog, who was very well behaved such that I didn’t even notice their presence until the end of the meal.

It had been a superb but utterly exhausting day.

Want to see even more photos from this day? Click the Flickr link here or below: