28 players competed for the Letchworth Bowl this year and with a very high number of tight matches we struggled to get through the group stages in time for our dinner at the pub. There were though clear winners from one group and almost guaranteed winners from the other group so a final we had! Chris Jack (2018), Charlie Kennedy (1998!) and Ed Hawke (2016) were all looking to get their names on the cup for a second time with Jonathan Jesty making up the 4. Chris and Charlie had gone through the group stages unbeaten but ran out of steam against a determined Ed and Jonathan who ran out 9-5 winners. It was great to see some former and future players in the gallery and we look forward to welcoming them all back on court next season. The question is…. will it be on the new courts or the old ones!
New Season- Starts 13th September
We will be starting our new fives season at Wessex Fives Club on the 13th September. We will still be using the old courts but expect to move over to the new courts during the course of this season
Letchworth Bowl returns
12 pairs split into 2 round robin groups fought it out for the 2022 Letchworth Bowl, a competition we have not run for the last 2 years because of COVID. With groups games to 9, the maximum any pair could get was 45 points and things were tight in both groups with 6 pairs getting more than 37 points and no pairs went through the group stages unbeaten. In the end, Rob Moore partnering with Matt Hale and Robin Thompson playing with Nigel Gainsborough both won their respective groups and narrowly made it through to the final.
Rob, playing for the first time in 2 years (something about not having enough time with 5 children!) and Matt proved too strong and so the Letchworth Bowl leaves the Munn house where it has been sat in the pride of place since 2018.
A very enjoyable evening had by all, great to be joined by 3 of the Winchester College boys including Shiloh and Marcus fresh from their success at the Schools championship. This could have been our last evening on the Winchester College courts as we await the completion of the 6 new courts in the new sports centre…. but when was the last time a major building project finished on time!
Highlights of the Jesters Tour to Edinburgh 2020
Wessex have always been a strong supporter of the annual Jesters Tour to Edinburgh. Now being run by 2 Wessex ‘old boys’ Ben Hale and Dave Butler the tour goes from strength to strength. Watch the highlights from this year’s tour below…..
Video Highlights of WFA vs RFA 2019
The 2019 match between the Rugby Fives Association and the Winchester Fives Association was the closest so far in this series of 9 matches. A 7 point win sees the RFA take a 5-4 lead
RFA claim victory in closest contest yet
With frequently changing lineups for both teams in the week leading up to the match there was some nervousness on both sides as to whether we would have 8 players in each team. As it turned out the WFA ended up with 9! We had a great match and the closest game in this series of WFA vs RFA matches that we have ever had with the RFA now leading the contest 5 matches to 4. In the end it came down to just 7 points and all the ‘What if’s’ and ‘If onlys’ that come with a game like that we mentioned in the post match chat at the Queen. Ollie and Ben played the game like they were playing with a golf ball whilst Dan and Howard battled against Giles and Tom for a 16-15, 15-16 scorecard! Thanks to all the last minute replacements who made this fixture and who all played such important parts in the day.
Narrow loss for Wessex vs Marlborough Ist IV
Wessex fell to a narrow loss against the Marlborough 1st IV last week. Thanks to Bill, Rupert, Andy and Martin for playing a Thursday afternoon against the boys, looks like a good match. Just now looking for the singles scores…..
New Season
Good opening night to the new season last night with a few new faces, but a serious omission by HFA meant that no sausages had been ordered. He has just one job to do……. Anyway, as you can see initiative was used to good effect. Hopefully see more of you there next week.
New Fives Season
The first night of the Wessex 2019-2020 fives season will be on the 17th September. We will then play every Tuesday (bar a Christmas break) till the Letchworth Bowl which is normally at the end of April. Club evening normally start around 1830 and we play till about 2145 following which we have drinks and sausages in the Wykeham Arms. Please come and join us!
Letchworth Bowl Winners
Tuesday 30th April saw our traditional end of season tournament being played for the Letchworth Bowl. Last year’s winner Giles Munn was paired this year with Wendy Carling and having won all their group games came up against Ben Chua and Dan Thompson in the final. For Dan this was only his 5th time playing fives…. which was 4 times more than Giles’ partner Chris Jack had played when they won it last year! A good final was won by Giles and Wendy 11-6 and so Giles joins a select group of players in having retained the Letchworth Bowl. Previous back to back winners are Frank Akerman (1985/ 86), Tony Letchworth (1989/ 90), Tony Wolstenholme (1995/ 96)…. and a bloke called Will Ellison (2007/ 8). Giles still has some way to go before he finds himself on the hall of fame below!
Previous 4 time winnners Nigel Cox- 1978, 1980, 1984, 1990, Tony Letchworth- 1981, 1983, 1989, 1990, Tony Wolstenholme- 1988, 1995, 1996, 2005
Biggest gap between wins…. Jamie Orchard, 1985 and 2011
Oldest winner…. Bev Boag 2017… 70 something!
Youngest winners- Pete Kullavanijaya and Alex Younger 15 year olds paired together
First Lady Winner- Wendy Carling 2019
Giles Munn and Wendy Carling celebrating their 2019 victory. You have a year to clean the cup Giles!!