Twinning with AlenÇon  18/02/05
Can you help? For a number of years the Phoenix club has been involved in the badminton twinning  with Alençon.  It would now like to have some assistance with this task.  If you or your club would be interested to help  please let the League Secretary know as soon as possible.  The away weekend this year is over the May bank holiday and would involve travelling by ferry on the Friday night, socialising and some games on the Saturday finishing with a dance/disco and meal at night and then home on the Sunday. 

Ladies Match Report 18/02/05  Both Andrea Hill and Sandra Smith won the three rubbers in which they participated in a Beechdown 5/1 victory over leaders Sherpas in the Ladies 4 Division of the Ian Dewar (Castlegate Investments) sponsored league.  Ruth Seward and Clare Taylor each won two of their rubbers in this encounter while only Hayley Kopp and Claire Smith were able to record a point for the home side.  Lynn Perrini won one rubber playing with Debbie Watkins and another playing with Sandra smith when later Beechdown lost 4/2 to visitors BH Pegasus at Winchester Road.  Amanda Marsden won the three rubbers in which she took part supported by two from Jenny Skilton and Emmy Davies with Norma Scott helping out in one.  The earlier Beechdown defeat of Sherpas means that the latter are now only one point ahead of BH Pegasus although they have a match in hand.  The two teams meet in their last match of the season in late April and there could be all to play for. 

BH Pegasus maintained their unbeaten record in the Ladies 6 Division by beating their nearest challenger Beechdown 6/3 at the Sports Centre.  Anu Davies/Ling Tan won three rubbers for the home side supplemented by two from Lesley Acheson/Kim Newman and one from Amanda Marsden/Jenny Skilton.  Andrea Hill/Ruth Seward won two of the loser’s rubbers with Sandra Smith/Karen Southwell getting the third. The BH Pegasus side are now well clear at the top of the table and only require 10 points from their final two matches to retain the trophy.

Mens Match Report 18/02/05     The bottom two teams in Mens Division1 played last week with Viking B emerging the victors with a 9/0 scoreline against a two pair BH Pegasus B team.  Chris Powell/Neil Hodges, Carlo Rapacioli/Stuart Cheng and Ian Shoard/Graeme Berry were the three victorious pairs.  The result does not effect their positions in the table.   In mid-table BH Pegasus A bypassed Andover Sports A when they beat them 9/0 at Andover.  Martin Davey/David Burrell, Andy Lang/David Gough and Tony Ashworth/Abdul Khan made up the victorious visiting team.

In Division 3, Hurst continued their unbeaten run with a narrow 5/4 home win against Alresford.  Adam Jesney/Stephen Hartwell and David Ord/Don Hartwell both won two rubbers and Chris Puxley/Jeremy Browne won the fifth for Hurst while Scott Page/Bob Thirkell remained unbeaten for the visitors and Dani Fuller/Mark Page secured the fourth.  With Hurst almost certain to take top spot in the table the battle for second spot is between Loddon, currently on 30 points with 3 matches to play and Alresford, 28 points and 2 matches to go.  Two of the Loddon matches are at home against Alresford and later Hurst.  In the earlier matches against these two clubs they just lost 5/4 in each case so home advantage may just help them.  

Tim Pink and Paul Verling won the two rubbers for Phoenix B in a 7/2 defeat by Sherpas at John Hunt School in Division 4.  Ian Young and Neil Grange recorded a maximum for Sherpas supported by two rubbers each from Mark Iredale/Peter Matthews and Steve Pote/Mengkang Peng.

Mixed Match Report 18/02/05  In a match played early in January but just now reported Beechdown A beat BH Pegasus A 8/1 at the Sports Centre.  Martin Hill and Amanda Marsden won the sole home rubber while Neil Marie/Andrea Hill and Peter Seward/Kate Marlow both scored maxima for the winners complimented by two rubbers from Tim Cork/Madge Cummings.  

In Division 3, Whitchurch had mixed fortunes.  Firstly, with Stuart Gordon/Vivienne Hazell getting the only rubber, they lost 8/1 at home to Beechdown C and later they beat a two pair Loddon team 5/4 at Cranbourne School.  In the Beechdown C victory both Mark Bayliss/Jan McDonald and Nigel Appleton/Karen Southwell scored maxima with Tim Williams/Lynn Perrini getting the other two rubbers.  Richard Burt and Lee Timperley won their three rubbers for Loddon in their defeat supplemented by one from Steve Woodward/Lynn White.  Stuart Gordon/Vivienne Hazell and Dave Cooley/Linda Jones each won one rubber for visiting Whitchurch.