Children in Need. - 25/11/05  Congratulations to LoddonSherpas who raised over £300 for Children in Need when they had their Ladies home match against BH Pegasus sponsored on Friday 18^th November.

2006 All England Open Badminton Championships - 25/11/05  There are two free guest tickets available for the first day's play on Wednesday 18th January.  If you would like to make use of these tickets and be the Basingstoke & District representatives please contact Trevor Shanks on 01256 781249.  The tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Mixed Match Report - 25/11/05  Winning three close three games rubbers, Ian Young and Stephanie Matthews gave LoddonSherpas A a good start in their encounter with Viking B at John Hunt School in Mixed Division 2.   Matthew Frost/Hayley Kopp supported them by winning two to give the visiting side a close 5/3 victory when the last rubber ran out of time.  Graeme Berry and Ruth Seward won two rubbers for Viking B with Chris Powell/Ruth Cairns chipping in with one.  

Firefly could only field two pairs to face LoddonSherpas B at Cranbourne in Division 3 but still managed a 6/3 win with both pairs, Steve Webb/Traicy Tait and Phil/Sue Pike winning maxima for them.  BH Pegasus C had their second victory beating Waverley A 5/4 at the Sports Centre to keep the pressure on leaders Beechdown C.  Carlo Rapacioli/Doreen Quilter won their three rubbers for BH Pegasus C with Dale Turpin/Jean Deverill supplying the other two.  Richard James/Sandra Jennings won tow of the loser’s rubbers with Colin Huntley/Debbie Symes and Adam Bridgen/Caroline Rodbourne getting one each. 

In Division 4, Aldermaston B had their first win in three outing when they beat Basing Cavaliers 5/4 at Old Basing.  Glynn Libberton/Rhian Jenkins and Graham Page/Hannah Ward won two rubbers each for them supported by one from Rod Jenkins/Joan Vinall while Steve Gaunt/Sheila Weston recorded a maximum for the Cavaliers supplemented by one rubber from Dave Harfield/Linda Russell. 

John Harrow/Karen Causley and Ivor Brojek/Louise Phillips won three rubbers each when a two pair Andover side beat Beechdown D 6/3 at Winchester Road in Division 5.

Ladies Match Report - 25/11/05  A two pair Viking team managed to continue their unbeaten run in the Ladies 6 Division of the Ian Dewar (Castlegate Investments) sponsored league with a narrow 5/4 defeat of Beechdown at Winchester Road.  Jane Halls and Karen Bayman won their three rubbers for the visitors in this victory supported by two from Ingrid Hart/Susie Hubbard.  Andrea Hill/Madge Cummings won the solitary home rubber.  Earlier Beechdown had beaten Waverley 6/2 at John Hunt School in the same division with Caroline Rodbourne/Sandra Jennings and Debbie Symes/Christine Fowler each securing one rubber for the home side.  Andrea Hill/Ruth Seward and Karen Southwell/Sandra Smith scored maxima for the winners.  Waverley later suffered another defeat, this time at the hands of Andover Sports when they lost 6/3 at Andover. Liz Roberts/Val Wheeler recorded a maximum for the home side complimented by two rubbers from Sandra McDonald/Pauline Prior and one from Liz Jones/Anita Haskin

Mens Match Report - 25/11/05  Tim Cooper/Mike Fidge won their three rubbers for Viking A in a 7/2 away victory over Andover Sports A in Division 1. Two rubbers each from Richard Whatley/James Bevis and Tony Coombes/Chris Powell completed the scoring.  Beechdown A kept up their chase of the table leaders by defeating Aldermaston 9/0 at Aldermaston.  Neil Marie/Peter Seward, Mick Cummings/Daniel Sheppard and Martin Webb/Mark Bayliss comprised the winner’s team. In the match between the other two teams in the Division BH Pegasus A emerged as 9/0 winners over Andover Sports B at the Sports Centre.  The BH Pegasus A team was Martin Hill/David Burrell, Andy Lang/Jonathan Phillips and Carlo Rapacioli/Stuart Braine.

A 7/2 victory over Firefly at the Hurst means that Viking Mens B maintain the top position in Division 2 by 5 points from second placed BH Pegasus B who beat Hurst 6/3 at the same venue.  Colin Pink/Mick Turrell won one rubber for Firefly in their defeat with Steve Webb/John Weston getting the other.  Both Graeme Berry/Scott Wilkins and Ian Shoard/Simon Williamson recorded maxima for Viking B supplemented by one rubber from Stuart Cheng/Neil Hodges. Viking B later had a 9/0 home win against Beechdown B with David Craig the only change for Neil Hodges in their line up. Adam Jesney and Stephen Hartwell won all the three rubbers scored for Hurst in their defeat by BH Pegasus B with each of the visiting pairs, Alex Groom/Carlo Rapacioli, Steve Glover/Dave Turpin and Steve Tribe/Kevin Harris getting two.

Veterans Badminton - 25/11/05  In a recent Inter-Town Veterans Match (40+) between Teams from Basingstoke, Fleet, Winchester/Southampton with each team fielding 2 pairs of Ladies, 2 Mens and 2 Mixed Winchester/Southampton emerged as winners followed by Fleet ahead of Basingstoke.  Tony Coombes, of the local Viking Club, was as usual, the organiser on the day.  

The Hampshire Restricted Veterans event was held on 25^th September.  Unusually there were more Ladies pairs than Mens!  Our only success came in the Mens Section where Peter Seward (Viking) and Emerson Cumberbatch (Andover Sports) took the title. 

In Inter-County matches Hampshire over 60s beat Surrey 7/5 with the Ladies ensuring a clean sweep in their rubbers with Diane Cooper partnering Margaret Houlton as one pair.  The Surrey Men proved too strong for the Hampshire pairings but the difference in Ladies strength came through in the Mixed with the top the matches going to Hampshire.  The over 40s fielded some new faces and proved too strong for Berkshire emerging 10/2 winners.  The over 45s also had a 10/2 victory, this against Suffolk, Tony Coombes and Emerson Cumberbatch being the Basingstoke representatives on that team while the over 50s beat Middlesex 11/1.