Tournament Winners - 2023/24
Spring Hurlingham Shield - Sunday 23rd April - winning man: Rob Nicholson, winning lady: Sarah Grey
The Rosebowl - Thursday 15th June - won by Carolyn Scarff and Mike Keat
Men’s and Ladies Singles - May to October - Finals played Sunday 22nd October. Ladies winner - Sue Brown Men’s winner - Gary Bickle
First Thursday of the Month Hurlingham - October - winning man: David Brown, winning lady: Sue Burges
Autumn Hurlingham Trophies - Saturday 14th October - winning man: David Brown, winning lady: Val Leafe
Festive Hurlingham - Saturday 16th December - winning man: Adrian Riddock, winning ladies: Joan Coney and Sarah Grey
First Thursday of the Month Hurlingham - January - actually played on Saturday 6th - winning man: Paul Constantine, winning lady: Joan Coney
First Thursday of the Month Hurlingham - February - winning man: John Brooks, winning lady: Joan Coney
First Thursday of the Month Hurlingham - March - winning man: John Brooks, winning ladies: Joan Coney and Clare Pelling
WINTER LEAGUE RESULTS 2023/2024
Sat 4th Nov v Launceston B Home 1.30pm WON 7 - 4
Sun 19th Nov v Truro C Home 1.30pm LOST 10 - 2
Sat 13th Jan v Launceston B Away 1.30pm WON 10 - 1
Sun 4th Feb v Truro C Away 10.00am LOST 10 - 1
Sun 11th Feb v Truro Home 1.30pm LOST 10 - 1
Sun 18th Feb v Newquay Home 1.30pm LOST 10 - 1
Sat 2nd Mar v Wadebridge Away 1.30pm WON 8 - 5
Sun 17th Mar v Wadebridge Home 1.30pm LOST 7 - 4
Fun, Festive Hurlingham
On Saturday 16 December 2023, nineteen players and a handful of spectators braved the mizzle for the last tournament of the year. It was great to see so many members partaking in the mixed doubles Hurlingham, and for once we had more men than ladies, which was excellent news!
The leading men were, in third place, John Brooks, in second place, Paul Ferris and the overall winner and huge congratulations to Adrian Riddock!
The leading women were, in second place, Sharon Box and in joint first place and huge congratulations to Joan Coney and Sarah Grey!
At the conclusion of the tournament mince pies, yule log and other festive treats were enjoyed in the clubhouse just as the rain was settling in for the afternoon.
Summer Singles Finals - Sunday 22nd October 2023
Bude Tennis Club held their men’s and ladies Singles finals on Sunday 22nd October, and these finals were watched and enjoyed by several Club members. The men's final was between Gary Bickle and last year's winner, Andrew Troop. This turned out to be a high quality close match over 3 sets. Gary won the first set 6-2, Andrew the second 6-3. The third set was a thriller with Gary finally winning it by 6 games to 4. The ladies final, between Sue Brown and Val Leafe, was another good match to watch. Again, the rallies were long with Val doing a lot of court coverage, but Sue usually managed to find the winning shot, winning in two sets, 6-1 6-3, and thus retaining the trophy she won last year. The trophies were presented by Mike Keat who commented how impressed he was with the standard of play. Mike himself had won the Bude men's singles trophy for 40 years in succession many, many years ago! Despite the passage of time, he is still competitive and had just returned from competing in the World over 80s Tournament in Majorca, which he enjoyed even though he was unsuccessful.
Closely Fought Tennis Tournament - Saturday 14th October 2023
The Bude Tennis Club autumn Hurlingham Tournament held last Saturday was extremely well attended with twenty-two club members all vying to win the trophy on a breezy but sunny morning.
The Hurlingham is a mixed doubles event where matches are played that consist of five games. After each match, the winning man moves one court up and the winning lady moves one court down. The losing pair split up and play against each other in the next match with new partners. It is a fun format where you get to play with lots of different people over the course of a couple of hours. All abilities can participate together and last Saturday the breezy conditions proved to be a good leveller too.
The individual scores were tallied and double checked before the winners were announced: Val Leafe was the leading lady (18.5), Sharon Box second (18) and Ann Mason third (17.5). David Brown was the leading man (19.5) with Adrian Riddock and Sarah Grey (honorary man) tied for second place (18.5).
A spectacular sharing lunch with a great variety of gastronomical delights was then thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Bude A Men’s team 2022 Season Report:
For much of the season 2022 proved to be very difficult for the men’s first team in the Cornish Premier League.
With a relatively strong three players consisting of Andrew Troop, Gary Bickle (Captain) and Matt Bosustow the team struggled in various matches for a 4th player.
Two matches away from home resulted in only fielding one pair and away matches in general were a struggle though big thanks goes to club legend Roy Stubbs (now based in Truro) who committed to the other 4 away matches playing and giving his all.
Relegation after the first half of the season looked inevitable with only 15 points out of a possible 60 accomplished.
The second half of the season however proved to be more successful.
A 6-4 win at home to Penzance was the team’s first win of the season and this was soon backed up by a 10-0 win at home to Newquay which included coach Craig Viner in the team.
Hard fought losses followed including a 7-4 loss away to Newquay and an 8-3 loss at home to St Agnes A.
With the end of the season in sight and just two matches remaining 16 points were needed to stay up. Could it be done?
Luckily a new member sprung on the horizon – Jeremy Skelton. St Agnes B travelled to Bude with just one pair and Jeremy partnered Andrew to win in straight sets. This was backed up by Gary and Matt winning their match in straight sets resulting in a 10-0 victory.
With one match still remaining 6 points were now needed to stay in the Premier division.
After many weeks to arrange Redruth finally turned up to Bude in mid October with the whole fixture played under lights. The team again consisting of Andrew, Jeremy, Gary and Matt won the fixture 9-2 resulting in relegation survival and a 5th placed finish.
Thanks also goes to B team Captain Peter Simon who stood in for a match when needed.
Here’s to the 2023 campaign being even better and hopefully less nail biting.
By Matt Bosustow
2022 Mens B Team:
The Men’s B team, after a “diving into a concrete wall head first” injury and with a couple of what we don’t like to admit are “age-related” injuries, fielded an ever-rotating team. The team should be pleased with the experience gained and renewed confidence can be taken from this.
At the start of the season the ever-strong Newquay D team beat us 10-0 at home. At the end of the season they only narrowly beat us in Newquay, where the result could easily have gone in our favour. The B’s managed a mid-table finish despite having to give away 10 points for a match we couldn’t put a team together for.
With the growing nucleus of a regular team and some players returning from treatment/recuperation the outlook for next season is good.
By Pete Simon
2022 - Summer League report by Anj Wilkinson Ladies A Team captain:
In 2019, Bude Ladies A Team won the Cornwall League, and we secured a promotion into the Premier Division, this was obviously a fantastic achievement for the Team and Bude Tennis Club. This happened prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, and subsequently no league matches were able to be played during 2020 & 2021 due to the pandemic. Leaving us perhaps a little rusty going back into playing league again.
Our entry to the Premier Division commenced in 2022, and it was once again an exciting time to be playing competitive league tennis, for all Ladies League Teams A, B & C.
The Bude Ladies A Team core team were myself Andrea Wilkinson-Roper (Captain), Lynda Hill, Ann Mason & Sue Brown.
League tennis had just got under way, with 3x matches played when I broke my wrist, this meant I was out of action for 3 and half months. Not being able to play with the Team was frustrating, however all the Ladies of Bude Tennis Club were supportive as so many ladies helped to fill in with matches and were willing to give up their time to play and travel long distances for away matches.
Bude Ladies A Team would like to say a massive Thank you to Sharon, Terry, Debbie, Rachel, Joan, Sarah, Wendy, and Clare for all the matches you have supported the Team with, and I would like to say a big Thank you, to Lynda, Ann & Sue for their dedication to these league matches too. (A further Great Big Thank you to Sue from everyone at the club for organising the Ladies Coaching Evenings, Tennis Social Events, and Club Competitions and a Big Thank you to Pete for organising the Club Competitions too).
Being in the Premier Division was undeniably tougher for Bude Ladies A Team as the standard of play of some of the other teams in the county was high, however Bude Ladies A Team gave it their best shot, overall, it was a great learning experience to play tennis at this level. Despite being relegated, Bude Ladies A Team had a great 8-4 win against Falmouth at home, and in some of our other matches were scoring at least 4 points, the Team’s strengths were evident, and this is something for us to build upon.
We felt Bude Ladies A Team should have come second to last with an award of 10 points for our final home match as Redruth conceded however 6 points were awarded resulting in the A Team finishing joint last with Falmouth.
Bude Ladies B Team and Bude Ladies C Team have done remarkably well in their league matches too, finishing just below mid table, which is a great achievement.
There are so many great ladies’ players at Bude Tennis Club and the club is going from strength to strength, this is something to look forward to with the upcoming Ladies Summer Doubles League in 2023, where we can all keep improving and hopefully secure a league win again in all Teams.
2022 - Ladies B Team:
The Ladies B Team had a successful year in the 2022 Summer League. We finished the season in 4th place but were only a few points adrift from a few of the teams above us and it ended up being very close. We finished the ten matches with 60 points meaning we had a very respectable average score. We will now look forward to the 2023 season being able to remain in the same division and with more experience playing matches for next year. Special thanks should be given to the ladies who played for the team when needed whilst not being named team members.
By Debbie Bradbury
2022 - Ladies C Team:
The Ladies C Team had a mixed season in the 2022 Cornwall Summer League. We won some games outright and lost others and were happy to end up in fourth place. It was a good experience for all the team, some who were new to the Summer League and some returning after a few years break during covid. All the teams we played were friendly and welcoming and we are looking forward to next season.
By Carolyn Scarff