By OC Cleeves Palmer C80:

I am delighted to report that there was a very close match between the two teams at the Hyde Tennis Club on 18th October 2025. In the first match Corin Fisher-Jenkins C90 survived an onslaught of hard hitting from his opponent and came out as the winner 6/4 6/2. Corin, who is our number one OC at present, has such a great variety of shots at his disposal that it makes it difficult for any opponent to deal with, and this match was no exception.

In the second match, Corin was joined by Simon de Helpert F64, and they comfortably beat the opposition 6/3 6/3. Corin continued to play at a similarly high standard. Simon, who is a great all-around court player, famous for short chases, was a great compliment to Corin’s game, it was the first time they had played together.

In the third match, Simon de Helpert lost a hard-fought singles, by his own high standards he made a few more mistakes than normal against an opponent on great form, Simon lost 6/3 6/2.

Another debut pairing was the captain who was joined by newcomer to the team Albert Blackburn C23 in the fourth match, Albert played stunning tennis throughout, his partner was rather rusty though and they succumbed to a close 6/3 6/5 defeat.

In match number 5, Albert Blackburn continued his great form and comfortably beat his opponent 6/1 6/4, playing with a smile throughout, Albert has been a great find for the future of this fixture.

Match number 6 was pivotal, as after a slow start, Rob Awford M75 and Barry Coupe F70 enjoyed a renaissance after 2/6 first set loss. They found their form and they came charging back to win the final two sets 6/3 6/5 and that gave us an unassailable lead of 4-2.

In the final match Rob Awford started extremely brightly winning the first set 6/2 but his canny opponent turned the tables taking the final two sets 3/6 3/6.

As ever it was a great delight to us all that we were joined for the day by John Boys, Canford‘s real tennis supremo from the last century and maths master between 1958 and 1991. John was on tremendous form and he was thrilled to meet up with an old friend Sheila Mackintosh, who was one of the early leading lights of the Ladies Real Tennis Association (LRTA).

Old Canfordians are now 3-1 up in the series, with one match having been tied. If you would like to play in next year’s fixture which is on Sunday 11th October, please email me at cleeves.palmerocs@gmail.com