The Veterans’ British Clubs League season concluded at Derby over the weekend with all three Cippenham teams maintaining positions in the same division for next season although the men’s second team came mightily close to securing one of the two promotion places.

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The men's first team, hampered by the absence of Dave Barr and having to promote one player from the second team for each of their first two matches, were just aiming to maintain their status in Division 1. This was achieved after a weekend that saw them win one match, lose one and draw the other three.

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The defeat came early on against Foresters A despite an excellent opening brace by Robert Hansell who disposed of Ritchie Venner, ranked eleven in the country, and Lewis Mayhew. Neither Martin Adams nor Paul Baker, playing as a reserve, could add to the tally and get the crucial first point on the board.

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Next up was the relegation-threatened Moberly, when realistically a point was required to secure safety in the division. The then-unbeaten Sherwin Remata overcame Robert before Martin levelled up the scoreline with a comfortable win over Jojo Senorin. Steve Joel, playing up from the second team, excelled himself to defeat the eccentric Evgeni Genchev to put Cippenham into a 2-1 lead. Martin was unfortunate to lose out to Remata, spurning an 8-5 lead in the fifth, and that made things even again. Rob re-established the lead against Genchev before Steve, despite a promising opening end, went down to Senorin, but he had already helped to get a crucial point in the weekend’s first of three 3-3 draws.

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Andy Trott was able to join the squad for the evening fixture against struggling Wensum, but lost out to the talented Wayne Mason after Martin had pipped Serafim Melo in the opening encounter.  Rob continued his good form to thrash James Skilleter before Mason evened things up for the Norfolk-based side by defeating Martin.  Rob, named player of the match, and Andy then took care of business to ensure a 4-2 victory and survival in the division a mathematical certainty.

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The Sunday morning fixture was against leaders Hurricane. This was Andy's time to shine as he managed to carve out victories over both the well decorated Michael O'Driscoll, ranked fourth in England, and Pawel Orzechowski. Rob had also impressively beaten Orzechowski and, with the match score at 3-2 in favour of Cippenham, had an opportunity to grab a memorable victory, but narrowly lost out in an epic struggle against the awkward style of Richard Jermyn, ranked fourteenth in the country, 10-12 in the deciding game for an overall draw.

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While the final match was effectively a dead rubber from Cippenham's perspective, Stocksbridge were determined to grab a point to ensure their own survival, and their endeavour started to plan as an inspired Richard Smith defeated Andy by a tight margin. Martin expertly saved a match point in an even tighter affair as he pipped Mick Stead 12-10 in the fifth but Andrew Horsfield outfoxed Rob to put the Yorkshire side ahead 2-1. Things were looking bleak for Martin against Smith at 1-1 in games and 4-10, but somehow he came back to take the next eight points to win the end and then overcame another significant deficit in the fourth to even up the overall match score. The in-form Horsfield shocked Andy before Rob, late in the day with only a couple of matches continuing in the whole hall, completed the epic match with a victory over Stead to achieve another point in a 3-3 draw and secure a well-earned third place for Cippenham.

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The Cippenham men’s second team were simultaneously operating in a closely-contested Division 3 in which just three points separated the top side from the highest of the relegated teams. Three teams finished on twelve points at the top of the division but, unfortunately for Cippenham, their slightly inferior sets aggregate pushed them down into third place in that threesome. Nevertheless, it was a great weekend for the team as they climbed up from fifth place with three victories and two draws from their five matches.

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Bottom of the table St. Georges 2 were the first opponents to suffer at Cippenham’s hands. Steve Joel and Hari Gehlot both won their two matches in a 4-2 win while Samson Bekele was the unlucky player to lose out. While Steve was rewarded as the player of the match, the most significant result was Hari pipping Kevin Gray deuce in the deciding game of the opening set.

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Noron Commandos were next up for Cippenham and this time is was Hari who was awarded the player of the match for his wins over Mark Evans and Paul Malkin. Samson Bekele also beat Malkin but it was the three losses, all in the deciding game that defied Cippenham the win and the match finished 3-3. Had any one of those three encounters gone Cippenham’s way they would have finished the weekend as champions of the division!

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Steve Joel, who had deputised for the first team in the previous match, returned to the team for the Saturday evening match against Foresters D. Hari was adjudged player of the match but it could easily have been either Steve or Samson as Cippenham romped away to a 6-0 victory.

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Sunday morning saw all three Cippenham players, Hari, Steve and Samson win one apiece as the points were shared in a 3-3 draw with Topspin Fusion 2. This time it was Cippenham who had the better of the tight matches as three of the four deuce-in-the-fifth encounters went against their south London opponents.

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The final match of the weekend saw Hari and Steve continue their good form, winning twice each in a 4-2 victory over Foresters F. Once again the close encounters went Cippenham’s way but Steve’s 3-0 win against Philip Nicholls edged the player of the match award for him,

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The Cippenham women’s team were also in action in Derby and they maintained their sixth place, out of eight, that will be enough to secure their status in Division 2 for next season.

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The weekend commenced with the two outstanding matches from phase one. Billwood put Cippenham to the sword 6-0 in the opening fixture but then the team of Mary Heffernan, Julie Dean and Denise Weller bounced back with a 3-3 draw against Drumchapel Glasgow, each contributing one win apiece.

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The division then split into two halves with Cippenham placed in the bottom section. Julie was player of the match in the late Saturday 4-2 win over Northern Belles after two closely-fought wins over Linda Sanderson and Lynda Lo. Denise also beat Lo while Mary eased past Karen Aitkenhead.

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This momentum continued into Sunday morning when the reverse fixture against Drumchapel Glasgow was won, this time, 4-2. Denise was Cippenham’s hero with wins against Catherine O’Neill and Senga Thomson while Mary also beat Thomson and Julie also beat O’Neill. A feature of this match was that all six sets were won 3-0.

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The weekend concluded with a defeat, 4-2 to Irish side Colleens. Mary and Denise won one each but Julie was unable to add to the score.