Cippenham’s three teams in the Veteran British Clubs League all made moderate starts to the new season but the two men’s teams were hampered by the unavailability of Robert Hansell. With Andy Trott also being unavailable on the Saturday, reserves were required to play up from the second team for the first team.

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Nevertheless, the men’s first team were the most successful of Cippenham’s teams, winning two and drawing one of their five matches and sit comfortably in third place in Division 1B but with now little chance of securing the solitary promotion spot to the Premier Division.

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The men’s second team won two of their five matches and finished in fifth place in Division 3B but are only one point short of third place.

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The women’s team, having been promoted to Division 2, won once and drew once and occupy sixth place out of eight in their division.

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For their first match on Saturday morning, the first team promoted Hari Gehlot and he played a starring role, winning the Player of the Match award, in the 4-2 victory over Moberly. The London-based team were led by Sherwin Remata who beat both Martin Adams and Dave Barr but they, in turn, beat Jogenes Senorin and David Ogunnusi respectively, while Hari excelled in beating both those two players 3-0. Hari stayed in the team for the second match against Stocksbridge but this time was unable to assist the scoreline. Cippenham captain Martin Adams came to the fore with a Player of the Match performance to beat both Michael Stead and Andrew Horsfield 3-0 and Dave beat David Charlton to give Cippenham another point from a 3-3 draw. Steve Joel replaced Hari for the evening match and Cippenham fell to their first defeat of the season, 4-2 against Foresters A with Martin and Dave winning one apiece.

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Andy Trott arrived for the Sunday matches. He beat Richard Jermyn to give Cippenham the lead against HurricaneTT but that was all in vain as the match was eventually lost 5-1. In contrast, the final match of the weekend saw Cippenham romp to a 6-0 victory over Wensum with Andy picking up the Player of the Match award after a really good all-round team performance.

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The Cippenham second team missed the services of Hari Gehlot for the first match and went down 5-1 to Foresters E. Only Steve Joel with an opening victory over Matt Spero stemmed the tide. However, Steve’s effort were rewarded in the second match as his brace earned Cippenham a 4-2 win over St Georges 2 and, for himself, the Player of the Match award. Samson Bekele and Paul Baker chipped in by both beating Nilton Green. With Steve promoted to the first team to relieve Hari, Cippenham fell to a 5-1 defeat to Norton Commandos in the third match with only Hari striking for Cippenham.

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With the team back to full strength for the Sunday matches, it was once again Steve who starred in a 4-2 morning win over Foresters D. Steve beat both Mark Walpole and Christopher Blake while Hari and Samson beat Vadym Krevs. Cippenham fell 4-2 in the final match against Topspin Fusion 2 with Hari and Steve winning one match each.

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The Cippenham women’s team did not get off to the best of starts, losing 5-1 to Foresters 3 in the opening match and then 4-2 to Ashford on Saturday afternoon. Mary Heffernan won one in each match and Sue Hayes also picked up a win in the local derby against Ashford. Fortunes changed in the evening as Cippenham gained their first points of the season with an all-round team performance to beat Northern Belles 4-2. Julie Dean came to the fore in this match with two wins and was ably supported by Mary and Sue who won one each.

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Sunday morning witnessed a 5-1 defeat to Irish side Colleens, Mary being the only winner for Cippenham. The weekend was then rounded off with a 3-3 draw against WW Lightning with all three Cippenham players, Mary, Julie and Denise Weller, picking up one win each.