East Grinstead Tennis, Squash and Racketball Club
Ship Street • East Grinstead, West Sussex • RH19 4EE
Tel: 07851 060570
Just over the halfway point of this year’s social and there’s still all to play for (well, for some perhaps!).
Ahead of match 3 there wasn’t much in it between first and third place but fortunes can change overnight. Sadly, not much changed for Bernie and he started this week’s event in much the same way as the previous two, losing the toss and proving himself a worthy successor to 2025’s Chris Smyth. The only way is up, Bernie!
The run of bad luck continued for Bernie & The Jets with a 2-3 loss to Stu’s Blues. Torben gave no quarter to Gareth to secure the first point for the Blues, although Gareth came very close in the second and third games. Dominique, last season’s secret weapon, put up a spirited performance but couldn’t overcome Marc ‘Chicago’ Razzell, who continues to ride a victory wave following his Jersey debut by securing his first squash win. Karen’s continued determination to return everything Elliot threw at her eventually ground him down and she secured a great 3-0 win and another point for the Blues. Next up Pez and Ben playing racketball. Great rallies that went on and on and on and on… gallery were nearly reaching for their coats. Spoils eventually went to Ben 2-1 and we were then set for a nail-biter at two-all - step up Ricky Gunter and Roger Bean. Roger quickly made up for his minus handicap in the first game and it was close all the way through but Ricky took it 15-14. Roger again made a fast start and pulled it back in the second to heighten the tension in the third but Ricky played a blinder and sealed the deal for the Blues. Unlucky Jets!
MOTM – Marc ‘Chicago’ Razzell
On the glassback we had The Tangy Strokers (don’t ask!) versus Grape Escape. On paper, set to be an exciting night, in reality a likely expensive night for Lewis and Scott with Hallmark, Interflora and Thorntons all expected to benefit. Charlie and James kicked off proceedings with Charlie having to show some serious focus to overcome his minus 15 handicap. James battled throughout but lost 15-12 in the third – strike one for the Strokers. Not sure if Lynn had her usual cheeky nip of whiskey ahead of her match against Ollie but it (or the lack of) is surely the only reason Ollie was allowed to go 2-0 up?! Lynn nearly had the right of it in the third, getting to 13-all before losing 15-13. A guest appearance from James Norman led to a great racketball battle with Stuart, who had a 20-point handicap advantage. Stuart emerged victorious but it was hard work and both looked like they needed a shower after they’d had a shower! Meg made a great start to whittle down her minus 15 handicap in all 3 games but Scott did just enough to keep his score creeping up little by little to take the win 3-0. I suspect a different kind of creeping went on at home later… All this led us to another two-all nail-biter and over to Lewis and Florrie for battle to commence. Interestingly, I’m sure it was Lewis that recently said to me ‘happy wife, happy life’ but clearly didn’t take this on board for himself going 2-0 up before Florrie showed him who was in charge by taking the third 17-15. Victory to The Tangy Strokers!
MOTM – Stuart North
An interesting start to the match between Bonnie’s Bashers and A Few Red Faces. Red Faces ‘Head Honcho’, Richard, took Tony on court for 10 minutes beforehand to show him some racketball basics and Bonnie was asking me for tips! She should have asked ‘Chicago’… Unfortunately, the intro didn’t include how to win the toss so both spent some time examining their borrowed rackets to identify some kind of mark. Slack was also given when they forgot to bounce the ball for the serve. Still, despite the shaky start Tony is now known as ‘The Hustler’ following his uncanny but convincing 3-0 win, and ‘Head Honcho’ is available for racketball coaching. Next up was Colin and Shaun. Colin had clearly been coached by ‘Head Honcho’ and ran away with it for the first two games with Shaun making better progress in the third against a tough handicap. Bashers now up against it and in dire need of some points. Thankfully I wasn’t required to play racketball but it meant Florice was at the sharp end – sorry Florice! No.2 string was Matt Plumb and Mark Prevett – confusing having the same initials on their t-shirts so mentally I separated them by t-shirt colour – marines vs paratroopers (and about 30 years age difference). Still, age is no match for experience… usually. Unfortunately for Mark the exception proved to be the rule in this case but he put up a good fight, nonetheless. And again, we found ourselves with another nail-biting final match on our hands: Head Honcho vs Club Chairman. My money was always on the Chairman but he was fresh from a lovely holiday and still looking quite relaxed. The first game was tight with HH securing a 15-14 win but CC picked up the pace in the second and third to give Bashers the win. Well done Mark!
MOTM – Tony ‘The Hustler’ Cox
So, where does this leave us? In awe of Lewis’s skill in drawing up some crackingly accurate handicaps, I don’t think we’ve ever had such a run of matches going to two-all. Also…
The leaderboard:
1st – The Tangy Strokers 51 points
= 2nd – Grape Escape 49 points
= 2nd – Bonnie’s Bashers 49 points
4th – Stu’s Blues 39 points
= 5th – Bernie & The Jets 36 points
= 5th – A Few Red Faces 36 points
Next Match:
Monday 8th June, 7.00pm
No match Monday 15th June
Finals Day:
Saturday 20th June, 2.00pm onwards
Please note, we will kick off with the Racketball Tournament Final at 2.00pm followed by the summer social finals starting around 3.30pm. We will then have a BBQ and our End of Season awards. We are seeking helpers with both the BBQ (cooking) and if anyone is happy to bring salad, cake, etc. it would be most welcome, please let me know.
Tracey.
02/06/2026
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