Good turn-out for RFA Dinner

Executioners past and present (and who knows, maybe future) enjoyed the RFA’s 90th Anniversary Dinner at the Queen’s Club last Saturday.

Indeed, the club was able to have what was effectively its own table. Here, Andy Pringle was joined by Richard Kemp, Tom Webster and Guy Matthews, along with his better half.

Dick Warner was also in attendance, in glorious Ghanaian garb as a result of a bet with Ben Hale, as were ex-Executioners Alex Smith and Alex Steel. New member Ibby Lee found herself hob-nobbing with the self–appointed Next Generation, all of whom enjoyed rubbing shoulders with some of our club’s founders, such as David Fox and Bruce Mackenzie.

The dinner was a marvellous celebration of our great game, punctuated by some fine speeches – and another more rambling effort from Alex Smith, which continued despite the efforts of the RFA’s President to stem the flow.

As ever, the evening finished with the Executioners doing what they do best: hitting the bar.

Here’s to the centenary dinner in 10 years’ time!

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First session of new season on September 5th

We hope that all our club members have had a good summer and are itching to get those uniquely fragranced leather gloves back on. The St Paul’s Sports Centre opens on Monday September 3rd, so the first Executioners session of the 2018/19 season will be Wednesday 5th.

We look forward to seeing plenty of players on court then – and throughout the season!

Still winning – even in the off-season

The Executioners may be on their summer break, but some club members are still playing – and winning.

Our first silverware of 2018/19 has come mere weeks after the last session of 2017/18. Richard Dyke teamed up with fellow Old Blundellian and ex-Executioner Alex Steel to play in the South West Open – and they ended up winning the Doubles Plate. Congratulations to them both.

The next chance to add to the club’s virtual trophy cabinet will come in the South East Open at Christ’s Hospital in August…

Playing over the summer

The club is now on its summer break, but if you’re looking for some Fives-esque sport before our sessions restart in September, there are some good options:

Fives carries on over the summer – and all year, for that matter – at both UCS and Alleyn’s. UCS is up in Hampstead, north London, and the club there plays on Wednesday evenings. On the other hand, Alleyn’s is down in Dulwich and they play on Tuesday evenings.

If you’re interested in playing at either place, contact Andy Pringle and he’ll put you in touch with the organisers.

If you’d prefer to play 1-Wall Wallball, they have sessions every Tuesday evening at the Westway Sports Centre, near Shepherds Bush. Again, Andy (who plans to play there himself) can put you in touch with the organisers…

Final session of this season on June 27

The club can confirm that its final Wednesday evening session of this season will take place on June 27. After that, there will be a break of around two months, and we expect the regular sessions will start again at the beginning of September – and we’ll confirm the precise date as soon as possible.

However, several club members should be in action over the summer. There are the South West and South East Open championships, for a start, and if anyone fancies trying their hand/hands at 1-wall, there are regular sessions at the Westway Sports Centre in West London.

Silver medal for Andy Pringle in mixed doubles

For the third year running, Andy Pringle (playing with ex-Executioner Alex Steel) finished as runner-up in the National Winchester Fives mixed doubles championship.

The pair came through their pool matches with a 100% record to claim a semi-final spot. Here they had a tough match against two Bedford Modern pupils, but won through to the final – their sixth consecutive appearance in the final of this event.

Sadly, they weren’t able to add to their record three titles, undone by the strong left-/right-hand pairing of Ollie Arnold and Louise Mathias. Try as they might, Andy and Alex couldn’t find a way past their opponents and went down fighting, losing 15-8, 15-8.

Narrow loss to the Jesters

The club had a very enjoyable clash with a Jesters side organised by ex-Executioner Rupert Mathieu last night. In fact, the only disappointment about the whole thing was that we lost, albeit only narrowly.

After several days of discussion over email between the two captains, the Executioners were represented by Andy Pringle, Ewan Townshend, Jon Peterson and Dick Warner, who was subbed by the visiting Bhaswar Baral after the first round of games. The Jesters, meanwhile, included Executioners Richard Bridge and Penn Chai, alongside Rupert and Rod Oscroft.

Playing with the very fast new French ball, the games were fast, frenetic and very keenly contested. And played in a great spirit, of course.

The club’s top pair, Andy and Ewan, managed to tame the flying ball effectively and won four of their games – although only just in a couple of cases. Ewan, in particular, belied his relative youth with a very mature performance. However, the second pair had more trouble and weren’t able to win a game; and, what secured the match for the Jesters was that the difference in the winning margins. The Executioners’ first pair won more narrowly than the second pair lost.

That said, the outcome of the match wasn’t as important as the enjoyment had by everyone involved. Especially when Dick got the first post-match round in at The Bridge!

RESULTS

Results (Jesters first):

R Mathieu & R Oscroft bt R Warner & J Peterson 15-8, 15-6; lost to A Pringle & E Townshend 7-15, 10-15

P Chai & R Bridge lost to A Pringle & E Townshend 13-15, 7-15; bt B Bharal (Warner retired, pride hurt) & J Peterson 15-8, 15-2

Overall: Jesters bt Executioners 97-84pts