BRTC V The Old Cliftonians
Sunday 26th May 2024
In a quiet little village in Abbots Leigh in North Somerset, there lies an unassuming rectangular building which the little BRTC gnomes call home.
On Sunday 26th May, under greying skies, this peaceful place came under siege from what I can only describe as a dastardly traitorous bunch of fiends who, at other times, call themselves members.
Others describe it as the annual BRTC v Old Cliftonians fixture.
THE PLAYERS THE TRAITORS
Guy Rawstorne Henry Lidington
Janine Mendham Peter Ashmead
Gary Mendham Miles Buckinghamshire
Elliott Watkins John Grice
Giles Watkins Tim Meunier
As the melodic sounds drifted across from the festival at Ashton Court, battle commenced with a fantastic match between Guy Rawstorne and current Club Champion Henry Lidington.
The Drum and Bass from the ‘Love Saves The Day’ festival was a fair soundtrack to the furious tennis between these two.
However, love was definitely not saving the day.
4/6 6/3 meant a third set.
With Guy 4/3 up in the decider, Henry, the traitor, used some very underhand tactics and drilled a forehand across court into Hazard First Gallery and demolished Guy’s water bottle.
Clearly deliberate and very ‘Un-Cliftonian’ in my opinion.
This obviously unsettled Guy and diminished his ability to rehydrate.
So 5/5, 40 all in the decider it was…..with Henry trying to beat better than 6.
A long rally ensued, and Guy will rue his chance to leave a ball that would have won him the match….instead, the traitor was victorious.
Well played both – especially Guy.
The second match saw The Mendhams against Peter Ashmead and the leader of The Old Cliftonians, Miles Buckinghamshire.
Gary and Janine, having survived the Saturday, were flying the flag for BRTC again this day but they came up against a very impressive doubles pair from that place over the bridge.
In a terrific first set, Peter and Miles were inspiring as they took the first set 6/5.
The writing was on the wall.
However, despite having Gary with her, Janine managed to overcome this huge handicap and moved through the gears to help the BRTC duo cruise through the next two sets 6/2 6/3.
Well played all – especially the Mendhams.
With the match poised at one match each, BRTC turned to it’s younger legs in order to steady the ship.
Everything was in place for the pupil to take revenge on the teacher.
I was confident that nothing could stand in the way of the young and talented Elliott Watkins, certainly not the Ex-Clifton teacher John Grice.
I had not accounted for the fact the young party – and party late.
School, it would seem, was still in session.
Whilst Elliott was still apparently in bed, John flashed through he first set 6/1.
It looked like this would be a brief encounter.
But no! Perhaps the distant sound of Pink Floyd stirred the rebellious fires in Elliott as he woke from his slumber and destroyed John 6/1 in the second set – gotta love Real tennis.
Elliott continued his comeback as he went 3/1 up in the deciding set but Mr.Grice had not finished his lesson, taking the third 6/5 in another fantastic match.
Well played both – especially Elliott – another brick in John’s wall.
So this brings us to the final match of the day and what an EPIC duel it was.
The rain had set in and most players had had to leave the arena and join other festival goers on a damp journey home.
So there were only two left to witness this final match.
Both myself and young Elliott remained to watch Giles Watkins (Elliott had to stay) against another ex-teacher, Tim the Traitor Meunier.
Like all the other matches today, this match went to three sets.
Tim took the first 6/5, Giles the second 6/4.
These two sets took just under two hours so we (I) agreed to start the third at 3 all.
A record number of chases set were interspersed with some remarkable rests but the cry of ‘Change Ends Please’ was never far away.
It would seem that the turncoats from Clifton College were destined for glory that day as Tim took the decider 6/3.
Again, well played both – especially Giles.
And that was that.
Another great day at BRTC but I will never be able to trust some of our alleged members again after the Old Cliftonians took the day three matches to one.
Thank you to all the players (especially BRTC), to Giles watkins for the catering and it was also lovely to see David Mander coming in to offer his support.
A special thank you though to Miles Buckinghamshire for leading the OC’s.
This is his last match as the manager for this fixture so we wish him all the very best and thank him for all his selfless work in supporting the OC’s.
Bravo.
I’m going home to put some music on – it calls for some 70’s punk rock and more Pink Floyd.
Turn it up.
Cheers,
Ben the Broken