Saturday 8th March
BRISTOL V QUEENS
Venue: The Hyde in Bridport,Dorset
Teams:
45D : Jon Eltringham / James Medd v Alexandra Bryant & Gerard Soames
40S : Theo Besnard v Richard Henman
30S : Wilf Walker v Tim Drayson
50S : Henry Thornhill v Astrid Drayson
35D : Chris Barnard / Reggie Williams v James Skeggs & Dominic Geddes
Quite simply, the winning team is the one that gets to three matches first!
It was an early start for all on Saturday 8th March as we made our various ways to the south coast.
The first match set the tone for the day with some great rallies and the closeness of the first set should have warned us all of the rollercoaster in store…
45 Doubles
The Queens pair were from a solid squash background which was evident with their dogged determination and retrieving to keep the points alive -they were rewarded with taking the first set 6/5 – this proved huge as, despite the high quality volleying from Jon Eltringham and some classic old-school groundstrokes from James Medd, Queens had the momentum to take the second set and the first match of the day 6/5 6/0 .
40 Singles
Up next was one of our students, Theo Besnard, against Richard Henman.
Another fantastic first set went to the wire with Theo taking it 6/5.
This proved to energise Theo even more as he took the second set more comfortably and the match 6/5 6/1.
30 Singles
The third match of the day was another example of age against experience with young Wilf Walker taking on Tim Drayson.
Wilf got off to a flying start and looked unstoppable winning the first set 6/0.
However, Tim stepped up his game and showed why he got down to a sub 20 handicap in years past, taking the second set 6/2.
This set the scene for a third set to test the nerves of everybody in the building.
The bookies changed their minds repeatedly in this match and the pressure rose even more as both teams knew how pivotal this match would be.
So we reached the inevitable 5/5 in the final set with Wilf 40/15 down.
All seemed lost.
Cometh the hour…
Defending two match points and then setting a chase of worse than 2 yards, Wilf got over the line in an incredible match, winning 6/0 2/6 6/5, leaving the full Dedans in varying states of emotion.
50 Singles
So now, feel sorry for the players in match four as they had to steady themselves and take the court.
Both Henry Thornhill and Astrid Drayson were feeling the pressure as they went on court in a potential Championship decider.
So huge respect to Henry as he held his nerve and played a very impressive solid game with consistently good length serves followed up by relentless pressure building shots towards the tambour.
With very few mistakes, Henry won the match comfortably 6/2 6/1, confirming Bristol as 2025 Brodie Cup Champions.
35 Doubles
The final match of the day saw Chris and Reggie taking on a very impressive doubles pair from Queens.
The BRTC duo entertained and played hard but couldn’t quite win enough of the important points.
Both pairs produced some fantastic Tennis but the quality of the Queens pair proved too strong as they took the match 6/2 6/2.
A fantastic day with two great teams producing tennis and nail-biters fitting of any final.
Queens were good.
Bristol were better.
The past few years has seen BRTC reach the semi-finals twice and the final last year.
So it is with great pride and many thanks to the squad that I can congratulate them all on becoming Champions for 2025 and getting the club name on the trophy for the first time ever.
History made.
With Pol Roger sponsoring the day, the champagne did flow and I may have emptied the Hyde’s drinks fridge.
Thank you to all the squad for their support this year and over the last few years – a special thanks to Guy Rawstorne who would have been in the final had he not had to pull out due to illness.
Feel free to relive all the glory with this link to the Hydes youtube page!
https://www.youtube.com/live/rLJ21DleOz0?si=U01Ezs-g34SR0h9V
We did it.
😊
