HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

League Secretary Report (Daniel Barry)Overview

Overall another successful season with a total of 947 matches played in the winter leagues. In the previous season, I had identified many problem areas in the leagues regarding no-go dates, fixture re-arrangements and late-entry to LMS which I had attempted to address.

No-go Dates

This year teams in the leagues entered far less “no-go dates” in line with the restriction imposed last year. This made creating the first fixture list far easier. This has also stopped the fixture lists being dictated by a few clubs.

Fixture Re-arrangements

This year 17.9% of matches were re-arranged (157)

Men 87 (593). Vets 43(257) Ladies 27 (98)

Although the number of actual fixture re-arrangements have increased from last year, from 100 to 157 I feel that LMS has been updated in a far more efficient/prompt manner. The increase is also partially due to teams updating fixture when they’re not played instead of leaving them as un-played until entering a result. Most teams are now up to speed with using the online league arrangement tool I created. This has vastly reduced the number of emails I got and streamlined the process for updating LMS. Hopefully team captains are happier this season as well.

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

Late Entry to LMS

This year we introduced a penalty for late entry of team results. This was 1 point a day post the 2-day grace period. Unfortunately, this process could not be automated on LMS so was done manually by myself. I applied the penalties after each half of the season. In the first half of the season there was still quite a lot of late entries. In general, most teams took their penalties well at the mid-way point. There was consequently an improvement in the second half. This clearly demonstrates that the rule works in combating this issue.

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

New Issues:

Ladies Leagues:

Last year we had several new entries into the ladies’ leagues. Unfortunately, all the teams wanted to enter Division 2 and no extra teams wanted to move up to Division 1.

For several years there have been a large disparity between Division 1 and Division 2.

Earlier this year I therefore sent out a questionnaire to get the opinions of the lady players. I got their opinions on a range of ideas: inclusion of a team from Dorset leagues, splitting the league into 3 divisions and possible having 4 teams play in one venue at a time to create more of an atmosphere.

Overall the results showed most of the ladies wanted more matches with an ideal number of 16 matches per season.

The majority supported the inclusion of a team from Bournemouth. 68% of responders thought having 4 teams at one venue would create more atmosphere. However, when asked whether they’d support its introduction this dropped to 50%. 63% of responders also supported an extra round of matches in addition to the regular

home/away if the league was split into 3 divisions.

Therefore, for next season the league will be split into 3 divisions. This will hopefully create a wider spectrum of playing abilities and allow progression with the leagues. Last year 26% of ladies’ matches were re-arranged. It is a worry of mine that adding more fixtures may exacerbate this however it’s equally possible that at present matches get re-arranged because there is so much extra time between fixtures. We will therefore endeavour to maximise fixtures as suggested by adding in extra matches (either home or away) between teams in the smaller divisions.

Summer League

As most of you I’m sure are aware Farooq Mirza, who had run the summer leagues for many years, sadly passed away in December. I therefore took on the responsibility to ensure summer league system continued.

We have brought the summer leagues in line with the rest of Hampshire squash by porting it across to LMS. The overall format has been kept relatively the same. Eleven clubs entered teams which was more than the previous year. There were several hiccups with the initial transition however the league is currently running smoothly after a period of adjustment.

A new summer league trophy named after Farooq has been commissioned and will be presented to the winner this season.

This provides a platform for summer league squash to expand in future from the current single division.

Future

Unfortunately, I will be stepping down from being League Secretary as I’ll be moving to Bristol for work. I’ve held the post for 2 years and although ideally, I would not be leaving I’ve hopefully improved some aspects for whoever takes on the role next. I therefore look forward to handing over responsibility for the leagues to whoever steps forward to take on the task.

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

Hampshire Ladies County Squash Report (Bev Mackay)The Hampshire 2016/2017 Closed was held at Trojans in October. We had 14 entrants and it took place over 3 evenings. The star of the event was Megan Thomas who beat both Bev Mackay 3/2; and Penny Rattray 3/2. Her epic run came to an end in the finals where she lost 3/0 to Emily Heyes. The tournament needs fresh ideas again...the players are finding the layout and playing schedule stale.

After being relegated from Premier division in 2015/2016, Hampshire played in Division 1 again. England squash have changed the format - 3 teams per section, all matches are played on one day - Saturday. Hampshire hosted the first round at Trojans, our opponents being Middlesex 2 and Kent. Our team consisted of Sarah Spacey, Cathy Finlayson, Emily Heyes, Bev Mackay, and Bev Brockway. We all had hard matches. The final scores were Hampshire 37, Middlesex 2 22, and Kent 10. Hampshire went through to the second round promotion playoff where we met Sussex and Hertfordshire. Our team consisted of Sarah Spacey, Cathy Finlayson, Emily Heyes, Fleur Orchard, and Penny Rattray. The opposition teams were incredibly strong and we fought hard but we were no match for them. Sussex emerged as the overall winners and are promoted to Premier division.

After 6 years as county captain I am stepping down and Emily Heyes and Cathy Finlayson will share the duties of captaincy. I wish them all the best and I hope the Hampshire Ladies will support them as much as they have supported me. It has been an honour representing Hampshire as captain.

Refereeing Report (Stan Thornton) Last season we held a very successful and well attended ESR refereeing and marking course at Alverstoke. Of the 23 who attended, 17 successfully completed an online test and were awarded a "Club" grade refereeing qualification.

These courses, and the people subsequently achieving "Club" grades , are of great benefit to a smooth running and enjoyable season of competitive squash in the Hampshire leagues.

The next course is being held at Soton Uni, Sunday 1st Oct 11am start. The course is free , details of how you can reserve a place have been circulated to all club contacts.

Anyone who has already gained a "Club " grade, and is interested in progressing towards the next Level of "County" grade, please contact me, Stan Thornton, and I will explain the process and help you .

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

Hampshire Racketball Report (Dave Moore)

12 teams took part in the Hampshire Racketball Winter League 2016 / 2017, which is split into 2 divisions of 6 teams. Home and away fixtures are played from October until April. The format of a 3-player team playing a combination of one singles match and two doubles matches remains popular.

The 12 teams represent only 7 clubs namely;

David Lloyd Southampton

David Lloyd Ringwood

Beechdown

Fair Oak

Nuffield Portsmouth

Abshot

David Lloyd Port Solent.

The winners of the Winter League were Nuffield Knicks (Portsmouth) who were unbeaten.

Seven teams are taking part in the summer league, which sees a welcome return of a team from Totton.

We tried again to form a Summer Competitive Singles league for 2017 however there was again insufficient interest to make this viable.

Team participation has remained static over the past few years and we would very much welcome other teams to take part. We have capacity for other teams to take part in the leagues but the take up from other clubs has not materialised despite making approaches to other clubs where racketball is popular and growing. The issue is finding someone to take ownership of organising a team in these clubs. We would ask all clubs who are not participating to attempt to encourage a team entering the league. If court spaces for home matches are a problem, our league will accept off peak nights as home nights including Friday and Sunday.

We are open for clubs to volunteer to host the Hampshire Singles and Doubles Championship for 2017 as Fair Oak will be out of commission for events due to building improvements from August to November.

If anyone wishes to discuss entering a team then please contact Stewart Chandler or Dave Moore at hantsracketball@gmail.com

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

Hampshire Junior Squash (Squad coaches and activity organisers)I must give thanks to all the junior committee and volunteer parent helpers, without whose support we could not keep junior squash going. I am definitely standing down as Junior Chair but I am confident that this parental support will continue next season and am hopeful that people will stand forward to fill the vacant junior committee positions.

Simon Ward

Notable junior performances

Alex Broadbridge - English Under 11 champion

https://www.englandsquash.com/news/youngsters-celebrate-national-success-at-under-11- championships

Amelie Howarth – current no 1 in Europe Under 13. Current Czech open champion Under 13

http://ameliehaworth.co.uk

Kyle Finch (132 PSA world ranking) & Adam Corcoran – both playing for England in World Junior Championships in New Zealand

https://www.wsfworldjuniors.com/home/

Summary of Inter-County Results

Boys Under 17 – 1st place - National finals Girls Under 11 - 2nd place – National finals Girls Under 13 – 3rd place – National finals Boys Under 13 – 3rd place – National trophy finals

Boys Under 19 and Under 17 – (Tim Vail)

Coach – Tim Vail

Overall 14 different players attended the squads.

We had 6 squads over the season which were well received at the start of the season but as Exams loomed numbers diminished.

However, all in all it was a successful season with the boys u17 becoming inter-county champions !

The team consisted of: Jared Carter, Jack Turvey, Tom Trott, Josh Leahy and Patrick Josey from Guernsey. The finals were in Pontefract, so a long journey for us. In the semi-finals we played Sussex and on paper looked very close but also had the potential to lose more convincingly. Everybody was focused and a wonderful team effort saw us to a 5-0 victory. In the final we played hosts Yorkshire.

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

Again we needed a strong start and PJ dug out as win as did Josh so all down to Jared who beat Ben Sockett 3-0 convincingly.

Girls Under 13 & Under 17 – (Mike Phillips)

Coach = Mike Phillips

Summary of squads

I ran 9 squads this season as follows:

Sept 18 2016, 11 pupils Oct 23 2016, 7 pupils Nov 27 2016, 11 pupils Dec 11 2016, 9 pupils Jan 29th 2017, 10 pupils Feb 12th 2017, 7 pupils March 5th 2017, 6 pupils June 25th 2017, 4 pupils July 23rd 2017 , 4 pupils

The girls that have attended at least one squad are Megan Thomas, Nicole Ralphs, Darci New, Erin Walker, Brooke Williams, Charlotte Terry, Evie Hoare, Florence Kersley, Amelie Haworth, Olivia Besant, Georgia Hall, Helen Daws, Celia Weeks, Emily Dickins.

Ideas for next season.

Maybe nominate coaches for ICC teams and split the squads both boys and girls into ability based groups. Giving each coach a squad to work with.

Summary of season

This last season went very well for the Hampshire Girls Squads and teams with home days for both the U13 and U17 teams in the November stages which were run at U17 LOS and U13 Chichester.

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

From here the U17s progressed to the Trophy finals (Please see report from Paul Thomas who ran the team on the day). The U13s progressed to the main finals where they narrowly lost to Yorkshire to finish 3rd.

A lot of effort was put in by the girls attending the squads throughout the season especially by the younger girls.

The u13 level looks really good in Hampshire with a lot of girls coming through and potentially we should be in a strong position to challenge for honours this coming season.

Because of demand I am running 2 extra squads during June and July for those that have requested.

Finals

Girls U13 Inter county squash finals 2017

Olivia Besant Amelie Howarth Georgia Hall

The finals held at Pontefract squash club saw county teams from U13 to U19 in both boys and girls categories.The best 4 counties in each age group,( these were determined by two inter county weekends to reach this stage) played off with semi finals on the Saturday and finals also 3-4 place play offs on the Sunday.

Hampshire Girls U13 team reached this stage and had high hopes although potentially their toughest match against Yorkshire fell at the semi final stage.

In the semi final Georgia Hall at 3 battled well and improved as the match went on but her opponent was technically superior Georgia struggling with her backhand return of serve and not finding enough depth meaning her opponent was able to cut the ball out keeping Georgia behind her and ran out a 3-0 winner.

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

Amelie Haworth ranked 5 in England was up against Aisha Harris the England no 3.

Although these girls have had several close matches Amelie has never come out on top YET!!.

Amelie set her stall out from the start and was prepared to graft and hussle and basically run everything down to stay on top, her concentration remained throughout and although all the games were close Amelie ran out a 3-0 winner to draw the overall tie level.

Olivia Besant playing at 2 took on Amy Royle in the deciding fixture.

Olivia having won their last encounter at the British Open a couple of weeks ago was on this occasion not feeling her normal self, she struggled to find any length and was kept at bay by Amy who used her drop to great effect having forced Olivia deep to create alot of openings. Amy took the match 3-0 to give Yorkshire a 2-1 overall win.

The 3RD Place play off against Gloucestershire on the Sunday saw Hampshire as favourites having already beaten them in the group stages without Amelie present.

Georgia started proceedings and established an early lead against her opponent, growing in confidence her squash improved, her length got better and she took the 1st game.

This took the pressure off and Georgia was able to relax and moved the ball around well to take the next two games to put Hampshire 1 up.

Amelie then took on the Glos no 1 and after a hesitant start got in to her stride and her general all court game and reading of her opponent saw her establish commanding leads in all 3 games which her opponent could not recover from and Amelie ran out 3-0, 11-1 in the 3 rd.

This gave Hampshire 3rd place.

Olivia then went on for the dead rubber, feeling relaxed and better from the day before her straight hitting combined with tight boasts saw her control the match against her opponent who struggled to read Olivia’s game.

3-0 to Olivia and a clean sweep for Hampshire to gain 3rd place.

Yorkshire duly beat Essex in the final to take the title.

Stage 2

Hampshire U13 Girls finished top of their group in the 2nd stage at Chichester on Saturday 19th November.

In a sea saw group that saw both Hampshire and Gloucestershire both lose a match Hampshire finished top on 30 pts with Glouc on 25pts, South East Wales who beat Hampshire finished 3 rd and Dorset 4th.

Every team won a match but Hants and Glouc won 2 matches proving that every individual game you win counts.

Olivia Besant won 3/3 Georgia Hall won 1/3 Florence Kersley won 2/3

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

Boys Under 13s – (Paul Finch)

Match Report for Hampshire Boys under 13

3rd place National Inter-County Trophy Championships

Boys Under 13 final – Warwickshire

Front Row   Freddie Fentum, Jordan Smith, Ciaran O'Gorman Back row    Alex Pooley,  Michael Kennedy,  Alex Broadbridge

After arriving at the Premier Inn on the Saturday night, we had 6 excited boys ready to play, and perform their best for Hampshire. We all knew it was going to be tough - but equally we wanted to win! With Michael Kennedy from Guernsey strengthening the team at string 2, we knew we had a fighting chance, despite losing Amelie Haworth, and Olivia Besant to the Girls U13 main final.

First match vs Suffolk - With good wins from Alex Broadbridge (Fair Oak), Alex Pooley (Totton) and Ciaran O'Gorman (Isle of Wight)- the team snuck home 3-2 winners. With Michael Kennedy and Jordan Smith (also Guernsey) putting up great fights.

Second Match vs Warwickshire - we knew this could decide the outcome of the whole final - and it proved to be the case. On first was Alex Ciaran O'Gorman and Jordan Smith. Ciaran could not have fought harder, and in a long match just lost 3-2. With Jordan having a real ding dong battle (winning the second game 20-18!) - eventually going down 3-2. Alex Broadbridge stepped up and won his match 3-0, with Alex Pooley also winning comfortably 3-0. The match was still in the balance. All down to the last match - Michael Kennedy - 1st game - an amazing 18-16 loss. Couldn't be closer, but the Warwickshire player stepped up, and took the game 3-0.

We were now relying on Suffolk to do us a favour and beat Warwickshire, but realistically we were playing for second place against Durham and Cleveland.

Jordan Smith, having played 2 tough matches - again went on, and could not have worked harder - eventually losing again 3-2. He would have slept well. With Freddie Fentum (Isle of Wight) playing his first match and winning 3-0, all was ready for another close match. The ever reliable Alex Pooley going on to win comfortably again 3-2, it was down to Alex Broadbridge and Michael again. Boy, this could not be closer. Alex unbeaten so far, played another unbeaten player - something had to give, and unfortuneately Alex lost 3-0, and not his usual self - after some hard fought play earlier. Again - it was all down to Michael. First game to Michael. All looking good. Second game to D&C - pressure on. A titanic battle in the third with D&C winning 12-10. Then D&C went on to win 3-1, and Hants losing 3-2.

With ALL our matches 3-2 results, it was a tough day for our boys. Eventually finishing 3rd. We were all proud of all 6 boys, and the effort the put in, and the manner in which they played. A credit to Hampshire. Thanks to all parents who contributed so much to a great day, and a wonderful weekend. Hopefully good memories for all concerned for many years to come.

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

Mixed Under 11

Under 11 girls were runners up in the National Under 11 event

4 counties event – organised by South Region

Hampshire U13s – 1st place

Hampshire U11s – 2nd place

Hampshire Junior Leagues – (Jackie Newberry)

Thank you to Brian Ward, Mark Lewis, Edd Pooley and Richard Atkinson for all their help in running the end of season event on 23rd April. Thank you to the Hosting Clubs for their donation of court time, the Host Venue Organisers and Team Managers and helpers for their voluntary collective contribution towards the running of the Hampshire Junior Leagues and to all the players and their families who supported the event this season

Good news is that the HJL broke even this year and we had a small surplus to carry forward into next season.

Results from 2016-2107 season

2016 - 2017 Team Trophy

* Division 1 = Fleming Park 1 - James Dickins, Kian Whelan, Ben Vincent* Division 2 = PGS 2 - James Hudson, Baldev Chahal, Edward Moger, Thea Morgan, Emily Stone, Huw Thomas* Division 3 = Bounty 3 - Libby Traynor, Tyler Bradley, Corey Bradley, Becca Holland* Division 4 = PGS 4 - Jacob Cole, Sam Head, Jamie Reynolds, Adam Tahri* Division 5 = Fair Oak 5 - Matt Hartley, Thomas Gargan, Nathan Waghorn, Sammy Batty, Barney Roa

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

2016 -2017 Individual Trophy* Division 1 = Annie Vaughan* Division 2 = Jake Mundy* Division 3 = Libby Traynor* Division 4 = Ryan Wilkinson* Division 5 = Jake Barnard

Hampshire Grand Prix Events – (Brian Ward)

This season the Grand Prix events ran monthly from October 2016 to May 2017 which meant we had 8 events in total. In a change to previous years all events were held at Winchester Racquets and Fitness Club who were a fantastic host and gave the event all 6 courts if needed. Due to the location it meant travelling was roughly equal for many entrants including two who used the train to get there.

In total 57 players entered at least one event this season with just 10 of these attending just one event and a further 10 attending two events. We hit an average of 30 entrants over the 8 dates which was fantastic.

In terms of financing the events was again fully self-sufficient and did not call on Hampshire Junior coffers to help out. The cost of £5 per entrant has been at this level for many years so after much thought it was decided to push this up to £8 each and this of course helped keep the books balanced. Many thanks to WRFC and the various helpers who offered their services over the events.

Well done to the winners who were as followsHampshire Grand Prix – James DickinsConnor’s Cup event – Jake MundyFalcon Cup event – Peter Thomson

This event has been running in various forms since before 1995 and has been very successful over that period for helping many juniors start their competition careers. It is very noticeable that the bulk of the entrants come from just a few clubs with juniors in Hampshire. In the main we see juniors from Fleming Park, Winchester, Bounty and Totton with a lower number coming from a couple of other clubs. It would be great if clubs coaches/managers could promote the event and get many more juniors entering as it is a fun way to enter competition.We have three competitions being played at the same time so there is something for everyone to join in with. The top players from the past couple of years will not be competing in 2017/18 so the best from the Connor’s Cup will move up and this will create spaces for many more juniors in the Connor’s and Falcon Cup events. The format seems to work well with everyone getting lots of games and learning how to mark etc. and it is all done and dusted in less than 4 hours with the 6 courts.

Dates are being considered for next year’s events however it seems that there will be some clashes with other events such as ES competitions, County training squads and other family things going on. Winchester have agreed to host the events next season and as soon as the dates are set they will be

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

sent out to all club coaches with a push to get more juniors entering the events.

School Activity - (Brian Ward)

School Squash Festival Programme 2016 – 2017

From the initial Schools Festival that was run in July 2016 there has been a lot of activity to get some more Festival up and running and to date we have been in contact with around 60 plus schools in the Southampton, Winchester and Basingstoke areas. We have spoken with at least two key motivators for sport in schools, Phil Jeffs from Basingstoke and Jez Harris from Southampton, both of whom were very positive and forwarded on our details and strong support for the scheme.

For this school year September 2016 – July 2017 we have set and run three separate Festivals involving 7 schools in total and working with around 240 pupils from Y5 and Y6. The schools involved were as follows

1) Festival No 1 - Autumn term 2016Fairfields Primary school – Basingstoke (had their own Festival as no other schools from the area responded at the time)

2) Festival No 2 - Spring Term 2017Bassett Green Primary school – SouthamptonCrescent Primary School – EastleighSt Swithun Wells Primary school – Eastleigh

3) Festival No 3 – Summer Term 2017Upham Primary School – Nr EastleighSouth Wonston Primary School – WinchesterSherbourne St John Primary School - Winchester

We have used three squash clubs over these three Festival –Bounty, Trojans and Winchester and all have been very successful as events with lots of positive responses throughout. The one key issue is that of the number of juniors we have seen only about 3 – 4 have taken up squash at their local club. We are looking at ways of making sure we get a better return than this for future events and the key suggestion to invite whole classes to a club for a free of charge one off event. At each event flyers have been distributed to the school and every pupil which allows them a couple of free sessions at

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

either Bounty, Fleming Park, Trojans or Winchester. We did ask other clubs but at present these are the only ones to respond back. Further attempts will be made to contact the clubs again and get a commitment out of them with regard to offering incentives for the kids to play squash.

Other successes have seen continued squash at several schools with links to club such as Trojans and Winchester and the involvement of squash in schools by the supply of squash walls in Cheriton and Townhill.

With the current level of experience gained we can start to identify what more is needed to build on the initial success of the Festivals above. The one key issue is funding as many of the schools put all of their money to companies to supply sports coaching and therefore cannot or do not want to invest in squash direct. We have a catchment of some 800 primary schools in Hampshire so a very large target audience and with at least 7 have experienced the event it is looking very good for the future.

At present three people have been responsible for setting up and running all of the effort involved and one very important issue is the availability of coaches and helpers. Much work is still needed but it is up and running and overall a great success.

Other events that have seen involvement of Squash in schools are the pre and after school clubs and a presence at the Hampshire Schools Games held annually at the Aldershot Military site. Again several points have been identified to make this more punchy and attractive to pupils and planning for next year’s event is already under way.

The major initiative that has been successful is to get some form of squash courts into schools and an innovative scheme has seen two squash walls that attach to standard wall bars are now in use at Cheriton and Townhill Primary schools. Cheriton are also considering building an outside court and permissions and costing are well underway.

Finally there is a brand new scheme being developed that is interactive using sensor and computer technology that is now close to be released as an Alpha stage product and we are all looking forward to seeing this and of course using it.

Mini-Courts and special projects

Following success of our first alpha prototype mini indoor court at Cheriton school last year, we got a £500 grant from England Squash to build a second, beta version.

Thanks to our master craftsman Tim Dickins for his skill to construct a court at Townhill junior school.

The school is now running a regular after school squash club

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HSRA Officers’ Reports for 2017 AGM

We secured two further grants from England Squash – one to build a third indoor court and another to build a mini outdoor court for use in a multi sports games pitch.

James Laird is running the project to build an outdoor court on the hockey pitch at Trojans.

We are currently talking to some schools who are interested in having a court built in their school hall. Tim is unable to help construct another court so we are looking for any other carpenters who would be willing to take on this project

Andrew Flett has been working hard over the last two years to find a builder to construct an outdoor court in the playground of Cheriton school. Things finally look like they are coming together and we have found a builder who has done work with courts in Dorset.

Fingers crossed that the school will have their very own court

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