Issue 1 - 1992

PAST AND PRESENT Nr. 1 (1992)

This was the first such newsletter, suggested to me by John Holroyd at the Dinner. I hope to continue to produce such a screed each year until either inspiration or information runs out! - Bob Dolby, ed.]

 

Those who have represented CURFC since 1981 will not have seen the Honours Board and Results Board which used to hang in the changing rooms at Portugal Place before they were refurbished. For some years they have lain neglected in a corner but I have now rescued them and will keep them until such time as we can re-mount them in a new setting. What they record is a tally of 47 wins for Cambridge against 15 for Oxford.

 

The Past versus Present, Saturday 8th February 1992
After the snow induced cancellation of 1991 (the first ever in the history of the fixture) The Past were anxious to make their acquaintance with the Present. The Past team was selected on the basis of 'first come, first served' (aspiring players for next year please note!). Our singles players did us proud, keeping us within touch and giving the Doubles players the traditional task of overhauling the Present in the afternoon. Robert Rigg, John Taylor and Andrew Cates (currently Research Fellow at Emmanuel) went down fighting against Richard Ground, captain Joe Gribble and Paddy D'Ancona, while Hamish Stoddart did that rare thing by winning at Number Four against Radleian Secretary, Johnny Armitage (any relative of J. Armitage of Emmanuel, Captain of the winning 1932 team?). The mood in The Pickerel at lunchtime was buoyant, though no Doubles team is complete without Cameron D and Cameron P (and where was David Barnes?). However, on three dry and playable courts the first two pairs of Rigg & Stoddart and Cleave & Dixon enjoyed some "cracking fives" (Rob Cleave) against the Present's left-right combinations and kept us on course, while in the lower echelons the strong pairing of John Taylor and Ian Jackson (currently raising Tonbridge fives to new heights of excellence - Peter Commings, we've missed you all these years!) was too much for the opposition of Ben Taberner and Johnny Armitage. Meanwhile in the fourth pair the skipper looked on in admiration as his partner, John Pretlove, rolled back the years with relentless nicks against Andrew Cannon-Brookes and Mark Vyvyan-Robinson. The Past ran out victors by 249-212 against a Present VIII minus Pat Neate, one of four Cambridge Paulines to be selected for the Varsity Match the following Saturday.

Fives Trivia: Name the only Cambridge player to be on the losing side three years in a row. (Clue: he is a schoolmaster)

At the Perse, in the absence of the injured Andrew Cates (where was brother Chris?), the Dean of East Anglia (Professor David Arnold) took on Martin Wilkinson in a mighty Singles struggle prefaced by a long and arduous search for the key and interrupted by several medical intermissions ("cardiac arrests" - Dave). The result was kept very close to the chest but Martin volunteered for the 1993 match immediately afterwards, hoping to team up in the doubles with Chris Bascombe.

More Trivia: Name the two players since the War to gain a Half Blue for Fives at both universities. (Clue: their various bothers got Half Blues too, but only at one university.)

On to Magdalene, (via The Pickerel, where the Dean drank from his traditional double-handed mug) to find the Warden of Radley awaiting with uncertain seating plan for the Past to arrive and entertain the Present. Those who came were: the President Barry Trapnell, Jack Davies, Richard Thomas, Dennis Silk, David Beevers, John Pretlove, Richard Morgan, John Ingram, John Charlton, George Todd, David Cameron, Peter Cameron, Don Ellwood, David Arnold, Gareth Quarry, Tony Murley, John Taylor, Ian Jackson, Tony Morris, Martin Wilkinson, Andrew Cates, Robert Rigg, Andrew Cowie, Tony Dixon, Rob Cleave, Robin Skinner, Hamish Stoddart and Bob Dolby.

Total Trivia: Who was the last person to turn up at Magdalene in a bow tie (and DJ) before Tony Murley did so this year? (Clue: he was hot on Landrovers.)

At the Dinner the President broke with tradition and said a few words. Firstly he remembered the great kindness, hospitality and love that Pauline Burnet had shown to Cambridge Fives players in her long life; we would all miss her very much. He also thanked Richard Morgan for organising the dinner since Jock's death and announced that, as Richard had "so much wreckage to clear up from his predecessor's reign", Bob Dolby would take over both the match and the dinner from now on. Thirdly he spoke with some optimism of the future of Cambridge Fives and of his and Jack Davies' efforts to get new courts built eventually. Finally he called upon those present to drink to the memory of Jock and Pauline.

Attendance Trivia: The years best represented at this year's dinner? AMB Salmon's 1955, Peter Commings' 1966, Bob Dolby's 1967, Andrew Cowie's 1971 and Paul Wright's 1986, each with three.

Serious Questions: The menu for the Dinner, of course, contained its traditional whitebait, crème brûlée and Magdalene port. In which year did the first dinner take place at Magdalene? And in which year did we present Jock with the "exiguous" Present from the Past? And finally, does anyone have a scorecard for the 1925 match, which is allegedly the first Varsity Match to have taken place?

Sentimental Trivia: Which young player from St. Paul's was in John Armitage's 1932 team along with JGW Davies, among others?

Finally, the only missing Team Board is that of 1938. Can anyone help me to confirm the names of the VIII that year?
[All these questions, trivial and serious, were eventually answered with the help of various hawk-eyed Sparrows. - Ed.]

Correspondence gratefully received and enthusiastically answered!
Bob Dolby, 26 Waverley Avenue, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1HZ
(Telephone: 0115 - 925 2845; e-mail: dolbro@trentcollege.nott.sch.uk).

 

CAMBRIDGE v. OXFORD 1992
Saturday, February 15th at St. Paul's School

The Sparrows lost to the Beavers by 161-119. Players representing the Cambridge Sparrows were: M. Vyvyan-Robinson (Blundells & Sidney Sussex), M. Gee (Whitgift & St. John's), W. Timmins (Tonbridge & St. Catharine's) and M. Cooper (Malvern & Girton).

• Team Photos
• Varsity Match Results
• Past Players 1925 On
• Teams 1925 On
• Newsletters 1992 On
• Past versus Present
• Champions
• Jock Burnet

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