Issue 13 - 2004

Past and Present Nr 13 2004

The Match: After a few seasons where the younger Sparrows were not well represented, it was good to see Joe Gribble pushed into the ‘Senior Player’ category by youngsters Paddy d’Ancona, James Birch, Simon Maskell and Iain de Weymarn. This did not, however, stop Joe from recording another impressive victory over Number 3, James Paul, in the Singles (though he had cheated by playing on three previous occasions this year with The Executioners). Iain was not so fortunate in his contest: he found Brian Elfick, the current Captain, in very fine form in the second match. At Number 4 Simon Maskell had a lively, and successful, battle with Niraj Patel. For freshman Charlie Brooks, who had emerged at the BUSA Championships as a major young player, there was the tough experience of playing Paddy d’Ancona in the Number One match. The Past found itself sitting on an unwonted lead of 14 points after the Singles. At this point rather more senior players entered the fray: David Hebden, Martin Robinson, Martin Wilkinson and Bob Dolby, plus Andy Pringle to partner Joe once Paddy had retired to hasten back to London. In the end the Past were a little too strong for the Present, winning 266-179, but Brian and Charlie looked as good a pair as Cambridge have produced for some years, which augured well for the Varsity Match.

The Dinner: After the customary distribution of ties and quaffing of ale in The Pickerel, the players joined the following in the Parlour: Barry Trapnell, Peter Reynolds (our Treasurer), Richard Thomas, Raman Subba Row, John Pretlove, Alan Taylor, David Barnes, Chris Bascombe, Chris Hirst, David Arnold, Robert Cleave, Andrew Cates, Robert Rigg and Ian Steed. This was the final year as President for Barry Trapnell, who is sixth in a line of very distinguished presidents, listed here for the record.

1927-1931	J.E.Scott, Esq. (Gonville and Caius). Co-winner of the first National Doubles in 1926
1931-1939	Reverend E.E.Raven (St. John’s)
1939-1948	Reverend M.P.Charlesworth (St. John’s)
1948-1949	C.L.G.Pratt, Esq. (Christ’s)
1949-1989	J.F.Burnet, Esq. (Magdalene). Founder of The Jesters Club in 1928 and of the Past versus Present in 1949.
1989-2004	Dr. B.M.W.Trapnell, CBE (St. John’s). Winner of The Jesters Cup for Singles in 1949 and of The Cyriax Cup for Doubles in 1949 & 1953.

Barry is the oldest living winner of the Jesters Cup for Singles and the Cyriax Cup for Doubles. He has presided over 15 very difficult years for Cambridge fives, ten of them with no decent courts in the University. The superb spirit within the Club during that time has been in no small measure due to the warm support he has given to a series of super Captains and Hon.Sec.’s. To mark his time as our leader, at the next Dinner we shall honour him as our guest and present him with The Trapnell Tankard, a trophy to be played for in perpetuity by the Past and Present.

The Varsity Match: This year’s match was hard to call in advance. We gained a rare but narrow lead in the Singles and Brian Elfick and Charlie Brooks gave a consistently brilliant performance in the Doubles, but our team struggled to maintain parity in the bottom half of the Doubles, despite valiant efforts by the Secretary, James Stevens. In the end the Oxford side were a little too experienced and ran out winners by 33 points.

The Dinner: After the customary refreshments in The Pickerel the players joined the following in the Parlour: Barry Trapnell, Michael Mills, John Holroyd, John Ingram, Alan Taylor, David Barnes, David Cameron, Don Ellwood, Peter Cameron and David Arnold, the latter having flown in from Australia in time to dine, though too late to play. On the tables were not only the new-style Magdalene menus, bearing though one familiar item (guess what?!), but also a list of Cambridge Champions since 1926. That massive list is a gratifying record of excellence achieved throughout the past century and continuing today.

Successes: Paddy d’Ancona got the season off to a great start with wins in the Singles of both the South West and the London tournaments. Brian Elfick and Charlie Brooks won the BUSA doubles, with Charlie runner-up in the Singles. Jez Fabes, playing for London, won the Under 25 Doubles for a second time, this time with James Bristow, but once more lost in the final of the Singles – to national champion James Toop. John Denison won the Vintage Doubles with John East for the third year in a row, but lost in the final of the Singles to his partner. Bob Dolby and Rob Cleave won the Plate in the Yorkshire Open and Bob won the Plate in the Veterans Doubles with Stuart Kirby, lost the Final of the Vintage Doubles with Bernard Atkinson and won the Mixed Winchester Doubles with Denise Hall-Wilton. David Hebden won his 96th title, partnering Neil Roberts in the West of England Doubles, but lost in the final of the National Doubles. David made the mistake of booking a cricket-watching holiday in the Caribbean at the time of the Vintage competition, for which he is now eligible and a likely winner of both Singles and Doubles. Next year he should be present at Horsham to challenge for the titles. Meanwhile the big remaining question is whether David can yet win the postponed Winchester Doubles for a 9th time with his customary partner, Ian Fuller?

Valete: This year we have lost Harold Chase (Oundle and Christ’s), who played in 1935 and 1936. In his first match Harold played Singles at Number Two behind Richard Knight and tied with his opponent 16-14, 14-16. Harold was a GP in Stamford all his professional life, and in his leisure time a gifted and competitive sportsman. He was described by his son as “Georgian by birth (b. 1914) but Victorian by temperament: He never possessed a CD player, made a call on a mobile phone, or sent a fax; trainers were people who looked after race horses, sledging was something you did when there was snow on the ground, and political correctness meant voting for the Conservative Party.” Don Stones (Epsom and Clare) played in a very distinguished and strong 1946 side that won 342-231. He too played two games of Singles up to 15, the last year in which this happened, and partnered Henry Brandon, later Lord Brandon of Oakbrook. After qualifying at St. Thomas’s, he emigrated to New Zealand where he was a GP with a large family and many hobbies. Tony Dixon (Clifton and Clare) will have been well known to many of us as a regular attender at the Past versus Present, unless his beloved annual skiing trip prevented him coming. Captain in 1971, Tony was possessed of a mighty right hand that made him a formidable partner for David Hebden and Andrew Cowie. Painter, sign-writer, dry-stonewaller and English teacher in the West Country, Tony was plagued by heart problems in recent years. He is a great loss.

Correspondence gratefully received and enthusiastically answered!
Bob Dolby, 26 Waverley Avenue, Beeston, Nottingham NG9 1HZ
(Telephone: 0115 - 925 2845; e-mail: bobdolby5@btinternet.com).

The 74th Varsity Match, 2004

CAMBRIDGE v. OXFORD 2004
Saturday, February 22nd at St. Paul's School

 

Cambridge now boast 48 wins against 26 wins to Oxford.

In the Sparrows versus Beavers match on the adjoining courts, Oxford won 25-180 against a very inexperienced Cambridge side consisting of J Abecassis (Clifton & St. John’s), LG Graham-Taylor (Merchant Taylors’ & Downing), N Rabey (Rugby & King’s) and TJA Plant (Sir Thomas Rich’s, Gloucester & Emmanuel).

• 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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