Federation Match v Bristol

The Club played their first fixture in the SW Federation competition on Thursday, 5 May, away at Bristol.

In the doubles it was a very defensive affair with the senior Bristol player Eric Soakell making all the points and trying coax round his weaker partner Linda Shaw playing off an 18 handicap. This gave little opportunity for Bob Hart and Hester Henebury and the game ended in a win for Bristol by 6 pts. Philip de Glanville who played against a forest of bisques in both matches was finally outdone in the morning singles when Des Wakeley hit his second ball onto the peg from the corner of the lawn. Bath captain Pete Miles had a slow start then with a couple of big breaks finally overcame Mike Salisbury to reduce the deficit to 2-1 at lunch.

The afternoon singles were all played in handicap order and because of the wide range of Bristol handicaps they had bisques in all of the games. Eric Soakell dispatched Pete Miles +22 with an hour left on the clock meaning that Bath needed to win all 3 remaining games to win the match. Sadly it was not to be. All the other three games were very slow defensive games on the part of the Bristol players, all matches going to time and only Bob Hart winning his game comfortably with a purple patch of play near the end. Final result a 5-2 win for Bristol.

Eric Soakell (3.5) & Linda Shaw (18) beat Bob Hart (8) & Hester Henebury (9) +6
Mike Salisbury (6) lost to Pete Miles (2.5) -5
Des Wakeley (12) beat Philip de Glanville (4.5) +9

Eric Soakell bt Pete Miles +22
Phil Seymour (10) bt Philip de Glanville +5
Des Wakeley lost to Bob Hart -9
Linda Shaw bt Hester Henebury +5