Honours by year

Pete Simmons wrested the Club Championship from Stewart Hefferman's grasp by beating him 3 - 1 in a hard fought final. A small crowd watched appreciatively as an excellent match was poised on the brink at 1 - 1 before Pete went on to win the match.

Peter was briefly a member several years ago before moving away from the area. He has returned this season after a year away from the squash court to gain a regular position in the first team.

Stewart has held the title since 2003 after first winning in 1998 and has held the title more than any previous member of the club.

The 2009 Rob Milliner Summer Handicap Tournament reached a fitting climax on Sunday 4th October with two terrific finals.

In the main competition, Mike Burnett overcame a 50 - 80 point handicap to beat Rakesh Gulati 100 - 96. Rakesh adopted the tactic of going for winners at every opportunity. This tactic had got him safely past Stewart Hefferman in the semi-final and looked like securing him the victory here when, with the score standing at 73 - 94, he was tempted into playing a game of squash. This was his undoing and he rapidly tired scoring only one more point before Mike made up the deficit. He managed one further point before the end.

This was an entertaining clash between two stalwarts of the handicap tournaments, Mike has now notched up 5 victories overall (3 in the summer competition and 2 in the winter one) whilst Rakesh has won each one once and been the beaten finalist in the summer tournament three times.

The final of the plate competition in the Summer Handicap Tournament pitched Malcolm Mackay against David Heavyside.

From a starting point of 65 - 80, Malcolm (league 5 in the newly posted October league) looked to be making short work of the handicap in the opening passage of play as he quickly made ground against the left-hander David (league 9). However, once they had reached parity, with the score around 90 - 90, David rose to the challenge and the pair of them went point for point for the remainder of the match.

A final decisive point came very late on following a long rally with both players at the front of the court. David sent up a high lob down the centre of the court. Malcolm instinctively jumped up, reaching up with his racket. He managed to make contact with the ball which hit high up on the front wall and fell to ground with David still recovering from his shot. It could just have turned the match in David's favour if fortune had smiled the other way but it gave Malcolm match point and he didn't need a second.

Kevin Popely brought the curtain down on his career at Gerrards Cross Squash Club with a comprehensive 3 - 0 victory over Nick Hallchurch in the final of the Veterans' Tournament. After winning the first game, he trailed briefly to Nick in the second but rallied to win that too and from 2 - 0, the match was only going to go one way.

Kevin has been a regular at club tournament finals having won the Vets' title twice before and been runner-up to Stewart Hefferman in the main Club Tournament in 2004. He has also won the Summer Handicap Tournament and twice been runner-up in the Winter Handicap Tournament (at least RC won't have to resort to hyper-mathematics to calculate his handicaps in future tournaments).

Kevin was also awarded the trophy for becoming the Points Champion in the Winter Leagues having gained an unassailable lead with just days to go and currently holds the top slot on the ladder.

He has said that he is retiring from squash as of the end of this match but I note that he didn't toss his racket into the crowd so who knows, we may yet see him again next year.