Westholme B v Blackburn Seniors C              31^st October, 2022

Too wet for trick or treating

It was a cold, wet Halloween night but the Westholme heaters were on and the away captain, Joe Lambert, had brought his own trick or treat sweeties. Tonight was going to be a good night!

For the home team, Rebecca Bailey, a new signing from MidLancs, played at number 3, partnering another new player to our league, Jane Grant, and then a returning player in Chris Salmon. The Westholme ladies faced the youthful exuberance of Macy Rushton, who partnered Rosie Fenwick and then the captain’s sister, Sophie Lambert. Both ladies’ matches produced some competitive and well fought rallies, and all were played in good spirit and with much enjoyment. The power of Rebecca won through in the end, however, with the home team winning all four ladies’ games.

In the men’s doubles, Westholme’s Aiden Sui, resplendent in his XXL (!) black team hoodie, partnered the reliable Chris Ball before then seeing a very welcome return to the team for Hef Parry – yet to purchase his team hoodie! For Blackburn Seniors C, another up and coming player in Jack Morris played opposite Aiden, partnering the experienced ‘why-does-he-never-look-any-older’ Stewart Holt at number one and then the captain, Joe. The away pairing of Jack and Stewart battled hard in the opening game, winning to 17, before Aiden and Chris got the second game. Hef and Aiden then won both men’s against a spirited performance from Jack and Joe.

After chewy marshmallow cakes (picture courtesy of Kit!) had been consumed, the mixed games got underway. The opening matches between Jane and Chris and Rosie and Stewart were, again, well fought – in fact, Stewart’s racquet just collapsed at one point with the power of his smash! Likewise, Chris and Hef faced some healthy opposition in the brother and sister team of Joe and Sophie, who both played with massive smiles on their faces throughout their games, which was lovely to see. As the number three pairings of Aiden and Rebecca and young Macy and Jack went on court, Westholme had won the opening four mixed games, but this did not deter the youngsters in the slightest. They fought long and hard, never giving up and chasing the game right to the end.

In the final mixed games, the tables were turned on the home side, as a rejuvenated Blackburn Seniors C (must have been that chewy marshmallow cake!) won the remaining four games.

This was a well fought, friendly fixture on a cold, wet Halloween night. Well played to both teams and congratulations to Rebecca Bailey for winning Player of the Match! We look forward to welcoming Blackburn Seniors C back again next week when we play them in the cup competition.