Division One

Eight players were at Thwaites Village Hall for the first Division One Divisional Singles competition. The players were divided into two round robin groups to decide the semi finals. In Group A Paul Ackred was on top form winning all three of his matches in straight sets. Both Bev Sharp and Nick Woods took a set to deuce but that was the closest that he was pushed. Bev secured second place in the group with comfortable wins of her own against club mate Nick Woods and team mate Bill Nelson. Nick beat Bill in straight sets to take third place in the group. Group B started with a terrific battle between Saints players Sophie Ackred and Matt O'Flynn. Sophie looked as though she would cruise to victory when she took the opening set 11-4 but Matt sneaked the second set 14-12. The third set went to Sophie 1--8 with Matt levelling with the fourth 11-9. Both players looked to attack and the points were dominated by topspin attacks. The decider went to deuce with both players having the chance to win before Sophie got the decisive point to take the set 15-13. She went on to add two more wins beating Peter Grayson 11-5, 11-6, 11-9 and Sam Huddleston 11-8, 11-2, 13-11. Having lost to Peter in the League Matt was relieved to come through a four set encounter winning 11-4, 12-10, 10-12, 11-4. He confirmed his semi final place with a straight sets win against Sam. In the battle of the Thwaites players Sam Huddleston won to finish third in the group beating Peter Grayson in three sets. 

The semi finals produced two quite comfortable wins for the Ackreds. Paul was always ahead against Matt O'Flynn although there were some very good points and good winning shots came from both players. Paul won 11-8, 11-9, 11-7. Sophie was able to pick the right moments to open up her attacks against Bev Sharp and took the win 11-6, 11-3, 11-6.

The Final was a fitting match - Paul's hard hitting took him to an 11-3 opening set win - no mercy shown! However, Sophie soon found the measure of her dad taking the next two sets. The second was a comfortable 11-6 but the third was a tense deuce set 13-11. Paul was not going to give up and replied with another close set win 11-9 to take it to a decider. In the fifth end Sophie built a good lead as the players changed ends but once again Paul fought back - this time he had left himself too much to do and it was Sophie who took the inaugural Division One title 11-8. 

Division Two

There was an entry of eleven players for the Division Two Divisional Singles played at Hawcoat Park Sports Club. The first round saw each player play three singles matches with the top three players going into a Final Group. The event attracted the next generation of players with the juniors displaying their skills in some very good matches. Newcomer Ashton had a great match with Mia. He went 2-0 ahead with two 11-9 sets. Mia fought back with sets of 11-9, 11-4. The deciding set went to deuce before Ashton sealed his first competitive win 12-10. The closest match of the evening though was between Kate and Alexia. Both players have good attacking games especially on their forehands and are developing into excellent players. Kate was in the Furness Academy team that won the Cumbria Under 16 Girls’ County title and played in the National event Zone Finals earlier this year. Alexia has just become Cumbria Under 13 and Under 11 County champion. This match also went to a decider, won 13-11 by Alexia.

Two boys who look as though they have the talent to play further up the League are Ben and Alex, both recorded good scores against both Harrison and Andrew whilst gaining wins against Ashton and Mia, respectively.

There was a frantic serve and hit battle between sisters Serena and Didi as they played out the match to decide fourth place. Didi took the opening set 18-16 and followed that with an 11-8 set. Serena fought back winning the third 11-6 but Didi narrowly won the fourth set 11-9 to secure victory.

Andrew Dorrian has had a great season and was looking to build on his performances in the League. In the first match of the final group his consistent top spin returns wore down his younger opponent Harrison to take him to a three-set win. Returning to the table for the second match Harrison was hoping that his all-round attacking style would bring him a repeat of his league victory against Connor McLoughlin. However, the ever-improving Connor was able to find the table with his own offensive shots on this occasion. He took all his chances to race to a three straight victory.

In what was now the Final Andrew maintained his form and whilst Connor was always in the games and had chances the three sets went the way of the Saints C team player 11-9, 11-9,