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Second, Annual Ray Hurst Tournament for The Pox On It Trophy
 24 pairs contested this, the second, annual Ray Hurst Tournament
for The Pox On It trophy on Sunday 17th June to raise funds for
the children’s cancer charity CLIC Sargent.
Accordingly Goring Tennis Club’s courts, as well as Richard &
Annabel W’s court, saw action from 10-00 in the morning.
Unlike the deluge suffered in 2006 tournament, this year the weather was kind and the marquee (so ably erected early on the morning of the previous day) proved to be a shelter only from the frequent bursts of sunshine.
Play in groups of four pairs (with each pair playing three matches against the other pairs in the group) continued until lunchtime. One group consisting of four seniors partnering four of our younger and less experienced juniors occupied court five for nearly three and a half hours. The ball was not crossing the net at as fast a pace as on other courts but the tennis was no less competitive.
During the barbecue lunch break players and spectators were encouraged to part with their money by means of a raffle, a cake stall, sports clothing from Sno Gear and Henley Sports and bespoke framing from Chaucers Framing. Seth Dixon of Head Rackets also provided a range of demo rackets for players to test as well as a speed gun to measure service speeds. (Check out the various links if you want more details of these services.)
The prize for Opportunist of the Day goes to Richard M who, upon hearing the not so drowsy tinklings of an approaching ice cream van immediately negotiated a cut of the takings for the charity, thus adding another fiver to the coffers.
It was Ray’s wish that the tournament be for both seniors and juniors so it was fitting that, from a field containing four senior pairings, the final was contested by two senior/junior combinations.
One of the senior pairings included Ray’s son Sam who turned up an hour before the publicised start time to practice. “I haven’t played since the last tournament!” he said. It didn’t show Sam!
Annabel W (having won the trophy in 2006 with her son James) this time partnered 13 year old James D. In a closely contested final they were just edged out 6-3 by Goring Tennis Club team player Mark R and 14 year old Joe O.
Once the raffle had been drawn and Ben W had finally laid his hands on the box of chocolates that he had been coveting, Ray’s widow Bernice, who had supported the tennis throughout the day, presented the trophy to the winners and the cheque for the £1000 raised by the tournament to Emily Lever of CLIC Sargent. A floral presentation was then made to Bernice on behalf of the Club by Grace J.
It then only remained to clear up, to spend 30 minute taking down the marquee that had taken just over two hours to erect the previous day and to convince the discretely parked police car that the event had passed off without any crowd trouble whatsoever.
Thanks are due to all those who helped create a very successful event in favour of the most worthy of causes. The Organising Committee of Peter H, Sallie P, Mark T, Sue T and Annabel W; Sarah D for organising the raffle; Phil and Margaret R for ‘catering services’; Richard and Annabel W for the loan of their court and their marquee; David W and Andy G for their assistance erecting the marquee and all those who provided cakes or donated raffle prizes.
Mark T
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