Review of summer 2019 season

At the end of a successful 2019 summer season, two out of our four teams won promotion to the higher divisions of their respective leagues.

The mixed B team won promotion from the Third Division of the Wharfedale League at the first time of asking, topping the table from Grove Hill after a tight finish to the season with all resting on the final few fixtures. This means that once again they will be in the Second Division next year, where they feel they rightly belong.

For the Ladies team in the Bradford Parks League it was promotion for the second year running. After taking runner-up spot in the Second Division, next year they will be back in Division One.  Two years ago we did not enter the Bradford Parks League and so were required to return in the Third Division, but after double promotion the ladies can expect some more highly competitive tennis against the area’s top sides next summer.

Our mixed A team finished a commendable fourth in the nine member first division of the Wharfedale League, behind Skipton A and B and Beckfoot /Bingley. We can take satisfaction from some outstanding individual contributions, with Tom Horsfall topping the Wharfedale League  player rankings winning all 24 of the rubbers he played.  Tom’s A team playing partner Chloe Robinson ranked third winning 30 out of the 32 rubbers she played. The club had two other players in the top ten – Marco Frik in fifth place and Pam Whitehead in ninth. Our next highest was Dermot McDaid at 13th and Julie McDougall at 17th.

Finally our venture into the Men’s Third Division of the Kendal League’s proved tougher than we might have hoped, as we finished just one spot off the bottom of the nine member league. Things weren’t made easier by the fact that some of our better players were already committed to playing for Kirkby in the second division of the league and so not eligible to play for us.

For the winter we are now looking forward to the Midweek Vets League playing home games on Monday’s at 1pm and this year for the first time we have agreed that Kirkby Lonsdale can play their home games at Austwick – these will be on Wednesdays again starting at 1pm.