Ask the man or lady in the street to think about towns in Suffolk and nine out of ten will generalise and think of Ipswich, Stowmarket and perhaps Bury St Edmunds, but ask Suffolk LTA what Suffolk means to them and they will say 51 clubs straddling the borders of Essex, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk and everywhere in between. Although a mainly rural county, league tennis is played in Newmarket, Exning and Red Lodge in the west of the county on the Cambridgeshire border,and Wortham, Stradbroke and Fressingfield in the Waveney valley on the Norfolk border.
Then there are of course there are the A14 corridor clubs of Risbygate and Victory in Bury, Culford, Woolpit, Barow, Bramford and Stowmarket. We then move into the Ipswich area where there are many clubs such as St John’s, Sproughton, the Ipswich Sports Club, Roundwood and Rushmere to name but a few. Then further east we find Creekers, Kesgrave, Woodbridge and Felixstowe, and in the Lowestoft area we have the likes of Beccles, Saxmundham, Southwold and Halesworth.
Because of the peculiar geography of the county, clubs play in many different leagues such as the Ipswich and Felixstowe leagues, the Norfolk and Suffolk League, the South Norfolk League, the Cambridgeshire League, the Halstead and Essex\League. It would be almost impossible to bring all these clubs together to compete in an all-Suffolk league because of the travelling involved in getting to matches, mainly after work. At the end of the Summer, there is the chance to enter the Inter-Club Doubles at Felixstowe, when clubs do get the opportunity to take on different opposition.
The Ipswich and District League is well established and provides great competitive opportunities for a large number of players, 97 teams competing in the various divisions this season. I have many happy memories of competing for Roundwood both in the Summer and the Winter, and next week we will turn the spotlight on the League with the help of hard-working Secretary Janet Hambling. The Felixstowe, Ipswich and District Fllodlit Tennis League has 85 teams competing, with Woodbridge winning the Ladies’ title, Ipswich the Men’s and Adastral Park the Mixed.
Some early results have been received from Bury club Risbygate, with matches played in the Cambridgeshire League and the Norfolk and Suffolk League. Their 2nd team Men defeated Gt. Shelford 7-1 in the Cambridgeshire League, though their Ladies lost to Saffron Walden 1-7 and Royston 3-5. The Men’s lst team had a convincing 8-0 victory over Hundon in the Norfolk and Suffolk, and followed this up with another fine 7-1 win over Exning. With their juniors having won the 14U and 16U Aegon team titles, the future looks bright for one of the county’s oldest established clubs.
The Lowestoft and District League is also up and running now, with the newly-formed Lowestoft Town B side heading their A side in Division 1. Southwold B sit proudly at the top of Division 2, though Halesworth A are just a few points ahead at present. Bungay A presently look in control in Division 3, leading the way from Saxmundham A and Lowestoft Town D, whilst the tightest battle looks to be in Division 4, where Saxmundham B, Southwold D and Lowestoft Town E are very closely placed.
Finally, well done to our 10U team of Kylie Bilchev, Maddie Mcloughlin and Isabelle Eaton who finished 2nd in the Aegon County Cup last weekend, beating Bedfordshire 4-0, Norfolk 4-0 and Cambridgeshire 3-1, and fighting hard before losing to a very strong Hertfordhire side 0-4. Suffolk’s Boys’ trio of Harper Mills, Joel Sheldon and Lucas Walker came third at Woodford Wells, going down to both Bedfordshire and overall winners Hertfordshire on the opening day, but recovering well to overcome local rivals Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, Joel Sheldon winning both his matches.