TAVISTOCK Tennis Club held its annual dinner at the town's golf club on Saturday, November 7, attended by 50 people.

Guests included mayor of Tavistock Mandy Govier, her consort, Danny Honey, and club president Norma Woodcock with husband Gerry.

Mike Prout, in his fifth year as chairman, said it had again been a very good year for the club. He expressed thanks to his committee and to the president, vice-presidents and honorary members for their help and support.

Ron Thurgill was awarded honorary membership for all he has done for the club over many years.

In the Plymouth and District League competitions there were five men's teams and two ladies. With the men, the results were exceptionally good, with the A team winning division 1 which is thought to be a club record. The B team were first in division 3, the C team fourth in division 3, the D team first in division 4 and the E team third in division 7.

The ladies could only field two teams, both playing well with the A team first in division 2 and the B team third in division 4. The juniors in the four divisions all came second, which was a good effort.

The P& DL Knockout Cup was won by the club for the first time. The club had a good turnout with 18 people for the annual awards ceremony for the P&DL competitions held at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel, Plymouth, in October where Tavistock received many trophies.

There was a good entry for the club tournaments with some new members. Winners were: men's singles Simon Prout, Ladies singles Sara Lucas, men's doubles Rick Read/Ray Hinton, ladies' doubles Sara Lucas/Kate Wright, mixed doubles Roma McMahon/Phil Harbottle, vets mixed doubles Alison West/Phil Harbottle, girls' singles Deborah Allan and boys' singles Luke Wakley.

A major event for the 14th year was the hosting of the Tavistock Juniors Open Tournament which attracts players from a wide area. There were 12 friendly matches.

The outstanding member of the year went to Alice Ansty, who had taken on the captaincy of the ladies' teams and joined the committee. Linden Hardisty is back as full-time coach with Josh Brown supplying support.

The president expressed thanks to Mike and team for the running of the club so efficiently and wished it every success in the future.

Because of poor weather it was not possible to play the traditional fundraising competition for the cup donated by Mike Blagrove in memory of his wife, June. However, donations at the dinner for the Childrens' Hospice South West raised £297 — in 12 years it has raised £3,029 for the charity. The Hospice Cup will be played later.

Formal speeches were followed by poems on the subject of tennis — the evening ended with dancing by The Unstrung Rackets'.