Fives

This year saw Westminster's fives team rise impressively to most of the challenges it faced, playing and winning more matches than it has ever done before.

After a brief period of intense recruiting and training, including a warm-up match against St Olave's, we had two successful wins against Lancing and Sunningdale, with stunning play by Richmond and Kanetsuka, Roberts, Rose and Green, who all won in straight sets.

Play half term passed by, and our junior team grew in stature with wins against Emanuel School (where former fives supremo and Under Master TJP has restarted fives in courts which had been used as storerooms until his arrival three years ago) and QE Barnet. Our U15 and U14 proved themselves extremely capable with winning combinations of Copeman, Hull, Barkhordar and Ali. Playing away at St Olave's, the U14 team comprising of Ryland and Mackenzie, Jolly and Kim, and Adamson and Richards, among others, convincingly took the opposing team apart.

This winning streak was brought to a halt with defeats by two of the strongest teams in the country: Eton and Harrow. Even in defeat (which, against Eton consisted of the entire station - 17 pairs) the U15 team managed to achieve a draw. However, we were put back on course by strong performances by Redwood, Ell, Forgacs and Cartwright in a net win against Charterhouse. On our return visit again we bolstered our previous performance with strong wins at every age level of our team, with Richmond and Kanetsuka confirming their status as one of the strongest Junior Colts pairs with a victory against the Charterhouse first pair. In this match several new combinations had their first outings; successfully for Rose and Stevenson, and Embiricos and Crawford, who beat their opponents in straight sets.

The next match was a home victory against Lancing, which was memorable for the rare win by Harrison and Matthew. Towards the end of the season, the top three U14 pairs made sure that Emanuel School's return visit would be a disappointment (for them, of course). Two junior matches against Highgate Senior and Junior School proved a disappointment, although Green and Roberts proved their calibre in a defiant victory over their opponents. The Senior team fared somewhat more successfully, with Lewis, McDonald, Redwood and Ell all bringing Highgate to its knees, thus ensuring all was not lost against them. The season ended with the Juniors losing steam against Berkhamsted, but the team as a whole holding Harrow to a draw, with excellent play by Roberts, Hossain, Coomaraswamy and Mackenzie. However, the most exciting moments came in a dramatic fightback by Hull and Stranger Jones who came back from a two set deficit to achieve a winning position before exhaustion overcame them in the final match of the day.

Tournaments

The Schools' Tournament took place at Eton at the end of the first week of the easter holidays. The timing meant that only three U15 and one novice pair were available. All three of the U15s progressed into the knockout stages. Rose and Stevenson were unlucky in that they just failed to beat the first Shrewsbury pair and had to face Eton1 who had been playing for four years before they even got to Slough. Their reward for this was an entry to the plate competition which they won in an exciting three set match against Berkhamsted1. Roberts and Hossain achieved an upset by beating the fourth seeds, St Olave's1. They duly progressed to the quarter-finals where they met Westminster1, Richmond and Kanetsuka. The match had an air of unreality about it because none of the four players seemed to doubt that the result would be as the form book dictated. Richmond and Kanetsuka were defeated in the semi-finals by Eton1 who were the strongest team in the tournament. The encouraging aspect was that the U15 team is a match for the best schools in the land despite only having played the game for two years.

The novice pair of Hull and Ryland did their best in a strong novice tournament but were unable to overcome their lack of familiarity with the courts and each other's play and did not progress.

All in all, this has been an incredibly successful season, especially for the Junior team, with a flood of new faces, who doubtless will go on to be a fierce team in the coming years. The Station would, of course, be utterly lost without the skilful guidance of John Troy, and the cheerful fine-tuning of Coach Hutchinson; so we would like to offer our gratitude to them. Until next year...

Adrian Lewis, Captain

John Troy writes:

This was a grand year to be associated with Westminster fives. It was clear that the quality and enthusiasm of last year's novices was exceptional; consequently I was concerned that the impetus should continue if, what are the best fives courts in the most beautiful of settings, were to be fittingly used. The new novices were good and enthusiastic, with the first pair of Hull and Stranger Jones showing real promise for the future. It was a pity that only one pair was available for the National tournament.

The under 15s continued to dominate in all the school matches they had against their peers of equivalent experience: Richmond and Kanetsuka, Roberts and Hossain, and Rose and Stevenson all showed their ability to raise their game in the National tournament.

The Seniors had far less depth and were unfortunate not to win more games: the captain Adrian Lewis performed miracles in compensating for a cut which was not really powerful enough to threaten most of the first pairs he and his partner James MacDonald (the secretary) played against. During the year MacDonald developed into a first class player.

I am extremely grateful to both the captain and secretary for their help in arranging both school matches and the London league evening matches which we entered to gain experience of adult competitive fives.

IN MEMORIAM

Phyllis Goonetilleke

Phyllis came to the Westminster School Society as Assistant Secretary at an age when most people are thinking of retirement, not of new jobs. She took over from a predecessor who had been in office since the Society's foundation thirty years before, never an easy thing to do. For those of you who know nothing of the Westminster School Society, it is a private charity whose function is to raise and administer funds on the school's behalf. This may sound a simple straightforward task, but it is not; there are numerous different funds, raised for different purposes, and with different terms of reference. But this is just the sort of thing Phyllis enjoyed; she immediately set about mastering the complexities and very quickly did so.

The Society had appointed her from a field of one; the Principal of the agency who found her had rung up and said, 'I am so certain that I have the right person for you, that I am sending only one person for you to see.' The Principal was completely right; from the moment of her appointment she became the Society's devoted servant, who enjoyed the scope the position gave her for exercising her talent for organisation.

After about twelve years as Assistant Secretary she became Secretary, and for the next ten years ran the entire organisation herself, assisted only by an accountant. She was still doing this a week or so before she died. She had gone into hospital to find out why her back hurt, and here she was, knowing she was dying, still telling us what needed to be done for the Society. She was never happier than when helping others and quickly captured the affection of those who got to know her. Loyalty was one of her conspicuous qualities, her warm personality another.

But her interest in Westminster extended beyond the Society to the School, and she much enjoyed taking part in its functions. She will be deeply missed.

Denis Moylan