Annual Tennis Tournament 2023

The Location:     Northampton County Lawn Tennis Club, Church Way, Weston Favell, NN3 3BX.

 

Just Google the post code and you’ll get a good map.

 

The Date:         Thursday 14th September 2023

 

Time:          9.15-10.00am          Meet, greet & Register.

                  10.00-10.15             Tea, Coffee & Biscuits.

                  10.15-10.30             Prepare to Play - The Rules.

                  10.30-1.00pm          Pre-lunch Round Robin.

                  1.00-1.45                Lunch

                  1.45-4.00                Q.Finals/S.Finals of both PICT Trophy & PICT Plate.

                  4.00-4.30                Tea & Cakes, whilst Finalists prepare.

                  4.45-6.00                The Finals.

6.35                                                Presentation in the Bar, or outside if weather is gorgeous, or formal function if numbers allow.

 

We can arrange an evening get together for any that wish to stay overnight locally.

 

Please forward and copy myself to anyone you think may also be interested.

 

Kind Regards

 

John Vic

 

M 07740 819161

T  0121 313 7512

F  0121 313 3508

Annual Tennis Tournament 2022

After another whirlwind of a year, the time has come around again for our annual visit to the town of Weston Favell in Northamptonshire, where our adopted tennis club awaits the PICT Tennis Tournament.

Every year I fear, what will we do if the weather is inclement? and another year arrives and the timing is spot-on.

An immediate and big thank you to all the sponsors, who enable the subs for the day to go into the coffers of the Trust, to hopefully help someone less fortunate than ourselves. So, thank you to - Fedrigoni for the ever-tasty lunch, PCL Avery for the courts hire and bar cover, Iggesund for the tennis balls and Premier Paper for the trophies and flowers. As a result of these kind sponsors, we are sending £280.00 to PICT. It does not feel like much but hopefully every little helps.

Another swift thank you to Annette Clayton from Fedrigoni, who once again helped throughout the day and also took all the wonderful photos.

Now to the tennis...

We had seven pairs this year, which lent itself to the round robin culminating in an outright Wooden Spoon Winner, the Johnston Cup going straight to a final and the top four pairs fighting it out with a semi-final and a final.

This year we welcomed a pair from PCL Avery in Kerry Cotter and Mark O’Brien. Andrew Dunning continues to change partners for another year as Jonathan Clay was missing again. This year he partnered our PICT President Tony Wood, which promised to be one of the stronger pairings. The holders that were paired together last year, Steve Maher and Paul Williams, were back to defend the Penman Trophy and were strong favourites to succeed.

As the round robin unfolded, the annual quest for the Wooden Spoon fell to the newbies Kerry and Mark as their baptism of fire saw them amass six points. Both thoroughly enjoyed the day and both will return, but methinks with different partners!

The Johnston Cup semi-final was blessed by the fielding of Wesley Perks and Sam Ayling from Ricoh, who in the round robin for the first time, experienced a victory that saw them hit nine points against Olly Gale and Pete Stevens from Fedrigoni who got 20.

They chose to play one normal set final as the bar beckoned. The tennis was loud and with much laughter and banter that was heard form most of the other courts at the tennis club. Olly and Pete succeeded in lifting the Johnston Cup.

The Penman Cup, ended up with last year’s holders paired together for the first time, defending their trophy, against Matt Kidd and myself. Crazily we decided on a best of three sets final, whilst everyone else sat on the patio and enjoyed the last throes of our pleasant summer temperatures with a beer or prosecco in hand, and cakes and cheese and biscuits. Matt and I swiftly fell behind in the first set only to click into a little form in the second set, which Matt and I deservedly took to culminate in the third set decider.

The opportunity for Matt and I as we led 4 -2 in the final set was there, but the momentum started to turn, as Steve and Paul turned the set around and successfully defended the Penman Trophy, congratulations to you both. We will avoid the hat-trick at all costs next year! 6–3, 4–6, 6–4.

Once again with thanks to Northampton Lawn Tennis Club, all that took part, all that sponsored and helped on the day. I look forward to hopefully 2023 with many new faces and, if enough people attend, to continue with a dinner presentation in the aftermath of the day’s event as we did previously.

I can confirm the date for 2023 is Thursday 14th September 2023. So, save the date!

 

 

Annual Tennis Tournament 2022

 

Tennis secretary, John Victoros has announced that the PICT Tennis Tournament will be taking place at the Northampton County Lawn Tennis Club, Church Way, Weston Favell NN3 3BX, on Thursday 15th September 2022.

Meet and greet with tea, coffee and biscuits will be at 9.15-10.00am. A pre-lunch round robin will take place, followed by lunch at 1.00pm. The quarter and semi-finals of both the PICT Plate and PICT Trophy will then be played. Tea and cakes will be served as the finalists prepare to play. The presentations will be held in the bar, or outside if the weather is lovely, at around 6.30pm.

If you would like to join in and enrol for this year’s PICT Tennis Tournament, with or without a partner (we will find you one!), please send an e-mail to john.vic@paper.co.uk and remember you don’t have to be a budding Emma Raducanu or Novak Djokovic to play – just come along and enjoy yourself with fellow colleagues and friends and help raise much needed funds for PICT.

 

 

Paper Industry Charitable Trust - Tennis Section 2021

Another testing year for all, but once again the annual P.I.C.T. Tennis Tournament survives the pandemic and this year although the hand sanitizers were still prevalent, we did not have to worry about face masks and temperature taking. Also, with the average age of this year’s participants the majority were double jabbed with appointments for the boosters up ahead.


We did however have a last minute Covid scare as David Kentish got symptoms the day before but into the breach stepped Rod Benwell who’s duties ended up manifold as his presidency continued into a second year before the handover to Tony Wood whose pairing with Steve Maher was also broken due to injury.

So, the good news this year was we had a couple of ladies back in the fold with the reappearance of both my wife and Stephanie Spurr. We also had a lady, Annette Clayton helping throughout the day from the annual lunch sponsor Fedrigoni UK with who’s help made my day so much easier, thank you Annette.

So, the annual before picture show that we were once again blessed with good weather:

A big thank you as ever for the sponsors of the day which this year included; Fedrigoni UK for lunch, Iggesund UK for the Courts & Bar cover and Mitsubishi HiTec UK for the trophies. We had balls left over from previous year. Thanks to these guys we once again from the subs we will be sending a modest donation to P.I.C.T. a cheque for £300.00 

  To the tennis...

 This year’s Wooden Spoon was a play off between the new pairing of Olly Gale and, due to David Kentish’s brush with Covid symptoms our President Rod Benwell who kindly stepped into the breach, against the Ricoh UK pairing of Sam Ayling & Wesley Perks. The outcome was the President had to present the Wooden Spoons to himself and his partner Olly Gale!

Rod Benwell & Olly Gale, P.I.C.T. Wooden Spoon Winners 2021


The Johnston Cup semi-final pitched newcomers James & Guy who overcame Sam & Wesley 6-1 whilst the welcome return of JL Hagger & Stephanie Spurr overcame the pairing of my missus Claire & Andy Veasey 6-2 in the other semi. The final was also a convincing 6-2 win as the mixed pairing took the 2021 Johnston Cup.

JL Hagger & Steph 2021 Johnston Cup Winners, James & Guy the Runners-Up

The Penman Cup, ended up with people being paired together for the first time, which pleasantly ended up with one new name going onto the trophies. Jonathan Clay this year could not make it so I paired up his partner Andrew Dunning with Paul Williams. With Tony Wood also recovering from a medical procedure his partner Steve Maher was paired up with Phil Trudgeon.  The semi finals saw myself & Matt Kidd the 2-year holders of the Penman play Phil & Andrew. Matt & I were comfortable at 4-1 in the set as Phil & Andrew just started getting everything back to turn the set around and deservedly reach the Final 7-5. The other semi-final saw another new pairing from Konica Minolta Paul Atkins & Andy Mitchell who were very strong in the Round Robin lose 6-2 to Steve & Paul.

Steve & Paul came out as the worthy Penman Trophy Final Winners in the best of 3 sets. 6-1, 6-4. Congratulations.

Steve Maher & Paulo Williams 2021 Penman Trophy Winners, Andrew & Phil Runners-Up

 Once again with thanks to Northampton Lawn Tennis Club, all that took part, all that sponsored and helped on the day. I look forward to hopefully 2022 with a pandemic free day with you all and hopefully those that today missed out also along with more newcomers also. Some more visuals from the day……..

I can confirm the date for 2022 is Thursday 15th September 2022. Save the date!

 

Latest News - Thursday 16th September 2021

 

Dear All,

I hope this email finds you all safe and well. We managed a decent gathering in what was a most forgettable year last year and it would be a pleasure to get the biggest turnout we have had for our annual P.I.C.T Tennis tournament.

 Time to gather entries to this year’s Paper Industry Charitable Trust Tennis Tournament.

Please send email to john.vic@paper.co.uk to enrol for this year’s P.I.C.T. Tennis Tournaments with or without a partner, we will find you one!

The Location:     Northampton County Lawn Tennis Club, Church Way, Weston Favell, NN3 3BX.

The Date:         Thursday 16th September 2021

Time:         

9.15-10.00am        Meet, greet & Register.

10.00-10.15             Tea, Coffee & Biscuits.

10.15-10.30             Prepare to Play - The Rules pre lunch.

10.30-1.00pm         Pre-lunch Round Robin.

1.00-1.45                 Lunch

1.45-4.00                Q.Finals/S.Finals of both PICT Trophy & PICT Plate.

4.00-4.30                Tea & Cakes, whilst Finalists prepare.

4.45-6.00                The Finals.

6.35                         Presentation in the Bar, or outside if weather is gorgeous.

 

We can arrange an evening get together for any that wish to stay overnight locally.

Please forward and copy myself to anyone you think may also be interested.

 Kind Regards

 John Vic

 

Annual Tennis Tournament - Thursday 17th September 2020

What a year it has been. Having worked throughout this pandemic whilst sadly seeing colleagues, friends, customers and relatives manage this unprecedented situation, I found myself undecided as to whether we should miss a year of PICT Tennis. Having taken a cross section of opinions from some of the hardy annuals, I decided almost at the eleventh hour we will not let this beat us! 

On the quiet it also meant me and my partner’s name would still be the latest on the Penman Trophy, ha ha. Knowing full well that the experienced duo of Jonathan Clay and Andrew Dunning were back together this year.

At one stage, the week before, we were up to eight pairs, which would have ordinarily been a grand turnout, sadly no ladies but common sense prevailed as Brian Garson confirmed he woke up with a voice that Barry White would have been proud of. This knocked one pair out. Then an e-mail from Tony Wood’s partner, Steve Maher, who had a back injury that just wasn’t going to go away. So, missing these regulars, we still managed with six pairs in the round robin and, hopefully, a once in a lifetime before picture with masks, hand sanitizer, thermometers and nitril gloves all at the ready, sponsored by Premier Paper. 

On arrival temperatures were taken and here we have the league table of who’s hot and who’s not:

JL Hagger 36.1

Paul Williams 35.5

Andrew Dunning 35.2

Jonathan Clay 35.0

Bernie Byers 34.9

Olly Gale 34.6

Matt Kidd 33.8

David Kentish 32.9

Wesley Perks 32.8

Martin Dibsdale 32.8

John Vic 32.4

Pete Stevens 32.6

Phil Trudgeon 32.0

And as you can see from the beautiful blue skies the weather blessed us all again.
(group shot picture to go here?)

Sam Ayling, also at the eleventh hour, kindly replaced himself with the very welcome Bernie Byers so that we maintained a pairing from Ricoh.

We also had some visitations throughout the day. With Brian Garson nursing himself, David Kentish still kindly turned up for the day along with PICT President Rod Benwell, whom we nearly got involved in the tennis and Simon Pilkington from Fedrigoni, who once again kindly sponsored the lunch, many thanks also to Sappi UK for covering the courts and bar and Papico for the trophies and balls.

Thanks to all these kind people we will be sending a cheque to PICT for £240.00, which is the sum of the subs for the day to help with all of their excellent work in the industry.

Now to the tennis ...

The Round Robin blatantly proved one thing, that the much sought after Wooden Spoon would be a straight fight between Bernie Byers/Wesley Perks and Olly Gale/Pete Stevens pairings. The Ricoh pairing ran away with the Wooden Spoon Trophy.  

The Johnston Cup final pitched Paul Williams and Phil Trudgeon against JL Hagger and Martin Dibsdale. They elected to play the best of three sets, and they indeed needed all three sets as the scores in the first were 7 – 6 in a tie-break then JL and Martin took the second set 6 – 2 and the deciding championship tie-break set 10 – ­3 and thus the returning pairing of JL Hagger and Martin Dibsdale returned as worthy 2020 Johnston Cup Winners. 

The Penman Cup, shock, horror, was to be between last year’s holders, Matt Kidd and myself, against the returning three times winners Jonathan Clay and Andrew Dunning. Was it to be a one season wonder or would Matt and I get past our Nemesis pairing from 2016/2017/2018. Again we decided the best of three sets and Matt and I took the first set 6 – 2. We found ourselves 1 – 4 down in the second set and déjà vu psychologically beckoned. Amazingly we got back to 6 – 6 to win the tie-break and get back-to-back wins but this time against the favourites from previous years.

Happy, but now the adrenalin had ceased to oil the knees, we all retired to the balcony bar for a socially distanced and well earned beer.

Thank you to everyone that persevered in times that would have easily allowed for us not to bother at all. This invisible killer will not win! So once again, thank you to all the players, sponsors and Northampton Lawn Tennis Club, whose facilities just improve year-on-year.


I can now confirm the date for 2021 is Thursday 16th September 2021. So save the date now!


 

Latest News

 

Dear All,

Hope you are all well and keeping safe.

Having just checked with Northampton Lawn Tennis Club the current situation is they have about 20 people playing tennis as I send this email, and they are happy to host us for the day.

 So the intention is to proceed with this year’s Annual PICT Tennis Tournaments.

Same venue on Thursday 17th September 2020.

 I would like to get an early sense of numbers please so an early response would be great.

I have phoned a few individuals to gauge interest and all 4 were up for it so hopefully a bumper turnout.

 

Depending on how things are by September we may handle food and drink a little differently. But the important thing is hopefully to proceed with the day and not let this situation beat us.

Please also forward this email to anyone you think may be interested.

 I will keep close to the information communicated by the LTA as regards tournaments in case as we approach we are not allowed tounaments but I would like us to plan as if we are hopefully heading in the right direction.

 

Tennis Tournament

This year all the trophies were present from the winners of the previous year. But sadly one half from each of the trophy winners were missing from this year's line ups.

So both trophies would have a new pairing on them for 2019!

Jonathan Clay was missing his partner Andrew Dunning and was replaced by Olly Gale from Fedrigoni UK who kindly stepped into Pete Stevens shoes who was double booked.

John Lloyd Hagger was missing his partner Martin Dibsdale but although missed, was replaced by the lovely Stephanie Spurr, who was supposed to be one of two ladies this year. This was initially sad news until I learnt that the reason the second lady was missing was because she was appearing in the latter stages of a National Tennis tournament, phew, we all dodged one there!

No doubt this time next year I will again be mentioning the ongoing quarterly delay of Brexit which will still be dragging on and on and on.....

Once again blessed with the weather. The traditional "before" photo:

Very welcome Newbies this year included the aforementioned Stephanie and Olly along with a full Ricoh pair of Wesley Parks joining a previously appearing Sam Ayling along with Ted Weller pairing up with Eric Keane. The balance of the 9 pairs this year are seasoned pairings.

May I at this point say a thank you to Peter (Ace my man) Bothwick this year's President for not only attending the day but also for kindly presenting the trophies and with a few others sharing the photo duties.

Also major thank you to Fedrigoni UK who once again sponsored the gorgeous lunch. An equally grateful sponsoring of balls, courts, trophies and bar person from a combination of, The Navigator Company, Mitsubishi HiTec Paper UK, Premier Paper and IFS means that we are able to donate the sum of £360 to the P.I.C.T.

A big thank you to you all!

To the tennis...

The round robin blatantly proved one thing, that the much sought after wooden spoon would be a straight fight between the Brian Garson/David Kentish pairing and Sam Ayling/Wesley Perks. With 81 points up for grabs there was only three in it in the end. The Ricoh boys got 9 and the holders from 2018 retain their trophy with 6. 

 The Johnston Cup semi finals pitched John & Stephanie against Jonathan & Olly with the latter going through to the final. The other semi needed a volunteer from the Wooden Spoon pair to partner Andrew Veasey, as his partner Paul Williams was booked to be elsewhere, to play against the Ricoh pair.

Suffice it to say that the cream rose to the top in the final with Jonathan Clay and the very happy Olly Gale ensured that Jonathan still got his hands on silverware despite the missing Mr Dunning as they beat Mr Veasey and Mr Kentish in the final. 

And to the Penman Trophy, which from the outcome of the round robin was always meant to be contested by Tony Wood/Steve Maher and last years and the year before and the year before that's losing finalists Matt Kidd and John Vic.

This was after Tony & Steve dismissed Eric & Ted in the semi final, and Matt & I managed to see off the wily Stephen Plaistowe & Barrie Farnsworth.

Well the final was agreed as best of three sets, which my legs did not agree with but the mind was willing and having lost the final for the last 3 years it was not gonna happen again. In a very tight and tense match we finally got our hands on those pewter jugs, thanks partner.

We still have the job of trying to retain and win against the Nemesis that are Andrew Dunning & Jonathan Clay who we hope will return as a pair again next year along with the lady who was featuring in that national tournament, must find out how she did?!

Once again thank you to all the players, sponsors and Northampton Lawn Tennis Club.

 

Tennis Tournament

Usual concerns as this year's event approached, will the weather continue to be kind to us, are there any last minute injuries and how are we going to get more ladies to take part in this annual event.

 The one thing I did not anticipate was the arrogance of the Penman Trophy winners to not bring the trophy as last year's holders to present to this year's winners on the basis that they assumed it would save them carrying it around all day! I'm not going to mention any names as this year it was only one of the pair, but in previous years the other of the pair admitted to doing the same.

 As Brexit approaches the previous year's foreign influx are conspicuous by their absence this year. Once Mother Theresa May has sorted, it hopefully normal service will be resumed next year....yeh right.  

 Very welcome Newbies this year included Mike Dobson & Eric Keane along with some past players that paired up together in Phil Trudgeon & Paul Williams. I was almost about to relinquish my partner as I feared Mr Trudgeon had mixed his day up but local traffic released him and the day was under way.

 May I at this point say a thank you to Paul Johnston-Knight this year's President for not only attending the majority of the day but also for kindly presenting the trophies.

 An amusing aside was that Martin Dibsdale who this year retires from the industry from Premier Paper thought that it was his last appearance and that he was quite sad and assumed once retired would not be allowed to frequent the PICT Tennis. Martin, have you not seen the fossils you are surrounded by on the courts! Bless him, he was so pleased and we look forward to you and Martin Lloyd Hagger playing for many years to come.

  A major thank you to Fedrigoni UK who once again sponsored the gorgeous lunch. An equally grateful sponsoring of balls, courts, trophies and bar person (me) from a combination of, The Navigator Company, Mitsubishi HiTec Paper UK means that we are able to donate the sum of £300 to the P.I.C.T.

 A big thank you to you all!

  To the tennis...

 

We had 9 pairs this year, well that's not entirely true as we allowed a trio to enter in the shape of Ace Bothwick, Brian Garson and David Kentish who were allowed to field any 2 of the 3 squad based on fitness checks before each round. The hidden agenda here was that they had their eyes on the coveted wooden spoon all along as they amassed 2 points in the round robin section. Not sure who got the 2 wooden spoon trophies to keep.

 The Johnson Cup final we had Mike Dobson & Eric Keane facing the holders Martin Dibsdale & John Lloyd Hagger in the final. Amazed after a day's tennis that they opted to play a best of 3 sets final, the experienced holders were too wily for the newcomers who I hope return to try and reverse the result next year. 6-3 6-3.

 

And to the Penman Trophy, which was to be contested by the 3rd year in a row by the holders against yours truly and my partner Matt Kidd in an attempt to grapple the Trophy from their clutches.

  It was Matt Kidd's and my turn in the semi-final to knock out Tony Wood & Steve Maher 6-4, whilst the other semi final was won by Andrew Dunning & Jonathan Clay again 6-4 against Paul Williams & Phil Trudgeon.

 Seeing as Andrew Dunning left his trophy at home Matt & I thought we would not complicate things by beating them this year. Jonathan & Andrew ran out worthy winners 6-2, 6-2, well done, but we will be back!

 Once again thank you to all the players, sponsors and Northampton Lawn Tennis Club.