English Nationals Championships 2022, Hatfield, 2022

 James Buckle, with his partner, Phil Richardson (Gloucestershire) had an excellent Nationals Tournament O65 MD.

Winning their group they faced a strong pair in the semi-finals who they beat 17 & 12.

In the finals they faced a quality pair who had multiple National, European & World Championship titles between them, Ian Purton (surrey) & John Molyneux (Surrey).  It was an excellent match that ebbed & flowed.  In the 3rd end Ian & John won 21- 19.

James & Phil should be very pleased with their National runners-up medal

Launa Eyles & Kerry Mullen played in the West of England Tournament in Bath in November.
In their O60 WD group they were unbeaten to become West of England Champions – well done!

  Launa played in the O55's XD with Barry Harris and they had an excellent day.  They won their group and played the No 1 seeds,  Trevor Rogers (Essex) & Amanda Jayne Austin (Essex), in the final. A very close match followed with Launa & Barry just edging it 21-18 in the 3rd end.  Congratulations! 

 Kerry played in the O60 XD with Simon Wootton (Dorset).  They won their box with all matches going to 3 ends.  In the final they played a very strong pair, John Bowker (Lancashire) & Karen Carter (Avon) and finished as runners-up.

 James Buckle & Phil Richardson (Gloucestershire) played in the O65 MD .  In a group of 5 they won all of their matches and became West of England Champions. 

 James then played in the O65 XD with Anne Bridge & was again victorious – winning convincingly 15 & 9 in the final.  Double Champion – well done, James. 

 Pete Allen, partnered by Robert Hemstock  (Buckinghamshire) played very well at the West of England O35 MD Tournament in Bath in November 2022.  They finished as runners-up to No 1 seeds Anthony Clark (Devon) & Barry Garnham (Avon).  Congratulations!

Launa Eyles & Kerry Mullen played in the Northumberland Masters Tournament.  The size of the entry had been swelled by a large contingent of Ireland players travelling to play a friendly ‘English Counties v  Ireland Select’ match on Friday in which both Launa & Kerry played .

In the O60 WD tournament on Saturday Launa & Kerry won their group beating, among others, a tough pair from yorkshire.  In the final they had to play the Ireland O55 champions – Pam Peard & Heather Harron. An excellent match followed with Launa & Kerry edging it 22-20 & 21-18.  Congratulations

 Kerry then played in the O60 WS.  She beat all the other entrants to become Northumberland Champion.  Well done! 

 Launa played in the O60 XD with Roger Leigh (Lancashire).  They won their group.  In the semi-final they played a strong pair, John Bowker (Lancashire) & Ann Walker (Yorkshire) who they beat in 2 sets, 15 & 16.  In the final they faced another strong pair Martin Staden (Kent) & Kay Armer (Cumbria) & were again victorious 15 & 14.  Another excellent result!  

James Buckle & Phil Richardson (Gloucestershire) travelled to Kent to play in the 2022 Kent Masters Tournament  O65 MD.  They won their group & qualified for the semi-final where they played the No 1 seeds Keith Horton (Surrey) & Ian Purton (Surrey) who they beat in a close match.  In the final they faced Trevor Hampson (Worcestershire) & Ian Nicholls (Avon), the No 2 seeds, and in a good 3 end match James & Phil emerged as winners!

In the O65 XD James played with Anne Bridge (Surrey).  Winning their group of 5 relatively comfortably, including defeating the No 2 seeds. They played the No 1 seed in the finals, Ian Purton & Christine Crossley (both Surrey).  After a tough match against the current World Champions, James & Anne finished as runners-up. 

An excellent weekend for James – well done!

Kelly Fairey played with Natalie Taylor (Cambridgeshire) in the O35 WD.  In a tough round robin group they finished as runners-up to Suzanne Brewer (Bedfordshire) & Claire Royall (Surrey) losing a very close & excellent match 25-23, 16-21, 22-20.

In the O40 XD playing with Paul Freeman (Kent) they went one better.  Winning their group comfortably they played Laura Farquhar (Dorset) & Paul Le Tocq (Guernsey)  in the final & won to 16 in another close & exciting match – an excellent weekend for Kelly. Well done!

 Launa Eyles & Kerry Mullen played in the European Championships in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in August, 2022.

They had a bye in the first round of the O60 WD then they comfortably beat a pair from Germany.  In the quarter-finals they played a pair from Poland who had just come into the age group so were young (!).  In a tough 3 set match the pair from Poland won and went on to become European Champions

In the O55 XD Kerry was paired with a scratch partner from Sweden, Michael Karlsson.  Playing a pair from Lithuania & Estonia, Kerry & Mike narrowly lost 18 & 19.

Launa played in the O60 XD with Gene Joyner (Avon).  They got through 3 rounds beating pairs from France & Scotland.  In the quarter finals they played a very experienced German pair, Heidi Bender & Ralf Russler.  In an excellent match the Germans came through 24-22 in the 3rd end

 James Buckle played in the O60 MD with Phil Richardson (Gloucestershire).  They beat pairs from Germany & Croatia before losing to a combined English/Scottish pair in the quarter-finals.  Their opponents, pictured with James above, went on to become European Champions.

James played in the O60 XD with Anne Bridge (Surrey) and reached the Round of 16 losing to the eventual runners up who came from Sweden/Netherlands

James Elkin in the Over 55 MD partnered by Dutch player, Mike van Dall, he lost to an Irish pair who also beat James in 2018

In the XD, partnered by Mandy Holland (Essex) James reached the round of 32

In the O40 XD Kelly Fairey playing with Paul Freemen (Kent).  They won the first round against a pair from England & Sweden comfortably, then they beat a pair from Norway before losing in 3 ends to a German pair.

Kelly also played in the O40 WD with Natalie Taylor (Cambridgeshire).  They beat a pair from Spain comfortably.  Then they had to play a good pair from Sweden and lost

In the 2022 Essex Masters Kelly Fairey played with Natalie Taylor (Cambridgeshire) and they were runners-up in the O40 WD Tournament.

In the O40 XD with Justin Andrews (Gloucestershire) they won their group comfortably and played Paul Mayfield (Lincolnshire) & Mhairi Armstrong (Bedfordshire) in the final which they lost in the 3rd end.  A good weekend for Kelly – well done!