The Sun Always Shines On St Bees
22/06/26: The fourth St.Bees Invitational tournament took place at the weekend, with the world's most northerly Fives courts bathed in glorious sunshine.
Fives at St.Bees has been going from strength to strength in recent years and this year's group of Fives travellers - Alex Abrahams, Matt Davis, Kristiana Smilovska, Mark Yates, Charlotta Cooley, Harry Asquith, Tom Goodman and Gareth Hoskins, hunting high and low for a good game - were able to enjoy two days of matches with a strong group of senior school players as well as some improving youngsters and the school's coaching supremos Laurence Gribble and Brad Simpson.
Two separate tournaments were played, one on Saturday afternoon and one on Sunday morning, both following a similar pattern of mix and match games, with partners and opponents changing from round to round. Saturday's final featured the four top-scoring St.Bees students, with Fives captain Philippe partnering one half of the Schools' Championships Festival winning pair Vicky against the Year 11 pairing of Bobby & Battal, a thrilling encounter which reached 10-10 before the Year 11 boys got their noses in front at the end to win 12-10. By this stage the sun was out, the weather set fair and play was followed by a trip to the beach for swimming and ice creams followed by a meal at the Manor, which was accompanied by a set in the neighbouring bar from the school Head of Music, accompanied by some enthusiastic local karaoke artists singing a range of songs, although nothing by Aha.
The Sunday tournament - divided into two parts, before and after brunch - was run on similar lines but this time the two top-scoring pupils were joined by the two top-scoring adults. For the second time in two days, Philippe was back in the final looking to go one better than Saturday and ready to take on me or anyone else he was put up against. As it was, he and Bobby found themselves up against each other, with Philippe partnering former Windsor & Eton stalwart and now Cumbria resident Tom Goodman and Bobby alongside St Bees Deputy Head Laurence. In a near action replay of the previous day, the two pairs matched each other point for point up to 10-10, before Bobby & Laurence got the last couple of points to win, the winning shot a magnificent drive to the back left bricks from way out of court from Bobby.
This is now a well-established June event, and well worth the trip for any Fives players who might like to come along. It beats the living daylights out of most Fives weekends. If you're interested in taking part next year, do let us know.
As always, we'd like to thank Laurence, Brad and everyone at St.Bees for their warm welcome, hospitality and for laying on two days of perfect, sunny weather!
