Sudden death in West London....
The Management Consultants take it to the other Livery champions at Queens....
Not a personal tragedy, but one of the rules in the Inter-Livery Tennis Tournament held at Queens Club in the second week of September. Court Assistant Bob Harris and our Clerk Julie Fox teamed up for the first time to represent the Management Consultants in this mixed doubles tournament which has been held annually for the past 20 years or so. The tournament is organised by the Worshipful Company of Feltmakers, and 24 pairs participate from a wide range of Livery Companies. This year there were 14 Livery Companies represented and the Management Consultants were the only modern livery company to enter the tournament – with the next youngest company having been founded over 400 years ago.
The tournament commenced at 1130 on one of the hottest and most humid days of the summer, taking place on the shale courts at Queens. The 24 pairs were divided into six groups of four, each playing the other three pairs in their group in a round-robin format, comprising 9 games, with the second deuce point being “sudden death”. Our intrepid pair – not having played together before, nor having played on shale courts for a while – found that our first match was against last year’s losing finalists, comprising a full-time tennis coach and an equally talented lady partner. We felt that we did well to achieve 1-8 in games. Our second match was against Sir Alan Yarrow (formerly Lord Mayor of London in 2014-15) and his wife Gilly. We were gracious enough not to embarrass them and returned a 4-5 result. Our final group match was also closely fought and we once again achieved a good second place.
The tournament then moved to the knockout phase, with group winners and the two best second-placed pairs playing in the Championship, and the remainder including Bob & Julie participating in the Plate Competition. We won our (best of 7 games) first round match against much younger opponents 4-2, but by then we were melting in the sun and we lost our quarter-final 2-4. This gave us the opportunity to acquire some cold Pimms and lager from the Queens Club bar, and watch the semi-final and final matches in the Championship. The honours went this year to the Salters, who beat the defending champions from the Tallow Chandlers in a closely fought match. The four semi-finalist pairs were clearly regular club players of close to county standard – and somewhat younger than the Management Consultants pairing! Maybe we need another box on the WCOMC application form?
After a further visit to the bar and a welcome shower, we then adjourned to the President’s Room for dinner and presentations to the winners and runners-up of the Championship and the Plate Competition. An enjoyable day in the delightful surroundings of Queen’s Club on a sunny day and an opportunity to mix with a few of the long-established Livery Companies.
Perhaps next year we will unearth some even more talented members to represent the Company!
