Hove Win Parks League

Congratulations to Hove Park on securing the 2023 Division 1 title, and retaining the Charles Beckett Shield for a third consecutive season. They will collect their trophy at the Parks League awards ceremony, held directly after the conclusion of the End Of Season tournament on Saturday 16 September.

Martin Patrick writes:

Hove Park had their clay courts and floodlights installed at the end of last year and all the clubs’ players were eagerly awaiting the start of the Parks League season to play competitive tennis matches in our new environment. Thank you to those players from other clubs who kindly gave us positive feedback about our courts and I do hope everyone enjoyed playing on them. A massive thank you to Neil Dickson (our fantastic Hove Park Tennis Alliance Chairman) who lead the way and worked tirelessly to make these changes happen.

There was also the very successful Parks League App for submitting results (a big relief to those of us with bad handwriting) that came into force across the leagues this summer.

This was a tough season in Division One with the Hove, Dyke and Queens First teams battling it out for the title. Hove had some great close matches against their nearest two rivals and some tight three set matches against the King Alfred, Saltdean and Preston Park teams.

Hove managed to win the league in their last match of the season at the Dyke in a very competitive match that had to be rearranged twice (like many other matches across the leagues this season). This adverse weather resulted in many of us keeping a ‘close eye’ on the Met Office app (other brands are also available ) throughout the season!

Many thanks to the following Hove players (who represented the First team) for their fantastic commitment and performances this season: Alistair Alexander, Basia Suzin, Helen Almond, Josh Pollard, Thomas Pollard, Marc Manton, Tom Manton, Lauren Gunning, Yasmin Coleman, Eloise Saville, Jo Davis, Amy Slonje, Kevin Garratt, Fariss Barakat, David Taylor, Keith Gill, Darren Pollard, Lucy Chadburn and Penny Telford. Like every other team, unfortunately there were illnesses and injuries throughout the season so even I had to play as well (at least the opposition were pleased to see me) and hence a total of twenty players played for Hove First team.

Many thanks to Alistair Alexander, Basia Suzin and Mick Cox for their help and guidance throughout the season and the Hove supporters who were kind enough to support us in all sorts of weather conditions.

Thank you to the Parks Committee who work so hard and give up their time to make the Brighton and Hove Parks league such a great place to play competitive tennis. The Parks league has been going for nearly one hundred years for a reason!