Deeside Piper 10th April, 2009

Check out this week's Piper (http://www.deesidepiper.co.uk/sport/Banchory-clinches-cup.5152365.jp) featuring the following photo and article:

Squash

Banchory clinches the cup

The Banchory squash team lifted the Grampian Squash Division Four Team Knockout trophy by beating league champions Shell in a nail-biting final.

The team currently has no home court after losing access to the courts they previously used at Tor-na-Coille Hotel last year.However a handful of Banchory squash players persevered to maintain a presence in the Grampian Squash Leagues and found an alternative squash court for their home matches.The season drew to a close last Friday (April 3) with the team knockout trophy with Banchory edging past Garioch in the quarter-finals before recording a convincing win over ASRC Raeburn in the semi-finals to earn a place against Shell in the final.

An early lead built by number five Mark Everard was worn away in a tough fourth string match between Michael Boyne and Shell's Andrew Forbes.At third, Banchory's Gary Small was up against Robbie Patterson, the division's individual champion. A stalwart performance by Gary prevented Shell running away with the match as he pulled the score back against Robbie's substantial lead so that Banchory were only five points behind going into the second string match.Neil Young faced Shell's Graham Cowie next having lost to the Shell player in both of their previous league encounters. However, a determined effort by Neil allowed him to control the match and take an unexpected 26-13 win, giving Banchory an eight-point margin going into the final tie.

At number one, Keith Thomson faced Shell's Glenn Western, whom he had lost to in their previous league meeting. Glenn did manage to take a threatening lead but a typically strong performance from Keith allowed him to prevail and win by one point to give Banchory an overall 96-87 victory.In addition to the cup, Banchory have enjoyed a successful season in the league.

After a shaky start the team found themselves in fifth place at the midway point but settled down in the second half to pick up a few strong wins to finish third overall.Neil Young said: "The squash team would like to express their special thanks to Andrew Salvesen for the use of his Findrack court. By letting the squash team invade his home every other week for league matches, he has allowed competitive squash to survive and flourish in the area."The team would also like to say thank you to Jamie Burnett for the use of his Crathes court for practice and training. Hopefully, in the longer term, the Banchory squash team will establish a more permanent home in the proposed Hill of Banchory sports centre that is currently under discussion."

Any squash players interested in playing competitively should contact Neil Young on (01330) 824350.

Roxanne's latest rant

The Piper not only featured Roxanne's latest rant against the local councillors - her revenge, it seems, for getting her planning permission turned down - on page one, but also page 2 - and they printed her letter in full in the letters page as well:

RS-M obviously still has friends at the Piper.

Hell hath no fury etc.......

Snowed in at Findrack

The weather didn't deter Richard, Keith, Malcolm and I yesterday and we fought our way through the deep snow to Findrack to play doubles. I was driving Jo's car and couldn't get it all the way up the hill so had to walk the last 100 yards. It snowed again when we were playing and this was Keith's car when we came out:

and Malcolm's:

I had to be rescued by the others as the car wouldn't move but a combination of Malcolm's shovel and a push from Richard and Keith got me going again.

Who says the enthusiasm for squash is diminishing?

Findrack doubles video

Some "action" from Saturday's doubles:

More doubles action - 27 Sep

Two new faces played at Findrack on Saturday - the return of Dave W and Dan C's first appearance on court for a number of years:

Findrack videos

Here's the tour of the facilities:

;

and some "live" doubles action

Findrack

Up the long driveway at Findrack, take the driveway that leads directly behind the white house and head up to the cottage/stable block. This is what you should then see:


The entrance to the courts is through the door that is open above - not through the porch on the left, which takes you in to one of the cottage bedrooms, currently occupied by one of his (foreign) estate workers.

You enter at viewing gallery level. The WC, showers (2) and (very) small changing room are on the right of the corridor as you go in, and the hot water switch is on the left opposite the showers - please remember to switch off after use.

Up a mini-ramp towards the viewing gallery and the 4 switches for the court heaters are on your right. Because there were 5 of us playing, Malcolm and Rob (Sutherland - remember him?) chose to change on the viewing gallery:



The view of the court from the gallery:

and the view up towards the gallery from the court, with Harry and Malcolm looking down on Rob below:

Richard warms up with Harry:

Richard and Harry play Rob and Malcolm:

Video to follow.