The County Closed Championships, postponed from March because of the bad weather, finally took place on Saturday 24th November 2018 at Catton Grove School.

A total of eight events were contested and the day saw some keen competitition across all age categories.

In the Mens Senior event Neil Charles, Keith Phillips,Dan Milburn, Jamie McIntosh, Chris Cockburn, Stuart Laws, Tony Zeqiri and Andy Hawes fought their way out of their respective groups into the quarter-finals. Pick of the quarter-final matches was between Tony Zeqiri and Andy Hawes in which Tony took a 2-0 lead only for Andy to fight back to earn a place in the semis. Also winning through to the semi-finals were Neil Charles, Chris Cockburn and Jamie Mcintosh. Andy Hawes had another titanic match in his semi-final against Chris Cockburn in which Chris squaundered a match point in the fourth set before losing 11-6 in the decider. Neil Charles had a relaively comfortable win over Jamie Mcintosh and went on to retain his title with a 11-5,13-11,11-6 against a tiring Andy.

Neil Charles also claimed the Veteran's title with another comfortable win against Andy Hawes. Beaten sem-finalists were Keith Phillips and Jamie Mcintosh.

A small entry in the Ladies Singles saw the event played on a round-robin basis. Some excellent close matches ensued with Laura Marsh emerging as champion and Debbie Drew taking the runners-up medal.

In the Senior Mixed Doubles Event the pairings of Andy Hawes and Jamie Mcintosh, Stuart Laws and Laura Marsh, Simon and Archie Rayner and Tony Zeqiri and Chris Cockburn all made it through to the semi-finals. In the semis Tony and Chris beat the father and son Rayners while Andy and Jamie overcame Laura and Stuart. The final saw Andy and Jamie take the first set comfortably before a delighted Tony and Chris fought back to win 3-1 and take the title.

In the Junior events the Under 12 Mixed title went to Darcy Brewer after an excellent final against Ben Hawes. The losing semi-finalists were Marissa Brooks and Jake Andrews.

The Under 15 Mixed semi-finals saw Lewis Ross win in five close sets against James Taylor Toby Bland beat Tom Weston in four sets.  The final was another excellent contest with Toby coming from two sets down to beat Lewis 11-7 in the fifth.

A good entry in the Under 18 Mixed Singles saw Archie Rayner,James Taylor, Finlay Hewson, Toby Bland, Ed Horton, Patrick Parle, Lewis Ross and Alfie Nichols all make it through to the quarter-finals. Archie, Finlay, Ed and Lewis all won their respective ties to get through to the semis in which Archie beat Finlay and Lewis overcame Ed. In the final Archie triumphed over Lewis in four sets to take the title.

Their were some splendidly close matches in the Junior Mixed Doubles Event. In one semi-final Archie Rayner and Finlay Hewson overcame Alex Edmunds and Lewis Ross 14-12 in the fifth set  while the other semi was equally as close, with Ed Horton and Alexander Bragg beating Tobie Bland and Alfie Nichols 14-12 in the decider.  In the final Archie and and Finlay came from 2-0 down against Ed and Alexander to win 11-6 in the decider. 

Overall a very good days table-tennis, Thanks, as always, are owed to Dennis and Margaret for their impeccable organisation and Lindsey for her statistical info not forgetting, of course, her bacon rolls. Also a big thank you to the merry band that stayed behind to help clear the hall, including Chris Cockburn and Janet Kelly.