| THANKYOU,
NOTTINGHAM Fram concludes a hectic first trip to the City ... As usual, I like to tell you a bit about the people that are not performing, like the catering team at the Nottingham Squash Club, mainly the always cheerful Nigel and Tony, but also everybody behind the bar who was able to feed (and provide drinks, only soft drinks though, you know how healthy squash players are…. NOT) about 120 people with good, well presented and very varied food. And of course Ria, at the office, who helped me finding a nice place to write and prepare the articles. Thanks to all… But let’s not forget our referees! The master in command for this event was the International Referee Peter Kramer, and at the desk, Linda Davie, also refereeing and making sure that everybody was fed and looked after (me included, as usual). We had Wendy Danzey, from Nottingham, who was kind enough to welcome a few of the Referees in her home to avoid the cost of accommodation, Lindsay Williams, who was at the desk when she was not refereeing, and Bryan Smith, Dave Atkins, Geoff Williams, Malcolm Parker, Tony Arnold, Ellis Short, John Riley, Graham Dixon, who had to referee the whole day, basically 10 matches! Hardly time to chat, have a cup of tea, or even a visit to the loos! A big big thanks to them. I was told that it was the first year that the Masters had a referee on every court, and I’m sure it made a big difference to the teams… But if you think that the Masters ended this afternoon around 6.30, you are gravely mistaken. Party was the name of the game, or, as we say in French describing the party after a game of rugby, “la troisičme mi-temps”, “the third half-time”. We were all staying at the beautiful Town Centre Royal Moat in Nottingham, only seconds away from the Albert Hall, where the British Open will be staged in a few months. And on Saturday evening, an impressive party was set up inside the Hotel itself, in a huge room, beautifully set up with a round table with the names of all the guests. The food was on time, warm, light, quickly served, and the desserts were, unfortunately, extremely tempting… The Master of Ceremony, and the Big Boss of the Event was the lovely, busy, typically English (well, from a French point of view anyway), witty and discreet Eric Cruttenden, who presented the evening by thanking the creator and inventor of the concept of the International Masters, Peter Wood. Then he introduced Phil Songhurst, who I understand was the manager of the Nottingham Squash Club for 15 years, and made it the home of so many great events. Eric and Phil presented the Trophies to the winning teams, and I’m afraid to have to report that all four went to England. Shame or congratulations? I can’t take sides here. I’m Press.  Then
the over 50 English team gave a little bubbly token to Eric Cruttenden for
his contribution to the event over so many years, then Eric himself
thanked a few people like Phil Songhurst, Linda Davie, Lindsay Williams and
Martin Wren (from the European Squash Federation), and even me! Yes, it would appear that no-one from the Press ever covered the event, and they were rather happy to have a mad French woman taking pictures of everybody and talking to every winner and loser about why, when or how they lost or won…. That was a nice surprise.  But
the highlight of the night came from the Welsh 050 team, and in particular
from Alan James, who not only has a beautiful and warm voice, but
has also an acute sense of derision and humour, as you’ll be able to judge
from this slightly different version of the McCartney classic,Yesterday: “Yesterday, squash was such an easy game to play Now in the 5th I tend to fade away Oh give me back my yesterdays ... Suddenly, I’m not half the player I used to be A dodgy shoulder and a gammy knee And cramp comes on, so suddenly ... Why my legs have gone, I don’t know, it’s hard to say, The court seems twice as long, take me back to yesterday ... Yesterday, I could play a drop and move away Nowadays I stay and block the way Oh yes, I grieve, for yesterday.” I hadn’t laughed so much for a very long time. Like I told you in my previous report, I was very impressed by the Welsh. Now is the moment I apologise. I have to apologise to the teams I didn’t see playing, the matches I couldn’t follow, and the people I couldn’t speak to. I chose to follow one event, the 045 Men, that was 15 matches in less than 24 hours. I wish I could have done a more global report, but I thought it best to stick to only one. Once again, all my apologies to the others… Thank you the Masters organisation, Linda Davie (of course) and all the people who made my first visit to Nottingham a memorable event. Can’t wait to come back to Nottingham… Au revoir… |
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