It seems like only a moment since we finished for the Summer but here we are again with a new season and a new venue. Having been almost terminally inundated by floodwater in 2015 the Carlisle Squash Club has been rebuilt and what a fantastic job the committee and members have made of it. The six courts have been maintained to an excellent standard and offered a suitable location to showcase the skills of the master's circuit players of whom 147 entered, almost matching last season's record. Even more encouragingly for the circuit, 45 of the masters were entering a regional tournament for the first time with many travelling from right across the country.

To the results:

WO65: This was played as a round-robin with the number 1 seed, Maureen Carroll (Scotland) winning out over the number 2, Bett Dryhurst in a closely fought 3-2 tussle in the final match.

WO60: Was scheduled as a round-robin but with a last-minute withdrawal due to illness, only one match could be played with Pauline Douglas (Scotland) winning out over Lesley Sturgess, 3-0.

WO55: Also a round-robin, all the matches went with the seeding with the number 1, Hilary Kenyon (Cheshire) topping the pool and Sarah Howlett in second.

WO45/50: Izzy Bramhall (Nottinghamshire) came through a close 5 game semi-final against Kay Fallows before beating the number 1 seed, Sarah Parr, in the final 3-1.

WO35/40: Played as two pools with playoffs. The pool matches all went comfortably with seeding leaving the top in each, Nicky Green (Norfolk) and Gemma Barber, to contest the final where the depth and power of Nicky's hitting gave her a 3-0 win.

MO75: All the matches went with seeding and having survived a close 3-2 scare in the quarter-final, the redoubtable Adrian Wright (Yorkshire) came through to comfortably take the final, 3-0 over Ken Reid.

MO70: The number 2 seed, Barry Featherstone (Hampshire) won a marathon final, 3-2 against Ian Ross (Scotland). Much appreciation to Ian for being competitive even though suffering a bout of food poisoning overnight.

MO65: Ian Holmes (Nottinghamshire) worked his socks off to beat the number 2 seed, Terry Belshaw, in the lower semi-final only to then run up against the hitting of the number 1 seed, Mark Cowley (Middlesex), in the final. Playing for the first time in this age group, Mark had too much power and pace, running out the winner 3-1.

MO60: Some new faces in this draw and a couple of upsets along the way to a final pitting Jon Evans (Wales) against one of the players of last season, Jeremy Goulding (Avon). Jeremy took the first game, but Jon recovered to win 3-1.

MO55: A large and competitive draw in the MO55. With his strong movement and hitting, local player David Box took out the number 2 seed, John Parkes in the semi-final only to meet the all-round game of the number 1 seed, Alex Betts (Middlesex) in the final. Alex proved to have too much control of the ball and the court and was the winner, 3-0.

MO50: The number 1 seed, Andrew Murray (Warwicks), blitzed a path to the final where he met another stalwart of the England team, number 2 seed Andrew Cross (Durham & Cleveland). After taking a close fourth game to stay in the match, Andrew Murray ran out the final game comfortably to win 3-2.

MO45:  Paul Thomas upset the number 1 seed, Matt Stephenson, in the semi-final to set up a decider with the number 2 seed, Joss Hargrave (Leicestershire). Despite some heave hitting from Joss, Paul maintained his strong run to take the title 3-0.

MO40: Unfortunately only a small entry for the MO40 meant it was played as a single round-robin pool. Having survived a close 3-2 result on Friday night, the number 1 seed, Mike Potter (Cheshire) was too accurate for the number 2 seed, Adam Giles (Wiltshire) in the final match of the event, comfortably winning 3-1.

MO35: Also a small entry and played as two round-robin pools with playoffs. The senior Nick Wall (Yorkshire) was playing down several age groups but still had too much fitness and retrieval for the opposition, beating Tony Webb (Surrey) in the final 3-1.

Thank you to Carlisle Squash Club for hosting the event and providing such excellent facilities for us to enjoy. Also to Ronnie Bell, Victoria Bell, and Damian Whelan for the preparation prior to and support during the weekend. Special thanks to the referees – Eddie Docherty, Mike Halpin, and Ged Shields and also to Ben Welton who joined us on Saturday as part of his mission 2022 development.

Finally, the tournaments would not happen without the work done by our event organisers, Brian, and Roz Brock. Many thanks to them both.