News from the Club ...

2019 Club Championships

Our 2019 Club Championships will take place during October, with Finals Day scheduled for Saturday, 2 November

Please get your entry in as soon as possible for this, the Club's premier competiton, the draw will be made during the week commencing 23 September.

September Leagues

The internal leagues for September are now posted on the website, accessible either by using the link (right) or via the on-line booking system. Please note, matches are to be played by Saturday, 5 October 2019.

Please post all results on the Monthly League sheet that is pinned to the noticeboard.

Note also, players who do not play any matches over a two month period will be removed from the leagues. If, however, any member wishes to join (or re-join) the leagues, please contact Jim Tunley.

Congratulations ... John & Emma

From all at the Squash Club, our very best wishes to John Evans and Emma Davies who were married on Sunday, 25 August.

John, with some of his Team mates, played a series of tough round robin games on the eve of his wedding !

Defibrillator installed

At long last ... we have a new Automated External Defibrillator (AED) available for emergency use at the Squash Club.

While we hope that this will never be required, it is important that a sporting club like ours does have access to such a facility.

We will soon be arranging a brief and informal familiarity session and would like as many member volunteers as possible to take part - it may help save a life.

Please let Jim Tunley know as soon as possible if you would like to take part.

Security update

Following on from the serious vandalism in early July that caused members to keep their squash play within restricted hours, a new door and electronic keypad for entry was eventually fitted on 15 August.

Details of the new entry code has been issued to all members and we thank you for your patience over the period since the incident occured.

Training is world class ...

World ranked No. 9, Tesni Evans and her father High Performance Coach, Andrew Evans, were guests of the Club on 30 July, to go through a tough coaching session of racket and fitness routines.

In 2019, Tez retained her British Ladies Championship.

Hannah steps up ...

On 14 July, Hannah Davies took part in an Ultra White Collar Boxing match for Cancer Research UK at Chester Racecourse.

This fantastic challenge was Hannah's latest to raise as much money as possible to help towards finding a cure.
In her words "Getting punched in the face was nothing compared to what my friends and family members have all gone through or are still going through".

Despite being knocked down in the first round, Hannah got up to win the contest - well done.

Although she over-achieved on her target of donations (which were greatly appreciated), it's not too late to support Hannah - go to her Just giving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hannah-davies92.

Another spate of vandalism

Over the evening of 5/6 July, some mindless vandalism took place at the Squash and Cricket Clubs that resulted in our main entrance door being forced open and beers sprayed around the court areas. The Police have attended and evidence has been taken away.

All members will be aware that until a new door is installed, entrance to the Club will need to be made via the Cricket Pavilion. Because this requires doors to be unlocked and locked again later, we have had to restrict court time each day to between 4.00 and 8.30 pm.
Our apologies for this temporary inconvenience.

Looking for new talent ...

Five of our newly qualified Level 1 Coaches recently gave up their time over two days to support a local junior School in their Wellbeing Week.
Over eight one hour sessions, the Coaches helped the youngsters to learn some new basic skills.
See the Juniors Page for details.

Subscriptions are now due ...

Members, please note that your Subscriptions for 2019-20 became due from 1st June.

The recent AGM agreed again to hold fees in all categories this year, as follows:

* Seniors - £90.
* Juniors / Students - £40
[2 children from a family - £60].
* Family - £110.

Light Cards will remain at £3-00 per 45 minute session.

To complete an Application Form, please click on the following link.

2019 - 20 Application Form

2019 Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of the Squash Club was held on 29 May and considered the latest position for a Third Court; the level of subscriptions and light card fees for the following 12 months, as well as the election of officers for 2019-20.

Highlights were for both subscriptions and light card fees to remain unchanged.

Note of 2019 AGM

Condition Game Challenge

Two fine trophies were played for in the Condition Game Challenge which took place on 25 May.

It was a disappointing entry for our end of season fun Challenge, which was won by Asley Piele with Jim Tunley as Runner-up and Cameron Dennis in Third Place.

An "Australian" Master

On 9 May we welcomed to the Club John Prichard, an interesting chap from the other side of the world.

Eighty one year old John was born in Wrexham but, for the last sixty years, has worked around the world, the last fifty in Australia, with a home more recently in the City of Adelaid, South Australia.

John played in the 2018 World Masters Squash Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A. where he reached the Quarter Finals of the Mens Over 80s but lost out to the No 1 seed and eventual winner, England's Lance Kinder.

While staying in Wrexham, John was getting in some practice matches at the Club as well as getting to see again some old sites across North Wales; but then he was off to Hull to compete in the British Masters (21 - 26 May).

UPDATE: John finished in Third Place, having beaten the No 3 seed but losing to the top seed and eventual winner, Michael Gough from USA.

JD on top at Snowdonia

Congratulations to Jonathan Davies on a hard fought victory in the Mens A Event at 2019 Snowdonia Open, played at Bangor University on 18 May.

Jon won his final against Sion Evans 3-0; menwhile, son Josh was also in the Mens A Event and finished in fifth place.

Other players from the Squash Club were involved and finished as follows:-
Will Silvester came fourth in the Mens B Event;
Linsey Silvester was fifth in the Ladies A Event;
Jamie Silvester was Runner-up in the Mens C Event; and
Paloma Cane (Moreton Hall) won the Ladies B Event.

Still time to support Simon & Jo

Congratulations to Simon Koscinski and his wife, Jo who ran in the 2019 London Marathon on 28 April.
It was a great day and both completed the course together in 5 hours 30 minutes.

Funds were being raised for the NSPCC - and it's not too late to support them, please visit their Just Giving website -
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/simon-koscinski3

Wales host Masters Home Internationals

Cardiff was the venue for the 2019 Masters Home Internationals where two players from the Club were involved.

Playing against England, Ireland and Scotland over the weekend 26-27 April, Jonathan Davies captained the Welsh Mens Over 40s Team and Mark Davies was part of the Welsh Mens Over 60s.

Vandalism at the Club

We're sorry to report that an act of serious vandalism has occured at the Squash Club over the weekend 6-7 April, affecting the Mens toilet area.

We do not know how these individuals gained access, however, we have now taken the precaution of altering the security code to the entrance; all members should have received notification of the new code.

Members are asked to remain vigilant when attending the Club; please ensure security of premises when you leave and be aware of any strangers.

North Wales Ladies miss out !

Our North Wales Ladies Team played in the England Squash Inter Counties Finals at Nottingham on 6 April and narrowly missed promotion to the Premier Division.
They beat Cambridgeshire but lost to Warwickshire.

It was a great achievement to make it to the Finals and here's to next year !

Dublin bound

Some of our juniors represented Wales over the weekend 5 - 7 April at the Juniors 5 Nations Mixed Team Championships in Dublin; those players involved were Jamie Silvester (Under 13s), Josh Davies and Dan Lewis (both Under 15s). The boys, accompanied by their families, had a great weekend with the Under 13s achieving a Bronze Medal.
See the Juniors Page for more detail.

We have our Plate Champion !

The 2018 Plate Competition was eventually completed on 25 March, when Craig Stevens and Paul Murphy played the Final.

Craig came through to win the Championship by 3 games to 0.

Our 2019 event will be played as part of the Club Championships, around mid-June.

A Masterful weekend ... !

Huge thanks to everyone involved - players, sponsors, our volunteers and Wales Squash - on a successful first major event at the Club.

Over the weekend 22-24 March we hosted the 2019 North Wales Masters Open Squash Tournament for players of a certain age (35 years and over), with entrants from across the region competing in a range of different age categories.

Special thanks to our local sponsors -
ADL School of Motoring [Alun Lucy & John Hayes];
TLC Nursing Care [Paul Murphy] and
By Product Services [John Williams].

Thanks also to those who ran the event over the weekend - Andrew Evans, Mark Davies and Jim Tunley, with some fantastic support in the kitchen from Sandra, Beth, Hester and Lyn - thank you all for giving your time.

So, who were the winners:-
Men 65+ Winner: Duncan Jones; R'up: Brian Wynn.
Men 60+ Winner: Mark Davies; R'up: Kevin Lloyd.
Men 55+ Winner: Alan Coppack; R'up: Gareth Williams.
Men 45+ Winner: Darren Lee; R'up: Dan Aimer.
Ladies Winner: Carla Louder; R'up: Janet Coleman.
Men 35+ Winner: Jonathan Davies; R'up: Gareth Frost.

Welsh Closed Nationals

Congratulations to Wales Rugby on a fantastic Grand Slam season, beating Ireland 25-7 in their final 6 Nations match on 16 March.

Meanwhile, across Cardiff the Karakal Welsh Closed National Championships were taking place with local players, Hannah and Mark Davies taking part.
We know they were up against some tough opposition but hope that they enjoyed the weekend.

2019 Welsh Champions -
Peter Creed and Tesni Evans.

2019 World Champions

The 2019 Ladies World Champion is Nour El Sherbini, and the Mens Champion is Ali Farag, both from Egypt.

The titles were won at the PSA World Squash Championships on 2 March, held at the iconoc venue of Chicago's Union Station.

Tez retains her British Championship

Huge congratulations to local girl, Tesni Evans, on retaining the 2019 Womens British Championship at Nottingham on 17 February.
In a commanding Final, Tez went on to beat Emily Whitlock 3-0.

The 2019 Mens British Champion is James Willstrop.

Our Juniors are doing well ...

So far in 2019, some of our juniors are achieving really well, representing Wales and as part of one of the best team in the UK - see our Juniors Page for details and photos.

Level 1 Coaching Award

The Club was pleased to host a Wales Squash Course for the Level One Coaching Award on Saturday 16 February.

The Club is seeking to encourage the development of some junior players, as well as look to the future for potential coaches. We had eleven candidates enrolled for the course, with eight of them juniors!

Under the guidance of Wales Squash High Performance Coach, Andrew Evans, there were candidates with a wide range of squash playing ability but all had an interest in taking further the coaching elements.

Our thanks to Andrew and all involved on what was a stimulating day.

2019 Welsh Masters Closed

Mark Davies, was the Club's only entrant at the 2019 Bourse Welsh Masters Closed, in Cardiff over the weekend 8 - 10 February.

Mark was seeded at 4 in the Mens Over 60 category; he made it through to the Semi Finals but then lost out to the Number 1 seeded player.

Squash in New York for Treasurer

Our Club Treasurer, Kevin Jones, has had a New Year treat at the 2019 Tournament of Champions, held in New York City during January at the iconic Vanderbilt Hall, in Grand Central Station.

Kev watched all of the world's top players, who were battling for this top acolade in professional squash. While there, he met up with World Ranked No 10, Tesni Evans from Rhyl and the former World Champion, Nick Matthew.

Tesco Bags of Help Scheme

We were pleased that the Squash Club had been accepted as part of the Tesco Bags of Help Scheme; this grant scheme allows local projects (we were one of three successful projects on this occasion) the opportunity to go forward to a vote in Tesco stores, where their customers decide the outcome by voting for their favourite project each time they shop.

This was a great and unique opportunity; it followed an application made on the basis of the Club's commitment to growing the sport of squash, encouraging greater participation for all and, in particular, with local young people.

Practical support from the Scheme will assist plans for junior development and help ensure this remains sustainable, through the recruitment and development of new coaches, as well as the on-going development and accreditation of our existing coaches.
Funding may also allow us to offer some support to parents accopamying juniors to tournaments organised by Wales Squash, our National Governing Body, in South Wales or abroad.

Importantly, we hope this will go a long way to help secure and support a strong local sporting future at the Squash Club.

The Tesco Bags for Help Grant Scheme continued at the Wrexham store through November and until the end of December.

Members are thanked for their support in voting for the Club.

A Fast & Furious Christmas

The 2018 Fast & Furious Christmas Tournament was held on 7th and 8th December, with around 30 players taking part.

Though we were treated to some excellent squash, in particular from some our rising young and talented players within the Club; in the end, experience prevailed with our Club Champion, Jonathan Davies taking it to became a six times winner as he retained the title, with Hannah Davies as Runner-up.

The Club had a buzz to it all day and our thanks to everyone for their support.

Equity Policy

The Wrexham Brymbo Squash Club Committee is keen to ensure all matters within the Club are treated with respect and fairness and, as such, have now formally acknowledged and adopted the Wales Squash & Racketball Model Equity Policy.

To view the Equity Policy, click on the link -

Equity Policy

Calling all potential coaches . . .

Do you have what it takes to become a qualified squash coach - if so, your Club needs you!

If any Club member has an interest in committing to become a qualified coach, the Squash Club may be able to assist with necessary fees and mentoring.
Please contact either Mark Davies or Jim Tunley to chat it through.

and finally ... all Members to note

To all members - at anytime, if you are the last to leave the Club, please ensure that the showers and all of the lights are turned off.

Please be vigilant in this and report any problems that may arise - thank you.