On Saturday 14th May Chelmsford travelled to Newport for their first match in this year’s Essex and Suffolk League. On a dry but slightly overcast day a close match ensued with Newport running out winners by 4 matches to 3. The morning doubles match saw Chelmsford captain Ron Atkinson (16) teamed with John Skuse (14) losing narrowly to Fran Lambert (12) and Jim Potter (4.5) by -4T. In the two morning singles David Ebert (18) beat Bernard Yallop (12) +17T and Ian Warnock (14) lost to Dennis Saville (11) -18. Lunch score – Newport 2,Chelmsford 1. In the four afternoon singles there were Chelmsford wins for Ron Atkinson (+6 v Bernard Yallop) and Ian Warnock (+4 v Jim Potter), but defeats for David Ebert (-2 v Fran Lambert) and John Skuse (-6 v Dennis Saville), resulting in a final match score of 4-3 to Newport. The next EACF league match is on Saturday June11th at Ipswich.