A lovely day at Writtle for our match in the 1sr round of the GC Inter-Club Championship versus Watford represented by Jason Carley (-1) Simon Hathrell (-1) Geoff Johnson (0) and Steve Dennis (2). The format for the match was 7 best of 3 level play games including 1 doubles between nos 1 and 2 of each team and, of course, 6 singles. Our team of Paul Bridgman (3) Tony Frewin (3) John Mariner (3) and Karen Jones (4) against the odds played their hearts out and the tributes paid by Watford at the end of the match whilst we enjoyed tea and cakes kindly supplied by Anne and Betty were entirely genuine. The first game on lawn 1 was a doubles between Paul and Tony for Chelmsford and Simon Hathrell and Jason Carley for the visitors who had little trouble in taking the first point 7-3 7-5. On lawn 2 John overcame Steve Dennis 7-4 7-5 whilst Karen fought well to lose in 3 to Geoff Johnson 5-7 7-6(phew) 1-7. Lunchtime score Chelmsford 1 Watford 2. After lunch Paul and Tony put their morning form behind them well and truly with Paul winning 7-4 7-2 over Simon and Tony, after a lengthy battle, beating Jason 7-5 5-7 7-6. Two tremendous wins gaining them lots of index points and making the match score at that point Chelmsford 3 Watford 2. Could we achieve the impossible as on lawn 1 John took on Geoff whilst with secondaries Karen had to play Steve. Hopes were high for Karen as she won her first set 7-4 whilst John narrowly lost 6-7. By this time tea and cakes were being served to the onlookers as we hoped for a momentous victory. Alas it was not to be as John lost in two straight 6-7 5-7 whilst Steve recovering from his defeat in the morning found his form to take the last two sets to seize victory for Watford 4-7 7-5 7-3. Final Result: Chelmsford 3 Watford 4 Congratulations to Watford and we wish them luck in the next round versus either Roehampton or Dulwich. Incidentally the last time Chelmsford entered this competition was in 2008 when we lost to Dulwich. Can anyone remember the team that played that match? Let us hope that it will not be another decade before we do battle once more in either this premier competition or the less onerous Murphy Shield.