Bathurst Cup remembered
The Bathurst Cup is Tennis’ flagship international team event, first contested in 1922.
The Bathurst Cup is Tennis’ flagship international team event, first contested in 1922.
After a fair amount of cajoling, on 29 March 2023 sixteen past and present team members assembled for dinner in the excellent space above and behind the east court at Queen’s. Sadly, only the estimable aforementioned Robert Shenkman, by now the Amateur Champion, attended from the nine men and women who had played in the 2022 matches.
Richard Cooper, on his first outing since heart surgery in February, and Andrew Windham, who had travelled specially from as far away as Cape Town, were perhaps the most dedicated attendees.
I reckoned that the room contained 43 years of Amateur Champions.
Inevitably, players exchanged tales of hip and / or knee replacement operations and war stories of distant tennis matches. Howard Angus, the first speaker, commendably has none of the former and plenty of the latter. Howard dredged his memory to speak of his Bathurst Cup memories 1969 – 1986. I spoke secondly, to cover the period I played: 1986 – 2011. I was pleased to be able to commend my primary teammates over that period: Mike McMurrugh, Andrew Page and James Acheson-Gray. The third speaker was Robert Shenkman, who undertook to continue to respect the traditions of the Bathurst Cup. Others who spoke, either to contribute their own memories or to respond to any barb I had launched in their direction included Mick Dean, Andrew Page and James Acheson-Gray.
It was a thoroughly convivial evening, much enjoyed by all, where we were pleased to display the splendid Bathurst Cup trophy mid-table.
Julian Snow
Standing, left to right: Kevin McCollum, Andrew Windham, Mark Howard, Richard Cooper, James Male, Mick Dean, Alan Lovell, Robert Shenkman, Andrew Page, Anthony Hothfield, Howard Angus.
Seated, left to right: James Acheson-Gray, Peter Wright, Nigel Pendrigh, Julian Snow, Mike McMurrugh.