Newsletter - Summer 2026 

NOTES FROM THE CHAIR

Halfway through another season and there is a great deal of activity to come for GBV members.

Firstly, we have changes afoot. The GBV tournament this year will be on May 16^th at the Berkhamsted club and will be a graded event, as a trial. Jo Magor who sells out his events will be assisting with this new venture. The RAC at Woodcote Park will be closed in the latter part of the year. This means that the Festival of Squash will have a new venue for 2026 at the Roehampton Club. They are celebrating their 125^th Anniversary and will replace the Army team against GBV, RAC and Escorts.

New innovations are the group email that will alert all members to new articles on the website. Players are also being offered the opportunity to play in a GBV match but request a racketball opponent.

Finally, can I give you September 28^th as the Golf Day at Surbiton and confirmation that our AGM will again be on Zoom in October..

Ian Graham, GBV Chair

ONE PLAYER - FIVE QUESTIONS

Vinnie Taylor

"Freddie Trueman told me about this, too."

 If you're interviewing someone in 2026, quotes like that don't come any better, pure gold dust. It was followed by, "He bowled me a bouncer and I hit it for four." The advice from Fred in the bar afterwards was to get more inside the line, so if you missed, the ball didn’t hit you in the face. That was in pre-helmet days. Apparently, on his way back to his mark following Vinnie's boundary, Trueman uttered a series of unprintable comments, but he was very friendly after the match. (For less venerable vets in the club, a word of explanation: F S Trueman was an iconic Yorkshire and England fast bowler in the 1950s and 60s, the first bowler to take a then inconceivable 300 wickets in Test matches. Trueman was renowned for his fiery temperament.)

Vinnie Taylor is a Canadian - and Scottish - member of GB Vets whom many in the club may not know since he is based in Ottawa. The above quote shows that Vinnie's sports accomplishments extend beyond squash. In his time as a regular member of the Canadian cricket team, including captaining the side, Vinnie also faced the formidable fast bowling pair of Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith during a West Indies tour to Canada. Over a contemporary WhatsApp link, he nevertheless appears unmarked.

Vinnie was born in 1938 in Manchester and lived in Hale to the South West of the city throughout the war. In the summer of 1945, his family moved to North Berwick, then Gullane - his father was Scottish - before emigrating to Toronto in 1951. He learned to play golf at North Berwick and Gullane, and talks about using a telescope from the family home to watch Henry Cotton playing in the Open at nearby Muirfield. Vinnie “fell in love with squash” – then hardball – at the Toronto Cricket Skating and Curling Club while he was at uni studying engineering. For him squash was a winter game, which dovetailed well with cricket, but as a part timer he nevertheless reached the semifinals of the US National Doubles Championships, and represented Ontario on the team that in 1969 won the US National Team Championships. More…

For the complete interview and the 5 Questions go to the Home Page of the GB Vets website and view under ‘Spring 2026 Newsletter’ – Vinnie Taylor interview’.

NEW MEMBERS

We warmly welcome the following new members who have joined since the last Newsletter

Matt Uren

Richard Murphy

Sian Johnson

Martin Vicary

David Robertson

Sam Mueller

Peter Bailey

Matt Clarke

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

COLETS - 25 FEB / 1 MAR

5 WINNERS :

MO65
MARK WOODLIFFE

MO70
DAVID MATTHEW

MO75
IAN GRAHAM

MO80
CHRIS ANSELL

WO45
CATHY RUFFLE

3 FINALISTS :

MO75
LARRY GROVER

MO80
ROBERT SMITH

WO65
KAREN HUME

THE BURRELL TROPHY

This trophy is awarded annually ‘to the member considered to have served the Club well and enhanced its reputation in the wide world of squash’. In 2025 it was awarded to:

Ian Graham

HOME INTERNATIONALS

We congratulate the following 32 GB Vets members who were selected to play for their Country in the Home Internationals during April and May in one of 4 venues – Cardiff, Nottingham, Galway and Aberdeen.  England unless specified- S=Scotland, W=Wales.

MO50 Matthew Stephenson (Captain)

MO55 Peter Buchan (S)

MO60 Eamonn Price, Darren Withey.        

MO65 Riichard Millman (Captain),Allen Barwise, Tom Burton, Robbie Blair (S)

MO70 David Matthew (Captain), Mike Quartley, Peter Quarman, Martin Vicary (W)

MO75 Ian Graham (Captain), Bryan Francis, Barry Featherstone, John Hithersay, Ian Ross (S)

WO35/40 Keeley Steel, Mhairi Gritz (S)

WO45 Cathy Ruffle

WO50 Louisa Dalwood (Captain), Sarah Parr.

WO55 Alison Goy (Captain), Mandy Akin, Wendy Norris (W) Captain, Sian Johnson (W)

WO60 Tammy Bennett, Julie-Anne Pegram, Sian Johnson (W), Lynne Davies (W)

WO65 Sue Pynegar (Captain), Julie-Anne Pegram, Lesley Sturgess, Sian Johnson (W)

Across all the contests the final results were :

England 10 1st place, 3 2nd place, 2 3rd place and 0 4th place

Ireland 0 1st, 5 2nd, 3 3rd, 7 4th

Scotland 3 1st, 3 2nd, 4 3rd, 5 4th

Wales 2 1st, 4 2nd, 6 3rd, 4 4th

A special mention to GB Vets member and ESM Home International Coordinator Allen Barwise, who puts a tremendous amount of work into all four weekends.

INTER-CLUB MATCH RESULTS

ROEHAMPTON  – 15 January                Postponed

OXFORD UNIVERSITY – 25^th January   GB Vets beat Oxford Uni 7-6

ETON – 7^th February                                GB Vets drew 3-3

POLICE UK – 21^st February                 .  GB Vets lost to Police 6-7

FITZWILLIAM – 21^st February                GB Vets beat Fitzwilliam 3-2

HURLINGHAM – 5^th March                 .   GB Vets beat Hurlingham 4-1.
Full results, report and photos can be found on the Home Page of our website, www.gbvs.co.uk

ESCORTS – 12^th March.                          GB Vets drew 3-3

WALES MASTERS – 21^st  March            GB Vets lost 4-5.
Full results, report and photo can be found on the Home Page of our website.

RAC PALL MALL – 30^th March.              GB Vets lost 0-5.
Full results, report and photos can be found on the Home Page of our website.

YORK TOUR REPORT

GB VETS WIN VS WIGGINGTON 27^th MARCH 4-3

The Vets enjoyed a narrow win against a strong Wiggie side. Wins for Robin Ridley, Joe McAuley, Nick Gollaglee and Cathy Ruffle. Close defeats for Matt Stephenson, Allen Barwise and Ian Graham.

GB VETS WIN VS DUNNINGTON 28^th MARCH 6-2

Previous encounters between the two sides saw comprehensive wins for the home side, this time however, the Vets got the upper hand. There were three high class and close contests in a 6-2 win for the Vets.

Allen Barwise.

Full results, report and picture of both matches can be found on the Home Page of our website.

NEW HISTORY OF THE CLUB

Do you know where and when the Club was founded?

When were the Club Championships introduced?

How many and which events started the Championships?

For full history and answers to the above visit ‘About Us’ on our website.

FANCY PLAYING SQUASH IN CAIRO?

New member, Martin Vicary, is trying to get a group together to play in a new Masters Tournament being played in Cairo in August 2026. Detail;s have not been fully confirmewd yet but the event is being run under the auspices of the European Squash Federation masters circuit.

Anyone interested please contact Martin on vicarymartin@aol.co.uk

UPCOMING MATCHES FOR 2026

DATE

16 May
April/May
3/7 June
20 June
30 Aug/6 Sep
24 September
28 September
15 November

 EVENT

GBV Club Finals Weekend
Home Internationals
ESM British Open
GBV vs Civil & Fire Service
World Masters
GBV vs Dorking
GBV Golf Day
Festival of Squash

VENUE

Berkhamsted
4 venues
Solihull Arden
Nottingham
Perth, Australia
Dorking
Surbiton
Roehampton

CONTACT

Keith Ragg
ESM Website
ESM Website
Nick Sheppard
WSF Website
Derek Wright
Geoff Howes
Ian Graham