Thompson Tankards and Halford Hewitt blog 2024
The Whitgift flag flies at Deal in preparation for the centenary competition which starts on Thursday (cover).
And this is where it starts. The first round today (Thursday) v Shrewsbury at 11.30. Yesterday was Peter Kenyon Bowl and the society’s internal foursomes competition, the Thompson Tankards, at Prince’s. And 55 years after he last won it (yes, 55), Robert Hollidge won the Tankards, playing with Jeremy Stanyard (right). Well done, both.
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It was not to be, sadly. Shrewsbury played some great golf and edged the first round against Whitgift 3-2, with the fifth match going to the last hole. The scorecard doesn’t quite reflect the tension of the match, with the last Shrewsbury pair, 3 up with four to play, being pegged back by Richard Gibson (right) and Nick Baxter-Brand to 1 up with two to play. Whitgift had chances on both the last two holes but could only manage halves on each. To next year.
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The major surprise of the second round was to see Loretto (winners in 2021, 2022, and 2023) beaten by Uppingham. Repton (who lost to Whitgift in the first round last year) are going well and are already through to the quarter finals. Shrewsbury lost to Tonbridge.
In the Plate, Whitgift beat Liverpool in their first round match.
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Whitgift beat Clifton 2-1 on Saturday morning to reach the Plate quarter finals, where they will play Bradfield.
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Bradfield prevailed 2-1 against Whitgift in Saturday afternoon’s Plate quarter-final and will play Forest in Sunday’s semi-final; the other semi features Epsom and Berkhamsted.
In the main competition the semi-finalists are Bedford, who play Cranleigh, and the more familiar names of Eton and Tonbridge. But special mention must go to Brighton, who won three matches against Canford, Lancing and Fettes, before falling to Cranleigh in their quarter-final. Brighton’s previous record in the competition over the sixty three years since 1960 was Won 4, Lost 62 (Covid meant no competition in 2020). Some improvement!
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Following on from the comment about Brighton’s improved performance, we cannot conclude this Hewitt report without tipping our hat to two less-fancied teams who made their respective finals – and one of them won.
In the main competition, Bedford made their first ever final, beating Repton and Cranleigh on their way. However it was their luck to face Eton, who had won every single one of their twelve finals in the Halford Hewitt and were not about to let superstition get in the way of their 13th. And so the centenary edition of the Hewitt ended as had the first in 1924; a win for Eton.
Perhaps more surprising was Forest’s win against Epsom in the Prince’s Plate final. Overall, there is the impression not only that the standard of the competitions is rising year on year, but that the improvement is across the whole field of 64 schools. In football’s Premier League, it is often said that there are no easy games (with just a nod to Palace’s 1-0 win at Liverpool!). Maybe the same is becoming true in the Hewitt .
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