It all started for me way back in 1986, when at that time Truro Squash Club was thriving, with a maximum membership number. I believe it had 350, even perhaps as many as 400 total members then, with a waiting list to join! When I moved to work in Truro, having previously played team squash in St Austell, at Polkyth, I approached Martin Braithwaite to propose I join Truro. I had to wait around 4 months before my membership be confirmed, as it took another member leaving. In those days squash was still incredibly popular & demand for squash club membership enormous.

Around this time the Truro 1^st Team were the best in Cornwall, being actively rivalled by Polkyth & Falmouth. 1^st Team players I remember at that time, but unsure if I’m completely right, included members such as Brian Goodman, Ellis Moses, ‘Piggy’ Porter, Jeremy Gimson, Alun Clement, Mike Hands, Paul Blamey, & Ian Taylor. These 1^st teamers stirred me on to try & improve my fitness & my game.

At that time as well, I always sensed that some, but certainly not all, squash members at the top of their game considered themselves a cut above & exude an air of elitism about them. I always thought subsequently when I became a committee member & then Chairman, I would strive towards a club atmosphere that was all embracing, friendly & encouraging, not be that clicky Club I once thought. Hopefully, this was achieved as I now feel Truro has one of the best friendly Club atmospheres anywhere to be found.

I continued playing in the late 1980’s & into the 1990’s Truro Team squash, a member of various Truro teams at different times. Amongst the team players I played with, or was aware of, were Tony Bowyer, Dave Matthew, Neil Counter, Elliott Moore, Martin Braithwaite, Ian Kenyon, Derek Law, Anna Sendall, Jon Bray, Robin Gordon, Clive Martin, Steve Hawkins, Dave Bradley, Dave Timms, John Hellings, Pete Tatlow, Trevor Lee, Simon Clitherow, Steve Gough, Tom Scott & Chris Parkin. Great times, with some incredibly hard-fought matches, playing against teams from Bude, Launceston, Liskeard, China Fleet, Torpoint, Bodmin, Wadebridge, St Enodoc, St Austell, Newquay, St Columb, (RAF) St Mawgan, Tehidy, Falmouth, (RNAS) Culdrose, Helston Key Squash, Mullion, Penzance, St Ives, Carn Brea, and Camborne. Back in those days there was an exceptionally large number of squash teams from all over Cornwall, which gave rise to tough league battles & often with late away nights! Russ Jameson was County league secretary then & was exceptional in producing monthly league player rankings & team positions, as well as a monthly newsletter. I think back then there was 2 possibly 3 County leagues that he had to deal with. I think then there were around 180 team players playing & listed in the County rankings.

I recall one Truro match away in the 90’s to Bodmin, when Bodmin entertained their away teams at The Mason’s Arms. I have to say Bodmin were always a very genial team then, with their generous entertaining after the match, resulting often in a lock in until the early hours, or on this occasion much later. I think this visit the team comprised of Martin Braithwaite, Anna Sendall, but particularly I recall Derek Law. Due to Derek’s enthusiasm to drink that night, the tale he told later, on arriving home, and ridding his excess drink from his system with the antics involved, in my mind, remains in Club folklore!

My best year playing Team squash for Truro was in 2002 when I played & captained the 1^st Team.

This was the year the Truro 1^st Team won not only division 1, but it also won the Pawle Cup on the 24^th March 2002. To make the Pawle Cup final, in the semi final we had to play Falmouth, which was going to be a tough match so Truro would reach the final.  The Pawle Cup requires 5 strings to play.

Amongst our team players was Luke Vaggers who could not play often as he was away at school in Millfield, being coached by Jonah Barrington no less. Being captain, I was concerned we would not make the final unless Luke played 1^st string. I drove the distance to Millfield to pick him up so he could play at Falmouth. Being 1^st string, he was due to play last. However, the result was already concluded 3 strings to 1 in Truro’s favour, prior to Luke even setting foot on court! Below is a picture of that team, in March 2002, with the Pawle Cup. From l -r top row : Elliott Moore, Jon Bray, Neil Counter & Robin Gordon. With me below is Luke holding the the Pawle Cup:        

Around 1998 I started to run & coach the Clubs juniors, having encouraged my kids, Barn’s & Rosie, to play squash. Running a junior club was important I believed, with Dave Taylor having previously been successful in coaching the juniors. I qualified as a level 2 Club coach so I could be the junior coach. At this time, I ran 2 junior sessions on Saturday mornings, 10 – 11am for beginners, and 11 – 12pm (although this lasted often to well beyond midday!) for improvers. On one occasion I had 25 juniors playing on a Saturday morning. The youngsters back then included the likes of Chris Lawrence, Dale Dyment, Jon Cull, Harry Barnes, my Kids, & others. I joined the Club committee as junior representative, which later gave rise to me being proposed by the late Andrew Murgatroyd as Chairman in 2007, which at the time I was proposed & accepted as Chairman I hadn’t realised would result in me being Chairman until 2019!

I’d like to think that during my time as Chairman we achieved a lot to maintain a very sound Club both in terms of active membership, financially, and the prospering of both regular playing of squash & racketball for juniors & seniors alike. Also, particularly a matter close to my heart to maintain a lively bar! During my time as Chairman I’ve been fortunate to have some wonderful committee members serve with me, the likes of Neil Counter who was Vice Chairman all the time I was Chair, Kurt Sigrist, Hannah Pickersgill, Richard Tatlow, Elliott Moore, Nick James, Mark Mitchell, Sean Sanguinette, and more recently Gary Walton, Julian Roberts, and Tim Smith. Over all my time as

Chairman, I was lucky to have Clare Penton as bar manager & really enjoyed my time working with Clare – she was incredibly popular & supportive, always working hard behind the bar to keep it a great place to spend time, oh and spend money as my bar tabs Clare will testify to! She also encouraged Club social activity, which I believed was vital for the Club to remain buoyant. All the people I detail above have helped at one time or another towards the Club staying the extraordinarily successful Club it is. To continue to be the best & most popular Club in the County, if not the South West!

During my early years as Chairman we moved from a paper club-based court booking system to an online system for all to remotely access. The paper based system only allowed 1 court booking per member, and I believed more activity would be created if court bookings were freed up, allowing members to book many more courts – believing in the 80 - 20 rule, 20% of members would create 80% of club playing activity. At one point, with a rolling 4 week booking period within the online system, all weekday evening courts were fully booked, with members having to book 4 weeks in advance. Demand was high! Eventually this free for all had to be restricted, as many members became too frustrated not being able to book courts. One member regularly had 20 courts booked over the rolling 4 weeks! I still believe it was the right way forward, as it made the Club so much busier with games. An empty squash court & Club is no good to anyone!

In 2008 during my tenure we turned court 3 into a proper court, even during winter. It wasn’t always like this. In making the move to completely overhaul the court, we realised that court 3’s wooden floor was laid onto concrete, without it being properly supported & sprung as a Junckers squash floor should be. We, being Neil Counter, Elliott Moore & others, ripped up this old wooden floor to find a minging vinyl lay squash lined floor underneath! The vinyl was straight onto the concrete floor base, which in turn was very wet with pools of water in one of the corners. I discovered later that when the Club was originally built a wooden floor couldn’t be afforded, so in the 1^st place they lay a vinyl squash court marked floor instead straight onto the concrete to play on. Later they added the wooden floor on top, but it wasn’t a proper wooden squash floor. Once the old wooden floor was removed, the minging vinyl disposed of & the concrete allowed to dry out, a proper sprung Junckers squash floor was laid. From then on court 3 was infinitely better & regularly booked, when it had been pretty much fallow beforehand. Previously in the middle of winter only courts 1 & 2 were regularly booked, not court 3. The new court 3 floor improved the Club no end.

In 2014 the Clubs ground lease with Truro City Council expired. However, on reading the lease we could give 12 months’ notice in writing, which we did in plenty of time, to extend the tenure by a further 21 years, the maximum extension period under the original lease dated in 1972. This gave the Club until 2035, before any new lease will need to be negotiated with the Council, that’s if they agree to it of course. The City Council who administer the land for Lord Falmouth, who gifted it’s use to the City, maintain the squash club lease should never have been granted in the 1^st place in 1972. Stating the land was gifted for the ‘sporting youth of Truro’ when the Clubs main members are seniors. As I have pointed out to the Council, whilst the sporting youth now have the benefit of the skate park, the Council still allow paid parking on the land next to the Club, another contravention of the covenant as I see. Hopefully the Club will still be as popular in 2035 and be able to obtain a brand-new lease without difficulty.

It was important to me that the purpose of our club was to play squash, and that our courts should always be the best & kept in great shape & properly maintained. So, I & the committee always looked each year to have the courts brought up to scratch during the summer period by an England Squash approved contractor. It was also important we ran the Club in a financially prudent way, to preserve cash in case of any major expenses arose. For instance, the Club has a flat roof, and whilst its currently in reasonable order, at some point it will need replacing, this being a major expense.

I’ve had really wonderful times at & playing for the Club. As Chairman it was often challenging, but we faced up to those challenges, and in the main overcame them. Quite simply it’s a fabulous Club to be part of, with a great collection of people as members. Last year, after 12 years, I thought it was time I eventually stepped down as Chairman (‘Bout time most cried!) However, its great to see the new committee under Neil’s’ Chairmanship doing a fantastic job, so I don’t have to fret about anything Club related any longer! There’s still a heartfelt desire to ensure the Club prospers & does well, but I’m gradually coming around to not worrying or concerning myself too much any longer.