John Reynolds reports:
Several generations of Fives players were represented at the Old Citizens' annual trophy, for the Adams Cup, at the weekend. The oldest player on court, EFA vice-president Gordon Stringer, is in his seventies, while the youngest quartet are still at school.
It is a quarter of a century since the City of London School's fives courts were mislaid in the move from Blackfriars to its current spot just south of St Paul's but the turnout of 23 – higher than for many years – is proof that the OCEFC is healthier now than it has been for decades.
The cup - presented back in the mid-1920s and probably the oldest cup in Fives apart from the Kinnaird Cup itself - was won by Nick Gill and Les Jacobs, who beat schoolboy Max Twivy and club treasurer Stephen Kelly in the final. Players included a trio of players who hadn't been on court for possibly 30 years – former intern/national fast bowler Saeed Hatteea, Gerald Wainwright and Mark Signey. The CLS contingent was also bigger than it's been for many years: school captain Sam Packer, Max Twivy, Tom Davidson and Ben Lee. The party of about 30 then went from the courts at Highgate to the Bull pub where it spent the rest of the afternoon