The trophy goes back to Belton!

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Belton v Rest of the World, competition and social evening 2026

 

Following the success of last year’s Belton v Rest of the World challenge plus social evening at The Vaults in Uppingham Market Place afterwards, this June once again saw the marking of the end of the squash season in similar style.

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With RoW having won the trophy in 2025, the Belton team were out for revenge, and Martin Brown (B) was ruthless on court against Andrew Brown (RoW and no relation!). Martin’s serves put Andrew under real pressure, especially in the left hand court, and despite Andrew covering the court well and playing some excellent drives, Martin was ready to respond and the match went to Martin 3-0.

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In the first of the doubles matches, husband and wife team of Tony and Vicky Byers-Brown (B) were taking on Greg Watts and Katharine Gaine (RoW). Katharine is a very inexperienced doubles player, and inevitably the first game went to Tony and Vicky as Katharine tried to work out what was going on! However, with expert guidance from Greg, she began to get to grips with the doubles game and the next games went evenly to each team, bringing them to 2-2 and a deciding game. This was a close fought affair, but in the end Tony and Vicky’s experience triumphed and they won 3-2.

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Two singles matches followed thereafter: Laurie Redmond (B) v Michael Crawford (RoW) and Oliver Leaf (B) v Rob Halls (RoW). Michael was suffering from an eye infection but was determined to play, and the pace of the game was breathtaking. Both players made some brilliant shots, especially to the back of the court, but in the end Laurie found a way through to a 3-0 victory.

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In the other singles match, Oliver was a late replacement for injured Belton team captain Brian Margetts, and this made a considerable difference to the age gap between the two players on court (no disrespect to Rob!). Both players are incredibly fit and covered the court superbly, but Oliver’s height and range meant that he was able to return everything that Rob threw at him and the match finished at 3-1 to Oliver.

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The second doubles match featured Guy Jones and Jeremy Leaf (B) v Greg Watts and Katharine Gaine (RoW for a second time). Fortunately, Katharine had learned from her first doubles game and was able to play more some more telling shots, which meant that she and Greg won the match 3-0.

The final match of the evening saw the much anticipated show-down between Jon Wolloff (B) and Richard Park (RoW). Although great friends, their rivalry on the squash court is legendary, and the spectators much enjoyed the competitiveness of the match. Sadly, with Richard about to level the scores at 2-2, his ‘other’ Achilles gave way and he was immediately forced to retire with the pair shaking hands on a draw.

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Richard’s unfortunate retirement from his match made no difference to the final outcome of the Belton v Rest of the World competition however, and following a delicious meal at The Vaults, the trophy was presented to Belton’s captain Brian Margetts amidst much celebration from his team.