Tennis Sports Section

By Secretary PS Neil Gibson

The section volunteered to host the National Police Championships in 2008 and the venue was the Next Generation Club at Chorley .

The event was organised by Paul Barnes, Roger Ravenscroft and Neil Gibson.
Other competitors from Lancashire that qualified for the Nationals were Alex Niepel
in the ladies & mixed event & Ilyas Mohmed and Grant Morris in the men’s doubles.

Approximately 125 competitors, including retired officers qualified to take part in a high quality two day event.

The Gents Singles draw included many Police Sport UK team players, including multiple singles title winners Dave Reed (Met) and Neil Gibson (Lancs

The Mixed Trophy was the final event to be decided and after a full draw of 16 pairs it was whittled down to the semi-finalists Sarah Warner and Roger Clarke (Norfolk), Jayne Allsop & Matthew Greatorex (Derbyshire), Hazel Elliott and Jason Dawson (Met) and Alex Niepel and Neil Gibson (Lancs). Newcomer Alex Niepel ( Lancs ) and experienced Police Sport UK partner Neil stormed through the semi to the final where they beat reigning champions Sarah and Roger 6-0, 6-3.

Neil Gibson also represented PS UK in a representative match against the Dutch police held at the Norwich Esporta complex in September 2008. The PS UK won the event 12 – 8.

2007 top

By Secretary PS Neil Gibson

Roger Ravenscroft represented the constabulary in the North West Regional Championships hosted by Greater Manchester Police at the Markland Hill Tennis Club in Bolton.

He won the men's singles title, defeating Steve Duke from Merseyside police in the final. The National Championships were hosted by Essex this year and Roger again represented the Constabulary in the men”s singles event.

Neil Gibson represented the PS UK team throughout the year culminating in the USPE Tennis Championships in September. The event was held at the prestigious Monte Carlo Country Club in Monaco.

The standard of this four yearly event was again extremely high, with the French and Romanian teams fielding ATP world ranked players in the Men's events.

Partnering Alistair Tiddy from the Metropolitan Police, Neil reached the quarter final of the Men's Doubles.

The section has volunteered to host the National Police Championships in 2008, and the venue will bethe Next Generation Club at Chorley.

2006 top

By Secretary PS Neil Gibson

The tennis section hosted the North West Regional Championships at the South Ribble Tennis Centre in May 2006. The event attracted 35 competitors from Cheshire ,Merseyside and Greater Manchester Police.

Lancashire had 5 competitors and Neil Gibson , Paul Barnes and Roger Ravenscroft all successfully won through to qualify for the National Championships.

The National Championships were held at the Leicestershire County Ground in September. Ravenscroft & Barnes were unfortunate to lose in the quarter final of the men”s doubles on a third set championship tie break .

Neil Gibson reached the final of the men”s singles ,narrowly losing in a deciding third set tie break 6 – 4 , 3 – 6 . 7 – 6 ( 7-5 ) against Richard Staff from Worcestershire.

Neil Gibson was asked to rejoin the British police team by the Captain and duly accepted ( spurred on by forthcoming fixtures in Holland, Spain & Monaco)

Lancashire have been asked to host the 2008 National Championships & are currently assessing the feasibility of so doing.

2005 top

By Secretary PS Neil Gibson

The tennis section had a consolidation year.

Neil Gibson and Paul Barnes qualified for the men's doubles event at the National Championships held inTorquay by the Devon & Cornwall police.

Roger Ravenscroft and Neil Gibson also qualified for the men's singles.

The event started promisingly with Ravenscroft making a spirited display against the reigning champion from the Met – Dave Reed, eventually succumbing mainly due to fatigue in a closely fought second set.

Gibson beat off two challenges and made it through to the semi-final of the singles to be played the following day.

Barnes & Gibson ousted previous champions Clarke & Quinton from Norfolk Constabulary in the doubles and reached the semi finals, again to be played the following day ……….

It is unknown what happened that night (sabotage of food & drink by the Met possibly?) but nobody won a match the following day – some very lacklustre performances from all concerned producing mediocre displays, still, there's

always next year.

The section is actively seeking to recruit new members to add to the ageing profile & anyone interested (of any standard whatsoever) should contact either Neil Gibson at Eastern CMU or Paul Barnes (the only success story of our youth development project) at Preston Police Station.

2004 top

By Secretary PS Neil Gibson

The tennis section had another busy and successful year.

Neil Gibson and Roger Ravenscroft won the police North West Regional men's doubles event hosted by Greater Manchester Police at Bolton.

They then represented the force at the National Championships ,hosted this year by the Strathclyde Constabulary in Glasgow.

They narrowly lost in the semi-final of the competition to the previous winners and highly experienced pair from GMP-Bromley and Bentley.

At the same event, Neil Gibson reached the final of the men's singles event ,before eventually losing to Dave Reed of the Metropolitan police.

Neil Gibson again represented the British police in two matches ,helping them to record victories against the British Army and National Tennis Centre at Nottingham.

Any person wishing to participate in competitive tennis (at whatever level)-contact DS 1274 Neil Gibson at Eastern CMU or PS 453 Barnes at Preston custody office.

If there is sufficient interest in 2005, we propose holding the force tournament in May 2005.

2003 top

By Secretary PS Neil Gibson

The section had another successful season in 2003.

Neil Gibson represented the British police in their annual fixture against the Nottingham National Tennis Centre in April .He was also selected for the European Championships in Holland, but was unfortunately unable to attend.

Lancashire hosted the Regional Championships at the South Ribble Tennis Centre in June 2003. A special thank you goes out to Paul Barnes and Neil Gibson for all the hard work they put in to stage the tournament at that location.

Three players qualified from that event to represent the force in the National Championships held at Norwich in September. Roger Ravenscroft won the men's singles event and Neil Gibson and Paul Barnes won the menus doubles.

At the Nationals, Neil Gibson won his eighth national men's open singles title, when he defeated Ian Duggan from South Wales in straight sets in the final.

Neil Gibson and Paul Barnes improved upon their first round loss of last year ,to reach the final of the men's open doubles – losing narrowly to R.Clarke and I.Quinton from Norfolk in three sets .

Roger Ravenscroft won through his first round, before being eliminated by a former champion, D.Reed from the Metropolitan police, in the second round.

2002 top

By Secretary PS Neil Gibson

The section is anxious to attract new members and anyone interested in playing, whatever they're standard, should contact the tennis secretary.

An extremely successful year for the tennis section-building on previous years with increased participation and success at regional and national level.

PS 453 Paul Barnes from Central Division won the north-west regional men's singles championship held at Bolton by GMP and thereby qualified for the National Championships to be held in Cardiff.

Jenny Watling and Helen Canty from Southern Communications won the Ladies doubles and also qualified for Cardiff. Helen and Jenny were also selected to be part of the British squad and participated in a training event and match held at Nottingham in 2002.

PS 1274 Gibson from Eastern Division retained his national men's singles title (winning it for the seventh time) at Cardiff by defeating Ian Duggan from South Wales 6-2,6-2.He again represented the British police at Nottingham. Neil has also been co-opted on to the PAA National committee for tennis, representing the north-west region.

2001 top

By Secretary PS Neil Gibson

PS Neil Gibson once again won the PAA Nationals for at least the 7th or 8th year running. Neil also qualified for the British Police Team.

Ladies, PC Watling and Ms Cawty made it through to the quarterfinals in the doubles.