Sidmouth Tennis Club Remembers and Celebrates Sam Marriott

On Sunday, Sidmouth Tennis Club held its annual, charity tournament to remember one of our bright, young, tennis stars Sam Marriott, who died tragically 5 years ago.

The aim, as always, was to celebrate his love of the sport and to raise money for charities with which he was closely involved.

This year, the event took the form of a round robin Triples’ Tournament with 12 teams of 3, all allocated names under the theme of ice creams (well, until the day we were sweltering in a heatwave)! So, for example, the Cornettos took on the Screwballs; the Magnums took on the Soleros etc.

It was lovely, as always, to have the Marriott family there to compete together in this fun event and also notable that they all wore odd, and very colourful socks as a tribute to Sam’s podal (Google it) habits!

As the tournament progressed, competitors were offered the cooling relief of ice creams and an amazing raffle also took place before the final rounds were completed to decide the overall winners.

In the final, The Strawberry Splits, with Sarah, Diana and Oliver faced the Feasts with Barry, Louise and Andy. In a tense affair, and in spite of some ice cool play by the Feasts, it was the Strawberries who smashed it and who sent the Feasts into cold storage.

The day was rounded off perfectly with a brilliant BBQ provided by club caterers, Made by W’s and a massive £279.00 was raised to be shared between Hosanna House and the Children’s Pilgrimage Trust, a charity with which Sam was deeply involved with, and Balloons, an Exeter-based charity which supports bereaved young people.

All in all, a really successful day, which was brilliantly run and organised by Debbie Snelgrove, ably assisted by Di Kendall Torry and Andrea Cushing.

To find out more about memberships for Sidmouth Tennis Club, please visit https://clubspark.lta.org.uk/sidmouth and find out about all the fantastic options available. Tennis is a brilliant game for staying active, exciting competition and meeting new people.

Sidmouth Herald: Spectators in the Royal BoxSpectators in the Royal Box (Image: STC)

Sidmouth Herald: Action on the courtsAction on the courts (Image: STC)

Sidmouth Herald: Competitors keen to get goingCompetitors keen to get going (Image: STC)

Sidmouth Herald: The Strawberry Splits who won the competition with organiser Debbie and Chair PeterThe Strawberry Splits who won the competition with organiser Debbie and Chair Peter (Image: STC)

Sidmouth Herald: The Marriott family with organiser, Debbie SnelgroveThe Marriott family with organiser, Debbie Snelgrove (Image: STC)

Sidmouth Herald: From left: Andrea Cushing and Marilyn Garfitt manning the raffleFrom left: Andrea Cushing and Marilyn Garfitt manning the raffle (Image: STC)

Sidmouth Herald: Competitors grabbing their ice creamsCompetitors grabbing their ice creams (Image: STC)