20 members signed up for the first mixed american tournament of 2026 and competed for the MIxed Doubles Trophy and the customary Taittinger champagne.
There was a £2 charge to cover the cost of an appetising spread produced by Liz Dear.
The tournament consisted of mixed doubles matches of 4 games, organised so that where possible each match played was with a different partner against a pair not played before. Players were split into two groups with the highest scoring man and woman from each group going forward to the final. The top lady from the first group pairing the top man from the second group, and the top lady from the second group pairing the top man from the first group.
At the end of the group stage, Helen and Kash were the highest scoring ladies with Phil the highest scoring man in his group and George andf Geoff the joint highest scoring men in their group. George easily beat Geoff in an outrageous racket based challenge devised by Phil to go through to the final.
The final was played as a 21 point tie break with Kash and Phil coming out on top beating Helen and George 21-14 to claim the Mixed Doubles Trophy and their bottle of Taittinger champagne. Helen and George each received a tube of balls as runners up.
There will be two more tournaments this year, to be held on Sunday 28th June and Sunday 27th September (ie the last Sunday in June and the last Sunday in September).