The members took to the tables with heavy hearts, following the death of top player Michael Wood, who passed away in mid-January following a short illness.

The Association sends its condolences to his family and friends.

Charolais took on the as-yet-unnamed Team Four and opened up with a 4-0 lead. They maintained the gap at 8-4 nearing the halfway mark and held their opponents off for the remainder of the journey to finish with a 16-12 victory.

Newcomer Denis Ford was best for Charolais with 6-1, closely followed by Dave Mays on 6-2, while Sean Jenkins struggled to a 1-6 result.

All of the Team Four contingent had similar records, with Kelly Gurney and Riza Wiradi both going 3-4 and Shane Eagle 3-5.

Spinners and Treehuggers went at each other hammer-and-tong in the singles with no more than two games separating the teams at any stage. They went into the doubles locked at 11-all, but Spinners proved too good from there, winning both rubbers 2-0 to take the match, 15-11.

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Roy Barlow led the way for Spinners with 5-3, while Pauline Wellfare broke even at 4-4 and Malcolm Jefferies finished 2-4.

For the Treehuggers, Mark McAulay recorded 5-2, Peter Jaccoud 5-3 and Mark Watchorn an unlucky 1-6.

Grippers started their season on fire when they won the first three rubbers against Smashes for an early 6-1 break. Smashes made a match of it, twice getting back to within two at 7-5 and 11-9 down, but Grippers won the last singles and both doubles rubbers all 2-0 to pull away for an ultimately comfortable 17-9 win.

Veteran Lou Kappos produced the first perfect 6-0 result of the year for Grippers, with Sharnie Roberts ending square at 4-4 and Leon Rust turning in an up-and-down 3-5.

For Smashes, only Linda Kappos found herself on the positive side of the ledger with 4-3, while Matt and Megan Kappos went 3-5 and 2-5 respectively.

Pointscore: Charolais 4, Grippers 4, Spinners 4, 'Team 4' 1, Treehuggers 1, Smashes 0.

This Week's Matches: Round 2;

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