The annual Crown Services tournament between CSSC, Police, Fire Service and Combined Services was played at the Nottingham Squash Club on 10 and 11th September 2010. The Fire Service did not field a ladies team, so the ladies opponents were the Police and Combined services (Army, Navy, RAF). The CSSC matches were both played on Friday 10th September.

The Civil Service Men's Squash Team arrived at Nottingham Squash Rackets Club sporting another strong side although this year missing the youth of Tom Power.

Our first match was against the Combined Services, with John McFarlane and myself on court to get things underway. John played extremely well, calling on his wealth of experience to come out a 3-2 winner while I lost disappointingly 3-0. Next up were Marc Aldridge and Tony Webb. Marc was keen to make up for losing all 3 matches the previous year and now that he is almost semi-pro, won easily 3-0. Tony Webb made hard work of a match that he probably should have won but eventually went down 3-2. This meant the match score was 2-2 with just Tim Burrell left to play, however he was up against the arrogant ex-professional Sam Miller. Tim played some marvellous squash and at times Sam was looking worried but eventually superior fitness was the key and he secured the win 3-0.

At last we managed to play this fixture after 2 postponements for severe weather (snow). This year we again had a strong side which included a first representative match for Tony Draper and there was also a new team, Nuffield who were an unknown quantity. Our first match was against the Royal Navy and our strength showed with a solid 5-0 win. Nuffield showed they too were strong with a good 4-1 win against Bradley Stoke who had also strengthened their side from the previous year and may prove no pushovers.

After the matches, the Navy provided their usual first class hospitality at the Royal Sailors Home Club before teams retired for an early night.

Civil Service V Police V Combined Services V Fire Service

The Civil Service Men's Squash Team arrived at Nottingham Squash Rackets Club looking to return to winning ways in this quadrangular tournament. We had another strong side right down the order including a rare appearance from the evergreen John McFarlane.