With the Ladies Winter League season having reached the halfway point, congratulations to Northumberland Ladies 1 who are leading Division 1 (now renamed the Premier for the second half), and to Tynemouth Ladies 3, Northern Ladies 3 and Northumbria University Ladies who finished in the top three positions in Division 2.

As previously agreed, for the second half the League has been split into three divisions as follows:

Premier - top 5 teams from Division 1 - Northumberland Ladies 1, Northern Ladies 1A, Tynemouth Ladies 1B, Tynemouth Ladies 1A, Northern Ladies 1B.

Division 1 - remaining 2 teams from Division 1, plus top 3 teams from Division 2 - Primrose Ladies, Concordia Ladies, Tynemouth Ladies 3, Northern Ladies 3, Northumbria University Ladies.

Division 2 - remaining 4 teams from Division 2 - Northumberland Ladies 2, Hexham Ladies, Newcastle University Ladies, Eldon Leisure Ladies.

All teams will play each other home and away, from Monday 23rd January to Sunday 9th April. The provisional fixtures for the second half are now available to view on League Master, and you have until the end of January to agree any re-arrangements with opposing captains, but please bear in mind potential clashes with other teams using your home courts (I think I have avoided any clashes at the moment...). Also a reminder that Newcastle University Ladies play all their Division 2 'home' matches away, so their opponents will need to book courts for these matches.

Teams in the Premier and Division 2 will retain all their first half results / points, which will be carried over into the second half. Teams in Division 1 (having come from two different divisions) will start again from zero. The positions at the end of the season will determine the overall league champions and everyone's starting positions for the first half of next season (reverting to 2 leagues of 7).

I hope that this format makes for even more competitive matches in the second half of the season.

One slight change in the Ladies' League Cup (which hasn't started yet) - I have replaced Northumberland Ladies 1 in the draw with Northumberland Ladies 2, who play Hexham Ladies at home. Northumberland Ladies 1 will instead have the chance to play in the end-of-season Ladies' Northumberland Cup, for the top 4 Premier teams.

Let me know if you have any comments or queries about any of this, at northumbriasquash@gmail.com.