Congratulations to the Northumberland Club and Newcastle University Ladies, who have both retained their respective Men's and Ladies' League titles!

In the Men's Premier, Northumberland 1 secured their second consecutive title by the narrowest of margins, edging out Northern 1 by just two points (290 to 288). Both teams had lost only one match all season, to each other, but Northumberland had gone into the final match session with a 2-point lead over Northern and a better 'points against' record meaning that effectivley Northern had to make up 3 points on their rivals to grab the title they last won in 2022. Although Northern did all they could with a 5-0 (20-0) win over relegated Chester-le-Street, Northumberland held their nerve with a 5-0 (20-2) victory against University 1B to complete another successful campaign.

Northumberland's top five of Chris Wiggins, Dave Barnett, Alex Cahill, Chris Garner and Jamie Mathews, ably supported by Jonathan Wright when needed, again proved too strong, with Garner and Mathews remaining unbeaten throughout the season. Northern's squad of Andrew Shipley, Cai Younger, Ian Hilton (first half only), Alex Robertson, David Jackson, Mark Dinsley, Chris Thompson and Matthew Stout gained 11 more points than the 277 that won them the title (from the same number of matches) in 2022 but it wasn't quite enough this time so they will have to settle for a very commendable runners-up spot.

In the Ladies' League, Newcastle University Ladies 1A remained unbeaten with 211 points out of a possible 240 from their 15 matches, retaining the title for the University well ahead of runners-up Northern Ladies 1. A key factor was that the squad of Emma Turnbull, Emily King, Amy Rowell and Kate Maxwell-Armstrong played no fewer than 14 of their 15 matches, with Emily an ever-present, Kate remaining unbeaten for the whole season to pick up the Player of the Division award, and the other three finishing in the next three runner-up positions. 

Both the League championship-winning teams will be favourites to add the Men's and Ladies' Northumbria Cups to their trophy cabinets on Finals Night, Saturday 18th May at The Northumberland Club (5:30pm start), although Men's cupholders Westoe may have other ideas!