July

FORMER junior Wimbledon tennis player and England lacrosse representative Liz Evans put the Worcestershire Golf Club on the map by winning a final of the LGU Gold Medal Competition for Silver Division in Dorset with a three-below-par score of 69.

MARTYN 'Rhino' Reeley returned from the European Downhill Mountain Bike Championships in Italy with a gold medal in the Masters Category. Martyn won by 0.25 of a second but now adds the European title to the national title gained last year.

HARRIET Eaton, aged 16, a pupil at St James's School, West Malvern, was picked to represent Great Britain at the Pony European Championships in Spain following a successful selection weekend on Millbrook Ifor, a 15-year-old grey gelding.

BARNARDS Green opener Andy Wheeler notched up his second league century within a week when he raced to 142 not out against Romsey at North End Lane. The previous Sunday, in a Worcestershire League match, Andy had hit 157 against Pershore Seconds.

COLWALL Cricket Club moved into the last eight of the National Village Knockout with another tense victory at Exhall and Wixford. Colwall, set the mediocre target of 118 to win, survived some tense final overs before getting home with two wickets to spare. However, Colwall's next game saw them at home to the previous year's winners Elvaston, who had knocked Colwall out last year. They did the same again at Stowe Lane as Colwall's Lords dream ended again for another year.

August

LEDBURY Swifts Under-16s returned from their visit to Sweden with the Robert Cup, a trophy that eluded them last year, following a tournament final penalty shootout. This year the Swifts made no mistake defeating Kungshamn/Hunnebo convincingly 4-0 in the final.

CALLOW End rider Fi Pugh was due to compete for the British team in the World Championships for Icelandic Horses in Austria. The six riders, who can not take their own horses to Austria due to foot and mouth restrictions, were having to use loan horses to compete.

MALVERN Athletic, formerly Colletts Green, disbanded and withdrew from the Midland Combination due to lack of support. Following a couple of turbulent seasons, when the club narrowly avoided relegation, two closed season meeting were poorly attended and the club made a late resignation from the league costing them a £500 fine.

MANOR Park Club's Clare Eckersley collected the Malvern Junior Open Tennis Tournament's Girls' Under-18 title with a 7/6 6/3 victory against Nottinghamshire's Rachael Stubbs. She then teamed up with Cammila Knight from Devon to win the Under-18 doubles title.

FORMER Ledbury Swifts player Jamie Edwards, who continued his footballing career at Hereford United and Aston Villa before moving to Bristol City, won his first international cap playing for Wales Under-19s against the Faroe Islands and now travels to Estonia for the U19 European Cup qualifying games.

SHELSLEY Walsh Speed Hill Climb staged the biggest event in its history to celebrate the Midland Automobile Club's 100th birthday party. A worldwide crowd, celebrity drivers, a wide spectrum of cars and, for the first ever time, a big screen in the paddock made it a weekend to remember.

GREAT Britain wheelchair basketball player Dean Smith, aged 21, from Staunton, travelled to Brazil to play in the World Cup against title favourites Canada and also USA, Brazil, Holland, France and Germany.

MANOR Park Bowling Club's Gill Lloyd won the WCWBA Champion of Champions and earned herself a trip to Leamington Spa for the National finals in August 2002. Gill has been county champions in several categories previously but it was the first time she'd won that title.

Bransford-based Worcester Nomads provided the star of the show at the national Under-15 Club Championship final at Basingstoke with skipper and opener Kieran Rees hitting a superb 64 runs. Midland champions Nomads defeated Welsh side St Fagan's in the semi-finals then were just beaten by Wanstead CC, from Essex, by 18 runs in an entertaining competition final that began with an entry of 1,481 club sides.

September

CANON Frome won their final Marches League Division One game at Bulmers and secured the league championship. Frome made 201-7 from their 45 overs, with Rob Mence top scoring with 73, and then restricted their hosts to 173-8 to claim the required victory with Adam Herbert taking 5-62.

MALVERN golfer Greg Anthony claimed the 36-hole Bransford Golf Club Championship for the third year on the trot. Two handicapper Greg, aged 19, made light of the blustery conditions to return scores of 76 and 77, eight shots clear of the runner-up.

BARNARDS Green took the derby honours in their Worcestershire Cricket League Division Two match at Malvern Ramblers but that could not stop them from being relegated to Division Three for next season although their second XI finished runners-up in their division.

LEDBURY Rugby Club picked up an unusual sort of 'trophy' when Ian Beer, past president of the RFU, presented the club with one of the original benches from the old RFU committee box at the refurbished Twickenham. The bench, of cast iron and solid hardwood, was to be bolted to the floor inside the Ross Road clubhouse.

INDOOR rower Anna Bailey, from Hanley Swan, set a new world record for the 50-59 heavyweight 2,000m class at the Birmingham Championships. Anna took nine seconds of her British record and seven seconds off the best world time. Weeks later, Anna broke her own world record cutting 1.3 seconds off her time at Bedworth.

MALVERN College cricketers were treated to coaching from the top when former England captain Graham Gooch held a masterclass with promising College players. Later, at a dinner in the grounds, Gooch displayed his newly acquired career as a pundit in the media with an enthralling talk to a large audience.

MALVERN Rugby Club's first home fixture in Midlands One saw them lose an unbeaten Spring Lane league record that goes back nearly four years. Just one point separated the hosts and Hereford Rugby Club at 19-20 although at one stage Malvern were 17-0 down and a difficult touchline last kick conversion by skipper Longley could have won the game.

October

THE Mercian Elgar Junior Football League held it 25th Anniversary event at the Malvern Theatres when 1970s soccer legends Tommy Smith, Nobby Styles and Norman Hunter entertained around 400 people with stories of their careers and auctioned off football memorabilia.

MALVERN motocross ace Owen Delaney became the first ever English rider to win the southern Dutch series championship. Owen, aged 18, took the series lead on round four but, due to electrical problems, had to use his standard bike on the final round. He took 6th and 9th spots to win the championship by two points.

BEN Geerlings, aged 16, a pupil at Malvern College, who lives in Upper Colwall, has been selected for the Great Britain Under-17s sabre fencing squad and makes his debut in Hungary.

MALVERN mountain bikers Ed and Tracy Moseley picked up second places in the final National Downhill Series at Hamsterley Forest, near Durham, the points giving Ed the overall Championship title, while Tracey finished in third place overall in a year where she had sacrificed national races for international events, twice being second-placed in World Cup races in Austria and Colorado.

BIRTSMORTON rider Heather Williams fulfilled an ambition when she competed in the Horse of the Year Show at Wembley and then walked off with the first place in her class. Heather won the Search for a Star competition after qualifying at an earlier event with her horse L'Etoile - a seven-year-old 17.1 hands hunter.

MORE than 200 runners took part in this year's Worcestershire Beacon Race with first-time winner Andrew Gardiner (Stroud) pushing last year's champion Bill Knock (Halesowen) into second place. First lady home was 17-year-old Kate Goodhead, also from Stroud.

MALVERN Rugby Club crashed out of the RFU Intermediate Cup Second Round losing 20-18 at Hereford. A Wyeside penalty two minutes from time deciding another close encounter between the Midlands One rivals.

BROMYARD wheelchair tennis star Janet McMorran roared back after elbow surgery earlier this year to reach the final of the US Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships in San Diego. Losing to top seed Sonja Peters in the final, Janet had earlier seen off the fourth and second seeds with some scintillating play.

LEIGH Sinton racing driver Stephen Warburton was crowned Formula Palmer Audi Champion at the final meeting of the season at Snetterton. Warburton took the championship lead in July and held it right the way through needing only to finish 12th in one of the final two races to win it. He finished a cautious fifth in the first race and then scorched through to win the final race in his most successful season so far.

BROMYARD Town, making their debut in the FA Vase, came away with a good 3-1 win at Long Buckby in the first round proper. Luke Willetts gave them the lead but the home side equalised before half time. Just after the break, Willetts notched his second before Scott Morris sealed the tie. Bromyard bowed out in the next round at Kidsgrove Athletic after a brave display.

November

MALVERN Rally duo Bob Ceen and Alistair Douglas boosted their hopes for the Network Q Rally by lifting the Welsh Championship. Driving the ex-Carlo Sainz Group A Subaru Impreza, the pair led the championship going into the final event and a fine drive to sixth overall was enough to win it outright. A crash almost within sight of the finish on the final day ended their Network Q event.

WELLAND kart racer Daniel Gillett smashed the Silverstone indoor circuit record in the final race of his first season. Dan, aged 12, had been consistently in the top three places in his group, often setting the fastest laps of the day, but saved his best until the final race, breaking the lap record by almost 1/10th of a second.

WILLIAM Murtagh, aged 16, a pupil at Malvern College, was selected for the England Under-19 Schools (South) football team to play the North team. The match acting as a trial for the National Independent Schools side.

MALVERN Town were 3-0 up at half time at Shawbury United in the Express & Star Premier Division but the home side stormed back to grab a point at 3-3. For Malvern, however, it was the seventh match of an unbeaten run.

BROMYARD athlete Julia Gilbert won the women's junior U15 title at the British Indoor Rowing Championships at Birmingham, her time was eight seconds faster than her winning time the previous year when she captured the under-14 title.

December

UPLEADON'S Christopher Biddlecombe, aged 19, won the World Junior Clay Pigeon Shooting Championship in New Zealand. Christopher, a former student at Hartpury College, was part of a highly successful British squad that also won gold for the senior and junior teams.

MALVERN Ramblers Cricket Club will be known as Malvern Cricket Club following their annual general meeting. The proposal, from the members, was backed by the executive committee and voted for overwhelmingly by the membership.

FOLLOWING a difficult start, after promotion to Midlands One, Malvern Rugby Club's performances are picking up and two points gained at Longton (13-16) shattered an unbeaten home record that had stood for nearly two years.

LEDBURY Town have been enjoying a tremendous start to their Express and Star Premier Division season and a victory 4-0 away at Walsall Wood consolidated their fourth place in the league table. Ledbury have been rattling in goals left, right and centre and have presently scored 63 from their 26 matches, the highest total in the division.

BROMYARD Rugby Club defeated Warley away 3-41 to increase their hopes of promotion from North Midlands One, the Herefordshire side are just three points behind leaders Yardley and one point adrift of second-placed Edwardians. In a wide open league Upton are still in with a chance following a couple of recent wins