JULY

COLWALL'S hopes of a Lord's visit was ended when they were defeated by former Village KO champions Elvaston from Derbyshire in the first of the National rounds. Batting second Colwall needed three off the last ball for victory but only managed two runs and lost by virtue of losing one more wicket in the tied match.

BROMYARD'S Janet McMorran, aged 50, the British number one and World number eight, represented Great Britain in the Invacare World Cup, the Davis and Federation cups of wheelchair tennis. McMorran was later selected for the Paralympics in Sydney.

EASTNOR Bowling Club's Phil Middleton, aged 47 from Bromyard, became the first County singles champion in the 70-year history of the club. In the final Phil was 15-20 down but fought back brilliantly to lift the title 21-20 and book his place at Worthing.

AUGUST

RUSSELL Knight, a Broadwas player guesting for Worcester Nomads 3rd XI in the Worcestershire Cricket League broke records galore when he hit an unbeaten 263, including 238 in boundaries, as Nomads declared for 390-2 in 45-overs, to go on and defeat a dispirited Evesham 3rds by 348 runs.

LEDBURY Bowling Club provided the Herefordshire foursomes champions with Rodney Gill, David Neath, Derek Waters and Norman Douse defeating Hereford by seven shots in the county final at Kington to book a place at the National finals.

GRASS Track racing, organised by the Malvern & District Motor Cycle & Light Car Club, was held for the first time since 1993 and attracted 50 riders for the day's 40-race action at Storridge. Later the event was hailed as a great success and could return as an annual event.

MALVERN Victoria Bowls Club sent an unbelievable two rinks to represent Worcestershire at the English Bowls Championships at Worthing. The rink of Skip Edric Vorsterman, Marcus Smith, Jeff Jones and Eddie King became only the second Malvern rink to become County champions in almost 100 years and then went on to reach the National semi-finals before losing out to David Holts all-international rink from Lancashire who became the champions. The County runners-up rink who also went to Worthing consisted of Skip Derek Webb, Steve Aldridge, Roy Davis and Frank Holt.

MARTYN 'Rhino' Reeley and Mark Wesley, both from Malvern, took part in the European Downhill Mountain Bike Championships held at the ski resort of Vars in the southern French Alps. Martyn finished fourth in 3m41.17s just five seconds behind the winner and current World Champion while Mark finished a creditable 15th.

SEPTEMBER

LEDBURY Cricket Club made no mistake in their final league game of the season defeating visiting Glangrwyney by 48 runs to clinch the Marches League division two crown with a record of ten wins and only two losses.

HISTORY was created when Malvern Ladies Football Club played their inaugural match in the Gloucestershire County Women's Football League and they got off to a flying start by defeating visiting RAF Lyneham by 2-1 with Jenny Allen and Rachel Tuffin scoring the all-important goals.

BROMYARD defeated Barnards Green by seven wickets at North End Lane to collect the Worcestershire County League division two championship. Bromyard's win and 20 points fended off the late challenge of Worcester Nomads who could only gain a winning draw at home to Lye for 14 points.

LEDBURY Magpies netball team completed a successful summer as runners-up of their division in the Worcester League and gained promotion for the fourth consecutive year.

MALVERN cyclist Ceris Gilfillan put in a very creditable performance at the Sydney Olympics in the individual time trial and team event and is described as one of Britain's brightest hopes.

BARNARDS Green Seconds won their match at Bromyard to claim the Worcestershire League's second division second XI championship. Bromyard closed on 110 but with Sherliker starring with an excellent 71no Barnards Green battled to 111-7.

FOUR mountain bikers from the Malvern area raced to Toyota RAV4 National Series championships in their categories with Tracy Moseley, Martin Reeley, Liam Killeen and Rob Spragg all collecting titles.

OCTOBER

LTFC 2000, members of the Sterling Classic Malvern Football League, scored one of the quickest goals in the League's history when they netted after just five seconds through Robbie Colwell, who went on to score a further 15 times in the 24-0 defeat of depleted Bell Inn '98.

MALVERN Rugby Club, who have already thrown down the gauntlet to the other clubs in Midlands Two West as they attempt to achieve their aim of gaining promotion, hit 'Total Rugby' when they demolished visiting Lichfield 89-0 at Spring Lane.

THE Chase girls under 16 hockey team won the County championship and prepare for the Midlands finals.

NEWLAND teenage basketball star Matt Wurmli, aged 16, has been selected for the England Under 18s Junior Mens squad at point guard and becomes the youngest player from the county to represent his country. Matt's older brother Karl, 18, plays regularly for the Worcester Wolves in the National League.

MORE than 200 runners took part in this year's Worcestershire Beacon Race which takes competitors from the new starting point of Rose Bank Gardens across the top of the beacon. Winner was Bill Nock from Halesowen AC with Kira Kemp from Taunton AC being the first lady home.

NOVEMBER

MALVERN'S two leading cricket clubs, Barnards Green and Malvern Ramblers, have entered the Worcestershire Sunday Club Cricket League for next season creating a new era for Sunday matches with teams in the first and second XI divisions.

TALENTED teenager Shaun Murphy, became one of the youngest winners in the 11-year history of the Benson and Hedges Snooker Championship when he grabbed a comeback victory against Stuart Bingham at the Willie Thorne Snooker Club in Malvern.

DECEMBER

MALVERN Rugby Club have remained unbeaten in the Midlands Two West division dropping just one point in an away draw at Bromsgrove and defeating all the other leading sides. They also have one eye on Twickenham in the Intermediate Cup.

Ledbury Rugby Club moved to the top of the North Midlands One league and have a good chance of winning one of the promotion spots although unbeaten Stourport look favourite for the title.

AFTER an indifferent start to the season Malvern Town have picked up a fantastic 25 points out of the last 27 since an away defeat at Walsall Wood back in October and enter the New Year in fourth place in the Banks's Premier Division.

ROSS A Cup holders Ledbury Town Reserves reached the final again, but their Boxing Day date versus Bulmers was postponed due to the inclement weather.