Cumbria Squash Executive Committee is very pleased to honour Gary Thwaite of Wigton for his exceptional playing performances for a period extending over 25 years. He dominated squash within Cumbria over that time and placed Cumbria Squash on the map by making his mark on the National scene where he was a great ambassador for us.

His record within the County in the County Closed Championships, both as a Junior & Senior player, is one that we believe we will never see the likes of again.

He won his first Junior County Closed Championship in 1981/82 season and ended up with a total of eight championship wins - 1@U14, 3@U16 and 4@U19. He also won the U16 North West England Championship.

He won his first Men's Senior County Closed Championship in 1988/89 and maintained his County Champion status over a 20 year period. During that time he was never beaten by a Cumbria player in the Senior event or any other competition.

Looking at the National scene, as a young player he turned professional and performed so well that he reached the lofty heights of being ranked in the top 20 players in England. He took several important scalps during this period, one of whom was Peter Nicholl.

After ending his professional career he still continued to make his mark on the National scene by winning the British Open Over 35 Championship, British Closed Over 35 Championship and achieving selection for England Over 35 Team.

What a record - certainly very worthy of recognition.

You may ask why do this now? The reason is that up to 2-years ago prior to his hip operation Gary was still adding to his formidable record and we were waiting to see how long he could go on delivering these great performances. But, since then he has not played in competition and his competitive future is unsure so we thought the time was right. To make it very special for Gary we selected Windscale Club`s 50^th anniversary celebration evening, on 4 April 2009, as the occasion and had the awards presented to him by two squash superstars James Wilstrop  and Lee Beachill who were giving a demonstration as part of the evening

We are pleased to present Gary with two awards, sponsored by Ian Stephenson of `Homemaker In Cumbria` - we thank Ian for this generous support. They are:

A pewter tankard in recognition of his unbeaten 20 years as County Champion, and a glass obelisk - `Cumbria Squash Lifetime Achievement Award`- for his overall exceptional performances.

Congratulations Gary, we wish you well with your repaired hip and wait with interest to see if a come-back is on the cards.

Tom Armstrong
Chairman Cumbria Squash