THE North East Wales Badminton League Division Three fixture between Denbigh B and Llanferres C (3-5) was only a

sideshow.

That's because Denbigh’s Alun Hughes celebrated his 80th birthday, missing a family party in the process to turn out for the team and putting in his usual effortless performance.

Alun is one of the founding members of Denbigh Badminton Club and he has played for the club for some 27 years, having previously played for Llandyrnog.

Visiting members of the Llanferres team joined in the night’s celebrations with club members, who had made Alun a fine birthday cake and followed it up with a post-match drink.

In a further fixture, Llanferres C claimed an emphatic 8-0 win over guests Prestatyn B.

At second men’s, Prestatyn’s Matthew and Adi Jones came very close to winning when they played a thrilling, fluctuating three-game match against Gareth Davies and Sam Harrison.

But some unforced errors in the third game gave it to home pair by 21-18, 18-21, 21-19.

In Division One, Llanferres A entertained Rossett A, with the visitors claiming a close 5-3 win.

Llanferres A then travelled to take on Flint B and they convincingly whitewashed the home team 8-0.

Turning to the first round of the Challenge Cup and hosts Denbigh B (+8) faced Holywell B (+5).

This match which saw Holywell arrive short of two men and it was always going to be an uphill struggle for the visitors.

And so it proved with Denbigh running out 10-6 winners.

However, Holywell’s George Hood and Elsie Gregory showed they have what it takes when they triumphed 21-19, 21-19 over Caeron Jones and Bethan Sian at first mixed.