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Cyprus - Short Mat under the SunCyprus - Short Mat under the Sun

SHORT MATSHORT MATINTERNATIONALINTERNATIONALWINTER 2010-2011WINTER 2010-2011

The Philippines - our farthest outpost?The Philippines - our farthest outpost?

--3 SHORT MAT CHATSHORT MAT CHAT

ESMBA CHAIRMAN’S REPORTESMBA CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

The Editor’s ramblings.

From Chris Hopkins

9 GUNTON HALL TOURNAMENTGUNTON HALL TOURNAMENT

10 CYPRUS ON THE MOVECYPRUS ON THE MOVEA report on the Warners winners

From Jim Allison

4 WILTSHIRE COUNTY REPORTWILTSHIRE COUNTY REPORTCompetition Report from Geoff Lane

5 A HOME WIN FOR SWEDENA HOME WIN FOR SWEDENFrom Tommy DahlgrenAnnual UK subscription £9.95

Europe £11.95 (Sterling)Rest of the World £13.95 (Sterling)

for four full issues per yearEditor: Bob Weafer

bobw@short-mat-magazine.comShort Mat InternationalShort Mat InternationalIncorporating Short Mat World2 Preston Close, Redditch, 2 Preston Close, Redditch, Worcs, B98 8RU, EnglandWorcs, B98 8RU, England

Tel: 0121 - 286 - 9449Tel: 0121 - 286 - 9449www.short-mat-magazine.com

PLEASE NOTE:PLEASE NOTE: the entire staff of themagazine amounts to just one person - me!The magazine is put together in my oftennon-existant “spare time”. I regret I do nothave the time to reply to letters. If you wantto contact me either email or telephone me.

I’m not looking for any sympathy,I’m not looking for any sympathy,just the understanding that I am oftenjust the understanding that I am oftenvery busy and do not have much time,very busy and do not have much time,especially for Hot Shots.especially for Hot Shots.

The magazine comes out when it comesout and I’ve managed 18 years so far. What-ever our eventual publication dates, you getthe full number of 4 issues per year that youhave paid for. Your patience and understanding is

greatly appreciated, as the alternative is nomagazine at all. The views expressed in SMIare not necessarily those of the publishersnor any of the sport’s controlling bodies andno responsibility can be accepted for them.

No part of this publication may be re-produced, copied or stored on any retrievalsystem without the prior and express ap-proval of the Editor.

Bob Weafer Editor

WINTER 2010/11WINTER 2010/11

ISSN 1456 - 0606 ISSN 1456 - 0606

6 BRITISH ISLES CHAMPIONSHIPSBRITISH ISLES CHAMPIONSHIPSA report from Chris Hopkins

Whilst reasonable care has been taken in regard to the bona fides of advertisers.

Readers are recommended to take their ownprecautions before making any payments.

15 FOCUS ON CORNWALLFOCUS ON CORNWALLA big report from Nick Truscott

20 BRITISH ISLES TOP TEAM EVENTBRITISH ISLES TOP TEAM EVENTFrom Seamus Kyne

29 CARRINGTON HOUSE HOTELCARRINGTON HOUSE HOTELWho won what in Bournemouth

30 THE LANGSTONE CLIFF HOTELTHE LANGSTONE CLIFF HOTELCompetition news from this very popular hotel

19

Our Red MagazineOur Red Magazinebinders are still binders are still

available. available. Each binder holds 3Each binder holds 3years issues andyears issues and

costs £6.95 incl. p&pcosts £6.95 incl. p&pThere are not There are not many left!many left!

22 PHILLIPINES SHORT MAT PHILLIPINES SHORT MAT From Damien Allison

26 IRISH ROUNDUPIRISH ROUNDUPFrom Seamus Kyne

12 KENT COUNTY NEWSKENT COUNTY NEWSFrom Tony Mulcuck

-

SHORT MAT CHATSHORT MAT CHATDo you ever have the feeling thatthe whole world is against youand especially inanimateobjects?

Before this, let me apolo-gise for the delay in getting theWinter issue out. Remember, Ialways say that “whenever, themagazine comes out, you get allthe issues you have paid for” andthis is true.

I took on the task of edit-ing my car club’s new magazine,the first time we have printedone instead of sending it out byemail. This turned out to be avery difficult and time consum-ing project, when mixed up withclub politics.

Returning to the world isagainst me and having got thedelay reason out of the way, thenext thing was the presentationof the last issue.

If you look at the photosyou will see a number of themhave “phantom” white edgesaround them. These appeared onscreen when I was producing thefirst issue (the Summer one),from the new printers BUT whenprinted they did not appear.

With the last issue it wasthe opposite way around, notvisible on screen but visiblewhen printed. However, fromthe same camera source, theBodelwyddan photos on page 4have no white edges but the toptwo on lakeside page 30 do!This is a complete mystery and I

have examined the make up ofthe photos and their set-up andthey are identical. So I’m fingerscrossed with this issue as I’mgetting photo obsessed.

Moving on the cameraitself, with the Autumn holidayphotos I had somewhat of a hugedisaster, despite having OK pho-tos previously. Either the flashdid not read the required amountof light required and the photoswere too dark to use, or theopposite and they were washedout.

My apologies to those whomissed out on their photos. I wasso disappointed that I nearlythrew myself off the nearestmatchstick!

I tried desperately to clawback as many photos as I couldusing Photoshop’s very sophisti-cated software but with very lit-tle success, so my apologies tothose winners and finalists whomissed out on their photos beingincluded with the reports.

The Cannon 40d digitalcamera I bought cost hundredsof pounds and I thought it wouldbe a lot better than my ordinaryCannon film camera, which hadgiven me good service butrequired processing of film andthen scanning the subsequentphotos.

The Cannon 40d is a verysophisticated camera that doeshuge amounts but at the momentit does not take good photos if ittakes any at all. Back to theinstruction manual and startagain!

The World is against meagain. Faced with the option ofpulling the plug and cancellingthe magazine altogether, as I saidpreviously, I swapped to anotherprinter and now print digitallyinstead of Offset Litho.

This gave enough savings

that has secured the futureof the magazine, yippeee!

However, in the midstof our usually busy season, Ihave had very little from myEnglish readers, which at thistime of the year is somewhatunusual and it can’t be all downthe very bad snow we had. Thismight sound strange to those inScandinavia etc. who are used toregular large falls but we are not.

Returning to content, yep,I can hear people say “Oh God!”Bob’s on about copy for themagazine yet again but I try tobalance the magazine with newsfrom everywhere. This issuecovers the Philippines, Cyprus,Sweden and Ireland plus a bitonly from England, which isvery disappointing.

I had one recent reportfrom Surrey in regard to a bigcharity tournament but the spacetaken up by other reports hasmeant this has been rolled over.

This is what I put at theend of my last ramblings and itstill stand for the Spring issue,due out in early May, copy per-mitting.NOTE: I have practicallyNOTE: I have practicallynothing for the next issue ofnothing for the next issue ofSMI, which is due out at theSMI, which is due out at theend of February. So pleaseend of February. So pleaseput pen to paper and add aput pen to paper and add aphotograph or twophotograph or two ..

Chris Hopkins and I weretalking recently and we agreedthat in terms of our absolute ded-ication to this wonderful sport ofours, that the late and very muchlamented Roy Stokes oncedescribed us as “Clones”.

We might do things differ-ently but we both believe thatShort Mat bowls is one of theworld’s great participant sports,it just that the World has not real-ly discovered it yet.Weaf

3

-WiltshireWiltshire

County ReportCounty ReportCounty County

ChampionshipsChampionshipsWSMBA held their third county compe-tition at the Christie Miller IBC. Compe-tition was, as usual, fierce with manyclose encounters. After the group stagesthe top eight fours went into the Champi-onship and the next eight to the Platecompetition.

The plate was won by the AtworthClub represented by newcomer MikeMortimer, Mary Gibb, Adie Bray and

skipped by Alan Milham. Having taken an early substantial lead the Atworth four were never caught bytheir opponents from Upavon skipped by Derek Ford.

The Championship proved to be a close competition. In the first semi-final a Heywood four werebeaten 8 shots to 3 by Crudwell skipped by Geoff Lane. Kington Langley (skipped by Mike Wilson) beata Trowbridge four by the narrowest of margins – 7 shots to 6. The final was an even closer affair. Havingjumped into an early lead the Kington Langley four were slowly caught by the Crudwell team.

After the penultimate end the scores were all square and the winners of the final end would becomecounty champions. The shot changed hands a few times early in the final end but after a firing shot by LesBaldry, the Crudwell team consolidated the head to eventually win the end and the championship despitethe best efforts of opposing skip Mike Wilson.

Unusually the eight bowlers playing in the final were four couples – Les and Pam Baldry and Geoffand Jenny Lane (Crudwell); Sandi and Mike Wilson and Anthea and Dave Williams (Kington Langley)County Mixed Fours CompetitionCounty Mixed Fours CompetitionThe last county competition wasplayed out at the Christie MillerCentre, Melksham. There were 20entries into the Mixed Fours Com-petition, as always, was fierce anda number of fancied fours fell bythe wayside after the Group stages.

The group winners went for-ward to play for the championshipwhilst the next best placed playedfor the County Plate.

The Quarter Finals of thechampionship were between foursfrom Trowbridge, Westbury BlueCircle, Heywood, Kington Lang-ley, Little Somerford and Upavon.

The semi’s saw ChrisWillis’s four (Blue Circle) beat anUpavon four skipped by Derek Ford. The other semi saw Terry Shore’s team (Trowbridge), narrowly loseto the Kington Langley four, skipped by Mike Wilson.

Champions, Geoff & Jenny Lane, Les & Pam Baldry

Mixed Fours Winners Sandi & Mike Wilson, Antha & Dave Williams

4

----A HOME WIN FOR SWEDENA HOME WIN FOR SWEDEN

19 teams from Belgium and Sweden partici-pated in this 2nd event organised by theSwedish Short Mat Bowling Association. Thetournament was held in the fantastic multi-sport Short Mat, Curling and 10 pin bowlingarena in Landskrona in the south of Sweden.

After two days of hard and well playedgames Sweden had all the four teams in thesemi-finals, thus ensuring a home win. Allages was represented from our 7 year of ageyoung "up and coming potential World

Champion, Jonas Hager to veteran CarlHerbert Wallin 79 years old.

The final was won by Uno Ekstrand,Ingemar Dahlgren , Hakan Fredriksson, whobeat Daniel Ljung, Anders Dahlgren, PerGottschalk by 12 shots to 5. In the 3rd and4th place final Christer Nordin, MagnusNordin, Joel Hager beat BG Clemensson,Rosa Albrektsson, Jorgen Karlsson by 16shots to 8.

In Sweden Short mat bowls is the newfolkssport and is of course a sport for every-one. The next tournament will be a two dayevent with prize money and will be held overthe first weekend of September, the 3rd &4th.

The shift to earlier in September hascome about after the clash of dates affectedthe entries from England. The change to aclearer part of the diary should make it eas-ier for players from around the British Islesto participate.

The title of next year event will be Eu-ropean open Masters Triples and as per theinternational norm, will be a two bowl perplayer event.

Tommy DahlgrenTommy Dahlgren

The final saw an entertaining and enthralling game with a series of close heads. Eventually thoughthe four of Dave and Anthea Williams with Sandi and Mike Wilson (Kington Langley) overcamethe Blue Circle four of Maggie Marden, Tony Sutton, Ann Hart and Chris Willis by8 shots to 2.

The Plate was equally well contested with semi-finalists from Seend, Crudwell, Market Lavingtonand Dinton. The Seend four skipped by Colin Waldeck beat Crudwell (skipped by Geoff Lane) and theDinton team (skipped by John Gorringe) had an even closer win against Chris Lock’s Market Lavingtonfour. In the final, the Dinton four beat Seend by 7 shots to 3. Due to illness two of the original Dinton four(Geoff and Dawn Toomer) were unable to play and were replaced by Di Sullivan (Seend) and Chris Smith(Atworth). Together with Daphne Allington and John Gorringe (Dinton) they beat Carole Bowles, AnnRevell, Pete Sullivan and Colin Waldeck.Geoff Lane

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5

-The lovely island of the Isle of Man was the setting for the 2010 British Isles Championships. Many hadarrived full of aspiration to achieve the ultimate gaol of a British Isles title. For newly appointed Englandmanager Keith Smith this was all that he had worked so hard for in such a short time, would his troopsrespond as he would wish, only time would tell.

The Championships are split into two parts, individual championship events for Singles, Pairs,Triples and Fours and then the team event in which four rinks represent each Nation. This is called theInternational event, although those who compete in either event are true internationals.

After the opening ceremony, Saturday saw the first round of the Championships, England in thesingles were represented by Trevor Brown who deftly put aside the challenge of local girl Jayne Smith18-9. In the other match Wales’ Luke Haddon romped home 21-5 against Scotland’s J. Watt. In the pairs,England was represented by multiple British Isles winner Lee Toleman and his young partner from DevonMichael Ivings. Both were in no mood to be messed with and sent out a clear message to all of the otherpairs when they swept aside the challenge of J. & D. Johnstone of Scotland 13-9. Wales’ Aled Humphrieswent down 10 - 11 in shock defeat to

The England triple of Jon Pitcher and Dave Hayward had been hampered by the loss of ThomasMillership but were more than recompensed by the inclusion of Martin Walker. They had a difficult firstround and were eclipsed 7-10 by the Welsh triple of Dale Gorman, Gareth Davies, skipped by the ever-green Steve Williams, winner of both British Isles and World Championships. The England four fromShropshire, Warwick France, Alan Williams, Chris Shakeshaft and skip Chris Williams eased past theirScottish counterparts 15-9

The first round of the International event (four rinks) saw England pitted against the auld enemyfrom north of the border, Scotland, with England coasting home 53-27. Contributing 15 shots to the dif-ference; Lee Toleman, Martin Walker, Leigh Hall and David Newsome blistered their way to an impres-sive 18-3 victory. For Scotland L. Chiffers, N. Stephen, D. Harrigan and wily skip Lawrence Moffat were6-7 down going into the last end but snatched a two and an 8-7 last gasp victory.

Wales eclipsed the Isle of Man 53-22 winning three and drawing one of their four rinks, with PaulHudson, Robert Evans, Jonathan and Andrew Hudson storming home 23-2. The Isle-of-Man’s draw camecourtesy of Peter Coward, Richard Farragher, John Jauncey and Eric Maddocks, who snatched a singleon their last end for a 7-7 result.

Round two of the Championships saw England’s Trevor Brown come back from 7-10 down to seeoff the challenge of the very experienced Alan Paul (Ireland) by 13-7 in a very hard fought tussle. Scot-land’s J. Watt had an easy 17-8 victory over his Isle-of-Man’s opponent.

The English four and pair sat this one out whilst Ireland surprisingly lost their fours match 7-12 toWales’ Lisa Rees, Nigel Thomas, Edward and Peter Rees. The other fours match was an extremely tightaffair with a swinging finish. The Isle-of-Man’s Jill Quayle, Moira Anderson, John Jauncey and Eric Mad-docks led 8-6 and then dropped a six to Monica & Patrick Conroy, Michael Savage and Gerard Conroyto go 8-12 down going into the last end. The IOM four then almost pulled the difference back but justmissed out with a three leaving the Irish 12-11 winners. In the triples England’s Jon Pitcher got his teamback on track with an emphatic 14-5 win against the Isle of Man.

The pairs saw Sam Peel and Stephen Gale beating their Scottish opponents 14-9. In the other game,the Irish pair of Clarke Hill and Mark Wilson eased home with a comfortable 17-10 win over Wales, aftercoming back from 4-9.

The 2010British Isles Championships

6

-Round two of the International saw the England quartet of rinks sitting this one out and watch-ing their upcoming opponents with great interest as in an intriguing match Ireland won 36-32against Wales in a very close run contest. Best for Ireland was the rink of James McCaffrey, RyanO’Neill, Uel McKeeman and skip Colm McHugh, who won 11 - 2.

For Wales, Michael & Chris John, Andrew Evans and Tom Jones weighed in with an 11 - 2 win overa very experienced Irish rink but sadly this was not enough to turn the tide with Wales losing by 4 shots.Isle of Man turned up trumps on home soil by beating Scotland by just a single shot at 33-32. For the IOMAnn Gale, Dave McTaggart, Seamus Whelan & Stephen Gale had an impressive 13-8 win over LawrenceMoffat’s rink and best for Scotland was a 13 - 4 from by J. Watt, W. McGinn, S. Clyne and H. Collins.

Round three of the Championships saw England’s single player sit out and whilst England’s pair hit-ting top form when they slammed the hapless Isle of Man pairing of Sam Peel and Stephen Gale 29-4. Inthe other Pairs match Ireland’s Clarke Hill & Mark Wilson beat Scotland 19 - 10. By now the Englishtriple had forgotten their first round defeat to the Welsh and in a titanic struggle ended up honours even12-12 with the very competitive triple of Karen O’Neill, Leigh Harrison and skip Ryan O’Neill from Ire-land, who scored a three on the last end to level the match. England’s four however were in no mood tobe toyed with and totally wrecked the opponents from the Isle of Man 20-2.

Day two dawned and first off was round three of the International. The English lads were raring togo and showed fine fettle in demolishing the Isle of Man 73-14. Best for England was the a 24-4 score-line from Simon Willies, Edward Sawbridge, Chris Hopkins and Chris Willies spirits were high and allwas still to look forward to. In the other international match Ireland beat Scotland 60-20 with the awe-some rink of James McCaffrey, Ryan O’Neill, Uel McKeeman and skip Colm McHugh scoring 27 pointswithout reply.

Round four of the Championships proved to be a decisive round certainly for England’s singles asTrevor Brown found one to hot for him in the shape of Luke Haddon of Wales, who took him out 13-9.The England pair from Devon also tasted defeat at the hands of Wales’ Nick Evans and Aled Humphries,who got home by 6 shots at 15-9. The England triple sat this round out and the Shropshire four of ChrisWilliams, Chris Shakeshaft, Warwick France and Allan Williams continued on their winning ways andhelped by a seven on the 6th end, recorded a fine 17-6 result over their Irish counterparts Monica Con-roy, Patrick Conroy, Michael Savage and skip Gerard Conroy.

Round four of the Internationals and the tension were beginning to mount, Ireland trounced the Isleof Man 77-12, helped by a 26-0 result from DJ Wilson, Leigh Harrison, Alan Paul and John Quinn. Eng-land took on the fast improving Welsh team. This turned out to be a terrific tussle with the lead swingingfirst one way then the other. In the end a superb 15-1 win by Grant Soller, Jim Neal, Andrew Beard andSteve Proctor proved decisive as England only drew one and lost both of the other rinks. The overall re-sult was a 35-27 victory for England. Best for Wales was the 11-7 result by Paul Hudson, Robert Evans,Jonathan Gladstone and Andrew Hudson. England’s 6 all drawn game saw a fightback from 1-6 by SimonWillies, Edward Sawbridge, Chris Hopkins and Chris Willies.

Round five of the championships was the trophy decider round, who was going to walk off withthese coveted prizes? Ireland ‘s Alan Paul secured the singles title winning on shots difference after de-feating runner up Luke Haddon Wales 25-8. The English duo of Lee Toleman and Michael Ivings securedtheir pairs title on shots aggregate after their winner take all decider 14-8 against the Irish duo and thusrunners up Clarke Hill and Mark Wilson. The Irish triple led by Karen O’Neill ran out deserved champi-onship winners after a single on the last end of their game with Wales for a 12-11 win. The English trioof Jon Pitcher, Martin Walker and Dave Hayward, with dogged determination, pushed themselves into sec-ond place on shot difference after a superb 21-10 win over Scotland.

The English quartet finalised their place as champions on shot aggregate with a hard fought draw11-11 after dropping a two on the last end against the Welsh four and eventual runners up of Lisa Rees,Nigel Thomas, Edward Rees and Peter Rees.

Round five of the international and this was the big one, Wales by virtue of being beaten by bothIreland and England were out of the running for second place but finished off with a final round 45-36victory over Scotland, with Scotland winning two of the four rinks. Their best was a 16-8 from J. Watt,W. McGinn, S. Clyne and H. Collins. Wales best score came from Rhodri Jones, Arwel Nicholas, RobertHughes and Allan Slattery who won15 - 2.

7

-England were once again facing their old adversaries Ireland with all to play for. Tensions weremounting and the action was about to unfold. After three ends the Irish were ahead by five shotsafter six ends their lead had increased to 6, at nine of the ten ends the lead had diminished to just

one shot. The tension was electric, a silence descended on the arena as both sides calculated and recalcu-lated their shot totals, a mighty roar came from mat one as the Irish rink of DJ Wilson, Leigh Harrison,Alan Paul and skip John Quinn finalised their thrilling 15-5 win over the Toleman rink. Next up came rinkfour where the Simon Willies led rink had held their nerve against the formidably led rink of ColmMcHugh, Uel McKeeman, Ryan O’Neill and James McCaffrey and triumphed 10 shots to 5.

England’s Rink three was the unbeaten thus far and was skipped by Grant Soller against the Irishquartet of Gareth Lithco, Paul Reid, Gerry McCabe and skipped by the vastly experienced Gary Burke.In a pulsating encounter no quarter was asked or given as both rinks fought out this titanic struggle, withthe final end in play England had one hand on the trophy until a Gary Burke wood cut down an impres-sive hold by the English rink although the English still triumphed 11-7.

By now the tension was unbearable, Irish officials sat wringing their hands and sweating profuselyand then as quickly as the vision appeared it disappeared, as the Irish number 2 rink of Paul Duff, Joe Beat-tie,Gerard Conroy and Raymond Stubbs snatched a three on the last end against the Burgess rink to win9-5. The final score being Ireland 36 England 31. Irish players and officials were hugging each other morein relief than in congratulation, once again the International had been taken to the final bowls.

The English players left the mats and wearily shook hands with each other, but for some they knowthat this was not the end merely the beginning Smiffy’s army are on the march!

Chris HopkinsWith additional information from Collin Holland

AND TOMMY COOPER SAID!AND TOMMY COOPER SAID!Two Aerials meet on a roof - fall in love - get married. The Ceremony was absolute Two Aerials meet on a roof - fall in love - get married. The Ceremony was absolute rubbish but the Reception was Brilliant. rubbish but the Reception was Brilliant.

8

-GUNTON HALLGUNTON HALL

In the singles quarter finals, Barbara French got off to aflying 7 - 0 start after 5 ends of her match against Tony Kent.Tony struck back with two two’s but ends were running out andBarbara won 8 - 5. John Hillier faced Gill Kent in his quarterfinal and he also got off to a great start and eventually won 8 -4. In the other quarter Derek Oxley beat Paula McCallum 9 - 4and Richard Paddy got the better of Bob Cousins 8 shots to 5.

Richard then faced Derek Oxley in the semi-finals andRichard led 6 - 3 after six ends but Derek found an extra gear to

lead 8 - 6 going into the last end and he conceded just a single to win 8 - 7. Barbara French meanwhilekept up her run of form and beat the experienced John Hillier 7 - 4 after going into the last end just 5 - 4up. Barbara was still in great form in the final and despite Derek Oxley’s best efforts he could not preventBarbara from lifting the singles championship by 8 shots to 3.

In the pairs quarter finals David & Barbara French had atremendous tussle with Bob Cousins & George Broom, with theFrench’s winning 12 - 10 in a high scoring game. Alan & Paula Mc-Callum had an easier match against Barry & Maureen Bell, easinghome 9 - 4. Lonnie & Maureen Fyson were in great form againsttheir clubmates Tony Kent & Dawn Fincham, winning 8 - 1. Thebattle of the Sheila & John’s, Pages versus Hilliers was an ab-solutely cracking match, with three shots over the closing two endsgiving the Page’s a single shot 9 - 8 victory.

In the semi-finals Lonnie & Maureen Fyson, no strangers tofinals, had storming match against Sheila & John Page and ran out9 - 1 winners. In the other semi-final Alan & Paula McCallum tooka three on the second end against David & Barbara French and inthe end this was the deciding margin as the McCallum’s won 8 - 5.They then kept up their run beating the Fyson’s to take the PairsChampionship.

In the Triples quarters, Janet Russell, Sheila & John Page took no prisoners and did not concede asingle shot against Ron, June & Paul Wilson in a 10 - 0 result. Bob Reeves, Barbara & David French hada comfortable 11 - 4 victory over Michael Rice, Barry & Maureen Bell. Maureen Fyson, Gill Kent &Dawn Fincham were sitting pretty with an 11 - 5 lead going into the last end against Stella Cunningham,Alan & Paula McCallum, who needed a six to force an extra end. They made a good fist of the last endscoring four shots and thus went down 9 - 11.

The closest quarter final was between Gerry Russell, Sheila & John Hillier who stood 5 all with Ver-ity Prior Derek & Sheila Oxley going into the last end but the latter trio conceded a three to go down 5

shots to 8. Gerry, Sheila & John were on the receiving end of theirsemi-final with Bob Reeves, Barbara & David French;needing a five to level the match or a six to win but theyonly managed a three to lose 6 - 8. In a very close matchJanet Russell, Sheila & John Page were just 4 - 5 downgoing into the last end of their semi-final with MaureenFyson, Gill Kent & Dawn Fincham but they conceded athree to lose 4 - 8 in a hard fought match.

In the final, Maureen, Gill & Dawn hit a purple patchfrom ends 4 to seven, scoring eight shots to lead 9 - 2. BobReeves, Barbara & David French tried to claw back thedeficit of the closing three ends but Maureen, Gill & Dawntriumphed 9 - 6 in the end.

Alan & Paula McCallum with finalists Maureen &

Lonnie Fyson.

Winners Dawn Fincham, MaureenFyson & Gill Kent with finalists BobReeves, Barbara & David French

9

-CYPRUS CALLINGCYPRUS CALLING

I have been busy setting up short mat groups,4 in all with another in pipe line. Short mathere to stay. All groups have started playinggames against each other in friendly matches,so it may not be long until a league starts?

The Shogun Short mat club was for-merly the Crazy Spoon. We do not have acommittee and all who play have an input,anyone can come along at present 3 morningsa week, play two 12/14 end sessions. Breakfor tea/ coffee soft drink 15 mins. Start10.00am and finish at approx. 13.30 hours in-

cluding a break. We have 46 regular players, with most tak-

ing part in ladies and gents pairs and triplesknock out competitions. Our oldest member2nd.row 2nd in is Albert, our mascot at 92 yearsold, loves the game and never missed a session

Shogun Short Mat play in a Karate hall,with a wooden floor and all the necessary facili-ties incl. ladies gents toilets, shower cubicles re-freshments bar, seating area to enjoy our breakand chat. Fans to keep you cool and shortly ceil-ing fans will be installed to combat the hotweather.

Another club is situated 15 minutes drivewest of Paphos town with a large car park and itis easy to reach EMBA village.

Latin Parish Hall Tomb of Kings road ashort distance from EMBA and again about15min drive from Paphos Town, also on mainlocal bus route.

They have 2 mats with a possible thirdlater, Refreshments available like above verygood prices i.e.;- mug tea/coffee 50cents not the€3 = that some places charge. Frank and Karenlook after things.

The membership is 30 at present andthey play Monday Night, Thursday and Sun-day morning.

Kiti (Larnaca), is about 15 mins. FromLarnaca Airport and 1 hour 15 min. drive fromPaphos. 6 outdoor mats played on an unusedvolley ball court, by permission of the localmunicipality.

Jim Allison trying the mats

Shogun Short Mat members

Latin Parish Hall

Latin Parish Hall members

10

-The membershipis about 50 atpresent and theyplay most days of week,run by committee. Lor-raine and Frank Grundyare the organisers and theyhave toilet facilities nearby.

Paralimni and Fam-agusta is near the borderto the occupied area inCyprus. About 1 hourdrive to Kiti and 2 hours30 minutes to Paphos.

When we go most stay overnight in a hotel ad-jacent to the 6 mat old tennis court belongingto the Mimosa Hotel.

Facilities close at hand and hotel avail-able. Member’s arrange food drinks etc. forvisiting teams.

The membership is approximately 60bowlers and they are open for play 7 days aweek.

All clubs play their own internal competi-tions and shortly I shall meet club representa-tives to discuss the possibility of playing eachother in a variety of competitions, playing finalson a rotation basis. . Jim Allison

Paralimni FamagustaMimosa Cup Winners

AND TOMMY COOPER SAID!I was in my car, and I was driving along, andmy boss rang up, and he said 'You've beenpromoted.' And I swerved.He rang up a second time and said 'You'vebeen promoted again.' And I swerved again.He rang up a third time and said 'You're nowmanaging director.' And I drove into a tree.A policeman came up and said 'What hap-pened to you?' And I said 'I careered off theroad.'

11

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Enquiries - Telephone 0121 - 286 - 9449Enquiries - Telephone 0121 - 286 - 9449Website www.short-mat-holidays.comWebsite www.short-mat-holidays.com

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genuinely limited.genuinely limited.Your tournamentsYour tournamentsinclude our usual include our usual

optional 3 events, alloptional 3 events, allstarting on a roundstarting on a roundrobin basis. Pairs, Triples and an eveningrobin basis. Pairs, Triples and an eveningSingles, and you choose what you enter.Singles, and you choose what you enter.In addition to a £229 standard bungalowIn addition to a £229 standard bungalowyou also have the choice of Bungalow plusyou also have the choice of Bungalow plusat £245 or Hotel accommodation at £289.at £245 or Hotel accommodation at £289.

You can also arrive a day early You can also arrive a day early on a “Sunday Special” for just £49.on a “Sunday Special” for just £49.

NOTE: We will also be organising an AutumnNOTE: We will also be organising an AutumnPotters break 28th November - 2nd DecemberPotters break 28th November - 2nd December

Full Board Per PersonFull Board Per Person£229£229

-FOCUS ON CORNWALLFOCUS ON CORNWALL

COUNTY SINGLESCOUNTY SINGLES48 bowlers from an original entry of 62 competed at the Dragon LeisureCentre, Bodmin for the eight places available in the County Finals. On thefirst day 23 bowlers competed in 5 groups to find 8 bowlers to compete ina single round of knockout games.

Gerald Fisher (Illogan) claimed Group One with an unbeaten 6 points+17 shots including a 12-7 win over defending champion Tony Baldwin(Liskeard). David Studden(Illogan) was also unbeatenin claiming Group Two with

6 +21. Brenda Sleep (Dobwalls) was an 11-6 winneragainst Graham Reeves (Saltash) in the deciding game ofGroup Three to finish on 6 +14. John Keers (St Agnes)recorded a 19-4 win over Michael Webster (Blisland) inGroup Four to finish on 6 +20.

Bob Williams (Illogan) claimed Group Five with 6+10 after defeating Jim Ashton (Saltash) 11-4 in the groupsfinal game. Jim Ashton qualified as highest runner up with4 +17. In Group one, John Sloane (Liskeard) took the sec-ond spot with 4 +12 and the final spot went to GrahamReeves with 4 -2 from Group Three.

The play-off round to determine the four qualifiersfor Saturday saw Jim Ashton defeat John Sloane 11-9.Brenda Sleep claimed a 9-8 victory over Gerald Fisher. David Studden claimed the all Illogan match de-feating club mate Bob Williams 12-3 and John Keers claimed the final spot with a 10-6 win over GrahamReeves.

On the second day, the remaining 25 bowlers were drawn into 6 groups again to find 8 bowlers tocompete in a single round of knockout games.

Peter Hore (Holmans) took Group One honours defeating previously unbeaten Martin Boraston(Liskeard) 10-6 in the final game of the group to finish on 6 +29, the highest score of the weekend. KeithMatthews (Blisland) recorded three wins in Group Two to finish on 6 +11. Three bowlers finished on 4points in Group Three with Bill Sharp (Dobwalls) taking the group win with +14 shots.

Carol Ford (St Newlyn East) finished with +8 and Nicholas Truscott (Holmans) with +4. PeterSkinner (Saltash) won the final game of Group Four against Chris Roberts 8-6 to finish with 6 +11. PeterSpargo (Liskeard) claimed Group Five with a 20 shot win over previously unbeaten Karen Watson (Hol-mans) in the final game to finish on 6 +26. Group Six went the way to Len Coxall (Newlyn Trinity) withan unbeaten 6 +23. Ken Horrell (Withiel) claimed the first of the runners up spots with 4 +20 in GroupTwo with the second spot going to Martin Boraston with 4 +18 in Group One.

The play-off round saw Peter Hore defeat Len Coxall 13-7 in a close game through the first twothirds. Keith Matthews edged out Peter Skinner 9-7. Ken Horrell claimed a close game against Bill Sharp12-10. The final game saw Peter Spargo claim the all Liskeard match against Martin Boraston 12-3.

The finals were played at a later date, also at the Dragon Leisure Centre. The eight qualifiers weredrawn in a straight knockout competition to determine the title. In the quarter finals John Keers (St Agnes)defeated Brenda Sleep (Dobwalls) 12-9. David Studden (Illogan) was a 9-8 winner against Jim Ashton(Saltash). Peter Hore (Holmans) claimed an 11-5 win against Ken Horrell (Withiel). Keith Matthews(Blisland) received a bye after his opponent was unable to take his place due to illness.

The Semi Finals saw David defeat John 14-6 and Peter defeat Keith 12-4. The early exchanges inthe 11 end final were closely contested with Peter leading 3-2 after five ends. The next two ends provedcrucial to the outcome with Peter picking up a 2 and a 3 to lead 8-2 after seven ends and go on to win by10 shots to 5.

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-COUNTY PAIRSCOUNTY PAIRSThe qualification competition for the County Pairs was playedover a weekend at the Dragon Leisure Centre, Bodmin, with 47pairings taking part chasing the 8 places available in the CountyFinals. The opening day saw 25 pairings split into 6 groups for around robin competition followed by a single knock out round todetermine 4 qualifiers from the day.

Group One was a closely contested affair with all four pairsplaying in the final round of games being in with a chance of tak-ing the group win. Margaret Jenkin & Nigel Nicholls (NewlynTrinity) defeated Henry Kendall & Joe Dixon (Withiel) 17-2 to se-cure the group win with 4 points +19 shots, to finish ahead ofJoan & Peter Skinner (Saltash) who defeated Susan Wilce & Bar-

bara Swaby (Wadebridge) 15-7 to finish on 4 +10, narrowly missing out on a best runners up place. Kevin Williams & Mike Widger (Porthleven) were undefeated in claiming Group Two with 6 +38,

the best qualifying score of the two days. Derek Swaby (Wadebridge) & Stuart Hambly (Camelford)were also undefeated in claiming Group Three with 6 +16.

Group Four went down to the final game with Roy Christophers (Helston) & Keith Williams (Pen-lee) claiming 10-8 win against Graham Luke & Brian Wakeley (Ladock) to finish with 6 +16. Luke andWakeley qualified as highest runners up with 4 +17. Group Five also went down to the final game withLinda Martin & Gerry Fisher (Illogan) taking an 11-5 win against Elise Daniell & Nicholas Truscott (Hol-mans) to finish on 5 +11. Daniell & Truscott’s 4 +14 was enough to see them through as the second run-ner up. Group Six proved the closed of the day with Joe Coups & David Studden (Illogan) finishing intop spot with a 9-8 win against Max Burden & Brenda Sleep (Dobwalls) in the final game to finish on 4-2

A further round of knockout games was played to determine the four qualifiers. Stuart Hambly &Derek Swaby needed an extra end to defeat Roy Christophers & Keith Williams 9-8. An extra end wasalso needed by Margaret Jenkin & Nigel Nicholls in defeating Graham Luke & Brian Wakeley 10-8.Kevin Williams & Mike Widger were comfortable 12-4 winners against Elise Daniell & Nicholas Tr-uscott and Joe Coups & David Studden won the all Illogan game defeating Linda Martin & Gerry Fisher13-2.

The second day saw 22 pairings split into 5 groups, again with 4 qualifiers needed to go forward tothe finals. Bill Sharp & Graham Sleep (Dobwalls) claimed Group One with 4 +15, Mollie Jones & JohnSloane (Liskeard) also qualified as the best of the runners up with 4 +11. Sheila Hodge & Derek New-ton (Liskeard) defeated Margaret Delbridge & Christine Kent (Cubert) 14-4 in the final Group Two gameto finish on 6 +27, the Cubert pairing just missing out on the final best runners up place. Yvonne & DavidGriffin (Lostwithiel) were unbeaten in claiming Group Three with 6 +18, including a 12-11 win againstdefending champions Tony Baldwin & Peter Spargo (Liskeard).

Thomas Rigler & Alan Trubshaw (Duloe) claimed Group Four with 5 +4. Joyce & Norman Ward(Withiel) claimed a runners up spot after finishing on 4 +1 which included a 12-10 win against Englandsquad members Karen Watson & Peter Hore (Holmans). Brian Webb & Tony Jago (Treviscoe) toppedGroup Five with 4 +13 with Caroline Trubshaw & Brian Lewis (Duloe) claiming a runners up spot with4 +3.

The knockout round saw Joyce & Norman Ward defeat Caroline Trubshaw & Brian Lewis 10-9.Sheila Hodge & Derek Newton were comfortable 18-7 winners against Bill Sharp & Graham Sleep.Yvonne & David Griffin claimed an 8-6 win over Tom Rigler & Alan Trubshaw, the final spot in the fi-nals line up went to John Sloane & Mollie Jones who defeated Brian Webb & Tony Jago 10-5.

In the quarter finals Derek Swaby (Wadebridge) & Stuart Hambly (Camelford) were 10-8 winnersagainst Sheila Hodge & Derek Newton (Liskeard). Mike Widger & Kevin Williams (Porthleven) claimedan 11-5 victory over Joe Coups & David Studden (Illogan). Yvonne & David Griffin (Lostwithiel) were14-4 winners against Joyce & Norman Ward (Withiel) and completing the round were Margaret Jenkin& Nigel Nicholls who claimed victory 15-8 against Mollie Jones & John Sloane (Liskeard).

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-In the first semi final Derek & Stuart scored 3 on the last end to secure victory 11-10 against Mike& Kevin and in the second semi Margaret & Nigel were 12-5 winners against Yvonne & David.The final proved to be a very close affair with two tied ends and seven ends decided by a single shot.Margaret and Nigel lead 6-1 at the halfway point only to see the lead eroded as Derek & Stuart fought backto force an extra end with a score of two on the final scheduled end of the game. Nigel and Margaretscored the vital shot on the extra end to secure the title.

COUNTY TRIPLESCOUNTY TRIPLESThe County Triples qualification wasoriginally scheduled for a two dayweekend but wintry conditions over theweekend made play only possible onthe Sunday after overnight snowfallprevented travel on Saturday Morningfor many players and officials.

Sunday’s play featured 16 teamswho braved the cold conditions at theDragon Leisure Centre to compete forfour of the eight places available at theCounty Finals to be played in January.

Margaret Jenkin (Newlyn Trin-ity), John Thomas (Penzance) and Nigel

Nicholls (Newlyn Trinity) claimed Group One after defeating the Liskeard team of Lynne Davey, MartinBoraston and Gary Davey 9-7 in the final game in the group to finish unbeaten with 6 points +21 shots.Kath Goodman (Treviscoe) combined with St Newlyn East’s Carol & Graham Ford to claim Group Twounbeaten with 6 +22.

Group Three went down to a final game decider with Illogan’s Bob Williams, Joe Coups & DavidStudden defeating Holman’s Nicholas Truscott, Karen Watson & Peter Hore 12-5 to finish on 6 +23. Thefinal game of Group Four went the way of Luxulyan’s David Giles, Betty Temple-Smith & Phil Hicks whodefeated nearest challengers St Newlyn East’s Sheila Collins, Margaret Walke & Pam Williams 11-9 tofinish on 6 +15.

The teams originally drawn to play on the Saturday returned at a later date to play their qualifierswith 20 teams participating split into five groups of four. Qualifying from Group One were Dave Abbiss,Robert Peareth & Terry Bray (Lostwithiel) with 5 points +18 shots. Group Two produced two qualifierswith Eileen Holmes, Lesley Clayton & Christine Kent (Cubert) claiming the group with 4 +10 and ChrisCope, Edna Cope & Mary Ray (Liskeard) claiming a runners up spot with 4 +/-0. Sheila Hodge, John &Margaret Turner (Liskeard) were unbeaten winners of Group Three with 6 +10.

Group Four produced two qualifiers, an unbeaten Mike Richards, Tom Lapworth & Keith Williams(Penlee) with 6 +31 and Stuart Hambly (Camelford), Sheila & Robert Flower (Tintagel) with 4 +3. Thefinal group saw Margaret and John Menhenick & Derek Swaby (Wadebridge) go unbeaten with 6 +31 toqualify along with Melba Kitt, Graham Reeves & Darren Woolner (Saltash) with 4 +4.

With only four places in the finals available a further knockout round followed. Keith Williams de-feated Christine Kent 14-4. Terry Bray won 15-4 against Margaret Turner. Darren Woolner won the bat-tle of the best runners up defeating Mary Ray 10-8 and the final place went to Derek Swaby with a 10-2win against Robert Flower.

The finals were contested on the afternoon of Sunday 23 January. Penlee’s Mike Richards, Top Lap-worth & Keith Williams score 2 on the final end of their quarter final to defeat Wadebridge’s MargaretMenhenick, John Menhenick & Derek Swaby 8-7. Luxulyan’s David Giles, Betty Temple-Smith & PhilHicks were 11-5 winners against Kath Goodman (Treviscoe), Carol & Graham Ford (St Newlyn East).

Saltash’s Melba Kitt, Graham Reeves & Darren Woolner were 15-7 winners against Lostwithiel’sDave Abbis, Robert Peareth & Terry Bray and in the final quarter final Margaret Jenkin (Newlyn Trinity),John Thomas (Penzance) & Nigel Nicholls (Newlyn Trinity) claimed a 10-4 win against Illogan’s BobWilliams, Joe Coups & David Studden.

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-The first semi-final saw Phil Hicks’ team fight back from 2-6 down to force an extra end againstKeith Williams’ team who eventually claimed the extra end with a single shot to take a place inthe final. The second semi final between Darren Woolner’s Saltash and Nigel Nicholls’ Newlyn

Trinity was a high scoring affair with neither team able to establish a clear lead and ultimately went to anextra end which was claimed by Darren with a single shot to give a final score of 14-13. In the final Dar-ren established an 8-1 lead only to see Keith hit back to level the score at 8-8 going into a tense last endthat would ultimately be decided by a matter of millimetres with the umpire’s measure awarding Darrenthe winning shot.COUNTY FOURSCOUNTY FOURSTwenty four teams competed in theCounty Fours qualification competitionat the Dragon Leisure Centre, Bodmin.The competition was played on a roundrobin basis with teams were split into sixgroups of four with each team playingthree games, with the six group winnersand two best runners up qualifying for thefinals.

Group One went the way of theHolmans team of Elise Daniell, NicholasTruscott, Karen Watson & Peter Horewho were unbeaten recording a draw and two wins to finish on 5 points and +14 shots. Liskeard’s SheilaHodge, Tony Baldwin, Derek Newton & Peter Spargo claimed three wins to take Group Two with 6 +10.Group Three went the way of an unbeaten St Newlyn East team of Sheila Collins, Carol Ford, PamWilliams & Graham Ford with 6 +22.

Group Four went the way of Margaret Jenkin (Newlyn Trinity), Ronnie Thomas (Newlyn Trinity),John Thomas (Penzance) & Nigel Nicholls (Newlyn Trinity) unbeaten with 6 +20. Saltash’s Melba Kitt,Margaret Goodwin, Graham Reeves & Darren Woolner claimed Group 5 with 6 +14. The final group,Group 6, proved the closest on the day with two teams finishing tied on 4 +11. The group win going toLostwithiel’s Pam Hamley, Chris Cawrse, Gillian Cawrse and Peter Hamley who had defeated Illogan’sJoe Coups, Bob Williams, Linda Martin & Gerald Fisher in there group game to qualify on count back.Rounding off the qualifiers were Dobwalls’ Graham Sleep, Bill Sharp, Brenda Sleep & Max Burden with4 +15 and Lostwithiel’s Dave Abbis, Camilla Cawrse, Robert Peareth & Terry Bray with 4 +12.

The finals were contested at a later date and the first quarter final saw the two Lostwithiel teamsdrawn together with the combination of David Abbis, Robert Peareth, Camilla Cawrse & Terry Bray de-feating Pam Hamley, Chris Cawrse, Gillian Cawrse & Peter Hamley 14-3. The second game was a closelycontested affair, which saw the Holmans team of Elise Daniell, Karen Watson, Nicholas Truscott & PeterHore up against Ronald Thomas (Porthleven), Margaret Jenkin (Newlyn Trinity), John Thomas (Pen-zance) & Nigel Nicholls (Newlyn Trinity).

With never more than a couple of shots splitting the two teams it was Holman's skip Peter Hore whodrew to the ditch line with the final bowl of the game to win 8-7. The Dobwalls team of Graham Sleep,Bill Sharp, Brenda Sleep & Max Burden were 14-9 winners against St Newlyn East’s Sheila Collins,Pam Williams, Carol Ford & Graham Ford. Completing the Quarter Finals Liskeard’s Dorothy Woody-att, Sheila Hodge, Tony Baldwin & Derek Newton claimed victory 11-5 against Saltash’s Melba Kitt,Margaret Goodwin, Graham Reeves & Darren Woolner.

The semi finals saw Peter Hore’s Holmans team defeat Terry Bray’s Lostwithiel team 14-5 andDerek Newton’s Liskeard 10-5 winners against Max Burden’s Dobwalls team. The final was closely con-tested, with neither team able to establish a clear lead with never more than 3 shots separating the twoteams. At the end of the scheduled nine ends the scores were level at 8-8 to leave an extra end requiredwhich went the way of the Liskeard team.

Nick Truscott CCSMBA Press & Promotions Officer

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-Wow! What a winter period snowice hail, you name it most of usgot it. Fixtures were totally blownto the four winds something that

some counties are still fighting toright. But the question must be asked

where do we go from here? Is this about tobecome the norm as we are led to believe?

Or do we just plough on regardless hoping that next yearwill be better. I for one hope that the weather we have recentlyendured will not become the norm otherwise those operating fixture lists are going to rapidly diminish withthe worry of it all.

All counties by now will have received their information from the Bowls Development Alliance re-garding the much needed survey on how many members that we have and what age groups they fall into,this information will remain totally within the domain of the BDA and ESMBA. It would be sheer follyto ignore the fact that we have a rapidly advancing older section without trying to underpin this by en-couraging new blood into our sport slightly lower down the age scale.

I look at a number of our counties now and at the way that they are run and it worries me greatlythat the people running their counties are virtually irreplaceable or at least nobody seems to be comingforward in an effort to lighten the burden on the few. The thorny subject of playing games mat on mat hasreared its head recently with the decision by your committee to return again to Kempston, Bedford IndoorBowls club for our National championships.

Since I became involved in the sport we have now it seems turned full circle where the fast mats atmain competitions are being replaced by organisers playing mat on mat purely for financial reasons. Somemay say “so what “others are far more vociferous and say it is spoiling our game at the higher levels.

I strongly believe that we are not only assisting our friends in the long mat game financially but alsocontinuing to offer a service to our players at affordable prices. Talking about affordable prices with theway that fuel costs are spiralling counties will be taking a serious look at the affordability of playingcounty matches should the price move much more.

Those people already qualified as coaches have in the past couple of weeks received a survey formfrom Susan Cooper who was recently appointed as the Bowls Development Alliance Manager. Susan isnow looking at coaching across the whole spectrum of bowls in order to get all codes singing from thesame hymn sheet. The ESMBA have never been members of the English Bowls Coaching scheme hav-ing set out their own agenda in 2007, hopefully Susan along with our Coaching Director can get us all re-aligned together. We are striving to coach far more widely than at present so please keep those applicationscoming in and give a little back to your sport.

I hope you are all weathering well and look forward to seeing may of you round and about over thecoming few monthsChris Hopkins ESMBA Chairman

Chairman’s Chat

Gwen CurtisGwen CurtisIt is with very great personal sadness that I report on the passing of Gwen Curtis, a former Secretaryand Committee member of the ESMBA. Gwen hailed from Essex but lived for the past few years inDumfries, with her partner Shane (Jim) Nisbet, who was also a former Committee member and pastPresident of the ESMBA.

Gwen was a really nice person with a heart of gold and was a real pleasure to know. News of herpassing was a big shock to both Yvonne and myself. On my visits to Dumfries I always hugely lookedforward to the highlight of dining with Gwen & Jim in the Aberdour hotel and sadly, visits to Dumfrieswill never be quite the same again.

19

-

Mid Ulster travelled to Wales in the hope of reclaiming the Top Team Trophy for the seventh time. De-spite missing three skips from last year’s winning team, including internationals Colm McHugh and AlanPaul, they remained favourites to come away as winners. Things do not always go to plan however. Withno transport arranged to get the players from the hotel to the bowling venue. The MU management hadto arrange their own late on Friday night but with treacherous road conditions the taxis did not appear andrefused to come out. The party had no alternative to undertake a difficult 35 minute walk to the venue.

To add the problems they were led to believe that the team game against Wales was scheduled togo on first only to be told on arrival that individuals were first. The rush onto the mats to keep the pro-gramme on schedule did not help with another player being unable to play at that stage after a fall.

In the singles Danny McStravock won 12 – 11 while Trevor Turkington picked up a three on thelast end to draw 15 – 15. The pairs have always proved difficult for Mid Ulster. Dayne Jordan and GlenSmith 2who had looked comfortable ended up 14 – 16 while Seamus McGlinchey and Chris McKnightwent down 8 – 15. The triples and rinks started as they meant to go on. Mark Wilson, Sean Davidson andDamien Grimes won 8 – 5, Liam McHugh, Brendan Kyne and Gary Merron won 10 – 7, Damien McEl-roy, Seamus Kyne, Joe Martin and Colin Hogg won 14 – 4 while Liam Conway , Clarke Hill, AnthonyBradley and Damien McAllister won 13 – 4.

The afternoon session was one that would have been unfair to any side with Mid Ulster on the matsfor over four hours playing three successive games and tiredness played a major part at the end. On theirsecond round of games, Mid Ulster played English champions, Cheshire and won all 6 rinks with TommyMcAleavy slipping into D McElroy’s rink, Micky Kane into Mark Wilson’s and Norman Hutchinson intoDanny McStravock’s.won 8 – 5, Trevor Turkington won 11 – 5, Damien McElroy won 11 – 5, Liam Con-way won 8 – 6, Mark Wilson won 17 – 7 and Liam McHugh won 16 – 9 to give Mid Ulster all 12 points.

In the individual series against West Glamorgan, D McStravock and T Turkington both lost and thepairs fared no better. Again it was the triples and rinks which managed to curtain the Welsh side with DMcElroy’s rink winning 13 – 4, Liam Conway’s rink winning 13 – 4, Mark Wilson’s triple winning 19 –8 and Liam McHugh’s triple coming back from 4 – 11 to win 13 – 12 to tie the points at 8 – 8.

British Isles Top

Team Challenge

Mid Ulster win again

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-Having got a clean sweep against Cheshire earlier Mid Ulster would have hoped to maintain thatperformance but this was just one game to many in a row and tiredness became a factor. Only 2points were picked up in the singles and pairs from Trevor Turkington. There were mixed results forthe triples and rinks. M. Wilson’s triple continued their good form with a big win while Liam McHugh’striple went down. Liam Conway’s rink continued their winning ways with 10 – 5 win while DamienMcElroy’s rink controlled their game to win 13 – 7. Mid Ulster ended day 1 with 37 points to WestGlamorgan’s 24 and Cheshire’s 18.

The management did some reshuffling overnight and it produced results. In the individual seriesagainst Cheshire Mid Ulster produced the sort of performance they were unable to do on the last gamethe previous evening picking up 14 of the 16 points. In the singles D Jordan won by 18 - 11 while the sur-prise weapon Seamus McGlinchey produced a stunning performance to win 14 – 11. His opponent did notknow how to cope with the Kildress man and did not know what to expect next. At the end such was hisperformance that the bowls stopped as he was airlifted to the side.

In the pairs, Trevor Turkington and Glen Smith won 17 – 8, Danny McStravock and Tommy John-ston went down by three. In the triples Mark Wilson, Sean Davidson and Damien Grimes won 16 - 10,Liam McHugh, Gary Merron and Brendan Kyne won 13 - 10, Damien McElroy, Seamus Kyne, TommyMcAleavey and Colin Hogg won 13 – 7 while Liam Conway, Clarke Hill, Anthony Bradley and DamienMcAllister won 12 – 3.

Mid Ulster went into the final game knowing that two points would probably be enough and that issometimes a dangerous situation. Midway through the final team game against Wales it looked good withfour rinks up but in the end it proved very close. Trevor Turkington, Glen Smith, Joe Martin and ChrisMcKnight went down 11 – 5, Mark Wilson, Sean Davidson, Micky Kane and Damien Grimes playedtheir only poor game to go down 4 – 13, Liam McHugh, Dayne Jordan, Gary Merron and Brendan Kynefinished 7 – 7, while Liam Conway, Clarke Hill, Anthony Bradley and Damien McAllister maintained their100% record with a 13 – 8 win.

The final two games were the deciding ones. D McElroy’s rink went into the last end 6 – 8 downas a result of some very fortunate bowls by the Welsh rink particularly on the second last end when theWelsh skip played a driving backhand to wick off three bowls, take out Mid Ulster’s lying shots and pickup a five to lead 8 – 6. The Welsh skip with his final bowl produced another unbelievable result when hewicked of two outside bowls to lie shot and what he said to his rink was game. Damien McElroy had noshot other than a tight running backhand which he played with pinpoint precision to drag the jack backfor a three and win the game. Such was the rink’s delight that Damien was lucky to stay on his feet withthe Hogg all over him.

The final game with Danny McStravock, Tommy Johnston, Seamus McGlinchey and NormanHutchinson was one Mid Ulster controlled without managing to get away but going into the last end fourup meant that barring a catastrophe the game was theirs and so it proved as they picked up a two to win12 – 6.

This was a very good performance by Mid Ulster in difficult circumstances. Had it not been fortiredness on the Saturday and some very fortunate breaks for the Welsh the winning margin would havebeen greater but the closeness was probably good for the competition. Congratulation to Liam Conway’srink which won all their games. There are elements of the programme which do need looked at with theconcentration on individual series as opposed to team games not favouring the Irish representatives as wellas the imbalance between the points available for the team and individual events.

While the bowls was dramatic at the end it was not the end of Mid Ulster’s problems. Their flightwas Bristol was cancelled (they were lucky to get away on the last flight which got out on the Friday)which meant a one night stay for half the party and a two night for the rest. Fortunately the £164 per nightrooms with meals somewhat offset the disappointment of not getting home.

Seamus KyneMid Ulster Convenor

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-SHORT MAT IN THE PHILIPPINESSHORT MAT IN THE PHILIPPINES

CEBU PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIPCEBU PAIRS CHAMPIONSHIPA great day of bowls saw 8 teams seeking to be crowned Cebu ShortMat Bowls Club's 2010 Pairs Champions. 7 pairs looked to knockGeoff and Anilou Thomas off their perch as reigning champions forthe past 2 years. The trophy was looking set to have 2 new namesetched onto its roll of honour as Geoff and Anilou were a late entry,with Geoff just getting over a bout of Dengue fever and Anilou re-covering from a broken shoulder.

Opening Matches Started with Urban Cellar's Magical Coins.So the scene was set and the teams used the magical coins providedby the Urban Cellar to toss for the starting game. The 8 teams were

divided into 2 groups of 4, where they would play a round robin. The top 2 teams advanced to the semi finals while the 3rd placed teams played the Plate final and

the 4th placed teams played the Bowl final. Some fine bowls and close matches saw both groups finish-ing exactly as seeded, with the top 4 pairs advancing into the Championship Semi Finals.Group A1: Kirk Bradley & Damien Allison 6 points2: Paul & Elsa Whiteway 4 points3: Tom White & Gary Mcatamney 2 points4: Fraz & Yasi Herbich 0 pointsIn the cup semi-finals, Kirk Bradley & Damien Allison beat Neil Lindsay & Simon Hoyle, whilst Geoff& Anilou Thomas beat Paul & Elsa Whiteway. The meant that the Thomas’s were going for a third con-secutive title. Chairs were pulled up alongside the mat for the final. Geoff and Anilou Thomas were look-ing to complete their historic triple win, whilst Kirk Bradley and Damien Allison, who had also shownfine form throughout the preliminary stages, were determined to stop the Thomas’s run. The final matchwas played over 10 ends and turned out to be a nail biter. Anilou's lead bowls homed in on the jack likea beacon. It would be no exaggeration that out of 20 deliveries, Anilou must have delivered at least 15touchers!

This precision bowling allowed the defending champions to jump out to an early lead. Kirk andDamien where hanging in with some quality bowling of their own to make it an intriguing encounter. Thescore stood at 5-3 to Geoff and Anilou at the halfway stage and all to play for. In fact the game went downto the wire with the result hanging on Damien's very last bowl. Down 1 on the scoreboard and down inthe head, he needed to draw his last to force a sudden death extra end. It was not to be, however, as hisbowl fell millimetres short of taking shot from Geoff's counter.

So huge congratulations on a “threepeat” of victories for the husband and wife pairing of Geoff andAnilou Thomas on the back of an outstanding display of bowling in the final. Everyone will have to waituntil next year for another chance of getting his or her names on the coveted club pairs trophy. Surely Geoffand Anilou will with have something to say about it. This was a point of contemplation as players turnedtheir magical coins into beer at the Urban Cellar for post match refreshments.

The Plate Final was won by Tom White & Gary Mcatamney, who beat Trey Bishop & JessicaVelchez. In the Bowl Final Mark & Cameron Macdonald got the better of Franz & Yasi Herbich.

So a great way to close out the 2010 bowls season. It seems that we are back on track after quite along break this year. It has been great to see so many new faces. The next big tournament will be the CebuBowls Mini World Cup and then a tour up to Manila to play Nomads at lawn bowls.CEBU WORLD CUPCEBU WORLD CUP7 Pairs took advantage of the final practice roll a week before the tournament and played a double elim-ination knock out tournament. Interestingly enough, the final was played between the reigning 2010 WorldCup Champions, USA, and 2009 Champions, The Celtic Brethren. The Brethren took the day this time,but there will be fierce competition awaiting them come Sunday.

Group B1: Geoff & Annilou Thomas 6 points2: Neil Lindsay & Simon Hoyle 4 points3: Trey Bishop & Jessica Velchez 2 points4: Mark and Cameron Macdonald 0 points

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-The USA will be looking to defend their title, while a host of regulars and newcomers look tomake their mark, with a welcome to first time bowlers, Eric and Nils Toussaint, Brenido andBerny Qubing. Also a welcome to the returning Sean Bragg. Sean was a regular bowler when thegame started here in Cebu at Badgers Pub some years ago.

The inaugural champions in 2008 were France, represented by Rodolphe Lina & Pascal Goujon, TheCeltic Brethren (Neil Lindsay & Damien Allison), won in 2009 and the USA’s Bob Ward & Michael John-son are the reigning champions from 2010. In the end 30 bowlers gathered at the Silver Hills Subdivisionto challenge defending champions, USA, at the 4th instalment of the Cebu Bowls World Cup. A fantas-tic turnout and it was great to see so many new bowlers. Group AA1: USA: Bob Ward & Kristine WardA2: Shroptoon Army: John Rainey & Tim RuggA3: France: Rodolphe Lina & Brenido NicolasA4: Ireland: Michael Kenny & Barbara Kenny

Group CC1: Philippines: Annilou Thomas & Elsa White-wayC2: The Cockwallians: Simon Hoyle & Tony NorthC3: Denmark: Claus Beck & Fleming HansenC4: ANO

Bowlers Are Brilliant in the Kitchen Too!Players and spectators were alsotreated to some fantastic cuisineduring the day. Teams were invitedto bring along a traditional dish torepresent their region and giveeveryone the chance to literallyenjoy the flavour of their culture.

There was a great spreadranging from ham and cheese sand-wiches, to a Dutch & French in-spired cheese platter, cottage pies,cauliflower cheese, steak pies,dried squid and plenty more exoticdishes to excite the palate.

It was the A Team fromAmerica who stole the showthough, flaunting their culinary skills with some fabulous chicken wings fried on site throughout the dayby masterchef Trey Bishop. Another notable mention was Neil Lindsay's home brewed "Hoyle's DeepinCider" that kept everybody well fuelled and in fine fettle. (Ed - Yummy, I’m living in the wrong country!)

On the mats, the teams were divided into 4 groups of 4, with the top two from each qualifying forthe Cup Championships and the remaining teams advancing to the Bowl Championships. 6 end matchesare extremely unforgiving as one slip can spell disaster. The number of new bowlers also added to the un-certainty as some natural talent was definitely discovered!

Special mentions here to the Irish team of Michael and Barbara Kenny and to John Hansen fromPhildansk who were all bowling for the very first time. John's father, Fleming, his Phildansk team mate,Berny Quibing, the Dutch team of Eric and Nils Toussaint and Brenido Nicolas of France were also bowl-ing for only their second times. A huge welcome was given with the hope that they become regular play-ers.

Group BB1: England: Geoff Thomas & Paul WhitewayB2: Australia: Kirk Bradley & Tom WareB3: Team America: Trey Bishop & Sean BraggB4: The Netherlands: Eric Toussaint & Nils ToussaintGroup DD1: The Celtic Brethren: Neil Lindsay & Damien AllisonD2: New Zealand: Mark Macdonald & CameronMacdonaldD3: Filipinas: Marvz Allison & Gale NorthD4: ANO

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-The number of new bowlersis a great indication of themost important aspect ofCebu Short Mat BowlsClub - it’s purely social na-ture. A great day out andone that can be shared withfamily and friends.

Players on the dayranged in ages from NewZealand's Cameron Mac-donald at 10 to a number ofbowlers in their 60's. 5 hus-band and wives and 3 setsof father and sons partici-pated in various teams.

Action On the Mat -So to the bowling itself. Some cracking matches in the group stages threw up a number of surprise results.Inaugural World Cup Champion, Rodolphe Lina, led his French team to victory over the fancied Shrop-toon Army and into the Cup Championships. Australian 2008 Club Singles Champion, Kirk Bradley, andnewcomer to the Club, Tom Ware, won all 3 of their games by a single shot to top Group B, ahead of astrong English team. Newcomers, the Netherlands, surprised The A Team in the same group, while the Fil-ipinas overturned New Zealand to qualify for the Cup from Group D.

The Bowl & Shield - In the Bowl the Shroptoon Army beat the Nederlands 9-3. Phildansk had awalkover, the A Team beat Ireland 5-2 and New Zealand defeated Denmark 9 2. In the semi-finals the ATeam edged out New Zealand 6-4, whilst the Shroptoon Army scraped a 5-4 win over Phildansk. Shrop-toon Army’s John Rainey and Tim Ruggdrew on their experience to steer themselvesto a 6-2 victory against the A Team’s TreyBishop, resplendent in his cooking apronfrom chicken wings duty, and Sean Bragg,who is welcomed upon his recent return to thebowls fold after some time away from Cebu.Congratulations Shroptoon Army! In theShield semi-final, Denmark had a walkoverwhilst the Nederlands defeated the Cockwal-lians 5-3. The Nederlands then went on to de-feat Denmark 6-4

The Cup & Plate - The big 8 on theday vying to have their names etched onto thetrophy and into history included defendingChampions, Bob Ward and Kristine Ward ofthe USA, and past champions, Rodolphe Linaand Brenido Nicolas of France and the CelticBrethren, Neil Lindsay and Damien Allison.England, the Philippines, the Filipinas, Aus-tralia and Cockwall completed the line up.

It was an all ladies Quarter Final be-tween the Philippines and the Filipinas, with3 time Club Pairs Champion Annilou Thomasskipping Elsa Whiteway to victory for thePhilippines by 7-2.

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-The Celtic Brethren narrowly saw off a spirited challenge from Cockwallians Simon Hoyle andTony North by 5-3 on the fast mat, while France continued their run of good form by eliminatingAustralia by 6-4. The big surprise of the round was England's victory over defending champions,USA by 6-3. Thus a new champion was guaranteed and it also meant that England's Geoff Thomas andPaul Whiteway could be facing their wives, Annilou and Elsa of the Philippines in the final! However,England lost 6-2 in their semi-final to France, while the Celtic Brethren had a narrow 6-5 win over thePhilippines.

But first the Plate Championships. The losing Cup Quarter Finalists dropped down into the PlateSemi Finals with Cockwall besting Australia 6-2 and the Filippinas causing another upset in their 8-2 vic-tory over the USA. The Plate did see a husband and wife on opposing sides as Cockwall's Tony North ledagainst the Filipinas' Gale North. Being the gentleman that he is (and terrified of consequences on the homefront) he and his partner Simon Hoyle allowed Gale and her partner, Marvz Allison, to take the title witha big 8-1 win. Of course that is not true, the Filipinas deserved their title with some great bowling through-out the day. I think the ladies were also slightly more sober than their opponents by the time of the final?

The Cup Final - The final 2 teams standing saw 3 players who were previous World Cup winnersall looking to be the first to lift the Cebu Bowls World Cup for the second time. Neil Lindsay and DamienAllison were Champions in 2009 and Rodolphe Lina won the very first championships in 2008. The fourth player in the final deserves a special mention, Brenido Nicolas only bowled his first wood oneweek before the tournament. He joined Rodolphe as a late replacement to represent France, and what asuper sub he turned out to be! Leading for Rodolphe they came second in their group, ahead of the fan-cied Shroptoon Army, and then eliminated two experienced teams in Australia and England in the knockout stages.

The Brethren had reached the final after breezing through their group, conceding only a single shotin all their matches. They then survived a tough quarter final against the Cockwallians and a single shotvictory over the Philippines with the very last bowl of the Semi Final.

From the toss, the Brethren applied enormous pressure, opening up a healthy 3 shot lead within thefirst two ends and never looked back. Neil Lindsay consistently peppered the jack with his lead bowls,allowing them to control the game. The French got on the scoreboard on the third end, but could close thegap no further and the Celtic Brethren once again secured the title by 6-1 and are the first to have won theCup twice.

Thanks to the Urban Cellar & the Gustavian - The awards ceremony and post match celebrationswere held at the Urban Cellar. Thanks very much to Simon and Geoff for sponsoring prizes of a bottle ofwine each for the Cup, Plate, Bowl and Shield winners. Thanks also go to Bob Ward at the Gustavian Ayalafor sponsoring gift certificates for the Cup runners-up. GROUP RESULTSGroup A1: USA (Bob Ward & Kristine Ward) 6pts2: France (Rodolphe Lina & Brenido Nicolas) 4pts3: Shroptoon Army (John Rainey & Tim Rugg) 2pts4: Ireland (Michael Kenny & Barbara Kenny) 0ptsGroup B1: Australia (Kirk Bradley & Tom Ware) 6pts2: England (Geoff Thomas & Paul Whiteway) 2pts +13: The A Team (Trey Bishop & Sean Bragg) 2pts -14: Netherlands (Eric & Nils Toussaint) 2pts -3Damien Allison

Group C1: Philippines (Annilou Thomas & Elsa Whiteway) 6pts2: The Cockwallians (Simon Hoyle & Tony North) 4pts3: Phildansk (Berny Qubing & John Hansen) 2pts4: Denmark (Claus Beck & Fleming Hansen) 0ptsGroup D1: The Celtic Brethren (Neil Lindsay & Damien Allison)6pts2: Filipinas (Marvz Allison & Gale North) 4pts3: New Zealand (Mark & Cameron Macdonald) 2pts4: Scouseland dns

AND TOMMY COOPER SAID!AND TOMMY COOPER SAID!So I went to the dentist. He said "Say Aaah." I said "Why?" He said "My dog's died.'" A man walked into the doctors, he said "I've hurt my arm in several places" The doctor said "welldon't go there any more"I met a Dutch girl with inflatable shoes last week, phoned her up to arrange a date but unfortunatelyshe'd popped her clogs.

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The final featuring, 2008 winners Cookstown High and Limavady Rugby and Cricket Club was expectedto be a high quality encounter but as often is the case on these occasions it failed to reach the level ex-pected.

COOKSTOWN HIGH REGAIN THE IRISH CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP

On the night too many of Limavady's big guns simply did not perform. They did get off to a decent startto lead 6 - 1 after 3 ends thanks to Lee Harrison's rink, which grabbed a 3 on the first end against AlanPaul's rink. From then on it was a case of the High catching and overtaking them with reasonable com-fort. The Harrison - Paul game was close throughout with both skips unlucky at times as well as produc-ing excellent bowls.

On mat 2 it was not a good day for the Ryan O'Neill's rink, with opposing skip Mark Wilson hav-ing an excellent game, with big shot saves on two ends. Limavady had the opportunity on a couple of oc-casions to possibly pick up 5's but failed to take the opportunity. On mat 3, Andrew Steele played DayneJordan's rink. From the 4th end the High were in control but the High rink is always likely to do some-thing unexpected and so it happened on the 4th end, when they were comfortably lying 4 and possibly 5only to play shots that had the result of giving a shot to their opponents.

Cookstown High 28 Limavady R&C 19A. Paul 6 L. Harrison 8M. Wilson 12 R. O'Neill 5D. Jordan 10 A. Steele 6

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Above - Colm McHugh & Edwin Irwinwith Minister Nelson McCausland

IIBA Officials with IIBA Officials with Nelson McCauland in the centreNelson McCauland in the centre

IIBA celebrate their 50th anniversary IIBA celebrate their 50th anniversary The 2010/11 season sees the IIBA celebrate their 50th anniversary. The celebratory year began with a re-ception at Stormont, hosted by the Minister for Culture and arts, Nelson McCausland. The Minister paidtribute to the work of the association over their 50 years and highlighted many of their achievements. Inresponse, the IIBA President Ronnie McDermott, thanked the Minister for his kind invitations to Stormontand in speech, laced with facts and humour outlined the Associations growth.

Special presentations were made to Colm McHugh (59 International caps), Edwin Irwin (54 Inter-national caps) and Dessie Hamilton (51 International caps). The evening concluded, amidst the comingand going of MLA’s as they debated and voted on dual jobs, with a buffet meal for the 70 or so guests.

St Mark’s PortadownSt Mark’s Portadown

The Plate FinalThe Plate FinalThis featured St mark's Portadown and Ballinderry. Again the question that must be asked is whyBallinderry with the talent available do not seem to be able to make it tell. Perhaps they might have onthis occasion but for an excellent performance by Pauline Beattie's rink and Pauline herself who com-pletely overran the Ballinderry rink skipped by Raymond Stubbs by 22 - 4. The game began well forBallinderry who led 16 - 8 after 3 ends thanks to a 9 - 1 lead by Paul Reid's rink over Tony Bell. The StMark's rink could have collapsed after that start but managed to put a brake on their opponents restrict-ing them to 4 shots over the next 7 ends to finish 13 - 9 down.

On mat 2 it was a nightmare for the Ballinderry rink with Beattie's rink picking up two 5's as theyrestricted the Ballinderry rink to just two winning ends. The final game was much closer with little sep-arating Eddie Marsden and Andrew Leckey's rinks with the Ballinderry rink squeezing home 10 - 8.

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-Champion of Champions Champion of Champions Mid Ulster claimed the singles and pairs titles in the Champion of Champions at Ballybrakes. In the

singles, Trevor Turkington of Kildress, a past national junior singles winner came out on top over AlanJohnston of St. Pat’s Donaghcloney by a narrow 8 - 7 margin. In the pairs Cookstown High's Alan Paul& Clarke Hill proved too good for Mossley's Alicia Weir & Jean Ringland, as they romped home 13 - 2.

The triples title went to Gerry McCabe, Patrick O’Hanlon & John Murnaghan of Redeemer in theOriel Zone, who always had the edge over 1st Agohill’s Uel McKeeman, David Morrison & Alister Kirk-patrick, with the final score being 13 - 2. The fours final finished with just one shot separating the teams,as Redeemer’s Kevin Conroy, Billy Taffe, Jim Fox & Fra Dillon got the better of Burtonport’s JamesGlackin, John Heggarty, David Bonner & Pat Walsh by 13 shots to 12.Lack of respect for umpires Lack of respect for umpires

The lack of respect shown to referees in soccer this season hasprompted the football authorities to consider taking measures to pun-ish those who subject the referee to abuse in any respect. Certainlywhen you look at rugby, which is a much more physical game, theplayers rarely question a referee's decision. Sadly, in the bowling com-munity, we are seeing an increasing number of players, many at thetop level, showing a lack of respect for umpires and questioning theirdecisions.

Everyone, however good they may be, can make mistakes butsuch mistakes are not a conscious decision. Umpires undertake theirrole to assist with the running of the game and if anything they prob-

ably have not been assertive enough when called to make a decision. Their immediate response to becalled to measure a head should be to instruct all the players to stand behind the fender. Under no cir-cumstances should they be permitted to stand at the head while it is being measured.

The umpire will have made what he or she believes to have been the correct decision. They may onoccasion get it wrong but the player(s) called for a decision to be made and they must accept that deci-sion whether they agree or disagree with it. They certainly cannot change it and to continue to complainmay well result in loss of concentration and perhaps the game.

No one wants to get to a situation in which players are pe-nalised for showing a lack of respect to an umpire but if an umpire'shonesty and integrity is going to be constantly challenged it mayhave to be considered.

It might help if more, especially the high level players, un-dertook to become official umpire's, something which would givethem an insight into the position of an umpire as well as helping toraise the status of the association. If players feel they have an issueregarding umpires their views should be forwarded to the Umpire'sAssociation to investigate.

(Ed - this was thought provoking item initially from the IIBA’swebsite and the same situation applies in England to a greater or lesser degree. It probably also appliesin other countries. In my experience the problem basically stems from the players not knowing the rulesof our sport and a number do not possess a rule book, as presumably they know it all and don’t need one.

Some umpires in the past have not helped the Umpires cause as they did not fully understand therules or made stupid decisions about clothing. e.g. making someone take a jumper off as it did not matchthe white shirts of their teammates etc. etc. This aside, all players should posses a rule book and shouldhave read and understood it and this might solve a lot of the problems. Some players of course do not askUmpires for clarifications, they challenge provocatively and that is not the best way to resolve a disputeor gain a clarification. Also if the decision does not come out in their favour then they think the rules arewrong!)

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-CARRINGTON HOUSE HOTELCARRINGTON HOUSE HOTELIn the singles quarter finals, Fred Crisp needed a last end single todefeat Maureen Jelly, edging home 6 - 5. Andy Jelly faired muchbetter as he went from 3 - 4 down to defeat John Downs by 7 - 4.Albert Wynne came from 4 across with Mike Blackmore to win 9- 5. Completing the round Margaret Hews beat her hubby DaveHews by 8 shots to 4.

In her semi-final, Margaret, a previous singles champion, hadno answer to Albert Wynne’s game, as Albert recorded a comfort-able 8 - victory. The other semi saw Andy Jelly go 4 - 1 up afterfour ends but six consecutive singles to Fred Crisp ensured his finalplace by 6 shots to 4. In the final, Fred could do nothing about the outstanding form of Albert Wynne, asAlbert recorded a comfortable 7 - 2 win to become singles champion.

The next event to be completed was the Triples and atthe quarter final stage, with just the last end to play, GillianWeston, Yvonne & Allen Tolley led 5 - 4 over Mike Black-more, John & Kath Downs and it was all to play for. In theevent, Gillian, Yvonne & Allen scored a stunning 5 to win 10- 4, which gave a rather false impression of what had been avery tight match indeed, at least up to the last end. GrahamWild, Joyce Bird & Janet Wickens were three across with justtwo ends to play against favourites Mary Chadburn, Keith &Gavin Wood but a 3 - 2 finish gave Graham, Joyce & Janet an8 - 3 win. Chris Scott, Marion & Norman Beeden ran awaywith their quarter final against Simon Briggs, Wilf & Janet Ox-toby, winning 12 - 5. Completing the semi-final line-up, TomBrooks, Margaret & Dave Hews beat Fred Douglas, Albert &Stella Wynne 10 - 4.

Tom, Margaret & Dave then found themselves 1 - 7 down in their semi-final against Chris Scott,Marion & Norman Beeden. They staged a comeback but couldn’t completely make up the deficit and lost7 - 9. Also making it through to the final Gillian Weston, Yvonne & Allen Tolley were never in troubleagainst Graham Wild, Joyce Bird & Janet Wickens with a 9 - 2scoreline.

In the final, Gillian, Yvonne & Allen quickly took a 6 - 1lead after just four ends but a four to Chris Scott, Marion & Nor-man Beeden closed the gap to 5 - 6. An exchange of shots, inwhich Gillian, Yvonne & Allen scored at a higher rate, ensuredtheir 11 - 7 championship victory.

In the pairs quarters, Keith & Gavin Wood ran away withtheir match against Albert & Stella Wynne 14 - 2. VivienMacLauchlin & Roy Eade went from 5 - 4 to 9 - 4 with a two anda four. John & Kath Downs fought back but couldn’t close thedeficit and went down 7 - 9. Maureen & Andy Jelly led 9 -6 withtwo ends to go but Gillian Weston & Yvonne Tolley scored athree to level the match but on the last end Maureen & Andyscored the vital single they needed for a 10 - 9 victory. In the lastquarter final Margaret & Dave Hews were given a very hardmatch by Mary & Barry Taylor, with Margaret & Dave scraping home by 8 - 7.

In their semi-final, Margaret & Dave then established a 9 - 3 lead over Maureen & Andy Jelly butthe latter turned on the style and took the next five ends for an 11 - 9 victory. Favourites Keith & GavinWood went from 0 - 3 to a 12 - 3 victory over Vivien MacLauchlin & Roy Eade. Keith & Gavin concededa three on the opening end of the final but eventually beat Andy & Maureen Jelly by 13 shots to 4.

Fred Crisp Congratulates winner Albert Wynne

Winners Gavin & Keith wood withAndy & Maureen Jelly

Winners Yvonne & Allen Tolley andGillian Weston, with finalists ChrisScott, Norman & Marion Beeden

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-THE THE

LANGSTONELANGSTONECLIFFCLIFFHOTELHOTEL

The first of the LangstoneCliffs back to break breakshad a variety of finalistsand winners. The Mondaynight spoon drive provedto be a great fun evening,which was won by BridgetHallowes, Michael Bell,Dave Hews & Kath Curtiswith a shots plus of 16.

The next event to becompleted was the two

wood singles. Anthea Bell was in storming form against Graham Davies and ended with an 11 - 0 victorywith three ends unplayed. Previous winner Derek Gardiner got the better of Christina Napper with a 9 -7 victory after scoring a two on the last end. Stewart Howe led 6 - 4 at one stage but four shots over theclosing four ends gave Dennis Flaherty an 8 - 6 win. Completing the semi-final line up, Brian Fisher beatMargaret Hews by 7 - 4.

In the semi-finals Anthea Bell beat Derek Gardiner by 9 shots to nil, which meant she had played14 ends between the quarters and semi’s without conceding a single shot. In the other semi Brian Fisherfound himself 2 - 5 down but took the next four ends for a 7 - 5 victory. In the final it was Anthea Bell’sturn to be 2 - 5 down but by repeating Brian Fisher’s semi final comeback she won the last four ends fora 7 - 5 championship win.

In the Triples quarter finals, Kath Curtis, Shirley College & Roy Matthews scored a 7 - 2 victoryover Bill Kimberley, Kate & Norman Smith. Barbara Sutton, Sandra Clarke & Pat Tolhurst never recov-ered from their 1 - 6 deficit and went down 9 - 4 to Freda Hopkins, Iris Nicholls & Trish Gough. Brab Hal-lowes, Martin & Sue Paul were in top gear as they disposed of Mary Burt, Gordon Carbin & Brian Clarkeby 14 shots to 4.

Margaret Hews, Tom & Maureen Brooks conceded on the opening and closing ends only as theybeat Joan Carbin, Michael Bell & Gwen Clarke by nine shots to three. However, they were on the re-ceiving end in their semi-final against Brab Hallowes, Martin & Sue Paul, who beat them 13 - 3. Also mak-ing it to the final, Kath Curtis, Shirley College & Roy Matthews beat Freda Hopkins, Iris Nicholls &Trish Gough 7 - 3. In the final Brab, Martin & Sue remained in scintillating form for a 12 - 4 victory.

The pairs quarter finals threw up some close results but the exception was the 11 - 3 victory byNicky Trickett & Alan Mariott over Eileen & George Croft. A three on the last but one end gave Marion& Norman Beeden a 9 - 4 lead and Doreen Rose & Freda Hopkins could only reply with a single on thelast end to go down 5 - 9. A four established a 7 - 5 lead for Martin & Sue Paul over Margaret & Alan Longwho then scored a single to go into the last end just one shot down.

However it was Martin & Paul who scored the final shot to win 8 - 6. From 2 - 5 down, Bridget &Brab Hallowes scored three two’s to go 7 - 5 up against Margaret & Dave Hews and exchange of two’sleft Margaret & Dave 7 - 9 down going into the last end, on which the conceded a single to leave Bridget& Brab 10 - 7 winners.

In the semi-finals Bridget & Brab found themselves on the receiving end as Marion & Norman Bee-den finish 1 - 2- 3 for a 12 - 3 victory. In the other semi, Nicky Trickett & Alan Marriott were coasting at8 - 1 but a four and a single to Martin 7 Sue Paul to cut the deficit to 6 - 8 on the penultimate end whichthey were held to a single putting Nicky & Alan into the final. A fantastic battle then ensued with Nicky& Alan scoring a single on the last end for a 7 - 6 victory over Marion & Norman Beeden.

30

-The second week started with aspoon drive where all the playerswere drawn from a hat. The winners,with a shots plus of 11 were ChristineWilliams, Richard Holloway Molly Douglas& Brenda Manning.

The triples event threw up some tightgames and some easy ones. In the quarter fi-nals, Stella Dunn, Ann Ward & Fred Harlandwere locked in battle with ChristineWilliams, Bridget & Mick Evans at 7 acrossgoing into the last en, on which Stella, Ann& Fred scored a three for a 10 - 7 victory.

Ray Screen, Mavis & Peter Hardy were5 nil down after three ends but fought backand finished with a four on the last end for 10- 6 victory. Bert Huggins, Jeff & MargaretHanney also scored 10 shots and only con-ceded three as they got through. Equallycomfortably, Brian Glanvill, Fred & Molly

Douglas bet their opponents 11 - 5.However, in the semi-finals they came under the hammer as they lost 3-12 to Bert Huggins, Jeff &

Margaret Hanney. Also getting through in another tight match, Stella Dunn, Ann Ward & Fred Harlandedged through 7 - 5 over Ray Screen, Mavis & Peter Hardy. In the final Bert Huggins, Jeff & MargaretHanney proved too strong on the day for Stella Dunn, Ann Ward & Fred Harland and took the triples titleby 12 shots to 6.

In the pairs, Bert Huggins was going strong, this time with his wife Margaret as his pairs partner.In the quarter final they beat favourites and former champions Irene & John Smith by 13 shots to 6. Mar-garet & Jeff Hanney were also having a good run and beat Bridget & Mick Evans by 10 - 4. Ann Ward &Fred Harland eased through 9 - 5 against their triples partner Stella Dunn, playing with Brenda Manning.Completing the quarter final round, Fred & Molly Douglas looked well set at 6 - 4 going into the last endbut Christine Williams & Vera Smith scored a stunning three to get through 7 - 6.

In the semi-finals they met Ann Ward & Fred Harland and won again by 8 shots to 5 in a very hardfought match. In the other semi Margaret & Bert Huggins were in sparkling form as they disposed ofMargaret & Jeff Hanney 12 - 3 with ends unplayed. The final was a free scoring event but ChristineWilliams & Vera Smith had the edge towards the end of the final and won 12 - 9.

In the 2 bowl singles, Richard Holloway fought hard against Irene Smith but Irene managed an 8 -5 win. Fred Harland easedthrough 9 - 3 over PennyBrickle. In another very tightmatch former Champion JohnSmith faced Margaret Hanney.They went into the last end 6across but a single to Margaretgave her a 7 - 6 victory.

Husband Jeff Hanneyalso got through to the semi’swith a 9 - 3 win over Ann Ward.So the final, not for the first timewas a husband and wife affair,in which Jeff got the better ofMargaret with an 8 - 3 victory.

Seated Winners Gavin Bert Huggins, Jeff & Margaret Hanney with finalists Ann Ward,

Fred Harland and Stella Dunn.

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