01/09/2026
What a fantastic day of bowling! Following on from yesterday's excellent finals, today saw 8 memorable games, all played in front of over 70 appreciative spectators. The standard was high across the board, with several nail-bitingly close finishes, and a hugely entertaining Men's Championship final.
Michael Keeler enjoyed an excellent day, in the morning he took full advantage of his 4-shot handicap to put Paul Sandford under sustained pressure in the Men's Handicap final; in the afternoon session he was back in action in the Men's Pairs final with Gary Ransom, against Colin Mallows and Peter Page. Colin and Peter were consistently prevented from picking up big counts due to accurate draw bowling from Michael, who was well supported by Gary in his first club final.
Guy Thornely was another double-winner, first beating Adam Harding in the 100 Up, then taking on Chris Reynolds in the Men's 2 Woods; they were neck-and-neck for much of their game until Guy eventually broke away and prevailed despite some well-judged attacking woods from Chris.
Julie Green suffered two defeats, first in the inaugural ladies' Handicap singles against Barbara Broadway - Julie was leading 20-16 but got stuck on 20, while Barbara found an excellent forehand line and length in both directions to score 2 followed by a match-winning 3. Julie's Championship final against Sue Willmott was a one-sided affair, as Sue was relentless in her pursuit of her 4th Championship win in the space of 5 years.
The men's Championship saw John Truran and Paul Sandford battling hard for 29 ends, after Paul got off to a strong start, John raised his game and the standard was excellent as both players sent down one telling wood after another. In the closing ends both John and Paul were holding match lie on several occasions, only for the situation to be retrieved with the last bowl of the end. On the penultimate end John held 3 on a full length jack before Paul sent down a well-weighted forehand draw to get the shot, then Paul picked up the winning shots bowling back towards the car park as John just failed to draw or run the jack through.
The results were:
Ladies' Handicap: Barbara Broadway beat Julie Green 21 - 20,
Men's Handicap: Michael Keeler beat Paul Sandford 21 - 20.
Men's 100 Up: Guy Thornely beat Adam Harding 104 - 86.
Ladies' 100 Up: Sue Willmott beat Sandra Mallows 103 - 67.
Men's Championship: Paul Sandford beat John Truran 21 - 19.
Ladies' Championship: Sue Willmott beat Julie Green 21 - 2.
Men's Pairs: Gary Ransom and Michael Keeler beat Colin Mallows and Peter Page 20 - 9,
Men's 2 Wood: Guy Thornely beat Chris Reynolds 21 - 11.
The Finals weekend was finished off by an excellent tea with more cake than could be eaten (a rarity!), and a trophy presentation hosted by Club President Peter Elford.
Many thanks to everyone who played in the finals, marked, did the scoreboards, made cakes, umpired, helped to tidy up, or just spectated - it was a day to remember!
Peter and Kath.
