HERITAGE v SOUTH NORFOLK » 27th July 2014

The third playing of our annual fixture saw Heritage back on home territory and hoping that it would bring a first win.

Heritage were represented by teams from Knodishall, Wenhaston, Darsham, Middleton and Kelsale, while South Norfolk brought teams from Roydon, Old Buckenham, Brockdish, Kenninghall, Occold, Garboldisham and Wortwell.

Things started well with four wins out of six in the first session, including big wins of 18-4, 15-2 and 17-3 from Knodishall 1, Wenhaston and Kelsale respectively, while Knodishall 2 took an 8-5 win.

But it was a different story in the second session as South Norfolk came back with four wins, leaving only Knodishall 1 with a comfortable 12-6 win and Knodishall 3 with a narrow 7-5 victory to keep the Heritage end up.

At the halfway point it was all square at 12-12, although Heritage still held a 23 shot advantage, thanks to that first session.

Knodishall 3 made it 2 wins out of 2 with a resounding 15-1 win, as did Kelsale, edging the game 8-5 and Wenhaston took their second win (11-6). However the other 3 games went to the opposition to keep the game tied at 18-18. However with Heritage now 31 shots ahead all they would need to do was to take another 3 wins.

Knodishall 3 came home with a 14-10 win to make it 3 out of 3, the only Heritage team to do so, while Middleton 2 took a 13-9 win. Three of the games went Norfolk's way which meant that everything hinged on one final game. Darsham needed the win to take the trophy. It all came down to the last end, but thry couldn't quite manage it. The game was drawn 8-8 and the match went to the visitors.

South Norfolk once againtook the match by the narrowest of margins, 25-23 (189-216). Heritage are still looking for that first elusive win next year in Norfolk.

HERITAGE FOURS » 2nd March 2014

20 teams turned out for this season's Fours Competition, playing in 4 groups of 5 teams, the winners and runners-up from each group qualified for the Knockout Stages.

Walpole & Cookley (with some help from Wenhaston and Knodishall), reached the final having lost their first game of the day. They went on to win their remaining group games to finish second in the group.

In what looked liked like the toughest half of the draw they faced last year's losing finalists Knodishall D in the Quarter Final. After losing the first end the swept into the lead on the next end with a crucial 4 shots, after which they took singles on the next 3 ends and were able to drop a shot on each of the last couple of ends and still come out 7-4 winners.

Their Semi Final was against the champions of the last 2 years, Kelsale. They had already met in the group stage in a match that had seen Kelsale win 8-7 courtesy of 5 shots on the last end. This time though Walpole gave themselves more of a margin, controlling the game all the way through to go into the last end with a 7-1 lead. Needing something even more remarkable than their previous game Kelsale were not quote up to it, although their final wood did manage to play out Walpole's closest one to leave them yet again with a 5 shot haul, they were still one shot short.

Darsham had also come through as runners-up of their group, although they left their loss to their last game, after already being assured of qualification.

Their Quarter Final against Knodishall F was a close one although Darsham were never actually behind. They took one each on the first 2 ends, only for Knodishall to tie them on the next, and that was the way the rest of the game went, whatever Darsham scored was matched by Knodishall on the next end until at the end of normal time the score was tied at 5-5. Darsham took the advantage early on in the extra end and clung on to the shot to win 6-5.

The Semi Final was much more straight forward. Knodishall E took one on the first end, but after that it was all Darsham, although apart from the 3rd end score of 2 shots, it was ones all the way as they took the game 7-1.

The Final saw Darsham adjusting best to a quicker carpet than the Semis had been played on. They took one on the first end and with the jack pushed into the corner took another 2 on the next. But then Walpole's greater consistency started to tell. In 2 ends they were back level and then forced their opponents to take the jack off on the next to take the lead. The penultimate end again saw the jack in the corner and this time it was Walpole who had the best of it as Darsham failed to cut their opponent's shots down. Walpole took 4, taking them into a 9-3 lead with just one end to go.

It was always going to be an uphill struggle for Darsham and so it proved to be, they managed to get the jack to the end of the carpet and were holding a couple of shots, but the Walpole skip knew what needed to be done and mercilessly removed the jack from the mat to ensure the win, taking the match 9-5 and regaining the title.

LADIES LUNCH AND TOURNAMENT IN AID OF SUFFOLK FAMILY CARERS » 19th February 2014

The event was run by a group of ladies who meet for lunch on a fairly regular basis and who thought it might be a good idea to run a carpet bowls tournament for this cause.

We had great support for the event with teams from Amber, Darsham. Kelsale, Knodishall, Middleton, Saxmundham, Sizewell Sports & Social Club, Yoxford, Martlesham, Bealings and one team travelling from Hitcham.

The tournament was keenly contested with each team of four ladies playing 3 games each in a round robin format. The three group winners and the best runner up progressed to the knockout rounds.

The semi finals were played between Knodishall and a mixed team from Bealing, Kelsale and Amber and the second semi final was between Kelsale and Hitcham. Knodishall and Hitcham progressed to a keenly contested final which was won by Knodishall.

Thanks to everyone's efforts we are very pleased to say that we raised £350 for Suffolk Family Carers. We thank everyone involved for supporting the event.

Rita Daniels & Kay Masters presenting the cheque to Etholie George the presenter of the early morning radio show and Cleah Hetherington the programme producer at Radio Suffolk

HERITAGE LADIES' SINGLES » 2nd February 2014

There were 20 Ladies competing for the title this year, with the winners and runners-up from each of the 4 groups going through to the Knockout stages.

Half of the 8 qualifiers were former champions so it was clearly going to be hard fought.

From the start it looked as if there was one group which was going to be tougher than the rest and it was that group which produced both finalists.

Shirley Tilbrook came into the event as the reigning champion, but only qualifed as runner-up, with 2 wins, a draw and a loss. However she had a couple of good wins, of 9-3 and 9-2 over Val Game and Linda KIng respetively, to take her through the Quarter and Semi Finals.

Meanwhile Rita Daniels had dropped just a point in her group games, to Shirley, as she won the group. Her Quarter Final win over Jane Evans was by just 6-3, while her Semi Final with clubmate Kay Masters had to go to an extra end before Rita finally won 6-5.

The final, as might have been expected, was close, although with Rita taking all 4 shots on the third end and one more on the next, with a lead of 6-2, she looked to have the momentum. However Shirley chipped away at the advantage, taking one on the fifth end, 2 more on the sixth and then one more on what would have been the final end, to draw level and take the game to an extra end.

And Rita had the advantage all the way throughthe end, getting her woods in as Shirley tried to move the jack and missed. With Shirley's final wood of the game still to be played Rita was holding 3, Shirley took a run at the head and the jack was moved back down the carpet, bringing one of her woods back into play. And it was close. It required a couple of measures, but finally, but a hair's breadth Rita took the shot, the end and the title.

HERITAGE MEN'S SINGLES » 2nd February 2014

35 Men were in competition for the title this year, with the 7 group winners, 7 runners-up and 2 lucky third places qualifying for the last 16.

Clint Watling, a former finalist, made it out of his group, one which produced 3 qualifiers, as the winner, having dropped just a single point. His first round game saw him ease his way to a 10-3 win over Ryan Willoughby, but the Quarter Final was a different story. Having already met Chris Tilbrook in the group stages in a game which saw Clint take a 5-4 win in a nip and tuck game, this time Chris quickly ran out to a 6-1 lead from which Clint had to claw his way back, finally taking the game 7-6. The Semi-Final against Steve Newson was another comfortable win, running out to a 9-2 win which was achieved with an end to spare.

For Paul Daniels qualification was a different story. His group ended with 4 players on 5 points, of whom he was only just 3rd best, however it was just enough to see him through by the skin of his teeth as the second best of the 2 third placed qualifiers. His first round game saw him take a 9-1 win over Billy Thurston who had just won a group which contained the reigning champion. His Quarter Final opponent, Michael Easy had not dropped so much as a point so far, and while the game was close it went Paul's way 7-4. Having already met in the group stages his next opponent was David Hurr. David had taken a very comfortable win earlier in the day, but this time Paul took the early advantage, edging out a 5-1 lead after 5 ends and finally taking the win 6-3. All of which goes to show that it doesn't matter how you qualify, because after that everyone has to start again from scratch.

Paul took a shot on the first end of the final, but Clint was in the lead with 2 on the next end. Paul drew back level on the next, but 3 shots on the 4th end were absolutely crucial, and 2 more on the next took him into a 5 shot lead with 2 ends to go. With the jack puched to the side of the carpet on end 6, Clint outdrew Paul for 1 shot to give himself at least the chance of taking the game to an extra end, if he could get a full house. Choosing a short jack to try and mix things up was a good choice as Clint was far more consistent while Paul repeatedly fell short. With his last wood Clint took the jack closer to his own woods to hold 4 and keep his hopes alive. However, finally, Paul found the wood he had needed all end long, reaching into the pack to cut Clint down to just a single shot to take the win 7-4.

HERITAGE PAIRS » 12th January 2014

This year saw another increase in entries with 45 teams taking part and for the first time in 5 years Walpole & Cookley's stranglehold on the trophy was broken.

The final went all the way down to the wire in a close fought contest between the Knodishall team of David & Julie Hurr and the Kelsale team of Paul & Rita Daniels.

Knodishall had only just made it into the Knockout Rounds as the 6th best of 7 runners-up, but started by demolishing Middleton 18-1 to take them into a Quarter Final match with the Walpole team that had won the competition for the last 4 years and who had barely missed a beat so far during the day. But it was Knodishall who hit the ground running, taking the lead on the first end and never relinquishing it as they held on for a 6-4 win. They followed up with a Semi Final win over Yoxford in which they had to overcome a slow start, only taking the lead 4 ends in and finally doing just enough on the last end to hang on to win 8-6.

By contrast Kelsale had made their way through by winning their group with a maximum 4 wins out of 4. Their First Round game was a 9-4 win over Orford, although it took 5 ends to really get a hold of the game. The Quarter Final was a different affair, their opponents, Middleton, never got started and Kelsale ran out 14-0 winners to set up an all Kelsale Semi Final. Peter & Kay Masters had just come out of an incredibly close Quarter Final win over Knodishall and indeed led the Semi Final after 4 ends, but the last 3 ends went away from them as they lost 8-4.

The final began well for Knodishall, taking 2 shots on each of the first 2 ends. Kelsale managed to get one back on the third and hung on for a couple more on the fourth to get the score back to 4-3. The fifth end saw Kelsale take the lead as Knodishall were unable to break through a barrier of woods in front of the head. Kelsale took 3 shots and were now in a 2 shot lead.

However Knodishall were crucially able to stop the rot on the penultimate end, taking one to go into the last end just one behind. Early on in that end Kelsale looked to hold the advantage, however David was able to drive the jack to the back of the carpetand onto one of his own woods, Kelsale were able to do no better than second, leaving the score at 6-6 and taking the game into an extra end. Although Knodishall held the advantage, nobody was really troubling the jack until Kelsale's penultimate wood drew close enough to hold, the last Knodishall wood changed nothing and Kelsale were able to walk their last wood down for a very narrow 7-6 win.

HERITAGE CHARITY FOURS » 21st October 2013

34 teams turned out this year to once again help us to raise funds in aid of East Anglia Air Ambulance. As well as the local teams we had support from across Suffolk, as well as Norfolk and Essex, enabling us to raise over £930.

The odd number of teams meant that we adopted a different format this year, with everyone placed in a single group, playing 4 games and the top 16 teams going through to the knockout stages.

The teams from outside the league were well represented in the latter stages, with only one of the semi-finalists representing Heritage.

Thurston and Roydon were the losing semi-finalists, leaving Old Felixstowe and Knodishall, last year's runners-up, to contest the final. And it was a close one.

Knodishall took the early lead, moving ahead 3-0 after 2 ends, but Old Felixstowe were in front 4-3 2 ends later. While all the players contributed, the standout performances came from both skips, each alternately out drawing and out blocking one another.

Knodishall drew level at 5 ends, Old Felixstowe pulled one ahead next end and Knodishall took one shot to level again on what would have been the final end. And so to the extra end to settle the game and again it was all about blocking. Old Felixstowe held the advantage and did what they needed to hang on to a single shot and take the trophy, relegating Knodishall to second place again this year.

Our thanks go to everyone who supported us and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year.