The fourth playing of this annual fixture was played at Wortwell on 26th July.

The previous three events had all gone the way of South Norfolk so Heritage were looking to pick the trophy up for the first time, albeit away from home.

Heritage were represented by Darsham, Kelsale, Knodishall, Middleton, Sizewell and Wenhaston, with Knodishall providing two and a half teams and Kelsale one and a half. Meanwhile South Norfolk were represented by Alburgh, Brockdish, Garboldisham, Kenninghall, Occold, Old Buckenham, Roydon and Wortwell.

There were 4 sessions, with a break for tea in the middle, and each team played three times.

South Norfolk had the better start of the two teams as they took 4 wins out of six in the first session, with Sizewell and Knodishall A winning for Heritage.

The sesond session was closer with wins for Darsham and Middleton and a hard fought draw for Kelsale B. But the session still went 7-5 in favour of South Norfolk to give them a 16-9 lead at the halfway point.

Heritage had a lot of work to do if they were going to claw their way back into the game after the tea break. Unfortunately they could only muster two wins (Kelsale A and Knodishall A) which let South Norfolk with a substantial 23-13 lead going into the last session.

If Heritage were going to win they would have to take an unlikely six wins out of six in the final session. Sadly the best they could manage was two wins (Knodishall B and Wenhaston) and a draw (Darsham). Leaving South Norfolk with a resounding 30-18 (189-178) win to retain the trophy yet again.

Although it wasn't really close all the Heritage teams contributed, with everyone getting at least a point. Special mention should go to Knodishall A who won two of their three games and Darsham for picking up 3 points.

The pick of a very strong South Norfolk team were Kenninghall, the only team to win all 3 of their games and Occold who had two wins and a draw, to also go undefeated.

Next year will see Heritage on home ground, still in search of that elusive first win.

HERITAGE FOURS » 8th March 2015

With 15 teams playing in 3 groups of 5 the qualifiers for the Knockout Stages would be the winners and runners-up along with the 2 best third placed teams.

Group 1
The runaway winners were Knodishall C who won all their games to finish 4 points clear at the top of the group. It went all the way to the end to decide the runners-up who were Kelsale A, finishing just 2 shots clear of Knodishall D.

Group 2
Knodishall E took the group with 4 wins out of 4. Second place went to Kelsale B whose only loss was to the group winners, while Middleton A's 4 points and 28 shots were enough to get them through as one of the final qualifier.

Group 3
Again one team were the clear winners. Kelsale C won all of their games, finishing 2 points clear of Yoxford. Third placed Knodishall A won their first 2 games and then lost the next 2, but the shots they picked up in their wins saw them through to the next round.

Quarter Finals
The closest thing to a comfortable win came for Knodishall E against Yoxford. Although Yoxford took one on the first end Knodishall subsequently edged away in the middle part of the game and came home 7-2 winners.

The other 3 games were not only close and won on the last end, but all won by teams who had to come from behind to do so.

Middleton A were 5-0 in the lead after 3 ends, but Knodishall C edged their way back to 4-5 after 6 ends and took 2 on the final end to win 6-5.

It was much the same for Knodishall A who were 4-1 down to Kelsale C after 3 ends. But the Knodishall team came back with a single shot on each of the remaining ends to take the game 5-4.

But the biggest comeback was reserved for Kelsale B. Having been 4-1 up over Kelsale A they dropped behind and going into the final end were 8-4 down. But remarkably they came back with 5 on the last end to take the game 9-8.

Semi-Finals
The one remaining non-Knodishall team, Kelsale B, took on Knodishall E in a repeat of their group game. It was a game that swung to and fro, with the final result in doubt right up to the end. Kelsale took the early lead, winning the first 2 ends to to 30 up, but a 4 for Knodishall took them into the lead. 2 to Kelsale saw them back in front but on the 5th end Knodishall leveled the game 5-5. What looked to be a good end for Kelsale turned into just a single shot at the end, but it regained them the lead. And it may have gone to an extra end, but for a fortunate result from Kelsale's No.3. The Knodishall skip almost retrieved an all but impossible situation with his last wood, but Kelsale still held and took the game 7-5 to reach the final.

Knodishall A against Knodishall C was very much a one-side affair as the C team took the first 4 ends with 2, 1, 2 and 4 shots. At 9-0 it was all but over. The next 2 ends went to the A team, but only by one shot on each. Seven shots on the last end was a huge ask and so it proved as C took another 3 to run out 12-2 winners.

Final
The first end was too and fro as the jack was moved to the side and out into the open, with Kelsale hanging on to a single shot. The second end saw Knodishall recover from an indifferent start to take two shots and a 2-1 lead.

Again Kelsale had the slightly better start on the 3rd end and held on the take 2 and regain the lead 3-2. The 4th end saw Kelsale (fortunately) push the jack to the back of the carpet and holding on to two more to move 5-2 ahead.

The 5th end was all Knodishall until the Kelsale skip drew in to cut the shot count down from 4 to just 1. Kelsale 5-3 up. Two ends to go.

The penultimate end saw Knodishall making the better start again. Their position was precarious all the way through the end, but Kelsale failed to connect and Knodishall stuck in there for 3 shots and regained the lead 6-5 going into the last end.

This time Kelsale made the early running and looked good all the way up to the final Knodishall wood which drew in beautifully to take shot and left the Kelsale skip with nothing. Knodishall taking the win 7-5 with a superbly judged shot.

HERITAGE LADIES' SINGLES » 26th January 2015

There was a small increase to 24 competitors this year. The 4 groups of 6 would see the top three from each qualifying, with the winners of each group earning the right to go straight through to the Quarter Finals.

Of the 12 qualifiers there were 3 each from Knodishall and Kelsale and one each from Saxmundham, Orford, Darsham, Leiston St Margarets FC, Middleton and Yoxford.

Each of the Semi-Finalists were previous winners of the title.

Kay Masters made it though the group stages as the only person, either male or female, to have won all of her games. As such she jumped straight into the Quarter Finals with an all Kelsale clash with the defending champion Rita Daniels, who had much the better start to the game. Three shots on the first end and two on the next left her already 5 shots ahead. Kay replied with 3 on the third, but Rita took one on the next to lead 6-3 with three ends to go. But at this point Kay bulldozed through, taking 3 to tie the game, 4 to take the lead and 2 to seal the win 12-6. The Semi-Final saw her up against Shirley Tilbrook. Shirley opened her accoun with one on the first end, but that was the last she saw of the lead. Kay took 2 each on the next 2 ends and then chipped out one each on the next 2 to lead 6-1 after 5. And although Shirley won the last 2 ends, Kay kept her down to just one shot on each to win 6-3.

Jane Evans finish second in her group with 3 wins out of 4. as such she had an extra game on her way to the final. Like all the First Round games there was not much in it, but eventually Jane emerged a 5-3 winner over Molly Elmy to book her place in the last 8. Jean Alexander had done well to reach this stage, but was out bowled as Jane took end after end, they played out the last end, but by then it was all over anyway, although Jean did manage to at least win that last end to get off the mark. Jane won 10-1/.

The final saw Kay open the scoring with a single, but Jane was into the lead with a 3 on the next. It took Kay 2 more ends to draw level, but Jane was back into the lead, first with a single and then with a two on the penultimate end to lead 6-3 with only an end to go. Although it was far from a formality, with a 3 shot lead, one end to go and with her opponent only having 4 woods to play Jane might have been thinking that she had done all of the hard work. But maybe at this stage that extra game which Jane had played was beginning to tell as she failed to stop Kay getting the 3 she needed to take the game into an extra end. And Kay took an early advantage, forcing Jane to play with weight, and miss with her last 3 woods, leaving Kay to become a three time winner of the title.

HERITAGE MEN'S SINGLES » 26th January 2015

There were 33 men competing for the title this year, in a mixture of 5 and 6 player groups. The winners, runners-up and 4 best third placed players would qualify for the Knockout Stages.

Inevitably Knodishall dominated the qualifiers, taking 7 of the 16 available slots, Kelsale and Middleton had 2 each, while Orford, Walpole, Yoxford and Sizewell had one representative each. Remarkably no one won all their games, although two players came through undefeated.

In the end the final was a replay of one of last year's semi-finals.

David Hurr finished his group games in second place with 3 wins out of 4. His first knockout opponent was Jim Lording, who was off to the better start, but David was in the lead after 3 ends and kept his nose ahead to win 8-5. His Quarter Final against Steve Newson was something of a breeze as he swept his way to a 9-0 lead after 4 ends, and finished 11-2 up. However his Semi-Final against teammate Doug Adamson was a different story. Doug led the way as they went into the penultimate end, 4-3 up, but David leapt ahead with a crucial 3 shots and took the final end to make the final with a 7-4 win.

Defending champion Paul Daniels had won his group with 3 wins and a draw. He found the carpet immediately in his First Round game against Michael Easy, taking 3 on each of the first 2 ends and while Michael got 2 back on the third end, that was the only end he won as Paul took an 11-2 win with an end to go. It was a similiar story for the Quarter Final, 4 shots on the first end and another fall house on the fourth left Chris being forced to chase shots, but to no avail as Paul won 11-2 again, with 2 ends left to play. His Semi-Final was against the only other player who had come through undefeated, James Rous. On a super slick mat the game was close in the early stages with James taking one on the first and Paul taking one each on the next 2. The turning point came on the 4th end where Paul had moved the jack and was holding 4 and James was forced to run at the head, but although he hit his target the jack just went off. And the next end saw an identical result, James had to move the jack, but somehow it just trickled off the carpet leaving Paul 6-1 up. James was now forced to chase the game, while Paul could concentrate on drawing, taking 3 more to bring an end to the game with an end to go.

The final saw Paul take the early advantage with 2 shots on the first and keeping a middle jack promptly lost the next, although crucially only by one. At this stage a pattern in the gameplay emerged. David went for a long jack, but lost 2, Paul brought it back to a middle jack and David one the end, but again only by 2, to go 4-1 up. Again Paul went for a middle jack and David took one, David went for a long jack and Paul took 2, taking a 6-2 lead. The penultimate end again saw a win for the player bowling second, but again David could only take one shot to trail 6-3. With a 3 shot lead going into the last Paul could afford to be more defensive, David did enough to hold 2, but the was with his last wood bowled, leaving Paul with one wood which was bowled half-heartedly, despite there being no apparent danger, and got no where near the head to leave him the 6-5 winner.

HERITAGE PAIRS » 30th November 2014

38 Pairs entered this year's competition. The teams played in 7 groups, with the winners, runners-up and 2 best third placed teams going through to the knockout rounds.

Bizarrely, while the third placed teams had both taken 6 points from their 4 games, two of the runners-up had only managed 4 points, but had snuck their way out of close fought groups on the basis of shots scored.

Given the number of teams they entered it was hardly a surprise that Knodishall dominated the qualifiers with 8 teams, while Kelsale provided 4, Middleton 2 and Riverside and Yoxford one each.

And given that, it was hardly a surprise that it came down to a Knodishall/Kelsale final.

Knodishall B (Ken Drane & John Threadkell) came out of their group as the third best of three teams who each took 3 out of 4 wins, while Kelsale B (David Fisk & Mike Daniels) came out of their's as runners-up, the best of 3 teams on just 4 points.

Knodishall made a sticky start to their first round game against clubmates Knodishall I, dropping 3 on the first end, but they didn't lose an end after that, winning 8-3. Their Quarter Final against Middleton C was much closer, again they were behind at the start, but clawed their way back to take the game 5-4 on the last end. The Semi-Final was a different story. Six on the second end pretty much sealed the game and they ran out 13-2 winners over Knodishall G.

Kelsale were also slow starters against Middleton B, from 3-0 down they came back to win 7-4. The Quarter Final against Knodishall C had to go to an extra end as Knodishall took 3 to level the game on the last end, but Kelsale came back to win 7-6. Their Semi-Final against Kelsale A was close going into the last end, but the jack came off the carpet to give them a 6-3 win.

The Final, sadly for Kelsale, was very one-sided. With the last wood of the first end Knodishall went from one down to four up and that were pretty much the story of the game as Knodishall usually managed to got just the shot they needed on every end and the pressure mounted on Kelsale. In the end Kelsale didn't get a look-in as Knodishall swept further and further into the lead, finally taking a dominant 12-0 win when an end was called to proceedings with an end still to go.

HERITAGE CHARITY FOURS » 19th October 2014

This year saw an entry of 41 teams to help us to raise £1027 in aid of East Anglia Air Ambulance. Once again we had teams from all across Suffolk join us, as well as players from Norfolk and Essex.

The winners and runners-up from each of the 8 groups went forward to the Knockout stages. The qualifiers from the League were Knodishall (3 team), Kelsale (2 teams), Middleton, Darsham and Snape, along with Old Felixstowe, Felixstowe URC, Nacton, Tithe Barn (2 teams), Hitcham, Martlesham and Friends Together.

The finalists were Tithe Barn A, who beat Hitcham, their own B team and Kelsale, on their way to meet reigning champions Old Felixstowe, who had beaten Knodishall, Middleton and Friends Together (on an extra end). Interestingly both teams had come through as Runners-Up in their respective groups.

Tithe Barn were off to a promising start, taking 2 on the first end and with the next 2 ends shared, they were 3-1 up after 3 ends, but Old Felixstowe took the lead with 3 on the next end. There was never much in it between the teams, but Old Felixstowe were getting stronger as the game went on, they took the fifth and sixth ends and did what was necessary to bring home the win 7-4, and retain the title

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