There was a very full house for this year's Charity Fours to raise money for Dementia Together.

45 teams were competing on the 9 carpets squeezed into the hall.

As usual there isn't enough time for a knockout stage so the winners would be the team on top after they had played their 4 games.

Round 1
22 teams won their first game with Felixstowe URC B and Barrow A leading the way on 13 shots, fowllowed by Claydon B, Reepham Robins B and Fulborn, all just 1 shot back.

Round 2
14 teams made it through their second game without dropping a point. Claydon B were now in the lead on 25 shots, Fulborn were on 24, Chelmondiston A had 22, Claydon A had 21 and Knodishall A and Birch Teys had 20.

Round 3
With 3 games played there were still 10 teams in the running on maximum points. Fulborn had now just edged ahead, on 35 shots, Claydon B were 2 behind, Chelmondiston A were on 30 and East Bergholt B and Claydon A had 29.

Round 4
Several of those leaders fell by the wayside in their finals games, Claydon B were held to a draw, while Chelmondiston A and East Bergholt B lost, as did Burstall A and Hundon B who had also won their first 3 games.

That left 5 teams on maximum points.

5th place went to Barking/Kelsale who finished on 27 shots, Badwell Ash were on 31 which was only good enough for 4th and 3rd were Birch Teys on 38 shots.

It looked as if Fulborn were going to take victory, but 42 shots wasn't good enough as Claydon A roared to a 17-0 win in their final game to finish on 46 shots, leaping up from 5th place to take the overall win.

You can find the full day's results here.

Most importantly of all though we would like to thank everyone involved for helping us to raise an amazing £1400 for a very worthy cause. We hope to see you all again next year.

Claydon A

Fulborn

The presesntation was made at the Joe Rice Cup Quarter Finals Night on 3rd March

After a dip last year we were back to a full 40 entries with teams from across the Eastern Counties competing.

Group 1
Bish Bash Bosh and Norfolk N’ Chance were both through before they played one another in the final group game. Norfolk N’ Chance won to take the group.

Group 2
Badgers and Team Thatch both won their first 3 games and then faced off against one another in the final game to decide the group winners, Team Thatch won that final game.

Group 3
Watkins Warriors were through with a game to play and went on to win the group while Bowlderdash qualified with 3 wins and a loss.

Group 4
The Repair Men won all four of their games while Wickawork were through with just one loss to their names.

Group 5
Chelmo A finished on maximum points and The Wasps were through have lost just once.

Group 6
Keybet Chasers were undefeated, dropping just one point on their way to the group win. Whoever won the final game between Captain’s Pick and Mangle Wurzles would also qualify and it was Captain’s Pick that went through.

Group 7
The Sweetner Babes made it through with just one defeat to their names, while Shy Tappens were through on 5 points in a close run group.

Group 8
ICI won all 4 games, although two were by just a single shot, and AJS lost once but were comfortable runners-up.

Round 1
Norfolk N Chance ran out comfortable 9-1 winners over Bowlderdash. Wickawork took a close but impressive 5-2 victory over previous winners Team Thatch. Watkins Warriors won more ends than The Wasps but still managed an impressive 11-5 loss. Chelmo A came into the last end 6-4 down to Shy Tappens but came out 7-6 ahead.

Keybet Chasers chipped away at AJS, losing just the final end but taking the game 8-2. Bish Bash Bosh took 4 on one end against The Sweetner Babes, which made all the difference in a 6-4 win. Captains Pick were behind until a run of 9 shots over 3 ends brought them to a 10-3 win. ICI always had their noses in front of Badgers, winning 8-4.

Quarter Finals
Bish Bash Boosh edged quietly away from ICI to win 5-2. Norfolk N Chance needed 2 to take their game against Wickawork to an extra end, they did that and then took the match with the final wood of the game to win 7-5. Captains Pick were ahead after 3 ends and stayed there to beat The Wasps 7-2. Keybet Chasers had their noses in front for all but the first end against Chelmo A, but never by much, finally winning 8-5.

Semi-Finals
After a good start from Bish Bash Bosh, Norfolk N Chance chipped away, one an end, enough to allow them to hang on for a 4-3 win. Keybet Chasers were always ahead and always doing enough, pulling out to a 7-1 win over Captains Pick.

Final
Keybet Chasers (Tom Runnacles, Tony Cooke & Neil Tuckey) v Norfolk N Chance (Sam Runnacles and Stephen & Matt Frost)
End 1 – Sam uses his last wood to push the jack to the back of the carpet and go from 1 down to 1 up. Norfolk lead 1-0.
End 2 – With a bevy of woods settled nicely in behind all Tom needs is to tickle the jack back but he runs a little bit thin and leaves Sam with another one. 2-0.
End 3 – Sam moves the jack to the very edge of the carpet to go from 4 down to 1 up, but Tom has one left and draws shot to get on the board. 2-1.
End 4 – A little bit nervy again as Tom is left with 1 to level the game 2-2.
End 5 – Holding one Tom plays a very nice draw in behind the jack, Sam can’t change anything with a weighted final wood and Keybet are 3-2 ahead.
End 6 – Matt makes it 2 with his last, Tom does little with his first. Sam tries to block but just gives Tom his line to take one. 4-2.
End 7 – With Keybet 3 down Neil draws across the mat to give them shot. Tom covers off any movement on the jack and Keybet win 5-2.

You can find the full day's results here.

It was another full entry this year for the Fab Fours, with 40 teams from across Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire putting in an appearance.

Those teams would be whittled down to the last 16 for the knockout rounds.

Group 1
Bardfield won all their games to top the group while Broadlands only won twice but were through on shots.

Group 2
GI Blues finished on maximum points to win the group while 57 Varieties lost just once to go through on 6 points.

Group 3
Jack Smackers had a perfect 4 wins out of 4 to top the group while Yoof Academy were another team to win tow and lose two and sneak through on shots.

Group 4
The Repair Men finished on 8 points while Wicked Wicks only lost once.

Group 5
Back Again topped the group comfortably on 8 points, 4 ahead of runners-up Mix And Match.

Group 6
Occold and Tizzus Agin both lost just once, Occold winning the group on shots.

Group 7
Stancock were another team to finish with a perfect record, Mart 1 were next best on 6 points.

Group 8
Balderdash and Marion’s Fours both finished on 6 points, Balderdash were 8 shots better.

Round 1
Jack Smackers ran out to a comfortable 8-2 win over Mix And Match. The Repair Men were never behind against Tizzus Agin, winning 8-3. Back Again went into the last end ahead of Mart 1 but came out of it 6-4 down. Marion’s Fours held on to beat Occold 6-4. Stancock led from the start and finished 8-2 winners over Broadlanders. Balderdash were never in danger against 57 Varieties, winning 8-1. Bardfield were 4-0 up over Yoof Academy but fell to a 7-4 loss. It was all square with 2 ends to go between GI Blues and Wicked Wicks but it was the Wicks that brought it home for a 5-3 win.

Quarter Finals
The Repair Men raced out to a 7-0 lead over Yoof Academy in the first 3 ends, enough to see them home to an 8-3 win. Jack Smackers were never in danger after the second end, winning 10-2 against Wicked Wicks. Stancock got their noses in front of Marion’s Fours and stayed there, winning 7-2. It was all square at 6-6 going into the last end between Mart 1 and Balderdash, but it finished 10-6 to Balderdash.

Semi-Finals
Jack Smackers v Stancock
What looked like a little bit of a mismatch on paper turned out to provide a far more interesting game than perhaps was expected. Stancock took each of the first 3 ends, but were only picking up one on each. Jack Smackers got off the mark on the 4th end, again with just one and maybe the tide was turning, however Stancock took that shot back to lead 4-1 going into the last end and didn’t just hold on but took another 2 for an impressive 6-1 victory.

The Repair Men v Balderdash
Balderdash had had a very good run, coming back from losing the first game of the day to win the group and make it this far, but this far was a step too many, they lost 2 on the first end and just kept on losing as The Repair Men piled the shots on, the only bright spot was getting a couple back on the 5th to keep the game going, but saving the game from 10-2 down with an end to go looked improbable and proved to be so as Balderdash lost 12-3

Final
The Repair Men (Andy Pooley, John Varden, Peter Elmy & Don Allum) v Stancock (Marion Bean, Keith Fellingham, Vic Keyton & Graham Clamping)
Right from the start it looked like there was no stopping Stancock as the continued their great run of form into the first end, picking up 3. And it was only a shot which was more or less what Andy was playing for which snatched a shot away from them on the next.

Nip and tuck stuff on the 3rd but The Repair Men just hold on to one and bring it back to 3-2 down.

Now pretty much everything Stancock do is helping the opposition until the skip’s first wood comes flying in to take shot courtesy of a perfect (but unplayed for) wick to steal the end 4-2.

On the penultimate end it was The Repair Men who got the luck, Andy played for one thing but got a different result and still took shot to bring it back to 4-3.

Final end. Or is it? The jack is moved into the corner and although Stancock get closer and closer, The Repair Men hang on for one to force an extra end and then get the job done on the 7th, getting the woods in and blocking up to win the game 6-4.

You can find the full day's results here.

This year's entry of 32 teams were split up into groups of 8 with the top 4 from each going through to the knockout stages.

Group 1
Hundon A were the comfortable winners of the group with 4 wins out of 4 for a maximum 8 points. The next three qualifiers all won 3 and lost one, Cockfield A were second on 31 shots, Rayne were also on 31 shots but a couple of shots against worse off, and Kelsale came in fourth with 25 shots.

Group 2
Despite losing once Brockdish were clear winners of the group as the best anyone else could manage was 4 points, and there were 6 teams that did that. Second place went to Stanningfield with 4 points and 30 shots, the same as Elmstead Market B who were worse on shots against and Reepham Robins B came home in fourth on 27 shots.

Group 3
Two teams dominated here, Cockfield C and Lawford who both won their first 3 games while the other 6 teams were all on 2 points. Cockfield beat Lawford in their final game to win the group and Kenninghall and Brockley/Ketton A both made it through on 4 points.

Group 4
Reepham Robins A took the group with maximum points, Barking lost just once to take second place on shots from Tostock and Cockfield B finished 4th on four points, just edging out East Bergholt A by 3 shots.

Knockout Rounds
Round 1
Brockley/Ketton A took 3 on the last end to draw level with Hundon A only to lose on the extra end, 9-7. Cockfield A romped away to a 10-0 win over Kenninghall. Brockdish were always in front of Cockfield B, winning 10-3. Stanningfield dropped 3 to Tostock on the first end but came back to win 9-4. Cockfield C and Kelsale went to an extra end which Kelsale took, winning 6-5. Rayne ran away from Lawford to win 14-1. Reepham Robins B beat Reepham Robins A on the last end, 7-5. Barking took a comfortable 8-3 win over Elmstead Market B.

Quarter Finals
Rayne moved away from Hundon A in the second half of their game, winning 6-4. Cockfield A picked up 6 shots in 2 ends to beat Kelsale 8-4. Barking took 4 on the 4th end which sealed their 9-5 win over Brockdish. Eight shots over 3 ends gave Stanningfield a comfortable gap over Reepham Robins B, winning 10-4.

Semi-Finals
Rayne took a resounding 10-1 win over Barking thanks to a 5 on the 4th end. Stanningfield opened with 4 on the first end and were 6-3 up with 2 ends to go and yet they still managed to lose to Cockfield A 7-6.

Final
Rayne (Don & Maxine Poulter and Val Kidd) v Cockfield A (Colin Fellingham and Graham & Sue Davey)
Cockfield were off to the best start with 2 on the first end, also picking up the 3rd and 4th ends to have what looked like a comfortable lead of 6-1 with 3 ends to go. However Rayne chipped one back on the next and then brought themselves right back into the game with 3 on the 6th end to trail just 5-6. The last end was nervy stuff but Cockfield held theirs to take one shot, winning 7-5 to retain the trophy.

You can find the full day's results here.

This year saw a return to a completely full house of 96 entries, despite a few last minute withdrawals.

As usual everyone would get 5 games both with and against different people each time.

Round 1
There were two big winners in the first set of games, the trios of Nick Wood, Sue Isles & Rita Runnacles and Doris Frost, Clint Watling & Jim Goodrich, with both teams picking up a healthy 14 shots in their first games.

Round 2
Twenty competitors made it 2 wins out of 2. Leading the way, all tied on 21 shots were Ellen Grube, Susan Hurley and Nick Wood. And only one shot behind were Doris Frost & Steve Ball.

Round 3
The players still on maximum points were whittled down to just 12, with the top 10 separated by just one shot from one another.

So leading the way on 29 shots was Susan Hurley, followed by Nick Wood on 28, Ellen Grube 27, Doris Frost 26, Marion Bean 25, Rob Cook 24, Peter Fellingham 23, Sue Gilder 22, Brian Pryke 21 and Ken Southwood 20. The other 2 on 6 points were Andy Pooley and Pam Crawford (18 shots).

Round 4
With one round left to play there were still 8 players who had not yet dropped a point.

Still leading the way was Susan Hurley with 37 shots and she was still followed by Nick Wood, just 1 shot behind.

Rob Cook (34 shots) was in third, followed by Doris Frost (33), Sue Gilder and Peter Fellingham (32), Brian Pryke (31) and Pam Crawford (25).

Final Round
It looked as if this year was going to yield an unusually large number of perfect scores and yet even at this late stage there was time for people to falter and that they did, at least most of them did, in fact all but 2.

That allowed the minor positions to be taken up by those who at least managed to remain unbeaten all day.

So in 6th place on 9 points and 33 shots was Matt Crane, 5th was Doris Frost (9 pts, 37 shots), 4th was Peter Fellingham (9 pts, 39 shots) and 3rd was Trevor Bean (9 pts, 46 shots).

Which left just the two who had won all their games. Second place went to Pam Crawford on 10 points and 30 shots while this year's winner was the person who had led from the second set of games, Susan Hurley on 10 points and 43 shots.

We hope everyone enjoyed their day and look forward to seeing you again next year.

You can find the full day's results here.

Susan Hurley & Pam Crawford

The Suffolk County Bowls Association 2019 Charity Fours Tournament was held at Needham Market on Saturday 5th January.

Due to a clash of tournaments only 30 teams had entered this year so a new format was used and each team played 5 games during the days bowling.

The eventual winners were Claydon A – Clint & Emma Whatling, Ally Hobbs & Matt Crane who finished on 10 points and 52 shots for with 14 against.
 
They were closely followed by Chelmo/Barking - Karen & Alfie Hubbard (Chelmondiston) with Mick Watkins & Andy Gilder (Barking) on 10 points and 44 shots for with 16 against.
 
Other teams in the fray and winning 4 games with 8 points were:-
Hundon B with 49 shots, Knodishall A with 42 shots, URC Felixstowe 39 shots, Gt Blakenham with 37 shots and Claydon B with 34 shots.

Well done to all teams.

The Grand Draw had 56 draw prizes thanks to all those that contributed and bought tickets.

Claydon A have multi talents which also gave them a win in the Name the Pub competition AND the Proverb quiz.

Kevin Salmoln won the Name the Bear

John Raistrick and Graham Stark won the £1 coin competition

I hope you all enjoyed the day, we raised just over £940 for our chosen charity Wish Upon A Star at West Suffolk Hospital.