Suffolk
Carpet Bowls Association |
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Group 1
Pick n Mix topped the
group, winning 3 of their 4 games, while Maybe We Can
finished just behind, with 2 wins and a loss, to take the runner-up
spot.
Group 2
Comfortable winner
of the group were The Repair Men, who were the only team
in any group to win all of their group games, while The Also
Rans lost just once to be equally comfortable runners-up.
Group 3
The top two teams in
the group both won three and lost one game, and finished just
3 shots apart. Marginally the better of the two were Collaboration,
on 31 shots, while Brockmen and Robin scored 28 shots.
Group 4
And there wasn't much
to seperate the teams here either. Two teams finished on 4 points,
one behind of Cops 'n' Washers who qualified in second
place and who were, in turn, just one point behind group winners
Family Four.
Knockout Stages
Quarter Finals
Family Four and The
Also Rans only scored 4 equally shared shots between then
in the first 4 ends, but the game ended witha flurry. The Also
Rans picked up 3 in what would turn out to be the penultimate
end, as the clock ran out to leave them an end short, only for
Family Four to conjure up 4 shots to win the game 6-5.
The Repair Men ticked off one shot per end for
the first 5 ends against Cops n Washers, but just as CnW
succeeded in getting off the mark, the whistle was blown, with
the score at 5-2, sending The Repair Men through.
Although Brockmen &
Robin were first off the mark, Pick n Mix were ahead
on the second end, and stayed ahead thereafter, going through
with a 7-2 win.
Collaboration were in front against Maybe We
Can after one end, and stayed there, never looking as if
they would be challenged, taking a 7-1 victory.
Semi-Finals
The Repair Men just
took the first couple of ends against Pick n Mix, but
gradually gathered momentum, so that with only 2 ends to go they
were 10-0 up, and seemingly had the game sewn up, but for Pick
n Mix putting themselves back in the running with a 5 on the
penultimate end. Getting another 5 was always going to be unlikely,
and so it proved, with The Repair Man taking 1 on the last, to
make their 3rd consecutive Fab Fours final.
Collaboration won the first 4 ends against Family
Four, giving themselves a nice 6-0 lead, and although Family
Four pulled 3 back in the next 2 ends, time ran out with an end
still to play, sending Collaboration to the final with a 6-3
win.
Final
The Repair Men (Andy
Pooley, Mick Watkins, Tony Stephenson & Paul Daniels) v Collaboration
(Sam Runnacles, Ally Hobbs and Karen & Tim Franks)
Collaboration started much
the better of the two teams, and with 2 ends down, had a 4-0
lead, but The Repair Men finally got going on the next end. They
picked up one on the 3rd end, followed by a 2, and then another
2 to go 5-4 ahead. The 6th end saw Collaboration stop the opposition's
momentum, squaring the game at 5 all, with one end to play.
The Repair Men had the all
important last wood, but as it happens, they didn't need to use
it, as they hung on to the one shots they were holding, despite
the opposition's best efforts.

Winners
The Repair Men |

Runners-Up
Collaboration |
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» 2023 GRAHAM'S HARTEST TRIPLES |
After a multi-year break, the
Hartest Triples made a return, raising funds for the Royal
Free Charity, who are carrying our research into the
heart condition amyliodosis, from which a previous winner, Graham
Davey, sadly passed away.
There were 30 teams taking
part, from across the Eastern Counties, with 16 teams qualifying
for the knockout stages.
Group 1
BBB won all 4 of their
games, to ease their way to the group win. Claydon/Barking
lost just the once, and were comfortable runners-up, while Elmsett
B, with 4 points and 26 shots, had done enough to make it
through as one of the best 3rd placed teams.
Group 2
Reepham Robins B were
undefeated, dropping just a point on their way to the group win.
They finished comfortably ahead of Hunters B, who finished
on 4 points, as did Elmsett A, who did enough to also
qualify.
Group 3
Hundon A went undefeated,
dropping just one point, to win the group, while Ellesmere
won2 and drew 2, to finish runners-up, while Reepham Robins
A were through on 5 points.
Group 4
Hintlesham topped the
group on 6 points, while both Brockley B and Hitcham
A were through on 2 wins and a draw.
Group 5
Two teams finished well ahead of the pack here, Brockley/Ketton
C, who won all their games, and Cockfield B, who lost
just once. The rest of the teams in the group took one win each.
Group 6
Claydon were very comfortable
winners of the group, with 4 wins, racking up the most shots
of any team int he group stage (46), and conceding the least
(8), while Withersfield A lost just once to comfortably
qualify.
Knockout Stages
Round 1
BBB needed 3 on the
last end to grab a 6-5 win over Ellesmere.
Reepham Robins B trounced Hitcham A, who weren't
even all owed a single shot, as they lost 16-0.
Hundon A came from 4 shots back to beat Reepham
Robins B 8-5.
Withersfield A forced an extra end against Hintlesham,
which they won, to take the game 7-5.
Elmsett B took an early lead over Brockley/Ketton
C, and never gave it up, winning 6-2.
Elmsett A got a good start against Claydon,
and fended off a comeback, to win 9-4.
Barking/Claydon were never in danger against Hunters
B, winning 10-3 with an end to spare.
Quarter Finals
Having had a huge win in the previous round, Reepham Robins
B suffered a similarly sized loss, as they fell to a 14-1
defeat against BBB.
Hundon A raced off to a 12-1 lead after 4 ends,
against Cockfield B, who won the last 3 ends, but didn't
come close to closing the deficit. The final result was 12-6
to Hundon.
Claydon/Barking were never behind against Elmsett
B, pulling away to 9-1 shead with an end to go, at which
time a halt was called.
There was just one shot per
end in the game between Withersfield A and Elmsett
A, but Withersfield won the first 5 of them, and the game.
Semi-Finals
At 4-1 up after 4 ends, it was looking good for Claydon/Barking,
against Withersfield A, but Withersfield won those last
3 ends to take the game 5-4
And it was a very similar story
between BBB and Hundon A. BBB held a 2 shot advantage
with 2 ends to go, but Hundon also snatched the game 5-4.
Final
Hundon A (Ellen Grube,
Kevin Salmon & Nick Wood) v Withersfield A (Neil Tuckey,
Stuart McNeil & Lisa Edmead)
Yet another 5-4 result!
Withersfield were off to the
best start, taking the first 3 ends to lead 4-0, and still held
that same margin with 2 ends to go, at 5-1. Hundon chipped 1
back on the penultimate end, but couldn't do any better than
2 on the last, to fall one shot short.
Many thanks to everyone who
entered, helped out, and contributed to the final profit of £660,
expecially Irene Robinson (the late Graham Robinson's mother),
who was generous enough to contribute £240 to cover the
cost of the hall for the day, meaning that every penny raised
was pure profit.

Winners
Withersfield |

Runners-Up
Hundon |
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» 2023 SUFFOLK LEAGUE V BURY LEAGUE |
The annual East v West match
saw the two sides winning 3 games each, with victory going to
the West on shots, by 101 to 88.
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This year saw a return to the
kind of numbers the event used to attract pre-Covid, with 90
players taking part.
A reminder of the format: every
player gets 5 games, all on a different carpet, all with different
team mates, and all with different opponents.
Round 1
The big winners in the first round of games were Andy Pooley,
Jane Sago, and Pauline Smith, who won 14-0. Also
getting into double figures were Angus Rogers, Carol
Sainsbury, and Peter Dunnet, who won 10-1.
Round 2
Although all the teams from the previous rounds were split up,
several of the same names remained at the top, on 2 wins.
Of the 21 players who had won
twice, Jane Sago and Peter Dunnet were leading
the way with 23 shots, while just behind were Pauline Smith
and David Clemmet on 22, with Andy Pooley in fifth
on 20 shots.
Round 3
By now we were down to just 10 players who had won all their
games.
Leading the way with a very
impressive 36 shots, was Peter Dunnet, with Jane Sago
just 4 shots behind, and Pauline Godfrey rounding out
the top 3 on 29 shots.
Next best were Angus Rogers,
Paul Cousins, and Jim Goodrich, on 27 shots, James
Jordan was on 23, Richard Sago and Trevor Kidd
had 22, and Sue Davey had 21 shots.
Round 4
A wave of drawn games meant that only 3 players had now won all
their games.
Angus Rogers hit the front, on 36 shots, with Paul
Cousins on 34, and Jim Goodrich on 33.
Behind them were 4 players
who were still undefeated, but who had dropped one point, and
were still in with a shout, they were Pauline Godfrey
(33 shots), Don Poulter (31), James Jordan (29),
and Rob Parnell (22).
Final Round
With Angus and Paul playing in the second half of games, Jim
was the first to get his game played, and he picked up a dream
result, and the highest score for any team on the day, winning
16-3, and leaving the other two something of a mountain to climb.
Unfortunately Angus couldn't
continue his winning run, which left only Paul with a chance,
but he'd need 15 shots, while conceding no more than 3. However,
2 ends into the game, it started to look likely, as they picked
up 9 shots over just the first 2 ends. A couple of ends later
and it was 11-3, and with one end to go, it was 14-3, Paul would
need on shot on the last end, with the help of a team which included
Jim's wife Sally, and that was exactly what they got, to win
15-3, and hand the overall win to Paul.
Jim Goodrich finished on 10 points, 49 shots for,
and 18 against, while Paul Cousins had 10 points, 49 shots
for, and 17 against.
Third place went to Don
Poulter (9 points, 47 shots for 15 against), 4th was Pauline
Godfrey (9/42/15), and 5th was James Jordan (9/40/14).
Overall, a great day's bowling,
with as close a finish as you could hope for. Many thanks to
everyone who entered, and we hope to see you all back agains
next year.
You can find the final results
here.
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» 2023 SUFFOLK CHARITY FOURS |

The return of the Suffolk Charity
tournament after a long break, saw an initial entry of 40 teams,
although that was reduced to 38 on the day, thanks to illness.
The event would be raising
funds for Livability Icanho.
Owing to time constraints,
there is no knockout stage, the winner is the team at the top
of the standings once everyone has played their 4 games.
Round 1
17 teams started the day off with a win, three of whom had scored
11 shots, they were Littleport, Two Rivers, and
Stanningfield, while two had scored 10 shots, Family
Four, and Barking A.
Round 2
Only 7 teams finished the second round with maximum points. Of
those teams, Claydon were well ahead on shots, with 28,
they were followed by Reepham Robins A (20), Hundon
(19), Littleport (18), Finchingfield B (17), and
Family Four and Oxymorons (both 16).
Round 3
With 3 games played, there were now only 4 teams with a perfect
record. Claydon were still out in front, with 37 shots
from their 3 wins, Hundon were just 3 shots back, Littleport
had 24 shots, and Family Four had 21.
Three other teams were still
undefeated, on 2 wins and a draw, Barking A, Stanningfield,
and Elmsett.
Final Round
The last round of games saw a total of 5 teams make it through
the day undefeated.
Of those, two, Stanningfield
and Elmsett, had won three and drawn one game, but were
only going to be in with a chance of winning if all four teams
ahead of them slipped up. In the end only one did, so there were
three teams left who finished on 8 points.
Third place went to Family
Four, they conceded the least number of shots of any team
on the day, but scored only 31.
Hundon were in with a more realistic chance, and came
into their last game knowing that they would need at least 13
shots, difficult but not impossible. And while they won their
game, they fell some way short of the shots they needed, winning
a very tight game 5-2.
That left Claydon, 8
shots clear at the top, they had to work for their wins, but
their overall victory was really down to one very high scoring
game, which they won 21-5.
Congratulations to Sam Runnacles,
Ally Hobbs, and Tim & Karen Franks, on their win, and huge
thanks to everyone who joined us on the day, and who donated
draw prizes, for helping us to raise a total of £1159.50.
You can find the final results
here.

Winners
Claydon
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Runners-Up
Hundon |
Richard Sago presents
SCBA Charity Tournament cheque of £1159.50 to Jo Marshal
and her team at Livability Icanho, Stowmarket. |
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