The weekend of 7th to 10th
December 2007 saw the return of the traditional Christmas Bowls
Break at Hemsby in Norfolk.
THE EVENT
This event marked our
return to Hemsby, following our first holiday there in April
of this year.
This was still only the third
holiday which we have organised and as such we are still relatively
new to the game. That being the case we still do not quite know
what kind of response we will get each time we announce a holiday.
But once again we need not have worried and indeed this turned
out to be our most popular event to date.
In the event there were 74
pairs in competition. Inevitably at this time of year there was
some illness amongst those due to join us, but fortunately only
one pair were unable to make it to Hemsby for the weekend. This
led to some last minute changes to the schedule which we were
able to accommodate without too much difficulty, meaning that
everyone was still able to get their full number of games.
THE BOWLS
The first round of
games, on Saturday morning, failed to produce any draws which
meant that there were 37 teams on 2 points following their first
game.
The early leaders were Ron
Dean & Laurie Rooke (22 shots), followed by Ken Drane
& Rita Daniels (18 shots), Roy & Kathy Howe
(16 shots), Betty & Lewis Claxton (16 shots) and Malcolm
& Jenny Briggs and Roy & Viola Thorpe tied
for 5th place with 14 shots.
Moving through into the afternoon
and two games in, the teams with a perfect record had already
been reduced to just 20.
Ron Deane and Laurie Rooke (34 shots) continued to lead the way
with Ken Drane and Rita Daniels (30 shots) still following
close behind. Roy & Kathy Howe (27 shots) were still
in 3rd while Roy & Viola Thorpe (26 shots) had moved
up to 4th and Peter & Kay Masters (23 shots) had taken
a leap up from 14th to 5th spot.
The final round of Saturday
games saw a further 7 teams losing there previously perfect records,
including the former leaders, leaving 13 teams with 6 points.
Ken Drane & Rita Daniels (44 shots) moved to the top of the
leaderboard, followed by Peter & Kay Masters (35 shots).
David & Jennie Hambling (31 shots) moved up from 10th
to 3rd place, Les & Kay Buckton (29 shots) inproved
to 4th place from 15th while Tom & Marlene Hale (29
shots) rounded out the top 5.
Moving into Sunday and the
4th round of games saw loses for nearly half of those teams with
hitherto perfect records, leaving only 7 on the maximum 8 points,
guaranteeing that anyone who could manage to win all of their
games would be certain to make it into the knockout rounds.
Ken Drane & Rita Daniels (51 shots) retained the top spot,
still followed by Peter & Kay Masters (43 shots).
But it was all change behind as Janet & Peter Shinn
(42 shots) moved into the top 3. The four other teams who had
yet to drop a point were Les & Kay Buckton, Tom & Marlene
Hale, Mike & Di Rogers and Harold & Patricia Ball.
Meanwhile, just behind on 7
points were Roy & Kathy Howe, Marion Brown & Mike Daniels
and Betty & Lewis Claxton, all of whom were going to be in
with a chance of qualifying.
The final set of Round Robin
matches saw yet more previously invincible teams, fall by the
wayside, leaving all those who had dropped no more than 1 point
a guaranteed spot in the top 8 and opening up the way for those
who had lost a game to climb their way back up into contention.
Leading the way on 10 points
were Ken Drane & Rita Daniels, Tom & Marlene
Hale, Harold & Patricia Ball and Les &
Kay Buckton. These were followed by wo teams who had ended
up on 9 points, Roy & Kathy Howe and Marion Brown
& Mike Daniels. The remaining 2 qualifiers came from
a group of 8 teams who had finished on 8 points, in the end it
was David & Jennie Hambling and Peter & Kay
Masters who made their way through by virtue of their superior
shots.
Quarter Finals
Ken Drane & Rita Daniels
beat Peter & Kay Masters 10-2 in a match that was
closer than the final result shows.
Les & Kay Buckton needed an extra end to beat Roy
& Kathy Howe 8-6 in a match in which they had been trailing
3-6 with just 2 ends to go.
Harold & Patricia Ball ended up 7-3 winners against Marion
Brown & Mike Daniels in another match which was closer
than it looked.
And finally David &
Jennie Hambling had a convincing 10-1 win over Tom &
Marlene Hale, who had previously won all of their games.
Semi Finals
Ken Drane & Rita Daniels
went 1-5 behind early on in their game against Les & Kay
Buckton, but a good 4th end drew them level and they went
on to win the rest of the ends to finish victors by a 9-5 margin.
While in the second game David
& Jennie Hambling took 4 on the first end, but let Harold
& Patricia Ball back into the game and were all square
after 3 ends, but they refused to allow themselves to be fazed
and went on to win the rest of the ends to take a 10-4 victory.
Final
This was another example
of a game that was closer, at least for most of the game, than
it would appear to have been from the final result.
David & Jennie Hambling took the lead early on, going out
to a 3-0 lead after 2 ends, against Ken Drane & Rita Daniels
who then won the next to ends to bring the game back to 3-2 with
3 ends to go, but the Hamblings then took 4 shots on the 5th
end, to take a commanding 7-2 lead which they were further able
to extend, running out as worthy 9-2 winners.
The full results of the weekend's
bowling can be found here. |
And Finally
We are very grateful
for everyone who helped to raise a magnificent £300 for
Macmillan Cancer Support through
our Prize Draw.
And of course we would just
like to extend our gratitude to everyone who joined us and for
all the very kind comments which we received. We hope that everyone
enjoyed themselves and we hope to see you all again very soon.
tanddcarpetbowls@gmail.com
10th
December 2007 |