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The final session of this intense day of bowls saw Hampshire playing Pembrokeshire in 15
the team event and again Ian Ford’s rink picked up points with the rink skipped by Steve
Puttock (Gina Allen, George Cherry & Mike Wright) adding to the County’s tally, scores being
6-5 and 10-5 respectively. Martyn Dubb’s rink could have added but narrowly lost 10-9 on a
measure.
Hampshire sat out the first session on the Sunday morning which saw Oriel beaten for
the first time, by a resurgent Pembrokeshire who only dropped three points.
Following this, Hampshire took on Oriel again in the reverse of the first match of the week-
end, but it was only Goodman & Wood that picked up any points in this session beating their
opponents 15-10.
Pembrokeshire then came back into the fray. In the reverse of the Hampshire’s second
match of the previous day, Steve Puttock again picked up points in a win of 18-14. Jason
McLean was unlucky to lose 12-14 having been holding game until his opponent’s last wood
had been delivered. Ford’s triple (George Cherry, & Greg Puttock) was the only other winner
(11-10) in this final session for Hampshire.
The closing session of the whole weekend saw big hitting Oriel take on Pembrokeshire
in their reverse individuals to take the match 12 points to 4 and win the event overall.
It was the 20th year of this triangular competition having been run and in all that time it
has only been won by two non-Irish teams (Staffordshire in 1997 and Cheshire in 2011) – on
both occasions when being played in England. Hampshire, in their first attempt didn’t do so
badly, just not as well as they would have liked. So here’s to the next time. Bring it on!

Autumn Short Mat Festival
Autumn Short Mat Festival
Teams from Scunthorpe, Dereham and Yeovil
made the trip to Southsea for a holiday tourna-
ment. 22 rinks and 45 pairs contested round robin
matches over the course of 2½ days. Along with
some excellent bowling, it was a victory for time
keeping, good humour and camaraderie.
Having played all of Tuesday with the later
stages playing on the Wednesday morning, the
Pairs semi-finalists were all from Norfolk, and met
each other in the semi-finals. It had been a long way to come to play each other! George
Clarke & Kath Frost contested the final against Janet & Trevor Pinchin. Unfortunately for the
Pinchin’s, George & Kath could hardly put a foot wrong and only allowed a single to be scored
against them on the 3rd end winning 10-1. The 3rd/4th playoff between Chris & John Turner
and Albert Palgrave & Lesley Crowe was a rather closer affair. Chris & John picked up a 4 on
the penultimate end to bring the score level at 6-6. However Albert & Lesley had the last wood
of the match and made it count, picking up a 2 to win the game.
The fours commenced on the Wednesday evening and continued all day Thursday to a
finish. More excellent bowling was on display throughout the day and by the later stages there
was a fair degree of exhaustion creeping in too! However everyone kept their composure and
their good humour.
The final was contested by Peter & Carol Johnson playing with Ann Mason & late super-
sub Bob Beeson, against John & Margaret Poynter playing with Don & Doreen Paffey. It was
a close affair, but the four picked up by Peter Johnson’s team on the penultimate end proved
to be critical, taking them from 3-2 to 7-2 to the good, and despite their opponents garnering a
2 on the final end, the victory belonged to the Johnson foursome. Bob has now become an
honorary Norfolk player incidentally, having been awarded a Norfolk badge at the Presentation
of Prizes! Always cheerful and pro-active despite being profoundly deaf, Carol gave their win
the “thumbs up” on collecting her prize! She just proves that short mat bowls is a sport for all.
Barbara Sparling