Page 9 - Autumn 2012

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The final game brought South Molton 9
back on line with a 13 - 7 win over
Fremington “A”. However, this was not quite
enough a Winkleigh had a plus of 10 to go
with their 8 points but South Molton had a
plus 9 to go with their 8 points, giving Win-
kleigh the winner’s trophy by a single shot.
In section 2 Westward Ho! “A” started
with a very close match against Beaford, edg-
ing them out 11 - 10. A 9 - 3 win followed
against Bratton Fleming but Christchurch,
who bounced back from a heavy defeat,
halted Westward Ho!’s winning run by 8 shots
to 4. Westward Ho! then steadied the ship
Section 2 seated winners from Westward with a 10 - 3 win over Brushford and a 10 - 5
Ho! Nigel Nicholls, Doreen & Bill Neal win over Anstey “A”.
with standing runners-up from Bratton The crucial match in this run was the
Fleming SMBC - Gareth & Sandy Curtis victory over Bratton Fleming as this was Brat-
and Hedley McLaurin ton’s only defeat. Bratton Fleming successes
were 11 - 5 over Biddisham, 8 - 4 over Frem-
ington “B”, 15 - 0 over Brushford and an 8 - 8 draw with Anstey “A”. Westward Ho! “A” there-
fore finished on top with 8 points and a shots plus of 15, whilst Bratton Fleming had 7 points
and a plus of 19 shots, giving Westward Ho! “A” a clear tournament victory.
Bill Moule Tournament Organiser

TECHNOLOGY MOVES ON
TECHNOLOGY MOVES ON
For those of us at a certain age, which I’m sure is the majority in
short mat bowls (66 in my case), we have certainly moved on.
When I first started work, punch cards were the order of the day,
with holes punched in a card and then cross checked and a printer
“read” the position of the holes to extract the data. About 3 years
later and a change of job, my new company has a compute but
this had to be in an air conditioned room, with two sets of doors
with a space between for minimal air change.
Jump forward 40 years and the leap in technology has been utterly astonishing. The
computer I am typing this on has far more capacity than the whole computer room I de-
scribed above and then some. The World Wide Web for those that use it opens up a world
of information and communication. Devon County Secretary, Irene Smith, said
“When I took on the role as County Secretary in 2007 I could only reach about 12
Clubs by e-mail, I can now reach an astonishing 91. This of course saves an enormous
amount of time and money on envelopes, paper and postage. Yes a few things go astray
and we all have senior moments but by and large it works. As for the website, this has been
on-going for the last two/three years and is growing all the time. I know not everyone has
access to the internet and we try and send things out by post for those that are not con-
nected but most Clubs have someone who has access and could pass on the information.
Not only does the website tell you what is going on in Devon but also there are links to other
County sites and the ESMBA, also some links which are just useful information sites.
Other counties have no doubt had the same developments. However, for me the rush
to operate by computer only is sometimes too quick. Whilst I am on my computer 7 days a
week, I would hesitate to throw the baby out with the bathwater as we must not forget those
who still operate by Royal Mail now known as “Snail Mail”.