2024 Finals Weekend - Winners
The Finals were split over three days - Friday evening, Saturday morning and afternoon and Sunday morning and afternoon. Trevor and John accomodated those super plyaers who managed to get to multiple finals by altering the schedule. We were lucky with the weather and a good crowd attended each session.
Three exciting games kicked off Finals weekend this Friday evening, a great watch for all those in attendance. The Mixed Handicap pitted Mary vs Hugo in a great game that Mary lead from the start. Well done to Mary, the first Lady member to win a mixed competition in recent years. The mixed Challenge Cup saw Mike and Eric battle a very close game for 21 ends, with Mike finally edging victory. The third match, for the Grandfathers, featured John Stenton and Chris Morris in another great match of long jacks. Chris took an early lead but John came back to win as the light faded. Well done all.
After fabulaous Friday, we had super Saturday. In the Saturday morning session, Mike took a quick lead over Nick in the Millennium and never looked back. In the Nominated Pairs Patricia T. and Trevor T. had a slow start against Chrissie and Richard W. but pulled away at the end for the win. Star of the morning was Maggie along with Mary who came from behind to take the win against Paula and Sheila G.
In the afternoon, Mary made it 3 out of 3 with a solid win against Diane in the Grandmothers. In the Ladies Triples, Wendy, Carol, and Marilyn took an early commanding lead only for Moira, Valerie, and Christine to make a fighting comeback but then fall away again in the last few ends. In the Men's Triples, Graham, Eric, and Bert took an early lead only for Bash, John Byrne, and Nick to stage a comeback that saw them win a closely fought game. Plenty of jack movement and changing of shot ball throughout a great watch.
Huge and special thank you to Eric and his merry band of pint pullers who provided a Saturday surprise and very welcome cheese, ham and French bread buffet.
Finals Sunday brought warm weather and some cracking matches.
Both matches in the Morning session were a great watch. In the 2-woods, Hugo put on a masterclass on how to play this special game but Mike stayed in there taking it to 20 ends before Hugo won out. A marathon Men's Pairs was played for 3 and a quarter hours, and it was all tied up going into the last end. It all came down to the last couple of bowls with John Byrne and Richard W. finally taking the win over Eric and Chris.
In the afternoon, we had a real treat with two epic Championship matches, with no-one getting ahead by more than a couple of shots. It was Barbara who finally won out over Mary to be Ladies' Champion 2024. And in the Men's, it was Hugo who won the title of Champion from Nick. Excellent matches appreciated by all who were there.
Our President David Morley then presented the Trophies, ably assisted by our Ladies' and Men's Captains, Vicky and Peter. Thanks go to them, all the contestants, markers, umpires, greenkeepers, barkeepers, buffetkeepers, helpers and all that came to watch, making it a grand weekend.
Below are a selection of montages with the winners in action and receiving their hard fought rewards:
