Finals weekend for the Budleigh Bowls Club indoor season is always an exciting affair and, as club members assembled to watch the contenders and try to predict the winners, it was, as ever, the performance on the day that dictated the outcome, writes David Roberts.
Joan Shaw played Di Dixon in the four wood championship final and it was Di who got off to the better start, taking the first five shots.
By the halfway stage there was only one shot in it, but Di surged ahead again with a seven-shot flurry to look odds-on favourite to take the title only for Joan to dig deep and finish strongly to take the match 21-18.
In the men’s four wood championship, Paul Griffin played Tony Lim and it was Paul who took early control, holding the initiative with long jacks and, whilst Tony tried his hardest to break through, it was Paul who closed the door to win convincingly 21-12.
In the ladies’ two wood it was neck and neck between Margaret Avery and Melissa Camp at the halfway stage, but a purple patch from Melissa saw her register eight shots to Margaret’s one to take the tie 16-9.
The men’s two wood was a very close affair, as Simon Weclawek started impressively to go 12-6 up after 14 ends only for Richard Cooper to stage a strong challenge and take the tie to a nail-biting finish with Simon holding his nerve to win by two shots 14-12.
The men’s 106 was certainly the closest of the finals as Leighton Burston and John Dill, two experienced bowlers at the club, went head to head and what a tussle it was.
There was nothing between them as they both registered impressive shots, but it was Leighton who found that little bit extra to win by the narrowest margins at 107 shots to 102.
Margaret Avery, appearing in the second of two finals, made sure of a trophy as she came out on top in the ladies’ 106 with a fine win against Dawn Graham, 107-58.
Joan Shaw and Melissa Camp were victorious in the round-robin Rene French Pairs competition and, in the Tuesday Morning Triples League, Team Oak won their outstanding match against Team Elm, 20-7, to lift the trophy. Congratulations to Dawn Graham, Bob Clifford, Bill Barber, Brian Alabaster, Keith Edwards and David Roberts, who all played their part in an exciting end to the season.
At the Presentation Evening, thanks was given to Gerard McCarthy and Dawn Graham for their organisation during the season, and on the night to Mo Bond, Lilian Grainger for a superb buffet, and to Brian Evans, Dick Mitchell and Margaret and Peter Avery for making the evening such an enjoyable one.
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