Youth Conquers All in All England (by Barbara Dutton 04/09/11)
The All England Area Finals was played over the weekend of Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th September. Eight contestants, all of whom had won their places in their clubs’ internal competitions played during the season, competed for the honour of representing the North West in the finals in Sidmouth, Devon in a fortnight’s time. The number of players from any club depends on how many entered the internal competitions, bigger clubs able to enter more players, thus Bowdon fielded 4 players, Bury 2, Fylde 1 and Pendle 1. There were 6 men and 2 women and competition was keen. The weather was unkind on the Saturday with all players getting a drenching but on Sunday things changed and a beautiful warm, sunny day made the lawns play faster and cheered the players. The competition is to be one of the top three in the final result. In the end Adam Swinton from Bowdon came top with 4 wins from 5 matches, three players tied for the other 2 places each winning 3 of their 5 games: Andy Broadwood from Bury, Barrie Mckenzie from Bowdon and Robin Delves from Pendle. Robin just missed out on the points scored so he will take no further part this year. The others travel to Sidmouth to compete with other regional finalists on 17th and 18th September. Youth conquered all here, the overall winner, Adam Swinton (extreme left in picture) is just 14 years old. A great prospect for the future.
