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Fylde Reach Longman Final

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Fylde reach Final of Longman Cup by Liz Wilson (10/09/07)

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Fylde played Ashby at home on Sunday 9th September for a place in the finals weekend at Wrest Park. The Fylde team were Martin Bradshaw (12), Terry Vernazza (18), Leonard Ainsworth (18) and Betty Bates (24). Ashby’s team arrived in good time and comprised Tim King (4.5), Derek Buxton (10), Mick Haytack (10) and Jeremy Staley (10). The bisques were definitely to Fylde’s advantage!.

In the morning Leonard and Betty paired up for the doubles match against Derek and Jeremy. This they won +2. Terry ran out of bisques too early against Tim who played an excellent game on our difficult lawns and won +6. Martin had a comparatively easy win against Mick +11. At lunch Fylde were 2 – 1 up and needed two of the afternoon games to win.

The afternoon games were played in handicap order. Terry won +10 against Mick taking quite a few attempts to run the final hoop. Betty could not find form and lost to Jeremy – 13. Leonard lost to Derek – 7. The final game between the two captains Martin and Tim was a tight affair which ran to time. Tim had trouble hitting in on our undulating lawns and Martin managed to keep him out of the game to win +4 on time.

A 4-3 win to Fylde who now go through to Wrest Park on 6th and 7th October.

All England Regional Final

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All England Handicap North West Area Final by Peter Wilson (4/9/07)

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16 players entered this 5-round Swiss tournament representing Bowdon, Southport, Huddersfield, Bury, Pendle, Woodhall Spa and Fylde on 1/2 September at Pendle. At the eleventh hour an injury prevented Ashby from sending a representative and a reserve from Southport was called in.

On Saturday short spells of sunshine broke through the cloudy gloom throughout the day. The lawns, now settling into their third year, played well. Bronze merit awards were achieved by Justin Brightmore from Bury and Francois Garcia from Bowdon. At the end of the third game Mel Foster and Robert Wilkinson had both won three games and so they met on Sunday morning.

Robert beat Mel and won a silver award in the process putting him as the only player on 4/4 however a group of four players were close on his heals with 3/4.

The final round saw several players in contention for the 3 places on offer in the Roehampton Final. The draw threw up a magnificent final round game – David Eckford from Woodhall Spa (the current holder) who got to peg and peg against Robert on 1 and 3. Robert got in and took a ball to peg and made a good leave. David missed and Robert was off again with another all round break and peg out to take the outright tournament win and trophy. Melanie Foster (Southport) and Andrew Webb (Pendle) won their respective games to take the remaining places.

Five players tied for fourth place. The reserve list in tie break order J. Dennis, J Guthrie, S Cooper, F Garcia (All Bowdon) and D Eckford (Woodhall Spa).

The three winners travelling to the national final being Robert Wilkinson, Melanie Foster and Andrew Webb.

During the tournament any player could be drawn against any other player providing they had not already played each other. Bowdon sent 5 representatives and yet, in none of the five rounds, was a Bowdon player matched against another. What are the chances of that?

Ailsa Lines Wins Everything

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Ailsa Lines won the entire Bowdon Northern Week! by John Wastell (27/07/07)

At the Northern Week at Bowdon, Ailsa Lines won the ‘A’ Class event, the Advanced Doubles (with Richard Griffiths) and the Handicap Doubles (with John Saxby).

The ‘B’ Class winner was Alan Mayne and ‘C’ Class champion was Liz Webb.

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