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Three Go Forth

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Three go Forward for the North – report by Barbara Dutton (3/9/06)

The All England Northern Area Finals were held at Earby on Sat/Sun 2/3 September 2006. Competitors travelled from Bury, Bowdon, Fylde, Ashby-de-la-Zouche, Huddersfield and, of course, Pendle. The weather played a great part in this tournament which drew 12 finalists from the North to compete for places in the All England Finals in Nailsea, Somerset. Play had to be postponed on the Saturday following a biblical deluge which rendered all 5 lawns unplayable. The Sunday morning inspection found all lawns playable and the contest continued on a 14 point basis (a shorter game).

Len Ainsworth from Fylde was the winner with Robin Delves from Pendle in second place. There was tie for third place between 5 players, and a ‘penalty shoot out’ took place with shots from the boundary to the centre pin to determine the winner, who was Paul Kenworthy from Bury. These three go forward to represent the North in the Finals which take place in two weeks time.

Keith Aiton Wins 2006 North of England Championship

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Keith_Aiton_06
Keith Aiton

Keith Aiton wins Northern Championship (29/8/06) – report by Ian Lines

Keith Aiton won the 2006 Championship of the North of England at Bowdon, beating James Death +13tp, +16tp, +18tp, to win the Faulkner Cup for his first time. The games in the final were almost error free, with supershot openings and James getting the first ball round on each occasion. However, Keith was hitting lifts, popping and doing tight hoop leaves, so in the 3rd game James tried for a sextuple, but came to grief very early by taking off from 2 into the back of hoop 1.

The Consolation Event (The Tollemache Plate) was run as an 8 player knockout for those with the best percentage wins after the first 3 days. There was a 3 way tie for the last 2 places between Marcus, Richard and David Harrison-Wood, and although David got the unlucky bye, he and Richard both qualified by beating Marcus. In the final of the Plate, Sam Tudor played Ian Lines. Sam put out a supershot near the peg, Ian went to maximum length on east boundary, Sam missed into corner 4, Ian missed partner from A baulk, Sam missed from corner 4, Ian went to 4 back with a diagonal spread. Sam then hit the long lift and went to 4-back with a B spread, Ian missed the long lift and Sam finished with a very tidy delayed triple to win +17tp.

The presentations were made by Bowdon President Sheila Black, who thanked all those involved in setting out the lawns and hoops, particularly Colin Irwin for his tireless efforts in setting hoops and mowing the lawns during the event, and also all the various Bowdon members who laid on truly excellent lunches and teas. The Bowdon lawns were described by Keith as currently the best in England, although due to recent rain they were fairly easy paced. Andrew Davies earned a handicap reduction to -1, and Sam Tudor went to -2 – a notable achievement.

Pendle August 06 Handicap

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PENDLE AUGUST HANDICAP TOURNAMENT 26/27/28 August 2006 by Barbara Dutton

Robin_Delves_06     Peter_Dowdall     Alice_Fleck_06

 

Short showers over the three day period didn’t mar play. The lawns had improved immensely since the Easter Tournament. Fourteen competitors battled it out for the honours, travelling from Horsham, Shrewsbury, Wrest Bank and more locally the Fylde and of course Pendle.

The Overall Winner was Peter Dowdall, the Pendle & Craven Club Treasurer. Alice Fleck won the prize for the fastest game and also took part in the longest at 5hr 30mins. Alice had such a good time she has decided to join Pendle & Craven as a Far Country member for the 2007 season. David Gillett from Horsham took the Low Handicap prize for the second year running and Robin Delves from Pendle the High Handicap cup. Robert Dodds from Shrewsbury played the most games (10). Handicap changes were: Peter Dowdall 11 to 10; Andrew Webb (Fylde) 8 to 7; Robin Delves 12 to 11.

The Manager Peter Wilson was thanked for his splendid efforts at keeping the game flowing, the caterers as ever were thanked for their best attempts at sending players home heavier than they came and also thanks to all those who made the lawns a pleasure to play on.

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