Finals Day at the Romilly Bowling Club has been a long-held tradition and, played as it is at the end of the season in mid-September, is always subject to the vagaries of the weather. All week the Club’s competition organisers, Anthony Jones and Jacquie Macpherson had been concerned about the weekend’s weather, but they needn’t have worried as the weather held fair, save for a few brief showers. Unfortunately, the news that Men’s Championship finalist Dave Curtis had been admitted to hospital the previous evening meant that what would have been a showpiece final against Clive Collins had to be postponed. This made for a sad start to the day’s proceedings however the good news is that Dave’s now out of hospital and recuperating at home, and it goes without saying that everyone at The Rom wishes him well.
The first game of the day was the Men’s Rinks, which proved to be an extremely close match between Clive Collins, Leigh Cogbill, Paul Mason and Ray Hewitson against Chris Williams, partnered by Paul James, Peter Hunt andKelvyn Lewis. It wasn’t until the twelfth end that Chris’s rink was able to pull ahead and eventually take an 11-9 lead. Clive’s rink fought back to equal the match in the penultimate fourteenth end, only to capitulate in the final end by three shots, handing victory to Chris’s side by 14 shots to 11.
This first game set the standard for the day and as the day progressed the quality of bowls proved exemplary, many of the games only being decided on the last end, and some even down to the final bowl of the game. The Men’s Four Wood Pairs was played between Jeff Wright and Dave Lougher against Clive Collins and Gary Williams and proved to be one of the most intriguing games of Finals Day. Clive and Gary dominated the first quarter of the match but Jeff and Dave fought back to level the game at 10-10 by the end of the tenth end before driving ahead to gain a three-shot lead. It was then Clive and Gary’s turn to score in successive ends to race into an 18-15 lead with only two ends to play. Nevertheless, Jeff and Dave defiantly took three shots in the final two ends to send the game into an extra end, before scoring the winning shot with a bowl to spare.
Another extremely close encounter came in the Men’s Handicap Final, a most competitive match between Kevin Mahoney, who started the game with a one-shot advantage against last year’s Club side captain, Clive Collins playing in yet another final. It was a close fought game until the tenth end when Kevin pulled away to lead 11-7, before the pair traded shots with Kevin re-establishing his lead at 14-10. Not to be outdone Clive struck with four shots of his own in the sixteenth end to level the game at 14-14, before adding another to lead Kevin 15-14 going into the eighteenth end. Kevin replied with four shots to stretch into a three-point lead at 18-15. However, Clive’s determination saw him claw himself back into the game, only for Kevin to score singles on successive ends to take himself to within one point of victory. Clive denied Kevin victory with a score on the twenty-third end, before Kevin saw the game out in the twenty-fourth end in a game that many felt was one worthy of the Championship itself.
Played over 21 ends, the Men’s Two Wood Singles was an equally even contest, played between Jeff Wright and Paul Gray, two of this season’s most successful players at The Rom. Both were victors at the County Championships earlier in the season before going on to represent the County at the National finals in Llandrindod. The game was nip and tuck for the first six or seven ends before Jeff opened up a five shot lead by the end of the tenth. Paul’s resilience saw him take the next three ends to close the gap to one shot before Jeff showed all his skill and tenacity to regain his five shot lead by the seventeenth end. Once again, Paul responded to reduce Jeff’s lead to two shots going into the final end, before Jeff made the deciding shot on the final end. In short, a great game between two of Romilly’s finest.
Yet another close match was played in the Mixed Pairs, between Angela Gray and Gary Williams versus Cheryl Day and John Seaford. Angela and Gary scored in four of the first five ends before Cheryl and John fought back. Angela and Gary scored multiple shots to lead 11-6 at the end of the tenth. A brave comeback by Cheryl and John in the final four ends took them into the final end 12 shots apiece before Angela and Gary picked up the deciding shot in the final end to clinch the championship.
The Ladies Four Wood Pairs featured Pat Stacey and Joan Walden against Cheryl Day and Pam Chapple. Pat and Joan raced into an early lead, before Cheryl and Pam made their presence felt to draw level at 6-6 by the eighth end. Once again Pat and Joan began to dominate before Cheryl and Pam won four consecutive ends to catch, then overhaul, their opposition 15-12. However, Pat and Joan were not to be denied and scored well in the final three ends to run out worthy champions by 19 shots to 15.
The Men’s Triples, featured Mel Newman skipping Leigh Cogbill and Peter Hunt against Mike Doyle’s trio which included Eric Fortt and Jeff Wyatt. It was an extremely close game. and with only two ends to play Mel’s trio found themselves with a one-shot lead, which was immediately wiped out in the fourteenth end. It was all to play for on the final end when Leigh played the perfect wood to find the jack placing his team into a very strong position. Both sides had chances to win the end but it was Mel’s team that eventually took the end to win an extremely close game.
In the Ladies’ Championship it was Pat Stacey who scored on the first end before Angela Gray responded immediately to pick up big scores in successive ends to lead 16-1 by the sixth end. Pat tried to make a game of it, but Angela was in unstoppable form to score a landslide 21-3 victory by the twelfth end.
The Ladies Handicap concluded in similar fashion with Leah Jenkins-Trask eradicating Joy Kiddie’s two-point handicap and pushing herself into a 7-2 lead. Leah was in indomitable form and scored in seven consecutive ends to lead 20-5 by the thirteenth end. Joy fought stubbornly to take two shots in the next end, but Leah was in superb form and scored the shot she needed to reach the twenty-one points needed for the win.
Sadly, it’s not possible to fit all of the finals into one day so it’s necessary for some to be played in advance of the actual day. One such match worthy of mention was the Mixed Rinks final with Mike Doyle, Mike Simmonds, Maria Elliot and Joan Walden playing against Dave Curtis’s rink, which comprised Leigh Cogbill, Pat Stacey and Birgit Williams, a game that proved to be a very close, exciting encounter. The two sides traded the lead throughout the game until Dave’s side looked certain to run out winners. But Mike Doyle took the game into an extra end with his final bowl to take the game to a 20-20 scoreline. While the game could have gone either way it was Mike Doyle’s rink that ran out winners in yet another exciting final.
A fantastic day of bowls concluded with the presentation of the various trophies by Club Chairman Stuart Simpson and Jacquie Macpherson, plus the deserved votes of thanks to for all of the work put in by organisers, Anthony Jones and Jackie Macpherson, and those who worked tirelessly during the day to run the bar and the barbecue – Terry and Mary Bloomfield, Carol Doyle, Claire Herbert, Hilary James and Eric Fortt.
Thank you one and all. Let’s do it again next year. It’s never over till the last end.
Paul Rebane