2023 - Club Competition Finals Days: 16th - 17th September 2023.

The weather was kind on Saturday, enabling all matches to be played as per the schedule. Sunday, however, was a different story.! The morning started off fair, but the clouds soon rolled in and the rain started, and sadly never stopped. Once the lightning started, all players sensibly left the green to congregate inside. In the blink of an eye the green was flooded and with everyone sheltering from the elements I had to make the difficult decision to cancel the rest of day, the 1st time in my memory we couldn’t complete Finals Weekend as planned.

The games were played in good spirit with some excellent bowling skills on show. There were some close matches, with newer bowlers and the usual suspects battling it out watched on by a well-attended audience.

Some notable matches being the Frank Winterburn with Martin Smith pipping Martin Oldham 14-13 on an extra end, Geoff Cross winning the Green Medal for his 1st WBC Singles Title and Chris coming out on top 13-11 vs Shirley in the battle of the Kavanagh’s in the Mixed Pairs.

The Ladies Championship, contested by Lesley Mitchell & Anita Knight, concluded Day 1. Could Lesley make it back-to-back titles, or could Anita spoil the party and win her 1st? A tight battle ensued with Anita stretching out a decent lead until a fightback by current champion Lesley began to eat into the deficit. Sadly, it wasn’t enough, and Anita ran out a 21-15 victor. Congratulations Anita on winning your first Welling Shield.

Sunday morning highlights being Martin Oldham brushing off Saturday’s disappointment to beat Jamie Hughes 16-12 in the Men’s 2 Wood Singles and Keith Johnson picking up the Chas & George title against Tony Page. The Men’s Triples (Now formally known as The Dave Rowan Men’s Triples Cup) was nicely poised, being all square with 6 ends to play before the heavens opened.

In the week following Finals Weekend, players completed the remaining matches with Geoff Cross, Colin James & Martin Smith beating Andy Woolley, Alan Mills & Ian Winterburn to win the Dave Rowan Triples. Congratulations to Janet Ballard for winning all 3 of her finals after finishing off her Mitchell Trophy Final with Phil Laskowski that week.

The Men’s Championship was between Colin James & Martin Smith. A decent crowd congregated to watch two relative newcomers to WBC battle it out for the title. Colin taking an early lead against an out-of-sorts “Smithy”. Being one to never give up, Smithy found his range and never looked back. With the jack perched on the edge of the ditch and Martin’s shot wood 6 inches away Colin somehow managed to find the gap… TWICE!!! And so, Martin wrapped up a 22-18 victory and claim his 1st Club Championship Title.

Thank you to the markers, who ensured all games were accurately scored and close shots measured. Particularly to Ray Leppard, who throughout the season, has supported the club marking countless matches, it was only fitting he was, once again, given the honour of marking the Men’s Final.

A massive thanks to Chris Ballard, Ron Dowson and the Greens Team for providing an excellent surface to bowl on all season and a big thank you to Carol Hathaway and her happy band of caterers for providing Tea/Biscuits and rolls/sandwiches, supporting the Day Comps throughout the year.

I hope everyone involved in this year’s competitions enjoyed them and I look forward to running them again in 2024.

 Jamie Hughes (WBC Competitions’ Secretary)