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 This was a big occasion for Country Bowls as it was the first Open tournament they have hosted and very successful it was too, being fully subscribed with teams from several diferent clubs until a late withdrawal left them a team short. The sponsors were 1Car1 and their representative Rob Gillespie was on hand to present the prizes, thankfully on time as the event was one of the few to escape the ravages of the weather.

The club captain Dave Rogers thanked 1car1 for their support, which has been promised again for next year. Tribute was also paid to the organisers Brian Patton, Dave Chaplin and Eric Bishop, umpires John Cooper and Brian Gardiner, the players who took part and all the other helpers. This was my first visit to Country Bowls since it has been revamped under the management of John and Trish and very impressive it is too, with additional car parking and the very pleasant Amigos bar/restaurant which has scrumptious food and delightful staff. Thanks to them as well for doing everything possible to assist in making the event a success.

The usual format of 4 groups was slightly different in that the top 2 from each group went into quarter finals which were played on the final morning. The semi’s followed in which the home trio of Dave Dean, Noel & Shirley Verity teamed up with Emerald Isle’s Roy Pickin to take on his clubmates Eric Slater, Sam Russell and June & Keith Jones. Keith’s team won a very close game 9 – 6, which was rather different from the other semi.

Liz McCabe of San Miguel joined forces with Emerald Isle’s Ann Holland, Jim Mulloy and Ray Pollock to face another home team, Pat & Brian Patton plus Ed Mclaren and Roy Trow. This was also very tight early on when the scores were level at 5 – 5 after 5 of the 11 ends, but the visiting four then surged away to eventually win by 16 – 6.The final began with Ray’s team red hot and looking as if they were going to win convincingly after racing into a lead of 9 – 1 after 6 of the allotted 12 ends. Having got to that stage a certain amount of panic seemed to set in and they were bowling too many heavy woods which left them with nothing in the head and cost them dear over the next 3 ends, in which they dropped successive counts of 3, 4, 4, to somehow find themselves trailing 9 – 12.

Having gone behind they started to play again and scored 6 themselves over the next 2 ends to go into the last 3 shots up. The last end pretty much summed up how the final had gone, with Keith’s team coming back yet again to score 4 and win by a single shot. A great game for the spectators but the players really went through the wringer.

Winners Eric Slater, Sam Russell, June & Keith Jones (Emerald Isle)

Runners up Ann Holland, Jim Mulloy, Ray Pollock (Emerald Isle) & Liz McCabe (San Miguel)

There are a few unclaimed raffle prizes on tickets 566 white, 501 green and 144 yellow. Contact the club if you are a lucky winner although1st prize, a weeks car hire in England donated by 1car1.com was won by John Bailey. The 2nd prize of a beautiful food hamper kindly donated by Emma of Quicksave supermarket in Sucina was also won but by George Lucas, thank you to everyone for their contributions.