St Albans Bowls Club host spoon drive

Wendy Parsons and Bill Kendrick tied for second with Eileen Englebright a close third, in the competition hosted by president Oliver Wall.

St Albans Ladies played their midweek fixture at Hemel Hempstead on a green that took some time to read. St Albans won by a large margin of 102-51. The top rink was Sylvia Cooper, Parsons, Diana Tribe and Jean Budd against Sylvia Ingleby, Sonia Payne, Sheila Ratley and Sylvia Bellet (36-12).

The midweek men’s team were unable to master the conditions at Townsend with only Robin Farrer, John Bennett and Tony Morris winning their rink (17-14). The team lost on the other four rinks going down 112-59.

St Albans defeated Hertford Castle 94-74. Alan Turner, Ted Salvidge and Steve Wilson notched up another top rink (19-12). The Ladies’ top rink consisted of Maggie Kendrick, Maureen Rylands, Jill Morris and Joyce Wilson, who recorded a comfortable 24-11 victory.

In round four of the County Officer’s Singles Ken Budd won against Andy Wells at Shire Park 21-17.

St Albans’ men went down to Hatfield on all three rinks in the County Club Championship Fours 68-44.

Pauline Gardiner, Sybil Steers, Tricia Gascoine and Doreen Gray played the quarter final of the County fours at home against Jane Saunders, Gill Calver, Heather Stapleford and Shirley Page, a strong team from Baldock. Baldock were the eventual 18-16 winners.

In the St Albans and District BA singles, Dave Church beat Mike Doherty of Townsend 22-7.

In the pairs Andy Kay and Steve Wilson beat Albert Parnell and Stuart Stamp 18-13 at Rowley Lane. The pairing of Oliver Wall and John Bartlett lost to Chris Underwood and Derek Goodman 19-18 at Hatfield. Ken Harding and Ken Budd beat Ken Huntley and Terry Backer 18-9 at Potters.

In the triples, Robin Farrer, John Bartlett and Tony Rylands beat Wall, Johnnie Cooper and Wilson 21-16.

Batchwood Hall Bowling Club hosted a friendly match against Beech Hill winning the match 70-65.

Their top rink was Tony Waterman, John Hay, Adrian Baddams and John Harvey (25-17).

Batchwood welcomed Hatfield to their picturesque ground for an afternoon of triples. While the score was two rinks each, Hatfield won 75-52 overall.

The top rink was Martin Duke, David Waters and John Harvey (18-7).

In the Men’s District Triples League, Batchwood had a comfortable victory against Harpenden, winning their home match 32-6 and the away match 15-9.

Adrian Baddams lost the singles 21-10 to Harpenden’s Rob Newby. But Batchwood pair Terry Chandler and John Taylor beat Mick Kirkby and Chris Poulter 25-13.

David Waters and Bill Bennett (Batchwood) lost away to Nigel Noel and Tony Holdcroft 21-15.

Batchwood Ladies earned a convincing 74-35 win on all three triple rinks at Croxley Green. Top rink for Batchwood was Babs O’Brien, Teresa Wood and Christine Vickers (25-6).

The second friendly of the week was at Oxhey where the ladies lost 38-34. Top rink this time was June Head, Betty Leyland, Vera Baddams and Pat Savage (22-15).

Wood, Nora Endericks, Savage and Liz Schlatter played the holders Bushey in the quarter finals of the County Fours and lost on the final end 20-19.

Two matches within 72 hours against Potters Bar resulted in victories for Townsend Bowls Club.

In the National Top Club competition, Townsend proved too strong winning the best of five disciplines by a 3-0 margin. In the singles, John Godman won 21-14 and in the two wood singles Dave Houghton won 15-8 giving the home team the perfect start.

The triples were next to score when their opposition had to concede to a 27-15 winning margin. That team comprised of Jason Hall, Peter Armstrong and skip Richard Briden.

When the match was won the Townsend fours - Peter Thomson, Peter Chadwick, Jeff Harber and Andy Scarborough - were leading 21-8 and the pairs, Andy Briden and Alan Quested, were likewise winning 15-10.

The second fixture was in the County Championship where holders Townsend again proved too strong for their opponents, winning by 13 shots overall and by two rinks to one. The top rink was skipped by Richard Briden, comprised of Mike Docherty, Jeff Harber and Matt Pope, and won by a convincing 28-10.

In the London and Southern Counties Shield, Townsend came up against Harpenden. In the away match Townsend won on both rinks by a total of 41 shots and at home by 17 shots - again 2-0 by rinks.

The top rink accolade went to Richard Briden, whose lead Paul Firkin was bowling in his first representative match for the club and performed excellently. The other members of this top rink, which won by 36-13, were Alan Charran and Andy Scarborough. The other away rink won by a margin of 18 shots and was skipped by Danny Macro, with Gary West, Jeff Harber and Peter Thomson.

In the County Singles, Townsend bowlers recorded excellent victories against two of Harpenden`s finest with Dave Houghton winning 21-18 against Tony Redford and Fred Mulberry beating Simon Burgess 21-16.

As if that wasn’t enough, Fred Mulberry also recorded a close 22-21 shot, final end victory against T Seeby in the district singles. With his opponent holding three shots, and with only his final wood to come Mulberry put on a couple of yards weight and trailed the jack into the ditch for a match winning lie.

The Friday triples league recorded yet another Townsend victory both home and away by seven shots. The two rinks concerned were Mulberry, Mike Haslam and Ted Marriott, and Les Perkins, Robbie Ransted and Gordon Williamson.

In the District Triples, the Townsend trio of skip Alan Quested, Dave Houghton and Peter Thomson had an equally hard-fought victory away to the Shire Park rink of Mark Howe. The final score of 16-14 conceals the fact that the penultimate bowl on the final end was decisive.

In that same competition Richard Morgan, Robbie Ransted and Mike Haslam came up against the much more experienced Harpenden trio of Rob Newby, Doug Hall and Tony Redford and, although going down 16-14, the closeness of the result was hugely to the home team’s credit.

In the midweek local derby, the visiting opposition was Clarence Park and the result was a 131-67 shot victory to Townsend and by four rinks to one. Top rinks for the winners were Paul Firkin, Peter Thomson and Alan Quested, who won 29-10, and Eric Kerslake, Bob Padget and Jeff Harber, who won by a similar margin by 26-7.

Redbourn visited for the second local derby and were defeated by four rinks to nil and by 78 shots to 44. Top rink was Derek Smith, Jean Marriott and skip Tony Izzard, who won 32-9.

Townsend have a few vacancies for bowlers of all standards and levels of experience. If you would like to get involved call Tony on 01727 851520 or Jane on 01727 812385.