News

It’s the Ladies who have held the stage this week with firstly the team of Sarah Marshall, Linda Ralphs Janice Murgatroyd and Lesley Brown beating a local team from Hemel Hempstead 24 – 12 in the Ladies County League. Unfortunately the team of Janice Murgatroyd, Liz Temple and Lesley Brown suffered defeat against a team of Ladies from Garston in the Quarter Finals of the Watford & District Ladies Triples competition.

However a Berkhamsted team of Carole Dunn, Anne Furlong and Jackie Cormack won the County final of the prestigious Benevolent Triples competition. The preliminary rounds were played out by 22 teams with the top two playing in the final. Berkhamsted played Harpenden and the game started evenly but the Berkhamsted ladies eventually drew ahead and won by 22 – 8. Their average score now goes to Bowls England to compete with the other counties. Well done Ladies. The picture below shows from L-R, Jackie Cormack, Carole Dunn and Anne Furlong.

The week’s adventures started with a trip to Chesham Pioneers BC; the result was a win for Berkhamsted though the shot count (42 – 17) didn’t reflect the standard of play, our top rink consisted of Sarah Marshall, P Mackness and D Sandford. The next challenge was the Dacorum Charity Shield v Potten End losing two rinks to one; the successful mixed rink was C Dunn, B Ralphs, J Cormack and K Maynard.

The Men’s team of P Mackness, S Burrell, B Ralphs K Clarke, B Livesey, D Sear, T Kenyon and D Brown didn’t fair any better in the Griffin Cup final losing out again to Potten End by the narrowest of margins 34 – 37. Finally a success came our way in the friendly on Sunday against Dunstable top rink on this occasion contained M Maynard, N Codina, M Primo and B Smith.

Stop Press: On Sunday 30th July at Bishop’s Stortford Bowls Club Carole Dunn, Anne Furlong and Jackie Cormack became Hertfordshire Bowls Ladies Benevolent Triples Champions by beating a trio from Harpenden by 22 shots to 8.

Berkhamsted visited Cheddington BC in a 4 rink friendly match which ended in a draw with each side achieving 66 shots; Berkhamsted claim the moral win with two winning rinks against Cheddington’s one and one drawn. Top rink for Berkhamsted were Sheila Fountain, Gill Howells, Derek Sandford and Paul Mackness.

Gill Howells was part of the winning team against Bushey in the second round of the W&D 2 wood triples competition, she was joined by Liz Baker and Noreen Codina in their 19/15 win, Again on the Ladies front and again in the W&D competitions – Janice Murgatroyd, Liz Temple and Lesley Brown managed a tight win over a Herts BC team by 18 to 15 shots.

The men didn’t fare as well in their encounter with Harperbury BC in the SADBA Jones Cup losing both home and away fixtures with a total shot tally of 26 to 41. Saturday and Sundays friendlies were a mixed affair, one win one loss – losing heavily against Little Gaddesden on their green but triumphing over Wing at home 73 – 63.

This week has seen success for the Berkhamsted trio of Carole Dunn, Anne Furlong and Jackie Cormack. Early in the week they avenged last years defeat by winning their Watford & District 2 wood triples match against a trio from Herts Club. They then went on to play the County Benevolent triples which is played at two venues. They won through to the last two and now play in the semi-finals at Hatfield.

Further success came when Brian Ralphs beat Bob Kerry 21 to 10 in the W&D singles competition, Brian was also captain of the men’s team who won one of the semi-finals in the Griffin Cup. Berkhamsted’s two rink team played our nearest rivals Kitchener’s in a thrilling early morning battle at Hemel’s green; they have now qualified to compete against Potten End in the Final being held at Kings Langley BC on the 29th.

Its not all competitive bowls at Berkhamsted, on Saturday they held the Gemini Fun Day; 4 rinks played a round robin league this was followed by a early evening set of fun games for the children and grandparents. All were winners on the day especially the three charities who will share just over £300 – The Parkinson Society (Aylesbury), The Happy Wanderers Club (Northchurch) and The Motor Neurone Disease.

The men started well this week by winning their Griffin Cup match against Met Police at Met Police Bushey by 45 shots to 31 shots. Then the Ladies did well with the triples team of Liz Baker, Gill Howells and Jill Griffin beating a team from the Herts Ladies. This was the first time this team had entered this competition and after a runaway start for the Berkhamsted ladies the Herts ladies made a gradual comeback but Berkhamsted managed to hold them off to secure a victory. Continuing this success, Anne Furlong and Jackie Cormack fought a tight battle against a duo from Harpenden to go through to the quarter finals of the County pairs by a margin of 5 shots picked up on the last two ends.

At the weekend Berkhamsted had a friendly match at Hazells, where they lost by 110 shots to 61. The top rink was Marion Maynard, Gary Fisher and Bill Howells. Two new members, Paul and Jackie Healy played their first competitive match for the Club. Also at the weekend, Berkhamsted once again staged the Watford & District U18 Singles Championship with four of their own youngsters reaching the semi-finals after five round robin group matches. The two finalists Matt St John & Jamie Robertson played out a 10 end match with Jamie repeating his success of 2015. All the players received bowls accessories as part of the presentation ceremony kindly supplied by the tournament sponsor.