Not a very good week for Berkhamsted when Pete Batchelor & Paul Sims played their 2nd Round of the Watford & District Men’s Pairs against Keith Gissing & Alan Jones at Potten End on Monday evening . It was all very close until the 13th end after which the wheels came off the Berkhamsted challenge and the Potten End pair ran out winners by 22 – 11. This continued in the Dacorum Charity Shield at Bovingdon with Berkhamsted being outplayed on their artificial surface. The teams were …Men: (Jack Bunting/Tony Smart/Phil Bunting and David Brown) losing 18-25. Ladies: (Sarah Marshall Linda Ralphs Kay Lingwood and Jackie Cormack) drawing 17-17. Mixed: (Sylvia Smith. Alice Biggs Brian Ralphs and Kevin Clarke) losing 15-30. The Friendly team of Frank Cutting. Jill Griffin. Maurice Primo and Ken Maynard)lost 16-24. Overall Points were : Bovingdon 4.5 points Berkhamsted 0.5 points.
However Berkhamsted ladies were very successful with their two teams getting through to the County Senior Fours quarter finals. Janice Murgatroyd, Kay Lingwood, Liz Temple and Alice Biggs had an emphatic win against a team from Harpenden winning 19 – 9 whereas the team of Carol Dunn, Anne Furlong, Marcia Dunstone and Jackie Cormack won by 1 shot on the last end due to a stunning skips wood. They now both play at Hatfield next week Unfortunately the Ladies came to the end of their run in the National Top Club when they were defeated by Northaw & Cuffley on the hottest day of the year losing on shots after a 2 – 2 draw. The Berkhamsted team was Alice Biggs, Janice Murgatroyd, Liz Temple, Anne Furlong, Anne Cutting, Jackie Cormack, Carole Dunn, Linda Ralphs, Kay Lingwood and Marcia Dunstone.
Although Berkhamsted had a very good reception and welcome by their hosts , Hazells, who were a pleasure to play, Berkhamsted were thrashed by 118 shots to 50. All our rinks lost some by very large margins. The winning rink for the Berkhamsted team was awarded to the team with the least deficit that was Bob Anderson, Mick Young and Marion Maynard who lost by 5 shots.
Nevertheless the week did finish on a high when the Men played the Griffin Cup 3rd round against Bovingdon and won convincingly. the teams were: Steve Burrell, Brian Ralphs, David Brown and Kevin Clarke and Jack Bunting, Phil Bunting, Trefor Jenkins and Tony Howard. Berkhamsted are now through to the Semi-final to be played on 3rd Aug.