Dacorum bowls round-up: Including details of a winning week for Potten End

Potten End have had a successful week of friendly matches, starting with a trip to St Albans for a men’s match against Batchwood Hall which ended in a comfortable 95-70 triumph.
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Top rink for Potten End was John Herron, John Coleman, Alan Howling and Colin Sallery.

Meanwhile, a mixed team visited Hatfield and left it to the last few ends to overhaul the home team, eventually winning by 111 shots to 105. Top rink went to Jack Bunting, Herron, Chris Halls and Brian Cowland.

In another away fixture at Croxley Guild, the result was in doubt until the very end as the advantage changed hands a number of times. Potten End finally secured victory by 83 shots to 72 and top rink went to John Lowe, Philip Cheung and Peter Burke.

In their home fixture against Linslade, the ladies suffered a narrow defeat by 38 shots to 41. Top rink was Eileen Clements, Isobella Knowles and Paula Gillings.

Elsewhere, the Potten End Reds saw their winning sequence come to an end when they lost their first match in the Veterans League to Owls by 36 shots to 37.

In the Watford and District League, the ladies beat Oxhey by 21 shots to 17 and the men beat Berkhamsted by 41 shots to 39.

> Hemel Hempstead

The Hemel Hempstead men enjoyed two superb wins in cup competitions this week.

Thursday evening’s Ray Cup match saw visitors Harperbury well beaten on all rinks, with Hemel comfortably winning the fixture 73-32. The top rink was Alan Munford, Ken Emmins, Roy Payne and Brian Smith.

On Sunday morning, Hemel entertained local rivals Potten End in a Club Top 11 competition. Hemel just edged the clash 3-2 on rinks, with Mark Woodcock recording an outstanding win in the singles.

Elsewhere, Abbots Langley fought back to tie 16-16 versus Hemel ladies in a Watford and District League game.

There were mixed fortunes in Hemel’s mixed matches this week. The club were well beaten 93-69 by Kings Langley, but triumphed 88-74 against Rickmansworth. The top rink was Mary Lewis, Bob Owens and skip Allen Bennitt.

> Kitcheners

Kitcheners lost to Garston in the Watford & District Ray Cup during a week of mixed fortunes for the club.

The club travelled to Redbourn on Saturday for a four mixed triples match and lost 75-57. Highest triples for Kitcheners was the team of Albert Graydon, Jan Scattergood and Jack Hubert

On Sunday Kitcheners travelled to Wing for a four mixed triples match and won 88-54. Sue Halsey, Kate Jenkyne and Colin Jones were highest triples.

> Berkhamsted

The week started well for Berkhamsted with a good win in the County Pairs for David Brown and Kevin Clarke who beat Martin and Bradley Coles 21-20.

A further victory arrived the next day against Chess Vale by 90 shots to 69. This was greatly helped by the top rink of Jackie Cormack, Gill Howells and Peter Batchelor who won 27-7.

The good results continued as the men beat Bushey 83-40 in the Ray Cup. Three of the Berkhamsted juniors played in this match – Jak Chowdhary, David Scoot and Chris Webb – and they acquitted themselves very well.

However, things were not so good in the National Top Club when the Berkhamsted men lost by 4 rinks to 1 against a team from Garston.

The week ended on a disappointing note in a game against Harperbury as Berkhamsted went down 80-70 on a very fast green. Top team for Berko was Steve Burrell, Gill Howells, David Biggerstaff and Anne Cutting.

Berkhamsted were also well represented in the Hertfordshire Bowls West Division in a match against the County President’s Team. Those playing for the West Division were Marcia Dunstone – current Bowls England president and chair of the West Division – Colin Dunstone, Carole Dunn, Wally Dunn, Jackie Cormack, Anne Furlong, Lesley Brown and David Brown. Cormack skipped the top rink.

> Tring

In a close encounter with Mill End in the Ray Cup, Tring came out on top 58-52 to get the week off to a winning start.

A County Top 10 match with Harpenden saw Tring win the pairs and draw the rinks matches, going down in the singles and triples clashes to lose by 2.5 points to 1.5 overall.

In their Watford and District League fixture, Tring lost 47-26 to Bovingdon, but they managed to overcome Chalfont St Giles 92-81.

The Tring ladies, meanwhile, pulled off an excellent 51-26 win against Cheddington.