Dacorum bowls round-up: Including an unbeaten week for the Potten End ladies

Linda Burfot, Sheila Howling, Paula Gillings and Glad Pearce secured a comfortable win over Croxley by 28 shots to 4, while Eileen Clements replaced Glad for the visit to Owls where they trounced the opposition by 43 shots to 8.

Sheila was joined by Doreen Pike, Jean Murphy and Jean Jones for the match against Garston and, in a tense game, managed a narrow victory by 19 shots to 17.

In the Watford & District Pairs, meanwhile, Sheila and Jean booked a place in the quarter-finals with a comfortable 25-14 win over a pair from Met Police.

The men had mixed fortunes in the District Veterans League, with the Red team going down to Owls by 29 shots to 39, while the Blues ran out comfortable winners against Oxhey by 45 shots to 28.

In a busy spell of friendly matches, the men suffered a narrow defeat away at Chesham by 76 shots to 80 despite the efforts of top rink quartet Stephen Griffiths, Brian Hillyer, Dave Gomm and Jack Frogell.

The mixed teams’ visit to Amersham saw the home side run out easy winners by 96 shots to 51. Top rink went to Eddie Clark, Maggie Martindale and Peter Burke.

In their local derby against Kitcheners, the Potten End mixed team narrowly failed to secure victory as they were beaten 74-70. Top rink went to Bob Simpson, Toby Bunting, Doreen Pike and Colin Sallery.

In the home match against Harperbury, a mixed team got Potten End back to winning ways with a 97-75 victory thanks to the top rink of Ann Wigmore, Paula Gillings, debutant Alan Phee, and Alan Howling.

> Hemel Hempstead

A trip to Batchwood Hall for a St Albans & District League match saw the Hemel men edge a close contest as the club went undefeated this week.

With the score tied 2-2 on rinks, Hemel won 79-68 on shots mainly due to an emphatic 30-5 victory by the top rink of Alan Munford, Alan Fox, Don Connors and Bill Salmon.

Salmon said afterwards: “When the front three play as well as that, it makes the skip’s task very easy.”

Meanwhile, victories over the weekend against North Mymms (50-26) and Welwyn Garden City (38-36) saw Hemel climb to second place in the St Albans & District Triples League.

A visit to Broadway Chesham on a glorious afternoon on Sunday for a mixed match saw some hot bowling by Hemel to run out 85-55 winners. The top rink was Mary Kinzelmann, Alan Fox, Pat Gillings and skip Brian Smith.

> Kitcheners

Kitcheners Bowls Club entertained the British Legion Berkhamsted on Tuesday in their annual match which was won by the hosts.

On Wednesday, the club invited a group from Mencap to experience a game of bowls, before playing Potten End the afternoon in a four-rink mixed match and winning 74-70. Highest rink for Kitcheners was the team of Ian Davis, Roy Phipps, Albert Graydon and Alan Doydge.

On Thursday, the ladies travelled to Met Police Watford in the Watford & District League and won 23-15.

On Saturday they entertained Wing in a five-rink triples match and won 94-69. Highest triples for Kitcheners was Mavis Janes, Colin Starling and Brian Rumph.

The following day, 28 bowlers took part in the annual Fred Winfield Trophy which was won by Ian Davis and Dave Gardiner. Runners-up were Colin Jones and Jan Scattergood.

> Berkhamsted

Berkhamsted Bowls Club hosted a superb and successful bowls evening for the Hemel Hempstead Rotary Club, with some free coaching thrown in.

A spider at the start of the evening raised money for the Rotary’s chosen charity and the sun shone all evening. The event ended with a three-course meal being served to the visitors, prepared and served by the club members.

However, after that it all went downhill for Berkhamsted as they endured a difficult week on the greens.

The Berkhamsted men lost to Garston in the final of the Watford & District Griffin Cup by eight shots overall in a very close match.

A team of ladies lost 27–15 to Bushey in the Ladies’ League, and Berkhamsted also lost in the friendly match against Herts by 78 shots to 87. A top team of Sarah Marshall, Linda Ralphs and Bill Howells could not do enough to bridge the gap.

The woe continued when two teams lost 37-32 to Croxley Guild in the Herts Men’s League West, giving Croxley Guild six points and Berkhamsted two.

Fortunately, after an otherwise depressing week, Berkhamsted beat Chesham Pioneers by 40 points to 19, with a top rink of Ray Kessler, Gill Howells and Paul Mackness.

> Tring

Tring went down 67-61 against Kings Langley in the Dacorum Shield, but just clinched the friendly fixture 15-14.

The match against Cheddington proved to be a close encounter, with Tring winning 87-83 thanks largely to the top rink of Colin Dealey, John Young, Jim Bowyer and Chris Martin.

The club lost their winning touch, however, as they went down 97-64 to Aston Clinton and lost all three matches against Bovingdon in the DCS in a 72-53 defeat.

Elsewhere, Brian Livesey advanced to the semi-finals of the Watford & District Singles, overcoming an opponent from Garston, while Pete Routley and David Holloway beat a pair from Potton End and also went through to the semis.