BDPL Winter League 2009/10 Round 3-Rayne Swan 2 (29/11/09)
At the Onley Arms, Rayne Swan 2 started well with Dennis Smith, Beryl and Lorne Gibson easily beating the home triple 13-3. In the singles, Trevor Blows and Lorne Gibson had another of their close encounters which took 19 ends to resolve. Blows started well building a 7-2 lead but Gibson fought back to 8-7. Four good ends took Blows to 12-7 but he failed to take advantage and Gibson responded. At 12-10 Blows pointed onto the coche and took the point for a 13-10 win. In the deciding doubles Daniel Blows and Tracey Austin started with a three but Smith and Gibson came back to 5-5. The Onley pair pulled away but the Swan again came back to 8-9. Four for the Onley was followed by a point at the last end when Austin pointed well to claim a 13-8 win and a match score of 2-1.
BDPL Winter League 2009/10 Round 2-Bocking B (22/11/09)
Bocking B contributed to all three games despite their 0-3 loss at the Onley Arms in the Daniel Robinson Winter league. The Onley triple of Trevor and Daniel Blows, playing with Tracey Austin started strongly but David Mills, David Adams and Pam Adams took the lead 7-6. A five for the home side took the score to 11-7 but Bocking came back to 10-11 before the Onley wrapped up the game 13-10. In the singles, Mills led Trevor Blows 5-4 but the home captain eased away to win 13-7. In torrential rain, the doubles proved a long, close game, with the Onley taking the lead, only for Bocking to edge 7-6 ahead. As in the triples, a five for Daniel Blows and Austin took them to 11-7 but it took another four ends for them to seal a 13-9 win. A good performance from Bocking B.
EPA Champion of Champions-Triples, British Sugar-Bury St. Edmunds (11/10/09)
The Eastern region had two teams in the EPA Champion of Champion
triples played at Bury St Edmunds. Eastern 1 (Frank Britt of the
Chequers with Adam Buxton and Vince Schofield from Rayne Swan) had a
day of near misses, winning two games but losing three to 12,11 and 10
respectively to just miss out on the semi finals. Eastern 2 (Trevor
Blows from the Onley Arms, Simon Bird from Colne Angel plus Rayne
Swan's Lorne Gibson) started well beating Northern 13-5 and a strong
West Midlands side 13-8. The morning session ended with a 13-10 loss to
East Midlands, who had led 9-0 after three ends. After lunch, two more
wins over Thames Valley (13-0) and Kent (13-10) put them top of league
two and a semi-final place against home side Anglia. A 6-0 lead was
given away and points traded to 10-10. Eastern took advantage of an
open head to take three points and a place in the final. London
(Rowland, Yuseef and Mehdi) proved too strong in the final, winning
13-1 but the Eastern team performed well enough to have won more
points. Still a great day for Trevor, Simon and Lorne who have never
played together before and beat some very strong teams to make the
final.
Inter-Regional Championships, Brean Sands-Somerset (19-20/09/09)
Daniel
and Trevor qualified for the main competition, with Lorne Gibson, to represent
the Eastern region as Team 6.
A
good first day saw the team win four games out of seven. Their best performance
was a 10-13 loss to Kent 6. The Jamieson family finished as top team overall
with ten wins and conceded only 58 points. For the Onley boys, who led 10-5 at
one stage, to take ten points was an excellent effort.
Northern
Won 13-5
Chiltern
Lost 6-13
Kent
Lost 10-13
W.
Midlands Won 13-11
Southern
Lost 4-13
Wales
Won 13-7
E.Midlands
Won 13-6
Day
two ended with another three wins, including a ‘fanny’ over Wales 5.
Southern
Won 13-9
E.Midlands
Lost 1-13
Wales
Won 13-0
W.
Midlands Lost 8-13
Northern
Won 13-12
The
worst performance, apart from the loss to one against East Midlands, was the
two hour 13-12 win over Northern – a game nobody wanted to win!
Still
a win is a win and the point helped the Eastern region to finish fifth overall,
after lying in the relegation places overnight. Seven wins was the third best
performance of all the Eastern teams and the Onley boys had a great weekend
down in Somerset.
Eastern Region Singles, Colne Angel PC-Earls Colne (13/09/09)
Trevor Blows from Onley, Stisted, had a good day, winning his first 4 games to storm into the final. His only loss was 13-11 to Clare Courtney (Rayne Swan).
The final was closely contested up to 8-7 in Flack’s favour when he squeezed in a three on a tight end to go 11 -7 up and finished the game off on the next end.
The final was closely contested up to 8-7 in Flack’s favour when he squeezed in a three on a tight end to go 11 -7 up and finished the game off on the next end.
Ab-Fab Kent Classic, Lordswood-Kent (23/08/09)
Braintree leaguers Adam Buxton and Lorne Gibson (Rayne Swan) joined Trevor Blows (Onley Arms) and produced 2 good wins in the morning session. This included a 13-11 win over a Chiltern triple who had played for England in the Home nations just one week before. The only defeat was against the experienced Lee Jamieson, Rachid Hannache and Sylvain Borsi. A very tight game to 5-5 but the experienced triple took advantage at the next end to build a lead and take the game.
In the Silver quarter final they lost out to a team from Brighton, 13-9, on a sloping Lordswood terrain but felt that it was a game that could have been won.
In the Silver quarter final they lost out to a team from Brighton, 13-9, on a sloping Lordswood terrain but felt that it was a game that could have been won.
Forest Heath Charity pairs competition, Tattersalls Newmarket (13/08/09)
The chosen charity was Clic–Sargent. The Fairhurst family from Soham, who recently lost their teenage son to cancer, were there to carry on the fundraising activities. Their son Liam, despite his illness, had raised more than £300000 for the charity and featured on local TV earlier this year. His brother, Callum, was selling ‘Liam’s smile – don’t forget it ‘ wristbands. If you see one of these for sale, its £2 well spent. The day raised over £400. Well done to the Exning club.
On the terrain, 40 pairs contested three morning matches. After lunch the top twenty contested three more games for the Main event. The bottom twenty played for the plate.
The Eastern region was well represented and featured in the final placings.
Top pairing were Simon Bird and Sofiane Lachani with six wins and the best points difference. Third were Chris Allen and Vanessa Webb. Lorne Gibson and Trevor Blows made the main event with two wins and a narrow 13-12 defeat. But a single 13-1 in the afternoon left them outside the top ten places.
Dave and Jack Pearse went into the afternoon session with a single win but three great wins gave them first place in the Plate. An excellent result and to quote a delighted father ‘ Jack was a star in the last game’. Two teams from Debden sports also took part. A day at the races on Saturday, a night out in Cambridge and a day of petanque. What a perfect weekend organised by the boys and thoroughly enjoyed by the girls. Just a pity that the results did not go their way.
On a personal note, it was a pleasure to meet players from the thriving Suffolk leagues. It seems that every pub and club in the Newmarket and Bury area have a terrain. It was my first Forest Heath pairs, as the date has clashed with an ECR or BDPL event but I certainly plan to play there again.
On the terrain, 40 pairs contested three morning matches. After lunch the top twenty contested three more games for the Main event. The bottom twenty played for the plate.
The Eastern region was well represented and featured in the final placings.
Top pairing were Simon Bird and Sofiane Lachani with six wins and the best points difference. Third were Chris Allen and Vanessa Webb. Lorne Gibson and Trevor Blows made the main event with two wins and a narrow 13-12 defeat. But a single 13-1 in the afternoon left them outside the top ten places.
Dave and Jack Pearse went into the afternoon session with a single win but three great wins gave them first place in the Plate. An excellent result and to quote a delighted father ‘ Jack was a star in the last game’. Two teams from Debden sports also took part. A day at the races on Saturday, a night out in Cambridge and a day of petanque. What a perfect weekend organised by the boys and thoroughly enjoyed by the girls. Just a pity that the results did not go their way.
On a personal note, it was a pleasure to meet players from the thriving Suffolk leagues. It seems that every pub and club in the Newmarket and Bury area have a terrain. It was my first Forest Heath pairs, as the date has clashed with an ECR or BDPL event but I certainly plan to play there again.
Petanque in the Park, St Albans (08/08/09)
Trevor and Daniel Blows from the Onley Arms contested the St. Albans Petanque in the Park event.
The matches were played on the gravel paths between the flower borders at Hillside park. The event was sponsored by the publishing group, International Labmate. They are also sponsors of the Chiltern region, providing the shirts used at Brean Sands. In contrast to the rain of 2008, the competition was played in glorious sunshine. Twenty pairs were split into four groups for the morning session.
A poor start by the Onley saw defeats to London, Brickendon A and a Chiltern region pair. The third game, lost to 11, was a game that should have been won but the Onley pair beat a second Chiltern pair, 13-12, to finish the morning session. In the Plate competition, Botany Bay from Enfield were the quarter final opponents. An excellent 13-6 win took the Onley into the semi final to play Brickendon B. The Onley were always in the lead but the opposition pulled the score back to 12-10 before the win was secured. So to the Plate final and a return match with Brickendon A. The opposition, after their morning win, sensed an easy win but the Onley stepped up a gear from the off. With Daniel pointing well and Trevor finding his shooting boots, the Onley wrapped up a quickfire 13-7 win to take the Plate trophy. ILM founder and event sponsor Mike Pattison and his son Marcus, were there for the final and did show some bias towards the Onley. This was probably down to Trevor and Mike having known each other for 20 years through their time in the laboratory business!!
They also witnessed an excellent Main event final that took almost two hours to complete, with a London pairing (Mehdi and Yussuf) beating a Chiltern team by 13-12 in a match that could have gone either way. A great friendly competition, played in a unique setting, well organised on the day by John Luke. Prizes were presented by Marcus Pattison on behalf of ILM.
The co-organiser of the event, Dave Ciano, once lived in Coggeshall and played at the Portobello PH. It was good to see Dave up and about after a recent operation and the ECR wishes him well for the future.
The matches were played on the gravel paths between the flower borders at Hillside park. The event was sponsored by the publishing group, International Labmate. They are also sponsors of the Chiltern region, providing the shirts used at Brean Sands. In contrast to the rain of 2008, the competition was played in glorious sunshine. Twenty pairs were split into four groups for the morning session.
A poor start by the Onley saw defeats to London, Brickendon A and a Chiltern region pair. The third game, lost to 11, was a game that should have been won but the Onley pair beat a second Chiltern pair, 13-12, to finish the morning session. In the Plate competition, Botany Bay from Enfield were the quarter final opponents. An excellent 13-6 win took the Onley into the semi final to play Brickendon B. The Onley were always in the lead but the opposition pulled the score back to 12-10 before the win was secured. So to the Plate final and a return match with Brickendon A. The opposition, after their morning win, sensed an easy win but the Onley stepped up a gear from the off. With Daniel pointing well and Trevor finding his shooting boots, the Onley wrapped up a quickfire 13-7 win to take the Plate trophy. ILM founder and event sponsor Mike Pattison and his son Marcus, were there for the final and did show some bias towards the Onley. This was probably down to Trevor and Mike having known each other for 20 years through their time in the laboratory business!!
They also witnessed an excellent Main event final that took almost two hours to complete, with a London pairing (Mehdi and Yussuf) beating a Chiltern team by 13-12 in a match that could have gone either way. A great friendly competition, played in a unique setting, well organised on the day by John Luke. Prizes were presented by Marcus Pattison on behalf of ILM.
The co-organiser of the event, Dave Ciano, once lived in Coggeshall and played at the Portobello PH. It was good to see Dave up and about after a recent operation and the ECR wishes him well for the future.
News Archive
For BDPL Summer League 2008, search the Summer League Review page.
For BDPL Winter League 2007/08 news, search the Winter League Review.
For other general news, feel free to search the General News Archive.