“Well, the terrain wasn’t flooded this year – no dead seagulls floating in the middle. We got away with just a short sharp deluge in the morning, but by the time we all got our waterproofs on it was all over. And the 3pm promised wet stuff didn’t materialise until the finals much later. Well done to the Main Finalists Les Big Boys (David Plumhoff and Callum Lombard) and Crondall (Eliot Mortimer and Tomasz Drewniak) battling it out in a downpour!
There were 29 teams from all over the Southern Counties region plus welcome visitors from Wales, Sussex (East), Kent and Heart of England (Leamington) and players from novices to national players. It was good to see Sophie Rowley – one of the England Female Junior Team who gained the Silver Medal in the European Junior Championships.
As usual, one of my favourite aspects of our Arundel competitions is the names teams choose for themselves. My favourite this time was ‘Frank and Sense’ (Frank Charlesworth and Christine Peat) – very appropriate for a Christmassy event.
Following the traditional format there were leagues in the morning with knock-out in the afternoon with 8 in the Main/Gold, 8 in the Plate/Silver, 8 in the Bronze and the remaining 5 in a 3-game snake Spoon. There were consolages in each of the three knock-out sections.
There were some surprising results throughout the day with teams expected to sail through not doing so (I won’t name names) and others less experienced putting up a good show. (Albert’s Camel making the Main with a very new player – one to watch).
The results were:
Main/Gold Winners Les Big Boys (David Plumhoff and Callum Lombard)
Runners-up Crondall (Eliot Mortimer and Tomasz Drewniak)
Main Cons Winners Bordon 1 (Colin Crofts and Chris Turner)
Runners-up Handworth (Nigel Sibbting and Martin Gordon)
Plate/Silver Winners The Kidds (Tony and Peter Kidd)
Runners-up Bordon 2 ( Lesley Crofts and James Ellis)
Plate Cons Winners The Naughty Team (Sophie Rowley and Richard Wenban)
Runners-up Crawley Boys ( Bill Mackrell and Gerard Poirier)
Bronze Winners Eco Warriors (Angela Brooks and Derek Coates)
Runners-up J&J ( Julie Power and Gerry MacAleese)
Bronze Cons Winners Hot Boules ( Sue MacAleese and Richard Ford)
Spoon Winners Meander (Steve Love and Sue Sandy)
Runners-up Clymping Coyotes (Greg Silverson and Michael Moore)
Wooden Spooners M&S (Malcolm Berrett and Stuart Cursley)
First Fanny Frank and Sense (Frank Charlesworth and Christine Peat)
As most people had gone home out of the rain at the end I didn’t get a chance to thank all those who worked to make the day a success… so many thanks to:
-Terrain Preparation – Several Arundel Club members
-Parking Derek Coates
-Finances Clare Ide
-Trophies Steve Love
-Raffle Prizes from Club Members
-Jill Geddes and Peter Maynard
The biggest disaster of the day was the bar failing to open at noon!! I have had a word with those responsible!”
Kath Knight