Fabulous Finale

Sunday 30th August saw the last club competition of the season with the Mixed Doubles trophy on offer.

A large field of 24 competitors took part in an extremely well contested competition organised by Julie Hutt and Julian Rudkin. The unseeded draw threw up some seemingly dream pairings but once the comp got underway with a preliminary round it became apparent that super pairings on paper didn’t necessarily translate into super winners on the green with some very well-known names going out at the first hurdle.

By the time we got down to the semi-finals it was Sue Patridge & Ian Cohen going head-to-head with Geoff Wills & Peter Rigby, and Mervyn Jarman & Alan Burr facing Ivor Moore & Peter Gyldard. Geoff & Peter and Ivor & Peter won through which then meant it was time for afternoon tea which had been brought along by participants and other members. An ardent group of ladies volunteered to organise the refreshments and ensured that everyone was well and ready to watch a scintillating final. Thanks ladies.

And then it happened!!!! A thunderstorm rolled through and very quickly the green became a swimming pool and the decision had to be made to postpone the final to the evening of Thursday 3rd September.

And so it was that at 7pm on the due date the teams returned together with a sizeable group of supporters to decide who would pick up the final trophy of 2026. The crowd was treated to a truly fabulous game worthy of the last final of the season.

Geoff and Peter set off at a cracking pace and soon opened up a 7-3 lead after just 7 ends. Ivor and Peter then stopped the rot and by end 9 it was all square again. This spurred Geoff and Peter to step on the gas again and they opened up a lead of 14-8 by the 15th end. Ivor then used his experience to put the jack into some truly inaccessible places and he and Peter fought back to take a lead of 20-17. On the 25th end Ivor and Peter were lying match and with his last wood Geoff killed the end and put the jack in the ditch. Ivor responded with another tricky jack placement but it was all going a bit pear shaped with Geoff and Peter holding 3 shots and Peter G having just one final delivery to make. Again, experience came to the fore and Peter put his wood on the jack and he and Ivor took the title winning 21-17. Phew, what a game.

Thanks to all members who took part in this year’s competitions, we certainly finished on a high with this fabulous finale.

Our photographs show the competitors receiving their prizes from President Don, all wrapped up against the cold night air.