Bowls: Champ Peter is having a Whale of a time

The eannual event involves last season’s club singles champions meeting to decide the champion of champions.

After the preliminary round games the first semi-final matched Jack Rollings of The Martlets against Jim Noton of Chanctonbury. Noton pulled away to win 11-7.

The second semi was a low scoring game in which Whale, of Lavant, playing Chris Page of Infinity, established an early lead which he maintained to run out winner 9-3.

In the final Whale and Noton staged a repeat of a game in the earlier round-robin section which Whale had won 11-7.

The final saw Whale take a four on the first end and never look back, running out 13-2 winner to win the title for the third time in four years.

West Sussex B entertained Kent. In a tight first session they managed only one win but lost both singles games by just one shot. In the second session they improved to win two of the four games and to trail 10-6 at lunch.

The afternoon was a repeat of the morning with just two points in the third session and four in the fourth session and bonus points in the triples only to leave West Sussex with a disappointing 26-14 loss.

In the singles, Crablands’ Mollie Back lost 12-11 and 21-3 while Bognor’s Freddie Kaucher lost 13-12 and 20-2.

In the pairs Bognor’s Betty Williams lost 16-13 and 18-8. In the triples Norfolk’s Les Dray lost 12-8 and won 10-8.

In the fours Bognor’s Pam Smith with Storrington’s Pam Healy lost 13-2 and 13-4.

LAVANT

Lavant B struggled against The Martlets in their first-round KO Cup tie.

Mat one made up ground after a bad start but were 26 shots adrift at 12 ends. They scored a further eight shots but lost by 32.

Mat two fought every end to be 14-14 at end 18, and lost by only four shots. The match score was 64-28.

Scores: B Wallsgrove, B Cooper, M Winter, J Lee lost 44-12; T Boxall, T Bleach, P Sharrod, J Conway lost 20-16.

Lavant Blue’s visit to Barnham saw their first mat stuck on three shots after an even start and 15 shots down after 11 ends. A further seven shots for and eight against lost them the game by 16 shots.

Mat two, after a slow start, were only four shots down at 14 ends. By the end the same seven shots for and eight shots against lost them the game by five shots. The friendly team had a good result.

Scores: B Cooper, M Keane, M Winter, J Lee lost 26-10; T Boxall, P Sharrod, C Beardmore, J Conway lost 26-21; (friendly) P Whale, J Sharrod, P Lee, W Cooper won 24-14.

Lavant Green hosted Nyetimber Gold but luck eluded them. Mat two trailed all the way and two shots on the last end was not enough to save the game.

Mat one never found a way to score. Nyetimber scored heavily in the first six ends before both teams won ends by single shots until Green suffered six shots on the last end.

The friendly mat was won by Lavant.

Scores: T Bleach, B Copeland, M Bleach, E Keane lost 31-5 to Alan Crew, Pat Mussell, Nigel Plummer & Tony Mussell; S Meyer, D Shears, P Lee, C Martin lost 22-21 to Lynton Griffiths, Carol Sands, Barbara Crew and Irene Hathaway; (friendly): T Boxall, S Lillywhite, R Kent, P Whale won 30-12.

NYETIMBER

Nyetimber Gold got off to a perfect start against Nyetimber Green winning on both mats.

Barbara Crew, Lynton Griffiths, Carol Sands and Irene Hathaway won 22-19 against Celia Foot, Brian Boiling, Jim Chaplain and Arthur Guppy. Pat Mussell, Tony Mussell, Alan Crew and George Booker won 16-10 against Jean Morgan, Marion Hatch, Reg Hatch and Alan Foot.

Nyetimber Gold also had a good result against Crabland Auks, winning 22-11 and 29-3 - but this match has been scrubbed from the record books following Auks’ withdrawal from the league.

Nyetimber Green faced Walberton and lost one mat but won the other for a well-deserved draw. Celia Foot, Jim Chaplain, Brian Boiling and Arthur Guppy won 27-19 after taking an early lead.

Marion Hatch, Jean Morgan, Reg Hatch and Alan Foot clawed back from a slow start but it was too little too late and they lost 21-13 for an overall score of 40-40.

BOGNOR GOODWOODS

Bognor Goodwoods Blue got off to a flying start in the defence of the county knock-out cup which they won last season. Hosting Midhurst, they won 56-19.

The ladies - B Williams, M Fair, M Steel and B Jones - scored a six on their way to a 30-13 win. On mat two it was even more emphatic with Blues’ men - D Fair, E Jones F Kaucher and B Mills - allowing their opponents only six ends for a score of 26-6.

FITTLEWORTH

A friendly against Storrington resulted in a 41-24 win for Fittleworth.

Scores: Audrey Hodgson, Tony Broughton, Alan Jordan, Dave Herbert won 25-12; Paulin Gilpin, Edna Henly, Sue Judd, Charlie Martin won 16-12.

Fittleworth won on only one mat in a friendly with Crablands and lost 67-45.

Scores: Tony Broughton, Pauline Gilpin, Bernard Adsett, Charlie Martin lost 25-10; Murial Cook, Alvar Hetherington, Gina Barnfield, Sue Judd lost 26-14; Audrey Hodgson, Jane Adsett, Alan Jordan, David Herbet won 21-16.

ARUN

Arun 134 Mole Valley 87

Mole Valley were the visitors to Arun for a six-rink annual mixed friendly. Arun came out on top by 47 shots, winning on five rinks and losing on one.

Scores: E Hall, P Hannett, S Blyth, D Sayers won 23-15; S Pugh, A Humphries, G Arnold, C Radford won 22-17; F Smith, P Jones, P Langridge, M Richards lost 22-14; O Fidgeon, W Branford, P Terry, B Sanford won 19-13; D Goodenough, M Steel, J Taffurelli, T Sayers won 23-11; R Lincoln, B Williams, Resi, J Muffett won 33-9.

Arun 138 Worthing 107

This was Arun’s second game in the Littlehampton Gazette League, notching a respectable win by 31 shots, winning on three rinks, losing on two with one drawn.

Scores: A Simmons, E King, F Taylor, R Bell won 19-16; B Rebbeck, B Horsley, B Talmage, B Butler won 34-7; J Oliver, K Burt, B Napper, P Hannam drew 18-18; D Sayers, PJ White, R Hobbs, T Sayers lost 24-18; D Jackson, D Parker, A Anderson, C Spicer won 26-17; R Lincoln, M Johnson, E West, L Corne lost 25-23.

Wealden 109 Arun 144

Arun came away with a fine win by 35 shots, winning on four rinks, losing on two.

Scores: A Payne, J Gilpin, L Hall, S Payne won 24-17; W Branford, B Jones, R Weidenheof, B Horsley won 25-16; E Fitch, Y Stewart, E Chapman, A Avery lost 21-18; D Taffurelli, L Napper, J Oliver, B Napper lost 23-20; J Dyke, D Adams, M Adams, J Pickard won 30-16; J Taffurelli, B Fitch, D Winchester, JP Brown won 27-16.

Arun ladies hosted Reading-based Whiteknights and won well - 154-59 the score.

Scores: E Fitch, S Blyth, D Latter won 26-11; J Simmons, S Stocker, G Conley won 20-12; P Rampton, L Napper, M King, W Adams won 26-8; D Anderson, J Connors, B Spicer won 31-7; J Foster, E Cooke, M Phillips won 17-14; J Slater, I Brooker M Brown won 34-7.

In the mixed national competition for the Egham Trophy, Arun faced Palmerston with two teams at home and two away, and won 85-55.

In the ladies national competition for the Masons Trophy against Isle of Wight, one team playing at home and the other away secured a 42-36 victory for Arun.