The only disappointment on Sunday saw Central’s Paul Woodford lose out in the final of the County “Benevolent” Cup.
In the final played at Braintree BC Paul went down by 11 – 21 shots against Adrian Papple from Silver End BC. It was a below par performance from the Central man as he failed to match the form of previous rounds in the competition.
Paul Whellams and Mitch Brenner played for Essex in the Middleton Cup semi-final against Berkshire at Worthing. Essex agonisingly lost by 98 – 99 shots and Berkshire went on to defeat Devon in the final.
On a gloriously sunny day 48 ladies took to the Green – a mixture of Wanstead Central ladies and their guests.
Here they are preparing to play 18 ends of “friendly” bowls!
Here we have the President’s rink with guests from Silverthorne, Barley and Woodford, together with two of Central’s newest lady bowlers – Chris McAndrews and Jacky Lee.
“Look out” says Jean Druce “you’re on camera”. More Silverthorne and Barley ladies in this group with Vice Captain Maureen Pedraza.
“One of the staff” Isabel trying to charm the wine waiter for an extra glass or two!
However, one of our guests – Ronnie Berry from Hainualt – seems to have beaten her to it!
Barbara Pratt – Queen of the Raffles – gives out one of the 60 prizes on offer – one lucky winner is Mavis Seabrook
For the second time in a week Central travelled to the neutral green of Old Dagenham, this time to face Fords in the semi-final of the London Park’s Jackson Shield. Three rinks
Things were very close across the three rinks in the first few ends and both teams had a turn with the lead. But by the 9th end the combined scores were level at 25 apiece.
Then Central stepped up the pace with a burst of two 5s on Paul Whellam’s rink then a 4 on Mitch Brenner’s rink. About the same time Fords turned up the heat against Bob Druce’s rink. This still left Central with a healthy 9 shot lead at the halfway point.
Over the next few ends Fords reduced the gap to 6 then a count of 6 on Mitch’s streched the lead again.
In the last third of the match Paul and Mitch’s rinks more than compensated for the troubles Fords were heaping on Bob’s rink. Central’s combined score pushed further and further out in front until the final score finshed 68 – 50 in their favour.
Paul Whellam’s rink won 28-12
Mitch Brenner’s rink won 24-12
Bob Druce’s rink lost 16-26
Central go on to play in the Final at Romford on 14th September.
For the fifth time this year Central was drawn to face Romford. Early on the season Romford had the upper hand in various team competitions, but more recently Central had acheived some consolation in beating Romford in the Jackson Shield.
On Wednesday three sets of triples played on a neutral green at Old Dagenham. Arguably Romford were short of three of their strongest players who were playing at Worthing, so Central were in a mood to press home any advantage.
After a pretty level start Central began to ease ahead on all rinks, taking enough of a lead to fight off a late surge by Romford.
So a win on all three rinks takes Central through to face Fords in the Final, to be played on Central’s own green at Nutter Lane on Wed 21st August
Mitch Brenner and Paul Whellams have been selected for the Essex team who will contest the semi-final of the Middleton Cup competition to be held at Worthing on Saturday 24th August.
Central’s resources were stretched to the limit when they were involved in three different league fixtures.
In their final Cribbs Triples League Central Division fixture, Central finally lost their unbeaten record when they narrowly went down by an overall 52 – 53 shots against old rivals Ilford BC at Valentines Park. Both teams won a rink a-piece and the third rink was drawn.
Central’s winning rink was that of Kenny Ruston, Russell Hughes and Paul Whellams who defeated Sim Madgewick’s trio by 18 – 15 shots.
Keith Lloyd, Colin Foster and Paco Rodriguez drew their rink by 21 – 21 shots against Dave Betts’s trio.
The losing Central rink was Colin Jones, Paul Woodford and Mitch Brenner who went down by 13 – 17 shots against a Terry Hughes inspired trio.
At the end of the evening Central had to settle for 3 points and Ilford 4 points.
Central now enter the semi – final play-offs as a Divisional winner and will play Romford BC this Wednesday evening at Old Dagenham Park BC for a place in the Final.
The second Wednesday match was a Foresters Triples League fixture against Aveling Park BC and Central came through by an overall 72 – 60 shots after winning three of the four rinks contested.
At Nutter Lane, Central’s rink of Daniel Hughes, Lou Jacobs and Len Welton comfortably won by 19 – 8 shots.
The other home rink of Peter Shepherd, Steve Welsh and Rod Hudson narrowly squeezed home by 19 – 18 shots.
Over at Walthamstow, Central’s rink of Phil Fagelson, Gerry Rose and Bob Druce narrowly won by 20 – 19 shots.
Central’s only losing rink of the evening was that of Steve Minns, Keith Ritchie and Ken Spicer who lost out in another close match by 14 – 15 shots.
Central were rewarded for their efforts with 12 points and Aveling Park 3 points.
The third Wednesday match was a “Clark-White” League fixture against Wadham BC which saw Central come out on top by an overall 48 – 37 shots after both teams won a rink a-piece.
At Nutter Lane, Central’s rink of Dave Crouch, John Sankey, Mike Kenner and Jim Reynolds comfortably won by 29 – 12 shots.
Over at Walthamstow the rink of Dave Peterson, Mick Smallwood, Peter Norgate and Mick Bird lost out by 19 – 25 shots.
At the end of play Central had earned 4 points and Wadham 2 points.
In their latest Redbridge Afternoon League fixture, Central defeated Woodford BC by an overall 45 – 36 shots at Nutter Lane after both teams won a rink a-piece.
Central’s winning rink was that of Steve Minns, Mark Magnus, Tony Pratt and Len Welton who defeated Peter Brown’s foursome by 26 – 11 shots.
The losing rink was that of Keith Ritchie, Ken Grace, Mike Kenner and Jim Reynolds who went down by 19 – 25 shots against Roy Barker’s foursome.
Central’s reward was 4 points and Woodford’s 2 points.
In the midst of a long hot summer Central had the bad luck to choose a rainy Saturday evening for their annual barbecue.
However the promise of food, wine and beer was more than enough to lure close to 100 members and friends to the clubhouse.
Making all this happen were Tony’s team of Aquatic Chefs, a group of seasoned (sorry, bad pun) cooks who were destined to marinate in H2O on the evening in order to feed the clientèle.
Tongs Of Praise – your non-vegetarian committee
“There must be a Start Fire app here somewhere”
Nigella Lawson (in disguise) demonstrates her famous Fried Onions technique
Maureen and the girls take some time to critique Delia Smith’s “How To Boil An Egg”
Central managed to get one over Romford at the fourth time of asking this season by winning their opening tie in the London Parks’ Jackson Shield competition by a single point in the gloom of a Friday evening at the opposition’s green.
Despite taking a good early lead which was maintained until two-thirds of the way through the game, Central let Romford get back into contention on by ultimately losing on two rinks.
Fortunately this wasn’t quite enough to overturn the shots win on the third rink so Central go through to meet Fords in the next round.