This week is the Singles competition week, it will be held at the Oakdale Club and the Wallisdown Club. The draw was made at the committee meeting, there are 16 entrants on each alley. Start time is 8pm. Top 10 will qualify for the final which will be on Monday, March 15th, alley yet to be confirmed. All entrants can see their name on the respective Singles Web page. The draw was also made for the Pairs and the Threes which also can be found on their respective web page.

Present holder of the Singles Cup is Steve Shear of Moordown Reds.

WINNER OF THE SINGLES IN 2001/02 (25 YEARS AGO} was also S. Shear of Hamworthy Liberal Redlands.

WINNER OF THE SINGLES IN 1976/77 (50 YEARS AGO} was A. Pinkett of Redlands ‘C’.

There were three matches on Tuesday night, first on the fixture list was the game at the BH15 club where the PH ‘B’ side were against the Moordown Reds, the outcome was a 22 pin win for the PH ‘B’ side the first four players in the PH ‘B’ side were all Connolly’s.
Second fixture was the game at the Corfe Legion where the Corfe ‘A’ team took on the Bluebirds ‘A’ side, the Corfe ‘A’ team had no answer to the Bluebirds side who won the match by 65 pins.
Third fixture on Tuesday was the match at the Wallisdown Club where the Lads welcomed Oakdale PHC side. First to throw were the Oakdale team and first man Chris Lee started the evening off with a 16, they finished with a leg of 44, Wallisdown’s reply was 34 which left them trailing by 10. Wallisdown won both the next two legs by one pin, but lost four pins in the fourth leg, leaving the Oakdale side with a lead of 12, Wallisdown hit their highest score of the night in the fifth leg which was 45, Oakdale’s reply was 34 which included a 11 start from Chris Lee, that left the Wallisdown Lads just one pin in arrears. The next three legs, sixth, seventh and eighth were won by the Wallisdown Lads who went into the ninth leg 22 up, Oakdale won that ninth leg by two pins, giving the Wallisdown Lads a victory of 20 pins on the night.
Wednesday night most probably was the tightest match of the week, it was at the Bluebirds club where the ‘E’ side were drawn against the BH15 Tossers, after six throws there was only one pin difference between the sides, Bluebirds side had that slender lead and at that stage, both sides had already chalked up two oxo’s each, although the Bluebirds competition captain Eddie Smith was in California the team could hear him shouting out hit the pins. This is what the Aggregate is all about on a difficult alley, the result was only decided in the ninth leg, last man for the Tossers Rhys Phillips scored a 12 and the match finished with a win for the Tossers who won by nine pins.
Thursday night the Claypipe Lads visited the Corfe Legion to take on the Corfe Lads, after the first three legs the Claypipe team were in the lead by six pins, but the fourth leg saw a 16 pin turnaround for the Corfe Lads who took the lead by 10 pins, they had their lead cut down to six after the fifth, disaster struck in the sixth for the Corfe Lads, they were the sufferers this time, the Claypipe gained their revenge by getting their 16 pin turnaround, that saw them take the lead by 10. Corfe then lost another 13 in the seventh and a further 18 in the eighth leg, meaning the Claypipe Lads were now 41 pins ahead going into the ninth leg, Corfe Lads did pull back three in that ninth leg, which meant the Claypipe Lads won by 38, that meant the worst two defeats in the round were both the Corfe Legion sides who were both at home and are now out of the Aggregate competition.

Only game on Tuesday was the match at the BH15 club where the PH ‘B’ side were hosting the league leaders Wallisdown Lads, first leg of the evening was won by the PH ‘B’ setting a moderate 38, the Lads just failed to take that leg, but won the second and third to take the 1st point. Wallisdown took the next two points in straight legs, first leg of the Beer point saw another astonishing stick-up by last man Dan Snook, needing 13 to take the first leg he only hit one pin with the first ball but cleared the other eight with his second ball and got the four needed with his third ball, that was his third match where he needed a stick-up to win a leg.
All the other matches this week all finished with a 3B win for the home side, Wednesday Oakdale continued their good run of results at the Oakdale Club by taking three points against the BH15 Tossers in an eight leg match. Tossers won the second point of the evening, that was their second point on an away alley this season. Another match that was played on Wednesday was the fixture between the Bluebirds sides, the ‘A’ team accommodating the ‘E’ team who could not play on the Thursday, the ‘E’ team won the first point but the ‘A’ team struck back and took the other three points in a very close match, highlight of the evening was Matt Elston scoring an 18 in the match.
Claypipe Lads had a windy night at the Inn against the Corfe ‘A’ side who could only field five players, Claypipe team took the first point in a best of three, then took the second point in two straight legs, Corfe won the third point two straight which gave them their first point on an away alley, Claypipe took the Beer point in a best of three legs, Claypipe smoked out another old Fossil in their line up this match, Bill Meaden, welcome back Bill to the old game of skittlles.
Corfe Lads won their first match of the season on Thursday at the Legion the victims were the Moordown Reds, although the Reds won the first point in two straight legs, the Cosletts Kev and Tom who were the first two players for Corfe got them off to a great start in the second point scoring a 15 and a 16 respectively to take the first leg then Tom followed up with another stick-up (13) in the second leg helping the team set 51 for Moordown to get which they could not. Third point went to the Corfe Lads with new signing Liam Hatchard notching a 10 and a 14 in the first two legs and Tom Coslett getting his second stick-up of the night in the third leg, which gave them their first two points in a match, it went even better for Corfe Lads they took the Beer point in a best of three legs, again thanks to three stick-ups in that Beer point, Tom got his third and Barry and Tash notched their first of the evening. But the Corfe side still are bottom of the league.

Cancelled games must be played within the 56 days, don’t leave it until the 40th day to try and arrange it, also two dates must be given, let me know the date when you have arranged it. Failure to play it within the 56 days will be brought up at the committee.

Season 1976/77.

There were four divisions all had 18 teams in each division, all completed their 34 league matches.

3rd Division winners were Oakdale C, they won 16 of their 34 matches and finished with 88 points and won 24 Beers in 1976/77 season, their captain was Dave Fallows, this was their second season at the Oakdale Con Club. The previous season (75/76) after their 34 league games they finished up with 104 points, which I believe is the highest amount of points won by any team since, previous to that (1974-75) they played at the Angel under the Angel ‘B’ banner. Runner-up in the third division in 1976-77 season were the Redland Lads who finished with a total score of 83 points, they were captained by P. Wareham, they also were the runner-up to the Oakdale C side the previous year in the fourth division.
There was only one Beer Cup for all four divisions, that went to the Potters Lads of the first division who won 28 Beers.

Winners of the Second Division in 1976-77 season were Flight Refuelling and were skippered by Brian Hutchings, they won 16 of their 34 league games and finished with a total of 84 points, two points ahead of the second place team Hamworthy Legion F whose captain was D. Jolliffe. The Flight Refuelling side won 23 Beers but with only only one Beer Cup for all four divisions it went to the Potters Lads of the first division who won 28 Beers.

The 1st division winners in 1976-77 season were the Potters Lads side who won 24 of their 34 matches and scored a total of 95 points, this was their first time they had won the 1st division, the previous season (1975-76) they finished second in the division. They also won the Beer Cup trophy that season, there was only one Beer Cup for all four divisions in those days. Corfe Lads finished in second place in the 1976-77 season, they finished on 80 points 15 points behind the Potters Lads, the Corfe Lads skipper was J. R. Broomfield, they finished five points ahead of the third place team Generators B who played at the old Poole Power station on 75 points.
Potters Lads started in division 4 in 1971-72 season and won that division in their first year, they went on to win division three the following year (1972-73) and continued their upward climb winning the second division the following year (1973-74), all the time being captained by R. S. Hatchard.