Bert Pharo achieved five wins in five different competition finals at the two-day Frensham Bowls Club finals weekend.

The two-day event was held on Saturday, August 31, and Sunday, September 1.

Bert partnered Sheila Haytree in the Mileham Cup on August 31, and they went into a 9-2 lead after seven ends before their opponents Wendy Edwards and Eddie Divall won five ends in a row to equal the scores at 10-10 after 13 ends. Bert and Sheila suddenly realised the game could quickly go in either direction and rallied to win the final five ends and the seal a 21-10 victory in the match.

Meanwhile, on another rink Les Trusler and Chris Bonner went into an 11-2 lead against Roger Pearce and Ray Fulford after nine ends and a similar rally by the latter pair put the score at 11-11 after 14 of the 18 ends to be played. Les and Chris then won the next four ends 6-3 to clinch the Joynson Pairs trophy with a 17-14 victory.

The afternoon session started with the final of the Lloyd Cup for novice players, which saw rookie Ray Bullen come up against the more experienced Eddie Divall. Ray put up a spirited fight but Eddie’s superiority showed through when he won 21-7 after 12 ends.

The Ladies’ Championship was played between Ann Pitman and Sheila Haytree. An under-par Ann found Sheila difficult to contend with and despite a spirited effort she finally went down 21-8 after 15 ends.

The final match of the first day was for the Abbott Cup (club champion) between Bert Pharo and Chris Bonner – who were two evenly-matched players on paper. After eight ends the score was 4-4 and the game looked destined to last for longer than 23 ends. However, Bert bowled consistently better over the final 15 ends and sealed a convincing 22-11 victory.

The Sunday morning started in bright and sunny conditions with Chris Bonner taking on Eddie Divall for the Badger Cup (men’s champion). Eddie bowled well enough but Chris seemed to find all the right lines on rink three to pile on the points before Eddie got his eye in and finished with a convincing 21-7 victory.

Meanwhile on rink two Bert Pharo was taking on Roger Pearce for the anniversary and the latter found the going hard against the experience of Bert, who went into a 12-0 lead after six ends. Roger finally got on the scoreboard with three ends won on the trot before Bert took control again to come out the winner. The final score was 22-6.

The closest-scoring singles game of the weekend came after lunch on the Sunday when Bert Pharo played Ken Danson in the Rose Bowl (club handicap). By this time it was getting very warm as the sun beat down on the open green. A tense game ensued with both players scoring evenly and after 20 ends the game was still on a knife-edge, with the score 20-17 in Bert’s favour. Ken got one shot on end 21 before Bert finally clinched it with two shots on end 22 to win 22-18.

In the Bob Glaysher Cup Sheila Haytree and Rosemary Wharton fought out a very close and evenly-matched ten-end final. The score was 6-6 with one end to play and Rosemary grasped the victory with two shots to win 8-6.

Having been given a fair chance to recover from his game against Ken, Bert Pharo took on Chris Bonner in what would be the final game of the weekend’s competitions.

Again the evenly-matched opponents progressed steadily to eight ends with Bert in the lead by just one shot with a 9-8 lead. After that he steadily pulled ahead, eventually leaving Chris to flounder on 12 shots before he convincingly scored eight shots on the last three ends to win the Moffatt Cup 24-12.

Frensham Bowls Club president Chris Bonner, who had overseen the competitions and organised the schedule for the two-day finals weekend, thanked all the competitors, all the markers, all the spectators and especially all those who had made tea and helped behind the scenes for their participation and support over the weekend.

By Chris Bonner