WEEKLY UPDATE 17 NOVEMBER 2024

There was drama at Princeville on Tuesday, but more off the table than on it, as Peter Turner, was taken ill towards the end of the second set of games - and before he had played. Thankfully, with considerable assistance from members of the visiting Pudsey team, he recovered in time to leave under his own steam at the end of the match, accompanied by family, who had been summoned for support.

Don Hardcastle (93 at the end of the month) has been a regular spectator at Princeville's matches this season and took no persuading to step into the vacancy created by Peter's indisposition, and in a low scoring game with Peter Allan - and with a handicap of 140 - he was the only Princeville player to perform better than handicap. Solid performances from the other Pudsey players, including a big win for Sid Ash, secured an away win by 81 points.

At the Deaf Centre it was the home team who produced the solid displays, with four players performing at or around their handicaps. In a high scoring first game Princeville's Trevor Kershaw had breaks of 42 and 31 but could not hold off Jeremy Dixon who won by 8. Gareth Kershaw was the only one of the first four Princeville A players to outperform handicap, with a score of 123, and a good win against Peter Wood. So the Deaf Centre went into the last two games with a 33 point lead and not much between the handicaps of the last four players. Ian Ford contributed a further 9 in a tight game with Steve Gatenby but Princeville's hero was Edward Lawson who racked up a score of 130 in a 53 point win against Peter O'Connell, to give Princeville A a somewhat unexpected 11 point victory.

So going into the final round of fixtures all four teams have a chance of lifting the trophy. Deaf Centre and Pudsey must be favourites, with 7 points each, but as the Princeville teams are both on 5, neither are out of the hunt, if they can take all 3 points from this coming week's fixtures. The various potential combinations are too numerous to list here but the possibility of a play off is also on the cards.

Pudsey have home advantage against Princeville B while the Deaf Centre visit Princeville A.

The league season starts the following week (29th October) and fixtures are on the Fixtures and Results page. Individual Merit and Pairs entry forms have been issued, and the closing date for all competitions is 6th November. Handbooks are still in the pipeline.

On the wider scene, this coming Sunday (20th October ) sees the northern area qualifying competition for the English Championship, when Mark Hirst and I, from the local area, will be competing and the following weekend the English Open will be held at Landywood in the West Midland, followed by the World Championships through the following week. Again Mark and I will be competing from the local area

Stephen Kershaw

Secretary