Successful Finals Day at the Club

Andover Bowling Club's Finals Day 2025 went down a storm. Dozens of competitors, supporters and Club members descended on Vigo Park, packing out the car parks on Recreation Road and creating a vibrant, expectant atmosphere around the green as the finals kicked off at 10am.

Four finals took place in the morning: the handicap; the novices; and the separate men's and women's two wood championships.

In the women's two wood championship, Cindy McLaughlin took on Sue Milton, quickly racing into a five shot lead after three ends. Sue fought valiantly and both women traded single shot ends for a period, although Cindy managed to hold and extend the lead up to a maximum of seven shots. After 19 of the scheduled 21 ends, Cindy was leading 16-8 with Sue unable to wipe out the deficit in the ends remaining.

In the men's two wood championship, Andy Carnegie competed against Les Reeves. Les started the stronger, building a lead of 8-3 after 9 ends and 10-5 after 11. Andy then came into his own, tying the scores at 10-10 before gradually building his own lead. After 19 ends, Andy led 15-11 and, although Les won the 20th, it was by a single shot, leaving Andy with an unsurpassable lead of 15-12.

The handicap saw Brad Godden successfully defend his 2024 title against Evan Lewens. Evan started brightly, building an early lead although the scores were level at 4-4 after 7 ends. Brad then moved ahead and didn't relinquish the lead despite Evan battling hard. .A sustained run of ends for Brad after end 13, and then a full house on end 20, delivered him the title, 21-11.

Steve Trim and Steve Pople fought a titanic battle in the novices and, with all other matches already finished, had the full attention of the crowd. A couple of big ends for Steve Trim gave him an early lead although Steve Pople moved ahead after end 10, a couple of big ends then giving him a 16-9 lead after 14 ends. Steve Trim then mounted his own fightback, winning all but one of the remaining ends to emerge triumphant, 22-18.

After a deserved rest break for the players, several of whom who were also competing in the remaining finals, the afternoon matches were brought forward in anticipation of the coming rain, all matches starting at around 1.15. This followed a photo opportunity featuring a number of knitters at the Club who have been contributing knitted poppies for a forthcoming Remembrance Day event in Skegness: we will be featuring this in a future news story, so keep your eyes peeled for more than the taster photo included in this set!

In the women's championship, Cindy's long jack strategy proved too much for Shirley Stoten, her opponent. Cindy moved quickly into an 8-0 lead and, although Shirley fought grittily, winning four of the next seven ends, each of which was decided by a single shot, Cindy ended extremely strongly. From a match score of 11-4 after 10 ends, Cindy scored 10 shots without reply in the next three ends to win 21-4.

Andy Carnegie took on Michael Hopkins in the men's championship, Michael winning three of the first four ends to lead 4-2. Andy won the fifth end by three, and then the next four ends to give him a lead which he never conceded. Michael won the 10th end by 2 shots, to trail 6-11, but Andy won four of the next six, two of which were full houses, to win the match 21-8.

The drawn pairs final saw Pete Anthony and Ady Aspinall matched against Les Reeves and Steve Trim. Les and Steve moved ahead early on, but a high scoring eighth end (a win by five shots) saw Pete and Ady move into a 9-6 lead. They then proceeded to win six of the next nine ends, scoring six shots on the 17th end to close out the match by a 25-11 scoreline.

President Steve Baker ended the day delivered a vote of thanks to all the players, to Cynthia Hamilton and David Hamilton for organising the day, and to Evan Lewens for delivering a fantastic playing surface fit for a day of hard-fought, competitive finals featuring some quality bowling. Hear hear!