Wanstead Central Bowls' competitive season drew to a close with some stunning performances by their women bowlers in the National Top Club competition and their mixed doubles fours team in the national Tony Allcock Trophy at Leamington Spa.
The ladies took on the powerful Norfolk club in the quarter final.
This was quite a daunting task when you take into account that they were playing against three-times indoor world champion and Commonwealth Games bowler Katherine Rednall and Rebecca Willgress, who has represented England both indoors and outdoors on numerous occasions.
Maureen Norgate took on Katherine Rednall in the singles and put in a sterling performance but lost 21-13.
However, in the doubles, the Central ladies Viv Leech and Chris Buck put in a stunning performance over Henlow and Willgress and won 16-11.
The Centrals triple of Cheryl Raynor, Jackie Barham Holt and Janice Fortune also had a great 19-16 win against a powerful Norfolk triple.
Unfortunately, the Centrals fours team of Wendy Gray, Carol Beesley, Karen Ryan and Sandra Duprey were overwhelmed by a powerful Norfolk four 18-9.
The result went down to shots and the ladies lost 66-57 as the Norfolk club went on to win the Women’s Top Club Trophy.
In the Tony Allcock Trophy, which is played as a mixed double fours competition, the Central team overcame Blaby from Leicestershire in the quarter-final with Paul Whellams' four winning 28-15 and Kevin Fitzgerald's team losing 15-4, so getting through to the semi-final 32-30.
In the semi-final, Central played Banbury Central from Oxfordshire.
Banbury proved to be a bit too powerful for Central with Kevin Fitzgerald's team losing 18-7 but Paul Whellams' team won 17-14 with Central losing 32-24.
A wonderful achievement by both the ladies Top Club team and the mixed doubles fours team making the quarter-final and semi-final of national competitions.
In inter-club competitions that were played this weekend, Colin Foster won the men's singles by beating Russell Hughes in a high-quality game.
In the Three Wood competition, Peter Barham beat Phil Joslin and Mark Newman won the Bentley Preston.
In the mixed doubles, Chris Dennis and Jacquie Lee beat Paco Rodrigues and Linda Boyce.
In the lady’s junior championship, Jean Batten beat Karen Ryan and in the one-yard competition, Chris Buck beat Jacquie Lee.
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