Connaught rule the roost in Walthamstow Finals but Barham shows his singles class
The Group 5 finals are not until September 3, but there was plenty of excitement at Woodford Bowling Club on Sunday with finals day for the Walthamstow & District Bowls Association.
The mornings play started with the Champion of Champions final in which Peter Barham from South Woodford got off to a flying start against Jim Wilson of Connaught.
Peter opened up a 15-0 lead in 7 ends and despite a mini fight back Barham held on to win 21-7.
In the Pairs, the Hainault pairing of Pete Davis and Eddie Lynch never got to grips with a tricky rink and found themselves 9-0 down after four ends against Connaught’s Stuart Gibson and Neil Harvey.
It proved to be a long morning for the Hainault boys as they eventually conceded the contest after 18 ends as they were down 33-11.
The third and final game of the morning session was the triples where Connaught were to the fore once again, taking on a team from Walthamstow Borough.
Mark Townsend, Melvin Grant and skip Tim Mould stormed into a 7-0 lead after just three ends against Kevin Bates and his team of Karl Bunyan and Terry Bramley.
But this was never going to be a one-sided game and they fought back to level at 16-16 with an end to go.
And in a tense last end, the match was decided by a tight measure with Connaught coming through to take the trophy 17-16.
Barham returned to the green in the afternoon by taking on Wanstead’s Bob Lockyer in the Secretaries Cup Final.
But this time it was Lockyer who found his best form and ran out a winner by 21-13.
The veterans final saw John Sandell of Woodford looking to take advantage of playing the final on home turf.
However, he was finding it difficult to shake off Malcolm Andrews of the Halex Club as it was 11-11 after 17 ends.
From that point, it was Andrews who stepped up a gear as he ran out a winner by 21-13.
The final singles match of the day saw another Woodford bowler in Kevin Reid clash with Jim Wilson of Coannaught in the men’s singles final.
But once again, home turf was not to prove decisive as this time Wilson put his morning defeat behind him to also win by 21-13.
The seventh final, the fours, was unable to take place and will be rescheduled as players from both Silverthorn and Wanstead Central were away at the National Championships.
Nevertheless it was an excellent day with Connaught having most to celebrate.
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