Anita Cowdrill retains her crown of club champion at Royal Leamington Spa Bowls Club against Janice White

Fortunes swung to-and-fro as an early 8-2 lead for White was wiped out when Cowdrill went 13-8 up. White then countered to get within 2 shots of victory and lead 19-14, only for Cowdrill to take seven shots on the next four ends and with it, the title, 21-19.

There was an equally exciting tussle in the ladies’ handicap final, where Christine Leigh and Dawn Horne faced each other. In a very low scoring match that took 3 hours and ran to 34 ends, there was never much between the two and with Horne needing 28 shots for victory, it was Leigh who took the title, reaching her target of 21 shots with Horne stranded on 23.

In the final of the Sadler Cup (for ladies who have not previously won a singles competition) Leigh faced Caroline Williams. Another very close match saw the scores tied at 10-10 after 15 ends, but Leigh gradually eased ahead to take her second title of the weekend, by 21 shots to 14.

Cowdrill also picked up a second trophy when she defeated Sandra Payne 17-2 in the final of the ladies 2-Wood singles competition.

In men’s competitions, Graham White was crowned Club champion for the third time in the past 4 seasons when he convincingly beat Tom Head 21-6, David Payne beat Mervyn Taylor 23-14 to take the Handicap singles title and the Jeffs Cup for “novice” bowlers was won by Paul Smith, who beat Tony Allibone 21-7.

The last men’s singles title to be decided was in the 2-Wood competition, where Malcolm Wickens and David Payne pretty much matched each other shot for shot. Tied 7-7 at the halfway point and 11-11 with 4 ends remaining, it was no surprise that the pair finished 13 shots apiece after the regulation 21 ends. It was Wickens though that took the match with a single on the extra end.

In pairs competitions, there was a dramatic finish to the ladies drawn pairs final, where Pauline MacDonald and Enid Reece went into the last end of their final against Pauline Dineley and Jane Wigman trailing 14-18 but picked up 7 shots to take the Millennium Bowl trophy 21-18. Dineley and Wigman also lost out in the ladies chosen pairs, beaten 26-11 by Anita Cowdrill and Tracey Turner-Smith.

Meanwhile, in the men’s 4-Wood pairs final, Dave French and Neil Weston defeated Malcolm Hayes and Malcolm Wickens 23-14, whilst Ian Plant and Dave Gardner beat Andrew Scares and Ray White 16-12 in the 3-Wood pairs final.

Cowdrill and Leigh lined up with Graham White and Bill Claridge respectively in the mixed pairs final, with both ladies looking to add to their haul of trophies collected over the weekend. It was Leigh that succeeded, as she and Claridge controlled the game from start to finish. Always ahead, they finished 21-9 winners.