Swale. Ladies Kent League. 5th February, 2020

Swale Ladies  2 1/2  Sevenoaks Ladies  7 1/2
Shots:  Swale 88 – Sevenoaks 95
 
The ladies made the trip to Swale, not normally a happy hunting ground, but on this occasion won an extremely tight game by 7 shots, together with 3 wins and a draw on the green,, which meant Sevenoaks did the double having already defeated Swale at home.    Another magnificent performance, it’s almost getting to be a habit.
 
Two rinks managed to win by an identical score, 17-11.  Angela Checksfield, Linda Flemming (her first KL game), Valerie McNally and Brenda Bennett were one team and the other Clare Jolley, Margaret Fiander, Avril Moss and Anne Welch.  The third victory came from Joyce Allen, Linda Fardell, Joan Moffat and Marian Greenouff whose two shots on the final end saw them home – just – 17-16.
 
Margaret Elsdon’s ladies trailed 8-14 but won the last three ends to snatch a 14-14 draw – well done!   Ann Monro’s foursome led 19-15 with one end to go and, would you believe it, dropped 5 shots to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  Loraine Kydd also played her first KL game on Ann’s rink.  Finally, Eve Strudwick’s foursome only went down by 5 shots.
 
An excellent’s afternoons work.

Orpington Excelsior. Mixed Friendlies. 2nd February2020

This game got off to a tight start, with the score at 6 ends 40-40, we gained momentum and  at 12 ends again the score was still very tight  74-76, towards the ends Orpington Excelsior gained pace and went on to secure a win at 18 ends of 107-121 (last year we won by just 1 shot)   It was as usual conducted in a nice friendly atmosphere, winning 3 triples and just losing on 4.   The Top Rink was won by Russ Berryman, Sue Wallis and Reg Day. Well done.

OYSTER. Ladies Kent League. Wednesday 30th January 2020

Sevenoaks Ladies 3 1/2 v Oyster Ladies 6 1/2

What a surprise, Sevenoaks Ladies actually beat last season’s KL winners, Oyster, on the green, winning on three rinks, drawing on one, and losing on two.
 
Things were not looking good at the half way stage, 39-67 shots down, but the cup of tea worked wonders for Sevenoaks at least.   Skips Margaret Elsdon and Sally Burton won 24-11 and 24-17 respectively.   A magnificent come back by Marian Greenouff’s rink saw them recover from 3-13 to score two shots on the final end for a 
19-19 draw.   Similarly for Brenda Bennett’s ladies who found themselves 4-10 adrift.  Going into the 21st end 17-18 down, Brenda drew two shots for victory.   What an afternoon!
 
One of the Oyster ladies became unwell after the 12th end on Hilary Chapman’s rink.  As a result the two front end Oyster ladies played with three woods each and the skip two for the remainder of the game.    The end result was 10-27 to the visitors but the score needed to be adjusted to reflect the absent player making the final score 13-24.   
 
So, after a supreme effort, Sevenoaks were slightly disappointed to lose on overall shots by 112-113.

SWALE. Ladies Kent League. 22nd January. 2020

Sevenoaks Ladies 7 Swale Ladies 3
Sevenoaks 124 Swale 113
 
For those of you who read these match reports, you might realise that this is the third consecutive Kent League victory by Sevenoaks Ladies – wonderful.
 
Swale were stiff opposition and in fact we actually drew 3-3 on the rinks but our overall shots advantage of 11 gave us the extra four bonus points.   An excellent team performance.
 
Very well done to Sylvia Riley, Diana Purssell, Valerie McNally and Ann Munro for the best achievement of the day, winning 30-10. Brenda Bennett and Eve Strudwick were the other two winning skips.   

VALANNDOR TROPHY 1st Round. Ladies. January 22nd. 2020

Sevenoaks Ladies 76 Oyster Ladies 88
 
In this 4-rink Trophy competition for Kent Clubs, Sevenoaks were unfortunate in drawing the holders, and also Kent League Champions, in the first round.
 
On the home green, Linda George, Doris Chapman, Sue Wallis and Ann Munro’s foursome played a blinder, leading all the way.  Oyster had 11 shots on the 15th end and were allowed no more, Sevenoaks going on win handsomely 24-11.  Eve Strudwick’s rink went down 15-24 which left a home advantage of 8 shots.
 
The eight ladies playing away faced an early alarm call, a long journey (actually in lovely sunshine) and a difficult task on the Oyster green.   Margaret Elsdon’s rink went down 16-31.  Thanks to a particularly encouraging performance from lead Joy-Ann Hemmings, skip Brenda Bennett, Joan Moffat and Anne Welch managed to reach 17-19 down with one end to play but then dropped a further two shots.
 
Overall a 12 shots difference at the end of the day was a creditable performance against strong opposition.

BROMLEY. Ladies Kent League. 18th January, 2020

Sevenoaks Ladies 8 Bromley Ladies 2

Sevenoaks 106 Bromley 82
Another fine victory in this five-rink game for the ladies, but well earned as the overall shots were very close for the first two-thirds of the match until Sevenoaks gradually pulled away for a relatively comfortable win in the end.
 
The teams skipped by Ann Munro and Margaret Elsdon maintained a steady lead throughout winning 23-12 and 23-16 respectively.   Sylvia Riley, Diana Purssell, Sue Wallis and Brenda Bennett were having a very tight game up until the finish of the 16th end when the score was 13-16 in favour of Bromley.   The ladies saved their best form for the last five ends when they notched up a further 16 shots for the prime performance of the day 29-16.

THANET. Ladies Kent League. 15th January 2020

Sevenoaks Ladies 8 1/2 Thanet Ladies 1 1/2

Overall shots 110-93

A very good day for the ladies in this 5 rink game.   Linda George, Joy-Ann Hemmings, Valerie McNally and Ann Monro romped home 31-15 for the best performance of the day.  Marian Greenouff skipped her team to a 23-10 win; four shots on the last two ends enabled Anne Welch’s rink to sneak a 21-20 victory;  recovering from 5-14 down, Margaret Elsdon’s ladies led 20-17 with one end to play but unfortunately dropped three shots, but still a good effort to draw.   Only the captain’s rink floundered on the day.

Bromley Town Bowls Club. Mixed Friendly. 12th January 2020

Again the atmosphere was good, this game started off tight with the score at 6 ends 36-35, we gained a little ground with the score at 12 ends 87-71, Bromley Town fought back but Sevenoaks went on to secure a win at 18 ends of 132-121 winning 3 triples, losing on 4.  The Top Rink on this game being Marian Greenouff, Les Gritton and Phil Pike by just 1 shot from Eve Strudwick’s team.

A great start to 2020 I have to say thank you to all the players who participated given that these two matches were only four days apart with both two Ladies Kent and two Mens Kent games also being scheduled within an eight day period.

DARTFORD STONE LODGE. Kent League. Men. Saturday 11th January

We managed to field 6 rinks against a strong Stone Lodge team at home at Hollybush.  Despite some encouraging starts on several rinks we unfortunately ended up winning only one and losing overall by 81 to 156 shots.

Congratulations however to the winning team of Brian Howard, George Thomson, Reg Day and Tony Buddin who were at one stage down 1 to 10 but clawed their way back to win 18 to 13.

WHITE OAK. Ladies Kent League. 11th January 2020

White Oak Ladies 138 Sevenoaks Ladies 92

The Ladies put up a good show, winning on two rinks and ‘almost’ winning on another!

Joyce Allen, Doris Chapman, Joan Moffat and Marian Greenouff made a dreadful start, trailing 2-14 after 8 ends.  However the tide turned quickly as they won 5 out of the next 6 ends (including a count of 7 on one end) to take the lead 18-15.  White Oak rallied to lead

20-22, Sevenoaks levelled 22-22, then held a 23-22 lead with one end to play.   Two shots down, one wood left, Marian attacked the head, got lucky and scored 3 shots for a fine 26-22 victory.

Dot Fuller, captain for the day, joined forces with Sylvia Riley, Sue Wallis and Brenda Bennett.  In a very close scoring game, Sevenoaks trailed 12-15 after 20 ends.  However, the ladies played a magnificent final end with four woods round the jack before the skips went to bowl.  Brenda added another shot but surprisingly the White Oak skipped, who had played very well all afternoon, failed with both her bowls to change the situation so Sevenoaks graciously snatched victory 17-15 from the jaws of defeat!

Margaret Elsdon skipped a team who were never behind for 20 ends, holding a one shot lead 19-18 going into the final end.   But it was not to be.   White Oak held one shot to draw but their skip drew a perfect last bowl to finish and clinch a 20-19 win.