Holland Fen crowned as Division 1 champions at bowls club

Holland Fen headed the table from Invaders for most of the season, sometimes only on shot difference, but recent results left them on 175 points, 17 ahead of their rivals.

The photo of the winning team shows, in the back row, Sue Simpson-Shaw, Keith Tointon, Chris Gill, Martin Tomlin and captain Ian Clarke; and in the front, Katie Tointon, George Hardstaff, Helen Butler and Les Feary. Two absentees on the night were Alex Tomlin and Barry Wilson.

Invaders were second on 158 points with Strollers third, a further 23 points behind, occupying the same positions as last season. Both had many good results along the way, but were vulnerable to losing games or the occasional rink which they would otherwise have expected to win.

Strollers faced Breakaways in the last round, winning 4-2. Paul Flatters’ rink won convincingly 25-11, while Mark Brown’s took the other for Breakaways 21-13.

Breakaways ended the season in eighth place, after being fourth last season, and they have struggled for consistency in their results at times.

IBC beat Dynamics 4-2 last week, Jim Gott’s rink taking control from the start to run out 27-14 winners. Ken Burr’s Dynamics rink started and finished well to win 18-11. Overall, IBC finished fourth, three places higher than their position at the end of the 2022-2023 season, a pleasing improvement.

For their part, Dynamics were promoted as champions into this division and, while they finished in eleventh place, they coped at this level and achieved some notable results during the year, not least beating Invaders 6-0 in January. Their two strong rinks have achieved enough good results to keep them in this division for next season.

A40 ended the season in fifth place, as last year, and on the same number of points, 105. Recent good results include 6-0 against Strollers and 4-2 against Invaders, but their form has been inconsistent at times.

Their latest encounter against Royal Mail ended 2-4, winning on Sue Hoyles’ rink 18-16, but being well beaten by Royal Mail’s Barbara Kenny, Ted Bloodworth and Geoff Taylor on the other, 23-4, in a commanding display. Royal Mail ended up ninth overall.

Nomads ended in sixth after being fifth for much of the season, only dropping below A40 in the table in the final weeks after some poorer results. The improvement over their eighth-place last year is nonetheless encouraging and should augur well going forward.

Burtons, already relegated, met and beat Golfers 5-1 in their last match, thereby achieving their best result of the campaign. Chris Hill’s rink won 23-13 with a good performance, the other rink being drawn 14-14. Golfers ended the season in tenth, five points ahead of Dynamics.

Next week: the story of the final round of matches in Division Two leading to the champions.