As there is no need for a qualifying round in the Three’s next week, it means that the next official matches will be the Handicap competition that are on January 12th and January 19th week. The handicap is as follows: The Cen-Terry! 24 side is off scratch (0), Claypipe Lads have 3, Corfe Lads 6, Bluebirds E and Wallisdown Lads have 9, Colehill OBs and Bluebirds A have 15, Centenary PH ‘B’ have 21, Moordown Reds have 24, Centenary JB have 27, Oakdale PHC have 30 and the Corfe A side have 33. The draw can be found on the Handicap website page.
Captains: a reminder that we are still charging £3 per league match, which accumulates to £33 for half the season or £66 for the whole season.

The Committee would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope that the New Year brings good fortune to you all on the alleys. Thank you again for your support over the past many years.

The first round of the pairs held at the Oakdale Club saw 11 pairs competing for only six places that would qualify them for the final.

The reigning champions, the Winwood’s from Bluebirds ‘A’ were the first pair to throw on the evening they started their title defence with a 16 score, after the first throw they were in second place behind the pair of K. Coslett and Wonder Woman T. Davis from Corfe Lads who had 17. The second throw saw Wonder Woman converting the first stick-up of the night with a 12, her partner Kevin scored an 8 which kept them in the lead with a total of 37. In the third leg there was only one stick-up, and again it was Wonder Woman Tash who scored an 11 to keep her and her partner out in front now with a total score of 54. In second place were C. McGregor and J. Hegarty of Bluebirds ‘A’, with 46, they were one of three pairs from the Bluebirds ‘A’ team competing for a top-six finish in the evening.
The fourth throw Jason Hegarty from Bluebirds ‘A’ was the only player to come in with a stick-up (13), at the end of the fourth throw they were now only three pins behind the leaders Tash and Kevin from Corfe Lads, but they had a seven pin cushion ahead of third place team, the battle was on for the remaining four qualifying places, there were seven pairs with a difference of three pins from each other, one of whom were the reigning Bluebirds ‘A’ champs pair of Winwood’s.
In the fifth throw the champs got the only stick-up of the leg, Chris Winwood showed his experience and put a 13 score, which took them away from the other chasing pairs. The sixth and final throw of the night again only produced one stick-up, it was C. McGregor from Bluebirds ‘A’ who got the highest stick-up of the night (14), which gave them a total score of 100, which was the top score on the night.
The six pairs that qualified were C. McGregor & J. Hegarty (100), K. Coslett & T. Davis (92), S. Harris & P. Luther (90), T. & C. Winwood (88), M. Elston & T. Phillips, R. Carpenter & S. Scudamore both finishing with a score of 85.
Those who just missed out on a place in the final were: M. Jeans & G. Davis (84), C. Haskell & J. Mundi (82), R. Sherry & J. Twine (82), R. Voysey & T. Whittaker (80), A. Hewlett & D. King (78).

At the Wallisdown Conservative Club, there were 10 pairs trying to win a place in the final, in a low scoring event there was only one stick-up that came in the first throw of the night, Chaf Foster of the Cen-Terry! 24 pair started his evening off with a 10. After the sixth and final throw it was Paul Russell and Dan Perry who finished on top with a score of 81 the other five pairs that qualified were only separated by 3 pins.
These are the six qualifying pairs for the final: P. Russell & D. Perry (81), L. Cork & C. Foster, I. Penney & D. Snook, both pairs finished on 78, R. Phillips & A. Mitchinson, L. Smith & P. Downton they finished on 77, S. Marsh & S. Shear completed the six qualifiers on a score of 76.
The pairs that failed to secure a top six were: M. Bowers & D. Shear, F. Downton & M. Downton, R. Broomfield & K. Arthur and E. Smith & G. Smith.
The amazing part of the evening was the three generations of Smith’s and Downton’s all playing on the same alley and are related to each other. Is there another sport where you can have two families with three generations playing in an active sport.

On the paper fixture list, Week 14 should be w/c Feb. 9th not 16th and Week 15 should be Feb. 16th not the 17th.
The fixtures on the website are correct.

25 YEARS AGO (2000-2001) SEASON
In the season 2000-2001 there were 49 teams in the Poole & District Skittles Association, the first and second leagues had 16 teams, the third had 17, but there was no fourth division for the first time.
The winner of the first division by three points was Bluebirds ’97, their captain was Bill Lovell, they finished the season with 76 points from their 30 league games and won 18 Beers, reversing their fortune from the previous season when they finished second to the Bloxworth side. The Bluebirds ’97 team also won the Champion of Champions Cup that season. After a play-off for the runner-up trophy the Bloxworth team who was led by P. Toop overcame the Hamworthy Legion G side, their captain was Eddie Harris, both teams finished on 73 points, the Hamworthy Legion team won 19 Beers against the 18 by the Bloxworth side, but the winners of the Beer Cup was Colehill who’s captain was Allen Clarke they won 20 out of a possible 30 in the season and played their home matches on a Friday. The league stated which night you should be playing on, the 1st division should of all played on a Tuesday, there were only three teams that actually played their home matches on Tuesday nights, the following year the 1st division would off been allocated Wednesday nights for playing their matches.
The Bluebirds ’97 team also won the Champion of Champions Cup that season.

Winners of the second division by three points were the Broadstone Y2K side who was captained by Graeme Davis, their home venue was the Broadstone Railway Hotel, they won the league with 73 points from their 28 league matches and also won the Beer Cup with 20 wins from their league fixtures, in their team was the President of Poole Skittles at the time Cyril Matthews he had won the 1st division in three consecutive years (73/74, 74/75, 75/76), Cyril Matthews served on the general committee from 1972-73 to 1997 he became President of the Poole and District Skittle League from 1998 to 2005 and went on to become a Life President, the division finished up with 15 teams, Wimborne Lads dropped out during the season.
Runner-up in the second division was Oakdale C with a total of 70 points. They were three points clear of third-place Lytchett B, who ended on 67 points. Oakdale C team finished 3rd in the previous season (1999-2000), their captain for both seasons was Steve Lee.

The third division winners in 2000-01 season were the Potters Stuff, their captain was Bill Meaden, they scored 86 points from their 30 league matches and won the division by four points from Bluebirds 81, their captain was Tony Evans. The Potters Stuff also won the third division Beer Cup with 22 wins from their 30 league matches. Although there were 17 teams that entered the division at the start of the season, the Power House team failed to complete the season, leaving 16 teams in the division. There was no fourth division that year