I must start this weeks report with the sad news of Paul (Jack) Russell’s death, I have known him for many years, he always was a character and a good skittler and enjoyed every match, his humour will be sadly missed by his team and the league. We would like to send our deepest sympathy to the family for their loss.
Despite the loss of Paul the Claypipe Lads were still able to play their league match on Wednesday at the BH15 club, so well done to Dan and the team for participating on the night, the BH15 alley is not an alley where you can relax and enjoy the freeflowing game, it’s tough and needs concentration and playing against the Tossers who have only dropped two points on their alley this season was not going to be easy, the match went to nine legs and the result was a four point win for the Tossers.
Wallisdown Lads kept up their impressive start to the season on Tuesday at the Wallisdown Club, their opponents were the Oakdale PHC team who had not lost a game this season, it was a 11 leg match, the first three points went the full distance, the points could of gone either way but the home side just had the edge and took those points, the Beer point was a straight two leg affair which also was won by the Lads, that gave them the full four points in a match where the result could of easily been a completely different ending.
Another match that took place on the same night was the fixture between the Corfe A side and the Bluebirds A team at the Corfe Legion, the match was a short one, only going eight legs, the home team finished up by taking their second Beer of the season and ending with two points on the night, this was Bluebirds A first draw of the season but the two points still keeps them in second place in the table.
On Wednesday the Moordown Reds played host to the BH15 PH ‘B’ team, the game was an up and down match where one leg the Moordown side hit 51 and lost the leg, another leg the score was in the 30s, the match went to 11 legs, the result was a 3-1 win for the BH15 PH ‘B’ team.

On a low scoring night at the Wallisdown club their was only one stick-up which came from Barry Connolly who recorded a 15 score, he was top score with 49 after the six throws, the next top score was Steve Scudamore on 43, the other qualifiers for the final which will be on March 15th were A. Mitchinson with 41, J. Nicholls & R. Carpenter with 40, T. Coslett & J. Munday with 39, D. Shear & M. Orchard with 37 and M. Whitehurst with 36. The ones that hopefully will try again next season were D. Harper, D. King, M. Bowers, R. Melhuish & K. Coslett.
At the Oakdale Club there were 13 entrants trying to get a place in the top ten to qualify for the final on March 15th, James Taylor was the first player to throw on the night, he finished top of the qualifying scores with 51 which included a 12 stick-up on his second throw, second place went to Si Marsh he scored 48 and he also had a stick-up of 12 on his second throw, third top scorer was another Moordown Red player Richard Broomfield he finished with 47, there were three players who finished with a score of 45, they were P. Downton, R. Phillips and K. Arthur, seventh and eight place went to T. Phillips and I. Penney who both finished on 44, ninth qualifier was A. Hewlett with a score of 43. There was a throw-off for that tenth place which was between the two Corfe Lads players Pete Luther and Tash Davis, Pete threw first and scored a seven, Tash could only manage a six, so Pete squeezed through in 10th place. The other two players that failed to qualify for the final was last year’s Singles champion Steve Shear, he has won the Trophy four times and had a stick-up 13 on his third throw but finished with a score of 41, the other non-qualifier was Les Smith who finished on 37.

Cancelled games must be played within the 56 days, don’t leave it until the 40th day to try and arrange it, also two dates must be given, let me know the date when you have arranged it. Failure to play it within the 56 days will be brought up at the committee.

Season 1976/77.

There were four divisions all had 18 teams in each division, all completed their 34 league matches.

Winners of the 4th Division in 1976/77 season were Gas Sports B, their captain was Charlie Wills, after the 34 league games they had won 21 of them and finished up with 88 points, they won 21 Beers, the previous season (75/76) they were the Gas Tavern E team.
Runner-up spot in 1976-77 season went to the Sandford Lads, they played at the Sandford Legion, they won 17 matches and scored 85 points, they won 26 Beers, their captain that year was G. Hodges.
There was only one Beer Cup for all four divisions, that went to the Potters Lads of the first division who won 28 Beers.

3rd Division winners were Oakdale C, they won 16 of their 34 matches and finished with 88 points and won 24 Beers in 1976/77 season, their captain was Dave Fallows, this was their second season at the Oakdale Con Club. The previous season (75/76) after their 34 league games they finished up with 104 points, which I believe is the highest amount of points won by any team since, previous to that (1974-75) they played at the Angel under the Angel ‘B’ banner. Runner-up in the third division in 1976-77 season were the Redland Lads who finished with a total score of 83 points, they were captained by P. Wareham, they also were the runner-up to the Oakdale C side the previous year in the fourth division.

Winners of the Second Division in 1976-77 season were Flight Refuelling and were skippered by Brian Hutchings, they won 16 of their 34 league games and finished with a total of 84 points, two points ahead of the second place team Hamworthy Legion F whose captain was D. Jolliffe. The Flight Refuelling side won 23 Beers but with only only one Beer Cup for all four divisions it went to the Potters Lads of the first division who won 28 Beers.

The 1st division winners in 1976-77 season were the Potters Lads side who won 24 of their 34 matches and scored a total of 95 points, this was their first time they had won the 1st division, the previous season (1975-76) they finished second in the division. They also won the Beer Cup trophy that season, there was only one Beer Cup for all four divisions in those days. Corfe Lads finished in second place in the 1976-77 season, they finished on 80 points 15 points behind the Potters Lads, the Corfe Lads skipper was J. R. Broomfield, they finished five points ahead of the third place team Generators B who played at the old Poole Power station on 75 points.
Potters Lads started in division 4 in 1971-72 season and won that division in their first year, they went on to win division three the following year (1972-73) and continued their upward climb winning the second division the following year (1973-74), all the time being captained by R. S. Hatchard.