Joe Elliott, sorry I missed your 18 score on the result card in Week 14, which you achieved at the Corfe Legion. It’s a great achievement. I am assured that you will remember it. Last season’s top score was 18, so you would have shared that trophy. This season, so far, two players have scored over 18.

Due to a falsified Beer result card in week 12, both Cen-Terry 24 and Corfe Lads have been eliminated from the Beer Cup, and if they win the Beer point, it will only be added to their league total.
Tuesday’s game at the Centenary Club involved the league leaders, Cen-Terry! 24, against the Bluebirds A side. Bluebirds A team got off to a good start and took the first two points in the match. Cen-Terry! 24 won the last two points, the game finished in a 2-2 draw, which is only the second draw of the season for the 24 team.
Another match that took place at the Centenary Club was on Wednesday, when the Centenary JB side were home to another club team the Centenary PH ‘B’, the result was a 3-1 win for the JB team who also won the Beer point, that is JB’s third Beer point on the trot, last time they did that was in their first three matches of the season, after that they did not win a Beer until the second half of the season.
Bluebirds E entertained the Wallisdown Lads on Wednesday, or should I say the Wallisdown Lads entertained the Bluebirds side at the Bluebirds club, although wellies were not quite needed to get into the club after a day of non-stop rain, it certainly was a fun match to be remembered. Wallisdown Lads took advantage of the late arrival of their sixth player and won the first point in two straight legs. Bluebirds took the second point in a three-leg affair. Wallisdown took the third point, again in a three-leg affair. Jason of Wallidown Lads converted the first stick-up of the night in the third leg to earn Wallisdown their second point. The Beer point turned out to be nothing like the first three points. Wallisdown won the first leg, then in the second leg, both teams got two stick-ups each. Last man Steve for Bluebirds needed an eight to take the Beer point to a third leg, but just missed out and scored a seven, which gave the Wallisdown Lads three points on a very enjoyable night of skittles.
The third match on Wednesday was at the Oakdale club, where the PHC team welcomed the Claypipe Lads. Oakdale PHC team got off to a flyer and took the first three points in the evening, but Claypipe Lads took the Beer point, which now means the Claypipe Lads are leading the way in the Beer Cup trophy.
Thursday’s match at Corfe Legion was between the two Corfe Legion sides. Corfe Lads were home to the Corfe ‘A’ team. Corfe Lads had to sign on two new players on the night, but they were still just too strong for the ‘A’ team, who are struggling to find their form this season, and Corfe Lads came out 3-1 winners on the night.
The other Thursday match was at Colehill club, where the OBs welcomed the Moordown Reds to their lovely alley. In a very short game, Moordown won the first point in two straight legs, then Colehill OBs won the next three points also in two straight legs. Next week they meet each other again, this time at the Moordown club in the Aggregate Shield, maybe over nine throws!

THE FINAL OF THE MIXED PAIRS NIGHT IS ON MONDAY, MARCH 2nd (Monday week). It is at the Wallisdown Con Club. It is a 7.30 start, not 8.00 pm, which is due to the number of entries for this competition.

It is with deep regret that I have been informed of the passing of Derek Cooper. He was always known as Cooperman and played at the old Potters pub in Poole, he also played at the Lytchett Legion and the Oakdale Con. over the years.

Captains: a reminder that we are still charging £3 per league match, which accumulates to £33 for half the season or £66 for the season. There are seven teams that have not paid anything at the moment.
This week all the away teams won the last point of the evening. I cannot remember this happening before.
Three games were played on Tuesday, none of which resulted in a home win.
Centenary PH ‘B’ hosted the Bluebirds E at the dry Centenary Club, the game ended all square with Bluebirds ‘E’ winning the Beer, which is their third consecutive Beer in the second half of the season.
Corfe A picked up their first point in the second half of the season when they played against Colehill OBs at the Corfe Legion. Colehill OBs won 3-1 on the evening, which included the Beer point.
Wallisdown Lads were home to the league leaders Cen-Terry! 24 team on Tuesday , the Lads won the first point in a three-leg affair, Wallisdown won the first leg of the second point but the Cen-Terry team took the second and third leg with solid scores to win their first point. The Cen-Terry! side won their second point in two straight legs and also won the last point which was over three legs with solid scores, so they left the Wallisdown Club with three precious points.
Wednesday’s only match was at the Moordown Con where the Reds welcomed the Centenary JB team. Moordown Reds took the first three points of the evening, the Centenary side took the Beer point.
Thursday’s game between the Claypipe Lads and the Corfe Lads at the Claypipe Inn resulted in a win for the Corfe Lads. Solid skittling from Corfe Lads saw them take the first and second points and take the last point of the evening.
Bluebirds ‘A’ welcomed the Oakdale PHC side to their club, Bluebirds took the first point in two straight legs, Oakdale won the second point in two straight with the help of Mike Lee who scored an 18 to take their first point, Bluebirds side took the third point in two straight again to lead 2-1 in the evening, Oakdale came back and won the Beer point again in two straight legs, so it was an early finish in an eight leg game which finished in a draw.

The week started with only one match on Tuesday, that was the fixture at the Centenary Club where the PH ‘B’ team took on the Wallisdown Lads, who only had five players, but five for a missing player is not that bad on the Centenary alley. After a close game where two of the points were decided by a bolter, it ended in a draw with the home side winning the Beer point in a 12-leg match.
On Wednesday the Centenary club was again in use, this match was between two bottom sides in the table, Centenary JB and Corfe ‘A’, it ended with the same result as the Corfe Legion fixture, which was a 4-0 win for the JB team, it was the JB’s first win in eight league matches and leaves Corfe team with an uphill struggle.
Bluebirds E and Moordown Reds had their wellie boots ready for their encounter at the Bluebirds Club. Last week the club had to close for two nights due to a waterlogged car park. The result was a 3-1 win for the Bluebirds ‘E’ team. Moordown Reds did win a point from this match, which was more than they did in their first encounter with them in week 2.
Colehill OBs suffered their first 4-0 defeat at home this season on Thursday when the smoking Claypipe team visited the Colehill Club, although the game went to 11-legs the Colehill OBs could not stop the Claypipe Lads from taking all the points.

The draw took place at the committee meeting for the Final of the Singles, Pairs, and the quarter-finals of the Aggregate and Handicap Cup. They can be found on the relevant website page.

In the 1975/76 season of the Poole and District Skittle League, there were four divisions and all had 18 teams, which was a 34-week league season. If you reached the final of the Aggregate Shield or the Knock-out cup, you would have had to go through seven rounds to get to the final of those trophies.

Winners of the Second Division in 1975-76 season were Pure Drop Lads, captained by John Knowlton, Pure Drop Lads won 23 of their 34 league games and finished with a total of 95 points, 11 points ahead of the second-place team. The Pure Drop Lads won the Beer Cup by winning 26 of the 34 Beer points. There was only one Beer Cup for all four divisions. 1st and 3rd divisions finished with 25, 4th division winner finished with 24.
Redlands C were the runner-up team and finished the league season with 84 points and won 17 of their 34 league games, which included 19 Beers. Their captain was A. Pinkett.