The three Norfolk Pairs, who had qualified from the local heat for the National Over 55 Pairs Finals day, travelled to Melton Mowbray with hope in their hearts of national glory. Unfortunately it was not to be as despite their best and heroic efforts they made early exits. Will Townsend of Hingham and Terry Newby of Carleton Rode qualified from group 7 with two 9-4 wins against Tony Duke & Trevor Knight of Hertfordshire and Monica Carter & Carole Preece of Gloucestershire which saw them claim second place in the group. Their only defeat was by just 10-9 against Tony Stevens & Mick Murphy of Greater Manchester. They then faced Dave Summers & Rose Morrison of Devon in the Last 32 knock-out round but lost by the narrow margin of just 11-13. Norfolk’s other two pairs failed to progress through the group stages. John Jeffery of Wymondham & Ray Lamb of Halvergate won their group 15 game against Jenny & Belinda Gibbs of Worcestershire by 11-6 but a 10-3 defeat to Devon’s Teresa Walter & Colin Sowden and a 13-11 loss to Hampshire’s Dave Goddard & Janice Gould saw them eliminated. Clive Eke of Thetford & Graham Mobbs of Diss were drawn in group 5 where they beat John & Kath Fussey of Humberside 10-6 but that proved to be their only success. Their other games saw them go down by 9-5 against Rob Wade & Del Coates of Essex and by 10-9 to Diane & Graham Shepherd of Devon. The National Over 55 Pairs title was eventually won by Mike Dyer & Nigel Nicholls of Cornwall who beat Hampshire’s Lorraine & Andrew Shorney 9-8 in the final. The semi-finals saw the Cornwall pair beat North Yorkshire’s Jill Newsome & Anna Noughton 15-6 while the Hampshire pair beat Gary Brown & Paul Shingler of West Mids 10-8.
Mike Dyer & Nigel Nicholls of Cornwall - Champions
Hampshire’s Andrew & Lorraine Shorney - Runners-up