Norfolk Over 60’s entertained Friends of Essex for the second leg of their annual challenge match defending a narrow two point lead from the away leg. A tough match was expected as usual and after the first session of triples Norfolk’s lead had turned into a two point deficit with Essex winning on five mats and Norfolk winning on just three. The winning Norfolk triples were skipped by Geoff Payne of Saxlingham, Jane James of Horsford Heroes & Steve Easter of Harling. The following session of pairs though set the tone for the rest of the match as Norfolk won six of the eight games clocking up 114 shots against 52. David Knights & Simon Warnes of Horsford BC stormed to a 26-2 win and Janet Pinchen of Thorpe Marriott & Neil Davidson of Hempnall won 19-3 fuelling a personal duel between Warnes & Davidson over which of their pairs could achieve the day’s best results. Wymondham’s Billie & Melvyn Barker won 14-3, Kerry Greenacre of Haddiscoe & Selwyn Goldsmith of Hevingham won 16-6, Di Quadling of Connaught & Terry Newby of Carleton Rode won 12-10 and Richard Broad of Shropham & Lesley Crowe of First Bus won 12-6. The triples then returned to the mats but this time it was Norfolk who came out on top in this discipline winning five of the eight games. Geoff Payne’s triple scored their second win of the day by an excellent 15-2 margin while Jock Pollock of Hingham and his triple won 21-7 and Peter Fox of Horsford Heroes skipped his triple to a 16-2 win. Other winning skips were John Jarvis of Thorpe Marriott and John Poynter of Costessey. With their spirits high Norfolk moved well ahead of their visitors in the next pairs session winning seven of the eight games which included a 20-3 win for Will Townsend of Hingham & Mike Boswell of Windows. This left Norfolk leading by 20 points at the halfway stage. This increased to 28 points after the next triples session after five wins for Norfolk, two draws and just one Essex win and then by an incredible 40 points after the pairs returned seven wins from eight games. The seventh session finally saw Friends of Essex win another session as they won five of the eight games but Gill Coleman of Diss, David Blundell of Wortwell & Saxlingham’s Geoff Payne celebrated as they picked up their fourth straight win of the day. In the final session of pairs Norfolk won six of the eight games. This also left three Norfolk pairs achieving four wins each. David Knights & Simon Warnes with +40 shots, Janet Pinchen & Neil Davidson with +35 shots and Billie & Melvin Barker with +28 shots. The result on the day was a remarkable one for Teresa Goldsmith and her Norfolk Over 60’s team ending in an 86-42 points win on the day, 738-497 on shots, against a talented Friends of Essex line-up. Once again though, leaving the result aside, it was an enormously enjoyable day against a terrific bunch of people. The ladies in the kitchen once again produced a superb lunch for all and kept the teas & coffees flowing all day while David Chadwick & Val Vardy ran the raffle. Everyone will already be looking forward to next season’s friendly challenge when Friends of Essex will no doubt be looking to avenge this season’s result.
Team bosses Teresa Goldsmith & Tony Ealham
David Knights
Simon Warnes
Janet Pinchen
Neil Davidson
David Chadwick & Val Vardy running the raffle