County Competitions
Outdoor County Competitions 2024
The Bowls Dorset County Competitions Finals weekend took place 14/15 September 2024 at Branksome Park BC. The schedule for the weekend is available on the Bowls Dorset website.
The Edna Paisley Purple team won the final at Branksome Park on Saturday 14 September 2024, beating Swanage on both rinks. Overall win by 6 shots. A very good, close game. The players were Maureen Jones, Marlyn Bickel, Sandra Hubbard and Annie Baldwin, Teresa Jeanes, Judith King. Sue Maggs and Carol Baker were reserves.
In the Bowls Dorset County finals weekend 20/21 July 2024 held at Dorchester Bowls Club, Dorchester bowlers had mixed success in 6 finals.
In the Ladies' Triples Val Wright, Val Cornick and Barbara Smith lost to Julie Leake, Millie Tuck and Bridget Hodder (Poole Park).
In the Men's Under 25 Singles James Roe beat Ollie Kenway (Poole Park).
In the Men's Pairs Lee Edwards and Ged Costello beat Nick Voss and Dave Joslin (sub for Jamie Lockwood).
In the Ladies' Two Wood Singles Sue Jennings beat Mille Tuck (Poole Park).
In the Men's Two Wood Singles Ged Costello lost to Tom Poore (Branksome Park).
In the Men's Under 25 Pairs James Roe and Dean Ballard (Portland Victoria) beat Z.Evans (Blandford) and M.Collins (West Moors).
All of these players have also qualified for the National Final at Leamington in August.
Details of the programme of Finals for Bowls Dorset over the weekend 20/21 July 2024 at Dorchester BC are available on the Bowls Dorset website.
Well done to Ged Costello who has qualified for the National finals for the Men's 2 Wood Singles. In the Bowls Dorset Men's 2 Wood Singles Quarter finals he beat Wayne Garnett and then beat Alan Stockley (Broadstone Wessex) in the Semi finals. He will now play Tom Poore (Branksome Park) in the final.
Well done to Ged Costello and Wayne Garnett who qualified for the Bowls Dorset Men's 2 Wood Singles Quarter and Semi Finals to be played Saturday 13th July at Sherborne BC.
Well done to James Roe who has qualified for the national finals for the U25 singles. In the quarter finals he won 21-8 against Ryan Scammel and then beat Will Scammel 21-16 in the semi finals. He will now play Ollie Kenway in the final.
Well done to Martin Pavey who qualified for the Bowls Dorset Men's 4 Wood Singles Quarter and Semi Finals to be played Sunday 14th July at Branksome Park BC. Unfortunately Martin lost in the Quarter final to Gary Young (Shaftesbury).
In the Men's Double Rink Dorchester lost to Branksome Park in the Area Final. Details can be found on the Bowls England website
In the Men's Top Club Dorchester lost to Branksome Park. Details can be found on the Bowls England website
In the semi final of the Men's County Pairs Lee Edwards & Ged Costello beat Martin Pavey & Martin Puckett and Nick Voss and Jamie Lockwood beat Alex Dytham & Ollie Thake (Branksome Park). The two finalists qualify for the National Finals at Leamington Spa in August.
In the quarter finals of the Men's County Pairs there was success for all three Dorchester pairs.
Lee Edwards & Ged Costello beat D. Sherwin and T. Elston (Blandford) and set up an all Dorchester semi final with Martin Pavey & Martin Puckett who beat C.Slade and K.Vincent (Portland Victoria).
Nick Voss and Jamie Lockwood beat T.Cailes and R.White (Blandford) and will play Alex Dytham and Ollie Thake (Branksome Park) in the other semi final.
Martin Puckett, Martin Pavey, Jamie Lockwood and Nick Voss lost in the Quarter-Finals of the Bowls Dorset Men's County Fours at Shaftesbury on Sunday 26 May 2024.
In the County Men's Triples Ged Costello, Martin Puckett, Martin Pavey and Harry Hovenden, Steve Willsher, Graham Cockett both won their Quarter Finals at Blandford on Sunday 19 May 2024. Unfortunately in the Semi Finals both teams were beaten. Details can be found on the Bowls Dorset website.
2023
Bowls Dorset County Competitions Finals Weekend 2023
The Bowls Dorset County Competitions Finals Weekend took place across the weekend 9/10 September 2023 at Dorchester.
Dorchester Men's W1 lost to Branksome Park E1 in the Percy Baker Final on Saturday 9 September 2023 at 10:00,
Mick Durant ( sub for Dave Smith), Martin Pavey and Steve Lambert-Culling beat Josh Cowan, Geoff Kite and Mike Gale (Greenhill) to win the Men's Triples on Sunday 10 September 2023 at 14:00.
Details can be found on Bowls Dorset Competitions page.
Bowls Dorset County Finals Weekend 2023
The Bowls Dorset Finals Weekend took place across the weekend 22/23 July 2023 at Dorchester BC.
Congratulations to Nick Voss and Jamie Lockwood winning the Bowls Dorset Men's Pairs and qualifying for the National Finals at Leamington.
Congratulations to Val Cornick winning the Bowls Dorset Ladies 2 Wood Singles and qualifying for the National Finals at Leamington.
A number of the finals were rearranged due to the inclement weather on Saturday afternoon.
Details can be found on Bowls Dorset Competitions page.
The club has numerous entries in the Bowls Dorset county competitions 2023, a number of which lead on to the National Finals at Leamington Spa.
Details of the county competition draws can be found on the Bowls Dorset pages.
2022
The club has numerous entries in the Bowls Dorset county competitions, a number of which lead on to the National Finals at Leamington Spa.
Details of the county competition draws can be found on the Bowls Dorset pages
The programme for Bowls Dorset County Championship Finals weekend is now available here.
Congratulations to Martin Puckett who won the Men's 4 Wood Singles defeating Tom Poore (Branksome Park) and qualifies for the National Finals at Leamington Spa. Details of the Finals can be found here.
Men's County Cup
Bowls Dorset County Cup Final Dorchester v Poole Park
Dorchester Bowls Club finished the season on a high when they defeated serial winners Poole Park in the Final of the County Cup, played at Blandford Bowls Club. This match was a real rollercoaster ride with each side having clear victories in two rinks apiece. Poole Park’s J Kenway, A Paulley, J Kingdom and skip A Dytham always had a slight edge over Dorchester’s Phil Lannon, George Aslett, Steve Lambert-Collins and George Spracklen and late pressure enabled the East Dorset team to finish with a useful 25-16 advantage. This lead was enhanced when their R Standley, J Hobby, N Wood and C Weekes defeated Dave Joslin, Alexander Wilson, Les Selby and Ged Costello 26-19 with the sole difference between the teams being the seven shots scored by the Poole outfit in the fifth end. However, Dorchester’s Harry Hovenden, Mick Durant, Jamie Lockwood and Nick Voss played brilliantly to overpower D Hodgkiss, C Steadman, D Baxter and D Steadman 27-11, a score which left the overall score at 62-62 with the final rink still in play.
This contest, between Dorchester’s Dave Smith, Ed Smith, Martin Pavey and Martin Puckett and Poole Park’s D Charles, B Gage, C Brown and T Hume was a close-run affair throughout although Dorchester held a narrow five shots advantage with four ends still to play. With the overall result still in the balance the County Town crew held their nerve to stretch their lead to nine shots with one end remaining at which point the teams shook hands to signal the Dorchester victory.
Bowls Dorset County Cup Semi-Final Dorchester v Blandford
Following the quarter final victory in the County Cup over Greenhill, Dorchester recorded a comfortable 111-59 win against Blandford in their County Cup semi-final match to book their place in the final where they will face stiff competition in the form of the highly successful Poole Park team on 17/18 September 2022 at Blandford BC.
Two of the Dorchester rinks had massive victories with Dave Smith, Ed Smith, Adam Tidby and skip Martin Puckett coasting to a 31-14 success against Blandford’s C Pickering, N Arnold, P Preen and P Hawkins, despite conceding an early lead and Phil Lannon, Alexander Wilson, Les Selby and Nick Voss following suit in their 30-7 triumph playing J Beckford, K Donaldson, P Cornick and B Males. Blandford almost gained the solace of a rink victory as their C Joyce, D Burge, S Steele and C Burd were leading as their clash with Steve Willsher, George Aslett, Steve Lambert-Culling and George Spracklen approached the final ends but a late flurry of shots from the County Town team saw them snatch a hard-fought 21-19 win. The match-up between Dorchester’s Harry Hovenden, Geoff Ellis, Mick Durant and Martin Pavey and Blandord’s J Greening, K Anthony, B Hussey and S Clayton remained competitive throughout but Dorchester again applied late pressure and ran out as 28-19 winners.
Bowls Dorset County Cup Quarter-Final Dorchester v Greenhill
Dorchester’s top players were on display in the Club’s County Cup Quarter-Final clash with old rivals Greenhill and they did eventually come out on top 67-62 after 21 ends of fierce competition and superb bowling. Greenhill gained two excellent results as their T Munro, P Rod, T Devonald-Batt and Graham Parker saw off a determined late challenge by Dave Joslin, Alexander Wilson, Wayne Garnett and Ged Costello to get home by 20-18 and the sea-side team also played well to gain an excellent win when their G Kite, B Foote, R McCarthy and B Patterson recovered from an 0-8 start to see off Dorchester’s Steve Willsher, George Aslett, Steve Lambert-Culling and George Spracklen 18-13. However, Dorchester’s Harry Hovenden, Mick Durant, Martin Pavey and Jamie Lockwood balanced the scores as they capitalised on a quick 11-1 start to finish as 19-9 victors playing W Brown, D Wade, W Smith and M Chislett. The remaining tussle between Greenhill’s D Bishop, C Poulter, M Zollo and D Devonald-Batt and Dorchester’s D Smith, P Lannon, A Tidby and M Puckett looked like going Greenhill’s way as they led by four shots playing the final three ends. However, the Dorchester quartet dug in to score six shots in these ends which both secured a 17-15 rink victory and, crucially, the 67-62 overall win.
County Competitions
The full schedule for County Competition Finals weekend 17/18 September 2022 at Blandford BC is available here.
Results for competitions with involvement for Dorchester players were as follows
County Mixed Fours Winners: J.Evans, T.Cordial, B.Atkins, T.Hume [Poole Park] Runners-up: H.Hovenden, L.Hill, B.Smith, G.Costello [Dorchester]
Unqualified Singles (LUST) Winner: K.Ellis [Dorchester] Runner-up: H.Lannon [Dorchester]
June Culpin Winner: Greenhill Runner-up: Dorchester
Men's Champion of Champions Winner: G.Costello [Dorchester] Runner-up: P.Freeman [Wimborne]
Men's County Cup Winner: Dorchester Runner-up: Poole Park