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Harwich Indoor Bowls Club

Harwich I.B.C. 94   Walton I.B.C. 105
Harwich entertained their closest rivals Walton in this mixed friendly fixture that was played over eighteen ends and across six rinks. Historically fixtures between these two clubs are close fought affairs with the advantage and result usually going in favour of the home side.
On this occasion and against an experienced Walton team Harwich fielded a fairly inexperienced side with a number of their bowlers having less than a years’ experience. But with three ends remaining it was the home side that held a slender three shot lead. A lead which unfortunately they were unable to hold onto being outscored by thirteen shots to twenty-seven over the last three ends.
Harwich’s best performing rink of the afternoon was the one skipped by Sandy Mooney who along with Flora Dick and Bill Howlett were never particularly troubled by their opponents, winning by fifteen shots 26-11. Not to be outdone Steve Humphrey who played skip to Jackie Hindle and Wilf Rose managed to scored twos on a regular basis throughout the match to win by thirteen shots, 24-11. Pete Andrews skipping Tony Watson and Keith Hindle held a two-shot advantage going into the last end but were unable to stop their opponents scoring a game winning three to lose by a single shot, 15-16. Men’s captain George Berry took charge of Pete Wilby and Pete Rogers, two of the home sides inexperienced bowlers but didn’t manage to trouble an experienced Walton side losing by fourteen shots, 7-21. Also loosing by fourteen shots were the inexperienced triple of Tom Fryer, wife Maureen and Ron Bennett. Unfortunately, Charlie Furtado skipping Dawn Whitman and David Hunter had an off day and never managed to get to grips with their opponents losing by seventeen shots, 8-25. 

​Fixtures - Match Reports     2021 - 2022

Harwich I.B.C. 121   Clacton I.B.C. 78
In this, the return fixture from October, Clacton travelled to Harwich hoping to overturn the 94 – 79 defeat they surprisingly suffered on their own rinks. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case as Clacton struggled to adapt to the unfamiliar conditions winning on one rink, drawing on one and loosing on four.
Harwich’s best performing rink of the afternoon was the one skipped by Sandy Mooney who along with Tony Watson and George Beaumont never gave their opponents a look in, winning by twenty-three shots and limiting them to just five points which were scored over three of the eighteen ends. The final score being 28 – 5. After ten ends home skip Steve Humphrey, Chris Barker and Pete Rogers were trailing their opponents by a solitary point in a closely fought contest but scored what proved to be a match winning seventeen points over the remaining eight ends to win by thirteen shots, 23 – 10. Also winning by thirteen shots thanks to the fifteen they scored over the last six ends were John Almond, Jackie Hindle and Elizabeth Pomroy, the final score being 25 – 12. Captain of the day George Berry along with Hazel Wilson and Jackie Halsall had a much closer game than they would have liked but thanks to the six shots they scored over the last four ends held on to win by five shots, 17 – 12. Tony Wilson, John Wilson and Maureen Fryer held a seven-shot advantage at the half-way stage of their game but couldn’t quite hold onto it with their opponents scoring six over the final three ends to draw the game 17 – 17. Unfortunately for skip Sid Elmer, Harwich chairmen Charlie Cornish and Keith Hindle they proved to be home side’s only loosing rink and never really got to grips with their opponents, losing by ten shots, 11 – 21.

Harwich I. B. C. 98   Essex Presidents 63
This was the second of three prestigious friendly matches against County President Select teams that Harwich play each year, the other two being against Suffolk and Norfolk
The format for this particular game was “Rinks” in that each team consisted of four players who in turn each delivered two bowls or woods as they are often referred to and was played over twenty-one ends, lasting approximately three hours.
The overall result and winning margin owed much to Harwich’s stand out rink of the afternoon where “skip” Steve Humphrey, ably assisted by Eric March, Wilf Rose and Clive Pettican completely overwhelmed their opponents by thirty shots, 36 – 6. In fact, the home side were so dominant that they didn’t let the Presidents register their first points until the seventh end to make the score 13 – 2 and then went on to limit them to scoring on just a further three of the twenty-one ends played.
The other three games of the afternoon proved to be much closer affairs with Harwich winning on two rinks and the Presidents one. Sid Elmer playing “skip” to Chris Barker, John Peperell and Peter Wilby were level with their opponents at seven shots each after twelve ends but over the next five ends managed to accumulate fourteen shots to give them a what should have proved to be a fairly comfortable run in over the last four ends but the Presidents fought back strongly scoring ten shots to make the final score a closer than expected 21 – 17 in Harwich’s favour.
Steve Young “skipping” Tom Fryer, Ron Bennett and Colin Theobald were one shot down after fourteen ends but held their nerve against an experienced Presidents team, managing to score nine shots over the next five ends to give them an eight shot advantage with two ends to play. Their opposition managed to claw back five shots but fell short by three giving the home side a narrow win, 18 – 15.
Captain of the day George Berry accompanied by Pete Andrews and Howard Lewsey decided against playing “skip” instead giving that responsibility to Tony Wilson. Unfortunately, after thirteen ends things weren’t looking too good for the home side as they trailed by eleven shots but picked up nine shots over the next three ends to trail by two. Going into the penultimate end that deficit had increased to six but a five made the scores 23 – 24 with it all to play for on the last end which the Presidents managed to score a single shot on to make the final score 23 – 25.

​​Harwich I.B.C.  92   Dovercourt B.C.  107
As Harwich sporting rivalries go this must be up there with the biggest and best of them and to give playing time to some of their newer members Harwich fielded a fairly inexperienced side for the second consecutive week. Although Dovercourt are an outdoor club all the players who represented them in this mixed triple friendly, played across six rinks and over eighteen ends, play indoor bowls on a regular basis throughout the winter.
Harwich’s best performing and only winning rink of the afternoon was again skipped by Sandy Mooney who ably supported by George Beaumont and Tony Wilson never gave their opponents a look-in winning 35-10 and restricting Brenda Vernaven, Judith Jupp and her husband John to scoring on just five ends. Steve Humphrey skipping Jackie Hindle and Peter Wilby fought a close battle throughout with Clive Elmer, John Huckle and Derick Taylor but were three shots down going into the last end. Fortunately, all three of the home players held their nerve and each managed to “draw” a wood to within two foot of the jack giving them the three shots they required for an honourable 18-18 draw.
Unfortunately, that is where the good fortune ended for the home side as they lost on all four of the remaining rinks. Peter Andrews skipping Bill Howlett and Keith Hindle fought a close game throughout but conceded six shots on the last three ends to lose 12-18 to Steve Young, Trevor Elmer and Carol Harrington. Captain of the day Sandra Hambling who was in charge of Tony Watson and Paul Wilder held their own against Dovercourt’s captain Howard Lewsey, Mary Good and Ken Sparks with the scores being level at the half-way stage but eventually lost out 13-20. Charlie Furtado, Mo Fryer and Dawn Whitman came up against an in-form triple consisting of Mike Ryan, Diana Jacobs and Carol Sutton, losing 8-20. Also coming up against the in-form triple of David Frost, Steve Day and Wilf Rose was John Peperell, Ron Bennett and Tom Fryer who only managed to trouble the scorer on five ends, losing 6-21.
Putting the rivalry aside this match was played, as expected in a friendly manner and with plenty of banter being swapped between the two sides. Hopefully this fixture will be reciprocated in the summer with Dovercourt B.C. playing hosts to Harwich I.B.C. on the alien surface of grass.

Harwich I.B.C   141   Copdock & Washbrook B.C.   21   
This was Harwich’s third mixed friendly of the winter season and was played across four rinks against a team which consisted mainly of outdoor bowlers. Unfortunately, on this occasion the visitors never got to grips with the unfamiliar conditions and were well and truly beaten on all four rinks by a strong home side.
Harwich’s best performing rink of the afternoon was the one skipped by Sandy Mooney who along with Steve Humphrey and Paul Wilder never gave their opponents a look in, winning 56 – 2, and restricting them to scoring a solitary two points on the fifth end of the eighteen played. Captain of the day Howard Lewsey ably assisted by Diana Jacobs and Pete Andrews also won convincingly, 40 – 4 and restricted their opponents to scoring on just four ends. John Almond, Wilf Rose and Tony Watson were never troubled by their opposing triple winning by nineteen shots, 24 – 5. The closest game of the afternoon was on rink four where husband and wife Keith and Jackie Hindle were skipped by Sid Elmer and won 21 – 10 against a triple that consisted of a guest “skip” in Mike Ryan, himself a Harwich bowler.

Clacton I.B.C. 79   Harwich I.B.C. 94 
Harwich travelled to Clacton, one of their main rivals in Tendring along with Walton, for this mixed triple friendly that was played over eighteen ends and across five rinks.
Knowing how the individual rinks play usually gives a slight advantage to the home side but on this occasion Harwich, on the whole, adapted well to the unfamiliar conditions winning on two of the rinks by large enough margins to give them a victory overall.
Harwich’s best performing rink of the afternoon was the one skipped by Gillie Gale who along with husband Mike and Tony Wilson never gave their opponents time to settle and won convincingly by a score of 32 – 6. Mike Ryan skipping Diana Jacobs and Tom Fryer were kept in check throughout by the home triple but a three on the last end saw them across the line, winning 22 – 16. Sandy Mooney, Mo Fryer and Tony Watson didn’t look in any kind of trouble after eleven ends with an advantage of ten shots, but the home triple held their nerve and after scoring eleven shots over the last four ends won by the narrowest of margins 19 – 18. Steve Humphrey, skipping his wife Ann and Derek Taylor fought a close game but never managed to gain any kind of advantage over their opposition and eventually lost 17 – 15. Unfortunately for captain of the day Sandra Hambling who skipped husband and wife Keith and Jackie Hindle it proved to be an afternoon that I’m sure they would rather forget as they were convincingly beaten 21 – 7.