Thank you to Competitions Secretary Mike Potter for the below report.
With cloudy grey skies above and the prospect of showers forecast, we arrived at Old Shrewsbury BC an hour before the 10am start and were greeted by the sound of a lawn mower as head groundsman, Rich Jones and his team were completing the cutting of the two greens in readiness for the 2024 County Handicap competition. Also, in response to the success of last year’s 93 entries, the Prince of Wales BC had arranged for their, over the hedge, green to also be available for our use throughout the day.
Having had the occasional light shower, the action on the three greens drew to a close after 11 hours, just as the rain began to get heavier, County regular, Ash Wellings became the latest Castlefields player to lift the John Bowers Cup after getting the better of Chris Elsbury of The Prince of Wales Hotel, 21-12 in the final of the late Spring Bank Holiday, County Handicap.
Despite the poor weather forecast, I was hoping we could amass an entry like that of last year, and again with the invaluable help of doing the draw and writing many cards by Trish Jones and Louise Cotton it soon became apparent we were going to be close to that figure of 93. Eventually we finally ended up falling just a couple short as the number rose to an impressive 91 entries that would see the players battle it out down to the quarter-finals played on the green near to the river Severn.
Highlights from the Quarter Finals
Ash Wellings was in top form scoring an impressive eight double chalk ends as an unlucky Carl Hinton could muster a pair of single points as Ash ended his misery after 15 ends to win 21-4.
Chris Elsbury, from 3-3 soon found himself trail Perry Evans 7-13 and had to fight hard to eventually level the game at 15-15 and from 18-18 pushed himself to win after 30 ends, winning 21-18.
Mark Parsons took control from 9-9 to move on to 18-11 before Dave Evans worked his way back to a 20-20 level game only for Mark to steal the last end of the 23 played to take it 21-20.
Ed Proudlove had to make comebacks from 4-11 and 9-17 to claw his way to level with Rich Lawson and take the win in the 29th end to finish 21-20.
Highlights from Semi-Finals
From 7-7, Ash Wellings pulled away from Mark Parsons to establish a strong 17-11 lead, however, after being 19-13 up he saw his lead cut to a mere 2 chalks, 19-17, but held on to book his place in the final after 25 ends to win 21-17
Meanwhile.
Evenly matched in handicaps, Chris Elsbury and Ed Proudlove were battling each other down the card as the scores went from 6-6, 10-10 and 14-14 until at 18-18, Chris made the decisive move and take the game in the 26th end, 21-19.
The Final
In light drizzle, at 8.15pm, the final began that saw Ash Wellings work his way from a 0-5 deficit into a lead of 10-5(11ends) before Chris Elsbury closed the gap to within a couple of chalks to trail 11-13(18ends) only to see Ash take four of the last five ends, scoring double points at each that would seal his victory finishing the game 21-12(23ends).
Full results are here.
After paying tribute to Rich Jones and his team of greenkeepers for the use of the Prince of Wales and OSBC greens along with the club members for providing, refreshments and facilities, Competitions Secretary, Mike Potter, also thanked Trish Jones & Louise Cotton for their invaluable clerical assistance throughout the day and football card seller, Linda Potter before inviting County President, 2025, Simon Fullard to make the presentation prize awards to the worthy competitors featuring Gill Owens(Albrighton) as Best Lady Bowler and Emily Hotchkiss(Prince of Wales Hotel) who received the Best Novice award and finally, raising the County Handicap Champions trophy for 2025, Ash Wellings.
