Thank you to Competitions Secretary Mike Potter for his below report and pictures.
After “Covid” and the resumption of staging the event that attracted 16 players, this competition has enjoyed successive increases so much so that in 2025 we had doubled the number of entries of 2022.
For the third year in a row this competition has seen an increase in entries and this year’s 30% increase from last year saw 31 of the county’s “seasoned” generation including two lady bowlers, gather for a 1pm start of the Veterans Merit staged in the countryside village near Newport on the excellently presented green of Edgmond BC.
As play began, the players and supporters were able to enjoy the warming conditions of a mid-Summer day.
Having 5 chalks already on their cards the competition began and saw games produce the following results.
** home player handicap -2 chalks
Highlights from the first round – from 5-5 0n the card.
From 12-15 down, Steve Faulkner ran out against Dave Redge to win 21-15.
Mark Thomas led Carol Faulkner 14-6 and from 15-12 ran out winning 21-12.
Roy Bradburn ran out from 9-8 down to beat Ian Gaut, 21-9.
Phil Wain saw his 14-7 lead cut by Chris Partridge to 16-14 before Phil ran out 21-14.
John Clarke fought hard to run from 11-16 to lead Bob Cliffe 18-16 before finishing it off 21-18.
Ian Foster tied scores with Tony Roche 12-12, 15-15, 17-17 and 20-20 before edging home 21-20.
Similarly, Paul Beer & Fred Bailey went 10-10, 14-14 and 19-19 before Paul got the 21-19 win.
Julian Cooke and Cheryl Williams were evenly matched until from leading 11-10, Julian ran out to win 21-10.
Tim Childs & Keith Pessall scored 9-9, 15-15 but from 17-17 Keith moved to 20-17 but stalled as Tim won it 21-20.
Derek Wright quickly went from 8-7 to 16-7 before running out from 16-8 against Graham Turner to win 21-8.
Nick Davies tied with homester John Doherty 11-11 and 17-17 before winning the game 21-17.
Alan Gaut led Mirjana Gaut 10-5, 15-8 and 18-9 before finishing 21-12.
Adrian Owens matched Paul Williams 8-8, 10-10 and 13-13 then took control of the jack to win 21-16.
Alan Boulton had to work hard to get back from 11-17 against Cedric Bancroft to level 20-20 and then win 21-20.
Alan Ludlow-Rhodes took control from 14-13 to beat Graham Bleakley, 21-14.
Homester Dave Evans received a bye in to the second round.
Highlights from the second round
Mark Thomas had his 14-8 lead cut as Steve Faulkner went on to lead 19-16, before Mark ran out 21-19.
Phil Wain saw his 13-8 wiped out as Roy Bradburn levelled at 14-14. But then stalled at 16-14 as Phil ran out 21-16.
Ian Foster tied 14-14 and 16-16 before running out against John Clarke 21-16.
Julian Cooke also tied 12-12 and 16-16 before he edged out Paul Beer, 21-18.
Derek Wright held a slim lead over Tim Childs until at 13-11, Derek took control and ran out 21-11.
Alan Gaut established a handful of chalks lead over Nick Davies and maintained it to win 21-17.
Alan Boulton, from 7-7 quickly went to lead Adrian Owens 15-9 and 20-13 before ending it 21-14.
Alan Ludlow-Rhodes moved from 14-7 to 20-10 before homester Dave Evans late charge closed to lose 21-15.
Highlights from the Quarter-Finals
Ian Foster saw his 12-6 lead wiped out as Julian Cooke levelled 12-12 and after another run to go 20-13 Ian eventually won it 21-15.
Mark Thomas quickly went ahead to lead Phil Wain 13-6 and from 16-10 he ran out to win 21-10.
Alan Gaut from 8-8 & 12-12 with Derek Wright got himself a 3 chalk advantage he managed to keep to win 21-18.
Alan Boulton got a 15-8 lead on Alan Ludlow-Rhodes and kept it to go on to 17-11 & 20-14 before ending 21-16.
Highlights from the Semi-Finals
Ian Foster’s 14-8 was cut to 15-14 by Mark Thomas but Ian then almost ran out as he won 21-15.
Meanwhile
Alan Gaut had to claw his way back into the game from 9-14 to level with Alan Boulton 18-18 before winning 21-18.
Highlights from the Final
Ian Foster quickly got himself a strong 15-6(8ends) and 17-9(13ends) lead before Alan Gaut hit back to close the gap to two chalks 17-15(16ends) that turned out to be just too little, too late as Ian got home 21-16(19ends) to secure his victory.
And after 5 & half hrs of hectic action where 6 games were on the green throughout the first two rounds, we then knew a new name would be engraved on the winners cup, that of Ian Foster.
Full results are here.
Competition Secretary, Mike Potter thanked the members of Edgmond BC for their hospitality and staging the event on their excellently presented green before presenting the prizes to the worthy competitors and the H W Batkin Trophy to the 2025 Veterans Merit Champion, Ian Foster.
Congratulations to all.
