Veterans County History

For history of the Veterans County Championship click here.

2025

Shropshire Crown Green Bowling Association  –  Veterans Team Championship

Thursday 10^th July, 2025 at The Rag BC   Cannock Wood, Staffs.

The Shropshire’s Veterans squad, selectors and manager left the Staffordshire venue of The Rag BC knowing missed opportunities had cost them dear in their quest to qualify for the 2025 finals day of the BCGBA’s Veterans 8-a-side Team Championship.

The squad arrived at The Rag BC filled with optimism although none of the squad had ever seen it before, we knew the day would be difficult and challenging but at least our players would get to play two matches on the green before facing the team from the host county, Staffordshire. From early indications with the already blisteringly hot weather and very tricky green conditions, we were proved right predicting a long day lay ahead for everyone. 

Knowing, winning the first match would put us on a good footing to achieving our goal of qualifying, we began the day facing North Midlands in the “3 on the card” 8-a-side round robin tournament that saw Wayne Rogers fight back from 9-15 to 13-15 only to suffer as  his opponent then ran out to leave Wayne losing 13-21. Julian Cooke rallied from 7-14 down to lead 15-14 before losing his last end, going down 20-21. Paul Williams also fought back from     13-17 to lead 20-17 but could not finish it off, also going down 20-21. Our fourth player, Mark Holland found good form to race to 14-3 before going on to 20-6 and finished off 21-8. Derek Wright opened up a 14-5 lead but was pulled back as the scores went onto 15-15, 18-18 & 20-20 from which, Derek got home 21-20. Likewise Fred Bailey had a good lead of 14-6 wiped out at 16-16 and from 20-16 could not score any more as he succumbed to a 20-21 loss. Martin Williams then turned 16-8 lead into a good 21-12 win that left Mark Thomas who from 10-10 had to battle hard back from 10-16 & 14-20 to end with 16-21. Despite only having three winning cards of the eight, still proved to enough as we had secured our first win of the day by 7 chalks.   

Meanwhile, Staffordshire were seeing off Warwick & Worcester by 9 chalks.

Our second match, against Warwick & Worcester did not begin too well for us as Julian Cooke came back from 6-12 to lead 17-12 and held on to win 21-17. Wayne Rogers, again struggled to find his weight went from 6-13 & 10-19 before it was ended 12-21. Mark Holland, from 6-6 soon found himself 7-16 down and did well to get back in his game before losing it 17-21. Derek Wright, from    9-9 went down to 12-17 and was kept at 5 chalks away, going down 16-21. Paul Williams, from 8-13 fought his way into a 19-14 lead before getting home 21-17. Martin Williams did well to get back in his game from 5-11 & 10-14 before ducking out 15-21. Mark Thomas matched his opponent throughout as they went 6-6, 10-10 & 13-13 but from 16-16, Mark took control and nearly ran out winning 21-17. Fred Bailey, tied his game at 8-8 but from 11-11 he turned the screw and went on to run out 21-11. With four winning cards each, we had just missed out on a second win by 2 chalks.

Meanwhile, Staffordshire were ending North Midlands’ chances by whitewashing them winning all eight games and defeating them by 47.

After two matches completed, we stood in second place behind our third match opponents, Staffordshire, which gave us a glimmer of hope that we would need to beat the host team by 26 chalks for us to top the group and progress to the finals day.

In our last match of the day, after a slow beginning, Derek Wright from 3-8 came back to 12-14 &  17-18 before being edged out 20-21. Julian Cooke from 9-9 & 12-12 after 12 ends, played very to run out in the next 6 ends, 21-12. Paul Williams was level at 9-9, 14-14 but could add no more after taking an 18-15 lead, he went down 18-21.        Fred Bailey, struggled from 10-10 as he trailed 14-20 managing a couple of chalks before losing 16-21. Mark Holland saw his 10-5 lead reversed to trail 11-15 before he began a very slow 9 end run out winning his game 21-15.     Martin Williams fought his way back from 6-14 to trail 13-14 only to have his opponent almost run out as Martin went down 15-21. After Wayne Rogers stepped down, Paul Beer was handed what possibly was the hardest game of the day after his opponent had already played twice earlier. Paul did well fighting back from 7-12 to level at 12-12 but from 17-17, missed out as he went down 17-21. Mark Thomas, from 9-8 & 16-11 went to the edge of winning his game 20-13 and just held on to win 21-19. With us holding three winning cards proved to be not enough as we succumbed to a narrow 2 chalk defeat securing our second place behind worthy group winners Staffordshire.

Meanwhile, North Midlands were enjoying their best result of the day, defeating Warwick & Worcester by 20 chalks.

At 8.10pm, after over 10hrs of action, Staffordshire were officially declared region 4 winners and will deservedly represent their County and our area on Finals Day  Thursday 7^th August 2025.

Congratulations Staffordshire and Good Luck in your quest to bring home the trophy to the Midlands.

Full scores from all games are here.

2023

Shropshire Crown Green Bowling Association  –  Veterans Team Championship

Thursday 13^th July, 2023 at Haunchwood BC, North Midlands.

The Shropshire’s Veterans squad, selectors and manager left the North Midlands venue of Haunchwood BC knowing that missed opportunities had cost them dear in their quest to qualify for this year’s finals day of the BCGBA’s Veterans 8-a-side Team Championship.

The squad arrived at Haunchwood BC filled with optimism and wanting to make the finals day and go a step further than last year’s tournament where we ended as runners up. With most of the squad having never seen it before, we knew the day would be difficult and challenging with us facing the host county, North Midlands, in our first match.

On a mild Summer’s day, we joined our fellow group teams from North Midlands, Staffordshire and Warwick & Worcester.

Knowing, winning the first match would put us on a good footing to achieving our goal of qualifying, we began the day facing North Midlands in the “3 on the card” 8-a-side round robin tournament that saw Wayne Rogers run out from 15-12 as did Mark Holland from 11-13. Turning his game on its head, Derek Wright, from 5-16 down also ran out 21-16. Evenly matched games had Glyn Herbert and Phil Lyttle narrowly missed out going down 17-21 along with Mark Thomas, 15-21. As Andy James struggled with the variable weight to go down 8-21, Ian Gaut was cancelling that out as from 5-5 he added another run out card that would see us our first win of the day winning by 10 chalks.

Meanwhile, Warwick & Worcester were seeing off Staffordshire by 13 chalks.

Our second match against Warwick & Worcester did not go well for us as Paul Williams 5-21 & Phil Lyttle 12-21 & Mark Thomas 15-21. But with a good fight back from 10-17 by Wayne Rogers, 16-21 and “knife edge” down the card from Mark Holland 20-21 and two 21-14 cards from Derek Wright & Ian Gaut, as well as Glyn Herbert’s 21-10 win, kept the deficit down as we lost by 12 chalks.

Meanwhile, North Midlands were ending Staffordshire’s chances by defeating them by 20 and give themselves the slimmest hope of progressing if they could overcome Warwick & Worcester.

After two matches completed, we stood in third place which meant, nothing other than a small win for North Midlands over Warwick & Worcester and a big chalk win for us against Staffordshire would see us top the group.

Our third and final match would see us share the winning cards with Staffordshire that saw Glyn Herbert 13-21 and Dave Redge 10-21 that were matched by Derek Wright 21-12 and Mark Holland 21-13 and Wayne Rogers 21-16.

Meanwhile, Warwick & Worcester were enjoying their best result of the day, defeating North Midlands by 43 chalks that saw them qualify for the finals day in August. Congratulations.

After two more games cancelled out each other, Mark Thomas 19-21 and Phil Lyttle 21-19 the outcome fell to our last man, Ian Gaut. Needing to get 19 for the match, Ian kept his cool and from 14-20 down, got hold of the jack and kept it long enough to get the chalks (19-21) required for us to secure our second match victory and the consolation of finishing runners up. Won by 1 chalk.

Results are here.

2022

Shropshire Veterans Squad 2022

 

Qualifiers

Well done to our Veterans team who qualified for the first time in the BCGBA Veterans Championships Final on Thursday 4th August. They won all three games on Thursday to get through in style at West Brom FSC.

Team Manager Mike Potter has kindly provided this report below for us on the day’s action.

Shropshire Crown Green Bowling Association  –  Veterans Team Championship

Qualifying Stage – Thursday 14^th July 2022 at West Brom Football Supporters Club

Although, having been edged out twice before in pre-covid years and an enforced 2yr safety break,  we travelled to the venue with high hopes that the 10 strong selected squad would do for Shropshire what no other veterans team we’ve previously taken has done, make it through to the final stages in August. And didn’t our boys do us proud as they returned in the early evening as the triumphant unbeaten group winners.

Knowing, winning the first match would put us on a good footing to achieving our goal of qualifying, we began the day facing neighbouring Staffordshire in the “3 on the card” 8-a-side round robin tournament that saw Paul Williams, unluckily from 16-16 finish 16-21, Mark Thomas from 6-13 do well to end 21-16, Andy James from 15-14 go on to win 21-16 & Len Lewis from 9-14 fight back to get 20-21 that would see us 4 in front at half way stage. Then Phil Lyttle converted his 16-14 lead to give us another 21-16, Wayne Rogers from 10-10 played well to win 21-12, Ian Gaut battled from 10-18 to get 20-21, and Derek Wright went from 8-7 to win 21-10 that gave us a +28 win.

Meanwhile, Warwick & Worcester were enjoying the biggest win margin of the day as they saw off North Midlands by 48 hereby making, as our next opponents, W&W were now our biggest threat.

Our second match against Warwick & Worcester did not start well at first but Paul Williams from 7-16 turned his game around to almost run out with a card 21-17, as Mark Thomas from 12-9 up also powered home with 21-10. Andy James from 17-7 despite a good fight back held on to win 21-17 and Len Lewis found himself 3-10 before scoring against some excellent close bowling but managed to make double figures going down 11-21, that gave us a 9 shot advantage in the second half of the match. This saw Phil Lyttle take his 9-8 lead to win 21-15, and Wayne Rogers from 16-16 ran out 21-16. Ian Gaut from 14-12 pushed on to 21-15 and Derek Wright from 14-20 excellently ran out 21-20 that gave us a terrific 7 of 8 winners and a +27 win.

Meanwhile, North Midlands ended Staffordshire’s chances by defeating them by 27 and give themselves the slimmest hope of progressing, but we were in the mood, looking to close the day with a third win.

Our third and final match saw Paul Williams fight hard from 7-14 & 12-19 getting to 15-21, Mark Thomas from 16-14 made his 3^rd win of 3 games to 21-17, Andy James from 10-10 also with 3 of 3 won 21-14, Dave Price in his 1^st game played well to take a 9-7 lead onto win 21-14 that put us 12 in front. Phil Lyttle from 10-10 added his name to the list of 3 in 3 wins, Wayne Rogers completed a quartet of 100% winning cards as he went from 7-8 onto 21-11, Ian Gaut from 13-17 got back to get 19-21, and Derek Wright played some good late ends to avoid a single figure loss and got up to a creditable 13-21. That gave us a 15 chalk win and finished the day with a +70 aggregate.

Congratulations lads on a dominating display throughout the day truly deserving group winners and we look forward to accompanying the team to the finals venue on 4^th August, when known.

Shropshire Veterans Squad 2022

2019

County Veterans Team Championship

Group Four Qualifying Round – Thursday, 11th July 2019

Venue – Goodyear Pavilion, Wolverhampton (Staffordshire)

An impressive display in their third match saw Shropshire be the first team to topple reigning champions Staffordshire, however with a win, a draw and a lost game in their three Group Four round robin games, they once again were denied a place to progress to the final stages of the competition.

On a mild summer’s day, our squad of 10 players arrived at
the venue with high expectations to do well and got off to a good start in their opening match against North Midlands as both Keith Owen(21-20) & Martin Codd(21-15) before North Mids reeled off 5 winners of their own and our lead fell into an 11 chalk deficit as our lads were held, Derek Wright(20-21), Keith Walton(16-21), Tony Roche(17-21), Ian Foster(19-21), Cedric Bancroft(15-21), however, in amongst them our No.8 Mark Thomas(21-10) was putting together a fine run in the corners that proved just enough to earn us a drawn match that would keep our hopes alive, if we could win the next two matches.

Shropshire 150 – 150 North Midlands +0 chalks

After learning of the 17 chalk loss in their first match we began hoping to replicate the scoreline in our second match against Warwick & Worcs. But how wrong we were as the opening pairs fortunes were reversed with wins for their two and losses for ours as Martin Codd(14-21) and Keith Owen(4-21) both lost. Unfortunately for us, things didn’t get much better, save for sole winner, Derek Wright(21-19) & Mark Thomas(20-21) as the proverbial wheels flew off, as Keith Walton(9-21), Bill Tarrell(16-21), Ian Foster(13-21) & Ian Smith(11-21) all succumbed that added up to a 58 chalk defeat.

Shropshire 108 – 166 Warwick & Worcs -58 chalks

As rain began to fall, the third round of games began.

With qualification for finals day now gone, we set our sights on at least restoring some pride to the team as we faced strong favourites and defending champions, Staffordshire in our final match of the day. A strong start from openers Martin Codd(21-16) & Derek Wright(21-11) gave us an unlikely 15 chalk lead which was gradually eroded as Bill Tarrell(15-21), Mark Thomas(18-21), Ian Smith(17-21) battled hard along with Keith Owen(21-19) & Tony Roche(21-17) and with the sun now shining again, that left us 8 chalks to the good with Cedric Bancroft at 9-9 needing to get to 14 to secure the win. Tension filled air as Cedric fell behind 12-15 and 13-17, the biggest cheer came upon his scoring that 14th chalk as the Warwick & Worcs contingent joined in knowing they had won the group. Although he didn’t quite make it Cedric Bancroft(17-21) made enough to ensure our first match win of the day by 4 chalks.

Shropshire 147 – 125 Staffordshire +4 chalks

Thanks to Staffordshire for organising a great day of competitive yet friendly bowling between the four counties.

Full scores are here.

The Veterans Team. Back from left: Cedric Bancroft, Derek Wright, Keith Walton, Bill Tarrell, Mark Thomas & Ian Smith.

Front from left: Martin Codd, Tony Roche, Ian Foster & Keith Owen.

The Veterans County team narrowly missed out on qualification for the national finals as they lost out to Staffordshire for qualification. We had lost by just two chalks in the 1st game against them despite having 5 out of the 8 winners, with Mark Thomas the best of them 16. We then won our next two fairly comfortably. We beat North Midlands by 19, with Mark the best winner again 7, and then Warwick and Worcester by 8, Cedric Bancroft the best winner 12 at number eight. Unfortunately though Staffordshire won all their three group game and so were top of the group and go through to finals day. Shropshire v Staffordshire

1. K Owen 21-20 J Corbett
2. G Dulson 20-21 R Stewart
3. P Bound 21-20 M Brown
4. K Walton 13-21 I Whitehouse
5. T Roche 21-19 A Parsons
6. C Bancroft 21-18 P Prescott
7. M Thomas 21-16 S Davis
8. M Jones 16-21 C Johnson

Shropshire 154-156 Staffordshire Shropshire v North Midlands

1. K Owen 21-16 D Harvey
2. K Walton 21-13 R Burdett
3. P Bound 14-21 G Ward
4. T Roche 21-16 J Callan
5. G Dulson 9-21 B Shaw
6. M Jones 21-16 R Beard
7. M Thomas 21-7 D White
8. C Bancroft 21-20 L Haylor

Shropshire 149-130 North Midlands Shropshire v Warwick and Worcester

1. K Walton 17-21 D Clarke
2. P Bound 21-19 B Jones
3. I Smith 21-18 C Armfield
4. M Thomas 21-17 G Hemming
5. K Owen 21-20 B Hickman
6. T Roche 21-15 T Freeth
7. M Jones 8-21 B Kinchin
8. C Bancroft 21-12 E Hall

Shropshire 151-143 Warwick and Worcester

2017

Below is a report and pictures from Mike Potter about the BCGBA Veterans County Championship Qualifier on Thursday which we thank him for.

County Veterans Team Championship
Group Four Qualifying Round – 13th July 2017
Venue – Walsgrave BC Coventry (N. Midlands)

Shropshire, despite winning two of their three Group Four round robin games were once again denied a place in the final stages by a Warwick & Worcs side who are rapidly becoming their nemesis as we just missed out progressing further in this competition.

On a mild summer’s day, our squad of 9 players along with County President, Mike Caddick and team manager, Mike Potter arrived at the venue with high expectations to do well and were rewarded with a fine 26 chalk win over hosts the North Midlands. With the teams playing with 3 on each card. Keith Owen raced from 11-10 to 17-10 only to be pegged back managing to only add another chalk as he fell to 18-21. Mark Thomas saw his run of 10 chalks cancelled out and trail 13-15 before regaining control and almost run out to win 21-16. John Clarke played out a close game where from 9-9 neither player got ahead by more than 2 and that’s how it ended as john just dipped out 19-21. Allan Faulkner played the deep holes on the green masterfully as he converted 14-4 into 19-6 and won 21-7. Bill Tarrell’s even game saw the card read 10-10, 14-14 and 17-17 but from 18-18 Bill seized the jack and finished 21-18. In a reversal of that, Dave Povey tight game saw him from 19-19 dip out 19-21. Selector and player, Tony Roche fought hard to turn his 11-13 deficit into 18-13 and then win 21-15. Whilst anchorman, Cedric Bancroft maintained a comfortable lead down the card as he led 11-6, 15-9 and eventually finished 21-16.

Shropshire 161-135 +26 chalks

Hopes were high after learning their victory over Staffordshire was by an inferior margin than ours as we began our second match against Warwick & Worcs where playing in the same order except where Bill Tarrell stepped aside for Dave Beer to make his first appearance. The unthinkable unfortunately though became a reality as the squad were stunned when one by one, no one managed to convert their game to win that saw Keith Owen go from 6-13 to 16-13 then 19-19 and finally 19-21. Mark Thomas struggled from 9-11 to get back to 13-16 and stalled, going down 13-21. Similarly John Clarke from 11-11 and 15-15 could not add finished 15-21. Alan Faulkner, in a complete reversal to his first game found his form in the greens holes desert him as from 7-8 he could only manage to add a single chalk 8-21 down. Holding his own Dave Beer in his first game of the day was holding his own as the game went 9-9 and 13-13 but also couldn’t add to his tally from 16-16, missing out 16-21. Dave Povey played out another close game 11-11, 15-15, 17-17 and just fell short from 19-19, losing 19-21. Tony Roche struggled from 5-5 to go 8-15 and 10-18 before succumbing to a loss of 11-21. And in yet another close hard fought game Cedric Bancroft scored 9-9, 12-12, 17-17 and slipped to an agonising 20-21 defeat.

Shropshire 121 – 168 -47 chalks

With this 47 chalk deficit, qualification would depend on an unlikely big win for North Midlands over Warwick & Worcs and also for us to beat Staffordshire, our opponents in the third round match. Mark Thomas again found to going tough from 6-6 to trail 6-15 and could not avoid a 11-21 loss. Keith Owen from 7-7 took control to go 13-7 only to be pegged bac to 13-13 then pulled away to 20-14 to be pegged back again until he found the 21-18 winner. Bill Tarrell in another tight game of 10-10, 16-16 and 18-18 just dipped short to lose 19-21. Dave Povey from 5-6 converted to 13-6 and soon finished with a fine 21-8 win. Dave Beer struggled to stay within a couple of chalks until from 11-13 found himself on wrong end of 12-21. Alan Faulkner re-found his weight to run out from 12-11 to post a 21-11 card. Cedric Bancroft raced into an 13-4 lead which from 13-9 he almost ran out to win 21-10. Tony Roche was in control going 12-6 up and after being pegged back to 12-11 went again to 18-11 and eventually 21-15.

Shropshire 147 – 125 +22 chalks

After restoring some pride, the Shropshire finished the day in a creditable second place in the group with an agg of +1

Full scores:

The team that took part in the event. Back from left: Mike Potter (team manager), Dave Povey, Mark Thomas, Tony Roche, Bill Tarrell, Cedric Bancroft & Mike Caddick (County President).

Front from left: Keith Owen, John Clarke, Dave Beer & Alan Faulkner.