Dingestow Short Mat Bowls Club have held the finals of their club competitions over two days recently.

On Day1, two finals were played to decide the Ladies Singles Champion and the Gents Singles Champion. All finals were played over 15 ends, 4 bowls per player.

In the Ladies Final, Margaret Pidoux won the coin toss and elected to play first against her sister, Linda Edgar. In a very close encounter, the two sisters had a good number of touchers (bowls that touch the jack when delivered are marked with chalk as they remain live even if they go into the ditch). After 13 ends, the two were neck-and-neck at 11 shots each. Margaret struck a crucial 3 shots on the 14th end and one more on the last end to take the title.

In the Gents Final, Club Captain, Haydn Holder, faced Andrew Biggs and, again, the match started with honours even at 1-1 after two ends. A missed weight shot by Andrew on the third end allowed Haydn to draw the 4th shot for a full house! The match was far from over, though, and several nip-and-tuck ends ensued with Andrew nibbling away at the lead and Haydn fighting to keep his nose in front. After 13 ends, Haydn had managed to stay 3 shots to the good when, again, a missed weight shot with Andrew’s last bowl, allowed Haydn to take 4 on the 14th end to secure the match.

Day 2 saw Haydn Holder in action, again, facing a Pidoux double! In the Open Singles Final, Haydn faced Clive Pidoux. Clive won the toss and started with good leading bowls but Haydn drew past short bowls to pick up the shot on a number of occasions and also put in some good lead bowls himself. Despite very competitive ends, Clive struggled to pick up enough shots and Haydn managed to seal victory with 2 ends left to play.

The last final to be played was for the John Swift Trophy, donated by the club’s founder and long-time Chairman. This is a play-off between the Ladies Champion and the Gents Champion.

Ladies Champion, Margaret Pidoux, and Gents Champion, Haydn Holder, went head-to-head and played some superb bowls, requiring lots of chalk! The club members present for the Finals were treated to an enthralling match with many ends being decided by the last bowl. Haydn did manage to get a lead early on and held on to become the first winner of this new trophy