The Fakenham Gallow Indoor Bowls Club finals night has celebrated the local bowling talents of competitors who ranged in age from eight-year-old Oliver Smerdon, who collected the Morrison’s Young Achiever of the year award, to still active players in their nineties.
The event which took place on April 20, showed that bowls is not only a game for all ages but that it is a great leveller where even national and international champions do not always win.
Mervyn King, multiple world champion, and fellow international son, Sam King, who won the National Family Pairs title last week, together with wife, Suzanne, still met their match in their club competition.
They were beaten in the final of the mixed triples by Jenny Simmons-Brack, Roy Preston and David Webb.
That was repeated in the under 25 singles where Danny Cawthorne, who despite winning the EBF national singles title last year, was out-bowled in his final by fellow youngster, Jack Wells. Cawthorne, though, was still judged to be the year’s overall under-25 achiever with the award of the Mervyn King Trophy.
Commenting on the King’s and Cawthorne’s national successes, men’s club president, Richard Andrews, said: “It is not often one club wins two national awards. Both were excellent achievements.”
Elsewhere there was a broad range of winners with both established names and relative newcomers showing off their skills. Amongst the ladies were familiar names such as Jo Ashmore, Irene Lambert, Pam Whitehead, Pam Frary, Louise Hannant, Pauline Frost and Coralie Bell.
Some of the stalwarts amongst the men who figure year after year were David Frost, Shaun and Malcolm Savory, David Webb, Roy Preston, Richard Mason and Mark Riches. Younger players also made their mark included Danny Cawthorne, Rhys Morgan and Jack Wells. One family not only won honours on the rink but were awarded accolades for their sterling service to the club. Husband and wife, David and Pauline Frost, collected the Negus Personality Cup and the Vera Wright Rose Bowl respectively.
David Beresford’s team won the team Achievement Award. Although newcomers to Division three of the Afternoon League, they won the title at their first attempt and were also runners-up in the Stratford Cup, which is open to teams in all three leagues of that competition.
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