Month End Melee

Monday 29th September 2025 Month End Melee

The weather was quite nice. A bright day and no rain or wind.

Twenty members arrived to play in this September Melee, so that meant ten teams of pairs.

Round one... With five pistes in use we quickly drew lots to find our first pairings. Diane and Ron took an early lead with a 13-5 win over Graham and Ruth. They were followed by Sue B and Harry who struggled to get off the mark against Carol S and Nan, but eventually got off the Fanny score with a measley 1-8. This single point result was replicated several times until they drew level and then went on for the win. Harry and Sue B winning by 13-8.

Round two... It was downhill for Diane and Ron who both lost their second game 6-13 and 5-13 respectively. Harry partnered with Graham against Christine and Jim Campey. The Campey duo set off really strongly, but faded later in the game, whilst Harry and Graham caught them and went on to win 13-6. Meanwhile, Ken Hutchinson, Barbara and Mark also secured their second wins of the match. So, after two rounds, there were four players with two wins. Harry on +12, Mark on +10, and Ken and Barbara on +9.. All to play for.

Round three... Mark was paired with Ken and were up against Diane and Rod. If the two boys won this round, Mark would take the lead, one point ahead of Ken. However, Diane and Rod had different ideas and played really well. They managed to get to 11 and were vying for the win. But fate dealt a cruel blow when Ken sent the coche out of play. Rod thought it was a dead end until Mark and Ken declared that they still held four boules, thus winning the game 13-11.

Harry Partnered with Graham for a second time, and they were up against Kevin and Barbara. Barbara was already holding two wins and +9 and with a good result could easily win the match. Kevin and Barbara did indeed set off really strongly and got to 8-0 before Harry and Graham woke up. Kevin predicted that it often happens that teams get so far ahead and then fail to win. Was that an omen? Slowly but surely Harry and Graham began accumulating points but by that time, Kevin and Barbara were poised for the win, having 12 points in the bag, but Harry pointed some devastating boules to get to within two points of the leaders, before eventually winning the game 13-12.

Back in the clubhouse, we celebrated the 80 something birthday of Irene by singing Happy Birthday. Irene had brought in some M&S Connie the Caterpillar cakes. They were delicious, thank you and Happy Birthday Irene.

The scores had been added up and it was such a close run thing, the results were...

In third place with 3 wins and +11 points was Ken Hutchinson who receives 5 points
In second place with 3 wins and +12 points was Mark Tolley who receives 6 points
In first place with 3 wins and +13 was Harry who receives 7 points, well done H

So, because the result were so close, Harry asked the two runners up to join him for the presentation photo.

It has to be said that it was noticable just how well our lady members played and how much many of them have improved. Carol Sykes with 2 wins and +13 and Barbara with 2 wins and +8. Even birthday girl Irene got 2 wins, albeit both 13-12.

Well done everybody, it was a very pleasant day.

Harry Overend - MPC Chairperson




Click here to see results

Click here to see cumulative results

At the three-quarter point in the year Harry is out in front on 37 with Mark second on 34 and Kevin third on 30.