The Benavista March 2008 Classic took place from the 2nd to the 9th March sponsored this year by Data Link and Ibex Insurance. Sponsors Alan & Evelyn Harris relaxing before the prize giving. The whole week kept dry and all the matches were played on Schedule. Some excellent matches were played during the week and some surprises were in store as people were knocked out who were not expected to be and others won through against the odds. We had some strong winds which made the play unpredictable but the rain held off, which meant that as nobody had qualified in more than one discipline all the semi-final matches could be played on Saturday. They were played between in the triples Terry Groom, Manuel Baptista & David Townsend against Frances & Tony Farmer & Doreen Fabron. This was an extremely tight match which went into the last end with just 1 shot in it. But Terry Groom’s team got a 2 on the last end and won the match. The second triples was between Richard Sutton, Paul Brown & Angie Knight and Steve McManus, Hughes & Mike Goodwin. Unfortunately Jan McManus was not well and had to pull out of the team and Mike Goodwin substituted. Some very good bowling was seen and Steve McManus’s team won the match

The pairs semi-finals were between Mike Detheridge & Brian Todd and Joe Roberts & Peter Fry the winners being Mike Detheridge and Brian Todd. the other semi-final was between Paul Griffith & Alex Hanton and Gordon Adams & Richard Burroughs, the winners were Gordon Adams and Richard Burroughs.

The Finals were played at 11 o’clock on the Sunday. The triples match between Steve McManus, Mike Goodwin & Sam Hughes of Banavista and Terry Groom, Manuel Baptista & David Townsend of Superbowl was very close and on the 8th end it was 8 all!  The Benavista team then pulled ahead slightly and Duggie Bowden found it hard to take his eyes off the match even to reach his beer! But at the end of the 15th end they were all square again at 13 all. After that the Superbowl team pulled just ahead and held on to the lead winning 18-14.

In contrast the pairs match between Mike Detheridge & Brian Todd of Santa Maria and Gordon Adams & Richard Burroughs of Benavista was very one sided. It seemed Richard Burroughs could do no wrong and on the 8th end the Benavista pair were ahead 14-1. The Santa Maria pair tried to pull back but Mike Detheridge conceeded on the 16th end and the Benavista Pair won 20-7.

The competition was sponsored by Data Link and Ibex Insurance who were in attendance all week. Alan & Evelyn Harris enjoyed the Semi-Finals and Finals and it bought back memories for Alan whose father was a bowler. Annette and Elaine also spent time during the week at the Championships. Datalink also decided this time to award prizes to the semi-finalists, who all received an umbrella and an accident pack.  Peter Fry dressed in his best uniform for the prize giving!!!

President Tony Farmer thanked all the people who had contributed to making the Competition run smoothly. Geoff Land the competition secretary assisted by Russell Roper and Ross Wright for writing all the cards. He also thanked the staff of the Bowls Club for keeping us all fed and watered. Finally he thanked the Social Committee for organising the Raffle and especially Diane Needham who manages to make people part with lots of money for raffle tickets.

Evelyn gave a short speech before the prize giving, she said she was very happy that Datalink had sponsored the Classic. She said that a lot of the members were customers of Datalink and it was good that they could put something back into the community.

Pairs runners up Mike Detheridge & Brian Todd recieving their prizes from Evelyn Harris

Pairs winners Gordon Adams & Richard Burroughs receiving their prizes from Evelyn Harris

Trips runners up Steve McManus, Sam Hughes & Mike Goodwin receiving their prizes from Evelyn Harris

Trips winners Terry Groom, Manuel Baptista & David Townsend receiving their prizes from Evelyn Harris.

The raffle was then drawn and Wendy Pemberton won the main prize of a camcorder!!