Sunday, November 12th 2017
The 9th Cobbetts Poppy Appeal Doubles was held on Remembrance Sunday, November 12th at Burridge. The maximum number of 38 entries was reached several weeks before the competition was held and numerous other teams had to be turned away! There were players present from all parts of the region including Parley, Dorset in the West, Worthing and Handcross in the East and Oxshott and Bordon in the North but the two teams who had travelled the furthest were from Cardiff.
There were 8 morning leagues of 4 teams and 1 with 6 teams with the top 16 qualifying to play in the main competition in the afternoon, the next 16 in the plate and the final 6 in the wooden spoon. David Cruz was attempting to defend the title he had won for the previous 3 years, this time partnered by Glenn Floyd. They comfortably made it into the last 16 as 3rd seeds winning all 3 morning games. In top place were Mike Tull and Harrison Ash closely followed by Phil Bradshaw and Nic Baxter. Also on 3 wins were Steve and Karen Lombard, Steve Love and Sue Sandy and Stuart Floyd and Callum Lombard.
At 11am play was stopped for the traditional two minutes silence for Remembrance Sunday.
The afternoon saw some hard fought games with David and Glenn losing out to Glenn’s son Stuart and Callum in the quarter-finals. This pair then went on to beat the Cardiff team in a long, tough semi-final. Meanwhile Harrison and Mike beat Dave and Richard (winners of the first Cobbetts Poppy competition in 2009 and again in 2013) but then fell to the husband and wife team of Steve and Karen Lombard in the other semi-final. This put Steve and Karen up against son Callum in the final and youth prevailed with Callum and Stuart taking the title.
In an east v west Plate final, the Handcross team of Peter and Justin had a comfortable win over Tony and Peter from Parley. The Wooden Spoon competition was won by the junior team of Marc and Liam from the home club, who won all 3 of their afternoon games
Thanks to the great support shown by club members and all the visiting players, it is hoped that we will at least match the £600 raised for the Poppy Appeal last year. A tremendous achievement considering we were limited to 10 fewer teams.
Main Winners Callum Lombard & Stuart Floyd (Beacon View)
Main Runners-up Steve Lombard (Cobbetts) & Karen Lombard (Beacon View)
Main Semi-finalists Phil Bradshaw & Nic Baxter (Cardiff)
Mike Tull (Cobbetts) & Harrison Ash (Bordon)
Main Quarter-finalists Dave Stubbs & Richard Greeves (Cobbetts)
David Cruz & Glenn Floyd (Cobbetts)
Paula Fauvel & Carol Collyer (Cobbetts)
Tony Kidd (Handcross) & Tony Mann (Brighton)
Main Consolage Winners Alison Stubbs & Mike Porter (Cobbetts)
Main Consolage Runners-up Stuart Cursley (Oxshott) & Jackie Lee (Fareham)
Plate Winners Justin Ellis & Peter Kidd (Handcross)
Plate Runners-up Tony Giordano and Peter Aldersley (Parley)
Plate Semi-finalists Alan Forse & Steve Brickell (Cobbetts)
Frank Charlesworth & Christine Peat (Oxshott)
Plate Consolage Winners Malcolm McKenzie & Shelley McKenzie (Fareham)
Plate Consolage Runners-up Allan Paice & Carol Paice (Bordon)
Wooden Spoon Winners Marc Franco-Llado & Liam Floyd (Cobbetts)
Wooden Spoon Runners-up Steve Davies & Nick Corner (Bordon)
On Tuesday February 27th 2018, Cobbetts Boules Club was very happy to receive a visit from Daimon Brown, local area organiser for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal. He was very grateful to receive a cheque for the £800 raised at our successful Poppy Doubles competition last year. We would like to take the chance, once again, to thank everyone whose generosity made this donation possible.
In 2018 we are aiming to do even better for the Poppy Appeal as it is, of course, 100 years exactly since Armistice Day! We very much hope to see you all again at Cobbetts in November.