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The 17th Cobbetts Poppy Appeal Doubles was held at Burridge on Sunday, November 9th. Initially the entry was restricted to 38 teams but thanks to the co-operation of Burridge Sports and Social and Sports Club, particularly the football section who rearranged their fixtures, 5 more terrains were set-up on the car park so we could accommodate 48 teams. This still left some teams on the reserve list! Unfortunately, a team had to pull out in the morning due to a sick player, which left us with a bye. Thanks to all the teams for their amazing support but especially those who made long journeys to take part from both inside and outside of the region.
There were twelve morning leagues with the league winners and next best 4 teams qualifying for the main competition in the afternoon, the next 16 in the plate and the final 15 in the wooden spoon.
Steve Daykin & Phil Bradshaw were top seeds after the morning leagues with an impressive 3 wins +33 Second seeds were the home team of Dave Stubbs & Richard Greeves +29, closely followed by the Muscliff team of Stuart Brown & David Plaistow on +28. Equal 4th were Dave Kilshaw & Carrie Litchfield and Roger Greenhalgh & Lesley Eastlake both on +24. Other league winners were Chris & Caitlin Ralls from Cobbets on +24, Bath/Whitnash combination Alex Moriarty & Nicki Scott +20, Dave Lucas & Terri Cox also Cobbetts +15, Alex Hepburn & Ray Stanton (Parley) +10, Callum Lombard & Tony Kidd 2 wins +19, Kym Jefferies & George Hill 2 wins +12 and Marc Franco Llado & Abi Coles 2 wins +11. Joining them in the main, the next best 4 teams were Janet Dalton & Andy Carey (Cobbetts/Sussex) 2 wins +13, Patrick & Mary Hart (Cobbetts) 2 Wins +8, Andrew Harper & Anita Puffett (Parley) 2 wins +8 and Chris Turner & Colin Crofts (Bordon) 2 wins +6.
Just before 11am play was stopped for the traditional two minutes silence for Remembrance Sunday. A big thank you to Mike Moss from Fareham who again attended especially to recite the exhortation during the act of remembrance.
In the afternoon knock-out rounds, defending champions Marc & Abi went out at the quarter-final stage losing to Dave K & Carrie in the dark on the car park terrain! Second seeds, Dave S & Rich also fell in the quarter-finals to Callum & Tony who then beat the up-and-coming father and daughter pairing from Cobbetts, Chris & Caitlin, in the semi-finals. Top seeds Phil & Steve made their way to the final beating Cobbetts teams Dave L & Terri in the quarters and Dave K & Carrie in the semis.
Phil & Steve proved to be too strong for Tony & Callum in the final, winning the title for the 4th time and becoming the 2nd names on the Paul Leverett Trophy.
The main consolage was won by Kym & George who had travelled all the way from Abersychan in South Wales. They beat Chris and Colin from Bordon in the final. Semi-finalists were Janet Dalton from Cobbetts playing with Andy Carey, who had travelled across from East Sussex, and Andrew Harper and Anita Puffett from Parley.
The Plate competition was won by Mark & Hassi against Robin & Steve from Parley. Semi-finalists were Carolyn & Eliot from Crondall and the Botley Butchers, Nick & Mike Hillier, making their annual appearance.
The Plate Consolage was won by Frank & Christine against David and his junior son Axel.
The Wooden Spoon competition was won by another pairing that had travelled a long distance to play, Gay from Wales and Csaba from Brighton. They beat 2 more of the 8 Davids playing in the competition, Dave Gair & Dave Grant from Bordon. . A mention also for the Fareham junior, JJ Matthews, who reached the semi-finals with Dave Jones to get into the prizes. The other semi-finalists were Ian Harper & Mark Cleave from Portchester.
The Spoon Consolage final was an all Cobbetts affair with Ron & Julie defeating Mark & Viv.
The raffle had many prizes, all donated, which raised a very large sum thanks to everyone’s generosity. JJ Matthews correctly chose Reggie in the Name the Bear competition. We also raised £115.01 selling off Mark White’s donation of unwanted spirits, Vodka, Whiskey, Schnapps and a variety of rums. Thanks Mark!
Chris Barron, as always, worked extremely hard in the kitchen to provide breakfast bacon rolls, excellent chilli & BBQ pork jackets, and of course his very tasty soup. A huge thank you to Chris. Thank you also to everyone who helped by baking and donating lovely cakes, Paul Bone for building the additional terrains in the car park, helpers with the raffle, helpers behind the bar, helpers in the kitchen, helpers with organisation etc, etc. Also we must not forget Steve Daykin who, with the help of Kevin O’Rourke, managed to get 54 bottles of wine back from France as foot passengers! Thanks to all these efforts, we should again get near to the figure of £1800 donated last year to the Poppy Appeal.
Results:
| Main | Winners | Phil Bradshaw (Bath) & Steve Daykin (Cobbetts) |
| Runners-up | Callum Lombard (River Hamble) & Tony Kidd (Handcross) | |
| Semi-finalists | Chris Ralls & Caitlin Ralls (Cobbetts) | |
| Semi-finalists | Dave Kilshaw & Carrie Litchfield (Cobbetts) | |
| Quarter-finalists | Dave Lucas & Terri Cox (Cobbetts) | |
| Quarter-finalists | Dave Stubbs & Richard Greeves (Cobbetts) | |
| Quarter-finalists | Marc Franco Llado & Abi Coles (River Hamble) | |
| Quarter-finalists | Stuart Brown & David Plaistow (Muscliff) | |
| Main Consolage | Winners | Kym Jefferies & George Hill (Twyn y Ffrwd Inn) |
| Runners-up | Chris Turner & Colin Crofts (Bordon) | |
| Semi-finalists | Andrew Harper & Anita Puffett (Parley) | |
| Semi-finalists | Janet Dalton (Cobbetts) & Andy Carey (Sussex) | |
| Plate | Winners | Hassi Leverett & Mark Robertshaw (Cobbetts) |
| Runners-up | Steve Byrom & Robin Purrott (Parley) | |
| Semi-finalists | Caroline Greenhalgh & Eliot Mortimore (Crondall) | |
| Semi-finalists | Nick Hillier & Mike Hillier (Botley Butchers) | |
| Plate Consolage | Winners | Frank Charlesworth & Christine Peat (Bordon) |
| Runners-up | David Franco Cruz & Axel Franco Llado (River Hamble) | |
| Wooden Spoon | Winners | Gay Evans (Bath) & Csaba Molnar (Brighton) |
| Runners-up | Dave Gair & Dave Grant (Bordon) | |
| Semi-finalists | Dave Jones & JJ Matthews (Fareham) | |
| Semi-finalists | Ian Harper & Mark Cleave (Portchester) | |
| Spoon Consolage | Winners | Julie Power & Ron Hodgson (Cobbetts) |
| Runners-up | Viv Tilbury & Mark White (Cobbetts) |