Both clubs could only muster nine players so we played three triples on what was a "challenging" green but on the plus side as everyone arrived early, by the official start time, we had already completed three ends.  Our hosts got off to a good start and after six ends we were 8 - 17 down but we overcame the complexity of the green to win all three rinks with a score of 67 - 35.  It was a muggy evening with vicious looking black clouds all around but we escaped the rain and only ran into it when we were nearly home.  As usual we were treated to a generous buffet which had been provided by the members.

 

Rink 2

 

Steve Clarke, Mick Wilkins and Bryan Ogilvie were 1 - 6 down at one thirds distance but then grabbed nine of the remaining ends to hand in an impressive result of 27 - 12 which must be one of the best turnarounds of the season so far.

 

Rink 3

 

Yvonne Twomey, Tony Bird and Chris Twomey got off to a slow start but they managed to take 11 ends enabling them to come home victorious 21 - 12.

 

Rink 4

 

Dave Drinkwater, Peter Wells and Dave Bryant were in control  also picking up 11 ends to hand in winning score of 19 - 11.

 

Unfortunately we will only get to play them once this year as the home leg was cancelled as they couldn't raise a team.

What a difference a couple of days make as we went from 30C+ at the weekend to rain and 14C!  The start was delayed due to heavy rain and we managed to play 16 ends before bad light stopped play.  We took a deficit of five points with us but managed to overturn this with a winning margin of eight shots to claim a winning score of 66 - 58.  The rink stats were 3.5 to us and 1.5 to our hosts.  Thanks to Bicester for lending us Jordan, Phil and Ray to make the three triples, but unfortunately we were without Dan Wegerhoff as he spent the afternoon and evening at The Horton A & E with his eldest son who had been injured playing football.  We hope he is on the mend and fit and well enough to enjoy the upcoming school holidays.

 

Rink 1

Paul Jones, Mick Wilkins and Chris Twomey were in control from the off and picked up 10 ends to come home winners 14 - 9.

 

Rink 2

Yvonne Twomey and Graham Tyrrell were without Dan so played four woods each and were trailing by 3 points at 12 ends but a late surge saw them pick up the last four ends to hand in a respectable score of 15 - 11.  I know that at least one of them is feeling the effect of delivering 64 woods in an evening!

 

Rink 3

John Standen, Ray Perkins (Bic) and Ted Eley were trailing by 14 points at 12 ends but they picked up the last four ends to hand in a card of 12 - 18.

 

Rink 4

Jordan Bedford (Bic), Tony Bird and Dave Bryant didn't score until the 6th end and whilst they only won 6 ends they kept nibbling away and a couple of  threes towards the end saw them draw 11 points all.

 

Rink 5

Steve Clarke, Richard Lawrence and Phil Bannister (Bic) had the advantage of their skip being "local" and won 10 ends to hand in the same score as rink 1 and thereby share the bragging rights!

 

A big thank you to everyone who took part especially as the Banbury Road was closed due to an incident and for the less than July weather.

Saturday saw us entertain our friends from Brackley.  It was a beautifully cloudless sky with extremely high temperatures and therefore it was decided to cut the match down to 16 ends.  The opposition did initially say they would be happy to play 14 ends, but we agreed on 16, a decision which backfired on us as over we lost 11 shots over the last 2 ends, thereby losing the game overall 56-59.  There was a special occasion during the game as we were treated to a fly past by the Red Arrows.  The game was initially 4 triples, but as we had 15 players and they had 13, we loaned them one of our number to play 2 rinks and 2 triples.  A big thank you to Jill Hart who kindly agreed to play for the opposition.

 

Rink 1  -  Lead  -  Yvonne Twomey

               No. 2  -  Paul Christmas

               No. 3  -  Mick Wilkins

               Skip    - Chris Twomey

 

Chris was well in control of the game winning 10 of the 16 ends and was leading 20-9 with 2 ends to play, but unfortunately leaked 5 shots on these 2 ends, but still went on to win 20-14.

 

Rink 2  -  Lead  -  Tony Bird

               No. 2  -  Dave Drinkwater

               No. 3  -  Claudia Stokes

               Skip    -  Bryan Ogilvie

 

This was always a close game with never more than 2 hots between the sides and with 2 ends to play we were leading 11-10 but, like Chris's rink we conceded 5 shots over these 2 ends and therefore lost the game 11-15.

 

Rink  3  -  Lead  -  Cliff Hall

                No. 2  -  Pete Griffin

                Skip    -  Dave Bryant

 

Again another very close game and with 3 ends to play were trailing by 1 shot only, but like the other 2 rinks lost the game at the end, going down 11-15.

 

Rink  4  -  Lead  -  Richard Lawrence

                No. 2  -  Phil French

                Skip    -  Mark Stokes

 

It took some time for Mark's rink to get going and were 7-0 down after the first 4 ends and fought back well and with 2 ends to play were level 12-12 but conceded a 3 on the 15th end and although they picked up a 2 on the last end this was not quite enough and they went down 14-15.

 

A very pleasant afternoon with every game extremely competitive, we therefore look forward to the return fixture, which is in 2 weeks time.  As well as a thank you to Jill the usual big thank you to Jenny for looking after the bar and to Skiddy for setting up the room prior to the game.

 

Mercifully it was a much cooler evening for our annual get together with the Fire Service although it proved a bit chilly towards the last few ends.  Unfortunately Mark Stokes had to pull out at the last moment for medical reasons but the Captain twisted the arm of the President who agreed to step in for half the match and he was substituted by his grandson, Fin, for the second half.  It was good to see another member of the Jelfs family in our squad, Jasper, who was on a winning side.  Thanks to Nugget for agreeing to run the bar on a fairly busy night and to Chris and Maggie Skidmore for setting up the lounge for us including the snacks and raffle tickets which is a great help to the Captain.  The game was shortened to 14 ends at our guests' request.

 

 

 

It was good to welcome Michael Gudge to his first competitive game for us and we hope that it will be the start of an enjoyable relationship with us.  Our guests will claim the evening as a draw as it was 2 rinks each but the overall score of 48 to Adderbury and 36 to the Fire Service tells a different story!

 

 

Rink 1

 

Jill Hart, Jasper Jelfs and Bryan Ogilvie took 10 of the 14 ends and were comfortable winners 13 - 5.

 

 

 

Rink 2

 

Michael Gudge, Yvonne Twomey and Chris Twomey managed to halve the ends and lost by a single point 12 - 13.

 

 

 

Rink 3

 

Paul Jones, Claudia Stokes and John Standen struggled a bit and went down 7 -13 with only 4 ends to their credit.

 

 

 

Rink 4

 

Steve Clarke, Mick Wilkins and Mick and Jasper Jelfs were always in control taking 9 ends to romp home by a winning margin of 11 points 16 - 5.