We all arrived at the Cairns Hotel Harrogate in good time to check in, unpack and unwind before meeting in the bar at 6 pm for a meet and greet with the organizers from the White Rose, unfortunately Arthur Jackson was unwell and couldn’t be there. The itinerary and format for the weekend were given along with detailed instructions of how to get to the bowling venue. There was some very enthusiastic greeting amongst old friends along with a few shared drinks and a bit of banter as to how difficult the mats are and how hard we will find it to score any points at all. Dinner at the Cairns was served for 7 pm and afterwards free time and arrangements to meet for early breakfast and drive to Scotten village hall for the competition to start at 9 30am.
The competition was 8 teams a side triples, this meant that as there were only 19 of us we had to borrow 5 players from White Rose. Although they played well for us it put us at a further disadvantage. Eight rounds and equal woods after 35 minutes play, straight in, Cambs jack. Well they were dead right about how tricky the mats were and with no previous practice. Of course they got off to a flyer, but after a couple of ends we got into the swing of things a lot better. With the competition fierce and hard fought all the way the points tally was too close to call and at half time the scores were very close. We had a superb buffet lunch that everybody enjoyed.
The final scores over 8 rounds were 16 points each; after all that a tie!! Unfortunately because the White rose had managed to amass a greater shots score they took the Shield back but it`s only on loan until next year. All the games were played with great pride and skill from both sides and a special mention for the teams of J Retchless, J Russell and D Retchless and M Hare, G Siggee and G Russell who won all 4 of their games. A great feeling of pride and team spirit was felt by all.
Back to the hotel for a shower and change and the dinner at the nearby Ascot House Hotel. Fanastic food and company, the quiz organised by Derek was a nice touch, back to the hotel for more drinkies.
Early breakfast again and back to Scotten for Triples Drive over 6 rounds, good fun much enjoyment all round with the prize for best Cambs player going to J Paddy.
A very big thankyou to everybody involved with the buffet lunch on both days. These were supplied by the hosts, very tasty and plenty of it, along with the tea coffee and biscuits, very good and enjoyed by all.
Goodbyes were said with a plan for a return visit to Cambs next year dates to be confirmed.
(Letter received from Derek Retchless: I am writing to say a big thank you to Gerry for organising the White Rose weekend. We were well fed, watered and cared for. The Saturday result for the trophy was a very close thing but there were no losers on the day, only those people from the County who did not come with us. I must thank those people from other counties who helped us out. With weekends such as these we need to keep them going.)