CHAWTON Park, drawn against a strong Bournemouth side in the National Mixed Top Club competition, were given an excellent start by Linda Habberfield who secured the first points with a fine win in the ladies’ two-wood singles.

The Chawton trio of John Blair, Brenda Plumpton and Mark Fyfield began strongly, building up a 10-1 lead, while Sue Murray and Graham Robinson (pairs) and Dick Holden, Margaret Leppard, Margaret Holden and Adam White (fours) were trailing.

Charlie Spear played the men’s two-wood singles against Lee Croad who won a close encounter in the last two ends.

With the match in the balance, Fyfield’s triple were in control, but Chawton’s pairs and fours slipped further behind.

However, White’s rink began to chip away at the deficit and with the help of a Bournemouth misjudgement, converting one down to four down, allowed Chawton to take a two-shot advantage into a nervy last end. The Chawton four built up a strong head and despite the opposing skip’s efforts, they held on for a one-shot win. Chawton took the match by 10 points to 6.

On Saturday, the Chawton men played Worthing in the first round of the Denny Cup. This was a first time meeting between the clubs, with two rinks at home and two away.

With Adam White’s rink leading 10-0 at home and Graham Robinson’s rink 6-0 up away, Chawton had a nine-shot advantage at five ends. At ten ends, the lead had grown to 27 and although Worthing fought back to reduce the overall deficit to 15, it was a comfortable win for Chawton Park.

The ladies were also in action on Saturday, meeting Riverside (Winchester) in the Yetton Trophy. With Margaret Leppard’s rink winning 32-12 away and the Brenda Plumpton rink successful at home, Chawton eased into the next round by a comfortable 15 shots.

In the National Champion of Champions, Margaret Holden had drawn Ann Pearce, an old adversary in outdoor and indoor bowls. Pearce looked to be in control for long periods as she maintained a six-shot lead, but Holden then upped her game to lead 17-15 and eventually won 21-17.

Gary Johnson travelled to Atherley (Southampton) to take on Derrick Fulker in the men’s National Singles. It was fairly close, but the Chawton man slipped to a 21-15 loss.

In the final action of the week, six mixed Chawton rinks met six men’s rinks from the Hampshire Patrons. It resulted in a 20-shot win for the Patrons.