THE PHOTO ABOVE WAS TAKEN AT THE AGM ON 4TH JUNE. IT SHOWS THE PRESIDENT MALCOLM SKINNER PRESENTING A CHEQUE FOR £300 TO JOHN VIOLET THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JAMES COLMER ALMSHOUSE CHARITY.
LAST UPDATED ON 20/07/2018 @ 1045 HRS.
THIS WEBSITE HAS NOW HAD 78550 HITS by 16614 DIFFERENT VISITORS from 84 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. FROM BRAZIL to TUNISIA to SINGAPORE to AUSTRALIA to MOZAMBIQUE to JAPAN to ALGERIA to VENEZUELA to SURINAM, SINCE IT'S CONCEPTION IN DECEMBER 2009 UP TO 9TH MAY 2018.
CONGRATULATIONS to Strikers who have become North Devon's Champion team for the second year running. They overcame our other representatives, Langtree B, in a tense semi-final before thrashing Barnstaple's Exeter Bibbers in the final without needing to play the last rub! Langtree didn't come home empty handed, Ray Daniel brought home the Singles Trophy, which was also the second year on the trot, following Steve Wonnacott's win last year.
We hosted the Devon Open finals recently at Pollyfield and one of our teams, Superstuds, made it to the final. Unfortunately they were well beaten runners-up to a team from Totnes. One of the Totnes team also won the Singles competition and the trophy for the highest score of the day. However, the ladies competition was dominated by North Devon as Holsworthy beat Totnes in the team final and Barnstaple's Jill Thorne won the Singles competition. Shirley Grills from champions Holsworthy also won the highest score of the day trophy. I was helped by committee members Wilfy Beer, Mark Milton, Richard Watson, John Chew, Peter Bowden, Chris Bulled & Jon Tapping. I would like to give my personal thanks to Wilf, Mark, Richard and John, without their help I wouldn't have been able to cope. Chris would have willingly helped more but he was playing in three matches as the captain of Superstuds. One skittler responded to my appeal for help, many thanks Anthony Down.
All the results from finals day can be seen on the trophy winners page.
I AM TRYING TO FIND SOME HISTORY OF THE BEGINNING OF OUR LEAGUE.
I HAVE GOT THE NAMES OF SOME OF THE EARLY CHAMPIONS AND I AM HOPING THAT SOME OF YOU OUT THERE WILL BE ABLE TO TELL ME WHO THEY WERE AND WHAT THEY DID, MAYBE FOR A LIVING OR IF THEY FOUGHT IN THE WAR.
WE STARTED IN 1929-30 AND THE CHAMPION TEAM WAS CONSERVATIVE CLUB 'B' AND THE TEAM MEMBERS WERE W MOORE, F JOHNS, RS LEY, R PASSMORE, A HILLS, C GREEN, G SHORT, J HUXTABLE.
1930-31 LIBERAL CLUB 'A'- J SHORT, H RENDALL, L BRAUND, J HEARN, J TAYLOR, R VODDEN, F TUCKER, W TRICK.
1931-32 CONSERVATIVE 'B'- W PICKARD, W HAMBLY, E LEWIS, R PASSMORE, J BALE, W LOCK, S LEY, J HUXTABLE.
1932-33 CONSREVATIVE 'B'- A JENN, H PIDGEON, R PETHERICK.
1933-34- -”- T ANSTEY.
1934-35 INSTOW – J SNELL, W JENNINGS, W SMALE, L MOORE, H WELSH, F HOYLE, F STEVENS, E HODGE.
1935-36 MALTSCOOP- F MAYNE, A JENN, C CLANFIELD, T BRIMACOMBE, W PICKARD, H PIDGEON, W STONEMAN, L SUSSEX.
1936-37 LIBERAL 'A'- G SQUIRES, F TUCKER, R DOWNING, P STEER, G POOLEY, W TAYLOR, C WAKELEY, J TAYLOR.
1937-38 CONSERVATIVE 'A'- J MILLS, W NICHOLLS, R BURNETT, S NICHOLLS, W BISSETT, A SHERBORNE, W LOCK, S LEY.
1938-39 LIBERAL 'A'- R VODDEN, J BALE, G POOLEY, J HEARN, C WAKELEY, C SQUIRES, R DOWNING, W TAYLOR.
1946-47 B BREWER 'B'- R DENNIS, W TUCKER, W BRAUND, R BLIGHT, P MILLS, G FERRITT, W HORRELL.
1947-48 CONSERVATIVE CLUB- S LEY, W MOORE, E CLEMENTS, W NICHOLLS, F PARR, A SHERBOURNE.
1948-49 CONSERVATIVE 'A'- SAME PLAYERS AS 1948.
I KNOW OF A FEW OF OUR SKITTLING MATES WHO ARE NOT FEELING TOO WELL AT THE PRESENT TIME. I'M SURE YOU WILL ALL JOIN ME IN WISHING THEM A SPEEDY RECOVERY AND LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU BACK ON THE ALLEY AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
The photo above shows President Malcolm Skinner presenting a cheque for £300 to Lance Rice from the Chestnut Appeal for prostate cancer at the recent AGM. Other things that happened at the meeting were raising the entry fee to £40 and the start of season was to be 11th September.
IF YOU HAVE ANY OLD PHOTOS THAT YOU THINK MIGHT BE OF INTEREST TO THE PEOPLE WHO READ THIS WEBSITE PLEASE e-mail THEM TO ME AND I WILL MAKE UP A PAGE CALLED 'OLD PHOTOS'.
THE LEAGUE'S ORIGINAL WINNER'S SHIELDS HAVE RECENTLY COME TO LIGHT AT ABBOTSHAM. THEY DATE BACK TO WHEN OUR LEAGUE STARTED IN 1929. NOT ONLY HAVE THEY GOT THE TEAM'S NAMES ON THEM BUT THEY HAVE THE PLAYER'S NAMES ALSO. SO IF YOU HAD A GRANDAD WHO WAS PLAYING THEN PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND IF YOU HAVE ANY PHOTOGRAPHS THAT WOULD BE EVEN BETTER.