published 11/2/25
The Bury St Edmunds based Risbygate club held its annual Masters event, the sixteen invited players included three Vipers; David Bolt, Paul Hartley and Gary Farquhar. The latter two both won their opener only to lose in the last eight. However wins for Bolt over Dan Seabourne, Ed Morris and Mark Royal set up a final against Westlecot’s Shaun Jones. The first set went to Jones before Bolt levelled it off and then proceeded to take the title 2-1 in the best of three tie breaker.
It is forty years since Hartlepool last lifted the Denny Cup when they beat the all conquering Cyphers. There last appearance in the final was the loss to Wey Valley twelve years ago. Ironically that was at the Chelmsford based Falcon club who now stood in the way of another semi final appearance. The Poolies put in another great team performance to get over the line 75-64. Across the green Hartlepool won on three of the four rinks. Gary R Smith beat Steve Cook 19-14 and Marc Squirrell beat Jack Butcher 18-16, those two scores were wiped out as Andy Squires beat Paul Mosley 22-15. The game was decided by the Bryan Henderson quartet as they had a cracking 23-12 win over James Rippey. In the semi final Hartlepool will play Nottingham who ended MidGlos hopes 82-67, the other semi will see Dorchester tackle Riverain both on Saturday 8 March.
In the area one national singles the Vipers Paul Hartley area semi final win over Cumbria’s Stu Irwin set up a clash against the talented Stanley youngster Ryan Henson for a place at the latter stages down Nottingham. It was the Stanley lad who produced a stunning performance to beat the fancied Hartley 21-14 at Aycliffe. Henson will face the winner of the Mark Nullmeyers (Barking) and Phil Last (Ipswich) in the last sixteen in April.
The pair’s area final between the Vipers Gary Farquhar and Cumbria’s John Baird takes place at Gateshead this week. The line up for the Two Bowl area final has been confirmed, the Vipers Paul Hartley will face Cumbria’s Stu Irwin after the latter beat Gateshead’s Alex Bryden 21-9 at Stanley.
It was an all Vipers affair in the area final of the fours, Mal Peach, Paul Hartley, Gary Farquhar and David Bolt proved too good for Josh Halcrow, David Sykes, Chris McGready and James Sneller as Bolt ran out 20-7 winners to secure a place at Nottingham. In the last sixteen Bolt will face the winners of the Richard Withers (St Andrews) and Scott Edwards (Westlecot) area fourteen final.
In the Over 60’s singles Gateshead’s Alex Bryden beat the Vipers Dave Paterson 21-17, Bryden will now face Cumbria’s Ricky Gallagher in the area final. The Houghton duo of Bryan Sanderson and Frankie Froud’s run in the Over 60 pairs came to an end at West Denton, Cumbria’s Ed Murray and Alan Glendinning won 18-12 and will face Stanley’s Derek Craig in the area final.
Sanderson and Froud are joined by Michael Wright and Colin Watson in the Over 60’s fours area final, Cumbria’s Jack Walker, Ed Orchard, Ricky Gallagher and Alan Glendinning stand in their way of a place at Nottingham, the area final will take place at West Denton.
In the women’s pairs the Durham duo of Joan Brown and Arlene Stafford have booked a place at the national championships after beating Cumbria’s Linda Rose 14-12 at West Denton. Rose has a another chance in the triples area final with Stanley’s Ann Baggott, Karen Gething and Jen Lawson providing the opposition. Gateshead’s Dee Stephenson booked a four’s area final place after ending Stanley’s Jen Lawson’s hopes 20-16.
The Vipers Maureen Charles will face Cumbria’s Tina Smitham in the area final of the Over 60 singles. Charles will be joined by Marion Paton and Jack Stewart Tallack in the Over 50’s triples, in the area final the Shield’s trio will take on Cumbria’s Linda Rose.
The area final of the family pairs will see West Denton’s Luke & Karl Jameson take on Cumbria’s Mark & Stu Irwin, the West Denton pair ended the Vipers Trevor & Josh Halcrow’s hopes 15-7.
The Durham County seniors made a winning trip to Scunthorpe as they beat North Lincolnshire 143-95 in the latest round of Midland League fixtures. Across the green Durham won on three rinks and drawing on one in a 17-5 points win.
Aberdeen hosted the women’s U25 Home International series, the last time Aberdeen hosted the series was back in 2005 when England came out on top. Scotland looked to make it three in a row but yet to win a series at home. As expected both England and Scotland had comfortable wins over Ireland and Wales respectively, the latter ended up getting the wooden spoon when they suffered a third loss 78-70 at the hands of Ireland. In a thrilling auld enemy encounter England held there nerve to seal the deal 83-82. This was England’s seventeenth series success out of the twenty one played.
This weekend it is the turn of the men’s U25 series at Northampton, Scotland are looking for a fifth consecutive win, a win would edge them 12-11 ahead of England in series wins.
The Durham County U18’s are in double triples action on Sunday as they tackle Yorkshire in game two. As both counties beat Nottinghamshire the winners of this game will be in a strong position to qualify for the latter stages. South Shield’s are hosting the home leg with Charlotte Williams (Vipers), Dylan Railton (Gateshead) and Layton Sykes (Vipers) on show. Down Selby the Durham trio are John Lyons, Oliver Lewis (both Aycliffe) and Marcus Mosley (Hartlepool). The action starts at 1230pm.
Hartlepool A are back in action in the Over 60’s double fours this week, in the quarter final they will face Nottingham A.
Entries are now being taken for the only north east Open Singles Circuit event, the Hartlepool competition takes place on 18 April, the entry is £18.