Saturday 29th November saw the thirtieth Macmillan Championship take place at Leominster Indoor Bowling Centre. An entry of 32 teams gathered to take part, each playing four games across the day in an open draw format, in the only tournament of the year where the result on the mat was equally important as the result off it!
Since the first event in 1992, bowlers from across Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Powys, Shropshire and beyond have come together annually to raise over £37,900 for Macmillan, with this year’s tournament adding £1850 to the total. On the mat, one of the closest Macmillan’s in recent history saw an incredible finish. Going into the final session Penybont looked sure of victory, sitting on the maximum 8 points with +39 shots difference. Their nearest challenger, Woolhope 2, went into their final game knowing they needed to win and overturn a 21 shot deficit to take the title. Incredibly, the team of Shirley & Becci Cox, Bryan Watkins & John Mills pulled it out of the bag with a 25-0 win to claim top spot in dramatic fashion.
Away from the competition itself, a plethora of fundraising activities were available. The target bowls mat, where four woods were bowled to accumulate the highest score, was extremely popular whilst upstairs saw the refreshments, including a fantastic selection of donated homemade cakes, prove to be a hit. The true main event of the day, the raffle, saw many fantastic prizes donated in addition to a separate whiskey raffle, all of which generated much interest and many donations.
The HSMBA’s thanks goes to Jim and Ann Wilkinson for their hard work on the raffle table, Joe Loveys and his helpers for their tireless efforts on the refreshment stand, Merion Attwood and Bryan Watkins for their assistance throughout, Ian Roe & Steve Kite for Umpiring and all of the players and clubs who took part and made the day the fantastic success that it was. Last but not least, the association gives huge thanks to HSMBA Competition Secretary Peter Lewis and his predecessor Becci Cox for all of their hard work organising and overseeing the day.
To view the full results, please visit the Macmillan Page. Please find further photos from the day below. The final total will be announced on our website once final expenses for the competition are confirmed.
