Report by Keith Flack
There was a good turnout for the annual Rayne Swan Charity Doubles with a range of players from young to old, all with varying degrees of experience including two players who had never thrown a boule.
In the morning session the teams were split into leagues with the top 2 teams qualifying for the main event and the remainder moving forward to the plate competition. During the mornings play one of the junior players fell ill and was replaced by competition organiser Keith Flack. Surprise team of the morning and indeed the whole competition were the experienced Adam Buxton and his novice partner 12 year old Hope Dodge; the pairing won all of their league games and eventually progressed to the final of the main competition.
In the knock out stages of the main Buxton and Dodge earned a semi final berth by beating the Rayne Swan pairing of Matt Waldie and Andy Stead to meet Aris Savvides and Dawn Bourquin who had beaten Colin Sams and Tom Smith. In what was one of the shock results of the whole competition Buxton and Dodge beat the experienced Savvides and Bourquin securing a well deserved place in the final.

In the second half of the draw for the main competition Flack and his up and coming junior partner Harry Waldie progressed to the final, to play Buxton and Dodge, with comfortable victories over teams from Thorley and fellow Rayne Swan pairing of Lorne and Beryl Gibson.

In the final, which in its early stages was very evenly contested, both junior players showed the great form that their places in the final deserved. Waldie’s shooting continued to be accurate and consistant and eventually this was the deciding factor as he and Flack gradually pulled away to win 13-6. This was the first time that the young Waldie had won a major competition but on this form it surely will not be his last.

The plate competition was also staged on a knockout basis with 2 teams from Bocking reaching the semi final in the top half of the draw. Trevor Turner and Malcolm Smith defeated their fellow club mates Dave and Paul Adams to reach the final where they met Audrey and Barrie Lucas from The Victorians PC (Theydon Bois) who themselves had progressed to the final by beating the competition sponsors team of Daniel Robinson and the pairing of Lionel Alcorn & Derek Gutteridge. In what was another evenly matched final the Bocking pair came out on top with a 13-9 victory.

A Consolage was also run for the teams losing in the 1st round of the main and plate competitions. The final of this was contested by the pairing of ECR president Trevor Blows (Onley, Stisted) and David Mills from the Bocking club who won comfortably against The Swan team of Colin Sams and Tom Smith 13-3.

After the completion of the finals the awards were presented by competition sponsors Daniel Robinson and Sons and the event raised £333 for the National Society for Epilepsy.