Composition of the league

This is the composition of the league for forthcoming season which will start the week commencing 5th September 2022.

Section A: Barmy Army, Breakaways, Colliton Imps, Colliton Wide Boys, Dewlish Monsters, Hammers, Jolly Green Giants, Patriots, Puddletown Wanderers, Royal Oak Wanderers, Skimmers and Woodmen.

Section B: Brewers Bees, Colliton Magpie Imps, Essentials, Half Pints, Hartstoppers, Heathens, Hotshots, Steamers, Swankers, Trinity Allsorts, Vic Reeves and Wareham Legionaires.

Section C: Colliton Flingers, Colliton Spares, Country Boys, Goldies Gorillaz, Misfits, Muckspreaders, Plodders, Swan Abbots, Untouchables, Vic’s Brown Bullocks, Villains and Yokels On Tour@Colliton.

Section D: Alcotops, Colliton Rebels, Funseekers, Jokers, Merrymen, New Inn Chuckers, Puddletown Nomads, Rollers, Ship Wrecked, Strugglers and Unpredictable Strimmers. (Section D will have one bye in it).

Ladies League: Crackerjacs, Hot Cheese Stampers, Oakettes, The Easy Beats, Trinity Mix Ups, Vixens, Wonder Women and Woodpeckers. (The teams will play each other three times in the Ladies League).

Committee changes

After 12 years of service Sheila Cummins has stepped down from her role on the committee, the officers of the league would like to thank Sheila for all the help and dedication to our league throughout her time on the committee.

We welcome three new members to the committee for the forthcoming season, Denise Jones, Harry Ackerman and Charlie Gosney.

Rule changes passed at the AGM

Rule 11
Delete: the temporary rule for the 2021/22 season
Reinstate: the previous Rule 11 amend to read as follows: –
All matches shall be played in the week specified and on the declared night of play for the home team, as detailed in the fixture list, unless brought forward or rearranged within the specified week by mutual consent. Any team who is unable to fulfil a fixture on the specified date shall notify their opponents, and the Secretary, at least 24 hours before the due date and shall automatically forfeit the match, their opponents being awarded the points. (See Rules 7 and 13). However, should the cancellation result from what the Committee deem to be an exceptional circumstance then the Secretary, whose decision shall be final and conclusive, can order the game to be played within 14
days of the original date provided that the new date does not extend beyond the completion of the final week of fixtures. If the teams are unable to agree a date within 48 hours of the original date then the Secretary will set the date for the fixture. For the avoidance of doubt the inability to raise a team other than the death of a registered player or a member of their immediate family, a national emergency or an extreme weather event, will not be deemed exceptional. As a matter of courtesy, the home team shall immediately notify the landlord/club steward of that the match will not be played. No team, irrespective of the year of their joining the league, shall be permitted to have a home night on a Saturday or Sunday.
RULE 12
Delete: by noon on the Monday
Insert: by 6pm on the Sunday
Amend: the wording of the following sentence to read: Cards can be submitted electronically, both sides if a player or players have been
signed on, via e mail, text, WhatsApp or messenger. Teams must keep any electronically submitted cards until the end of the season in case there is any dispute.
RULE 14 para 9
Add: before the sentence “All playoff matches” the sentence: –
If both head-to-head fixtures have not been played then the team who cancelled shall, as appropriate, either forfeit promotion or be
relegated.
Rules for the Singles, Pairs, Secretaries Shield & Sticker up Cup
Rule 10 Amend to read:-
Where a competition is played to a conclusion in one evening the Committee may, depending on the number of entries, elect to run the competition using an alternative format whereby a draw will be made at the beginning of the evening to determine the order of play. Where more than one alley is used the first drawn is on alley one, second to alley two, third to alley three, fourth to alley one and so on until all players who have registered have been allocated to an alley. Players will throw a hand of three balls, in the order drawn down the board, as in a league game, each player throwing a minimum of FIVE hands. Depending on the time available a cut may be made once all players have thrown 5 hands although, further hands may be thrown before a cut is made with those players with the lowest scores dropping out to leave 8 or 16 + ties, depending on the initial number of players. The threshold for elimination will be based on the scores hit and may differ on each alley.
For those players who make the cut their scores will be reset to zero. A further THREE hands will be thrown before the two players + ties with the lowest score(s) are eliminated a process which will then be repeated after every second hand until a winner is found.
Where the competition is played on more than one alley then the alley winners shall play off over 5 hands to determine the champion.
Players will draw lots to establish the order of play their scores being reset to zero for the final.
Any player not available to take their throw will be awarded 4 pins for that hand.

AGM

The Annual General Meeting will be held on FRIDAY, JUNE 10th, 2022 at 8 p.m. in the Dorset Room at the Colliton Club, Dorchester.

Only one team member is allowed to attend, please note that teams not attending will incur a £20 fine.

Any Rule changes or nominations for the Officers of the League and the Committee shall be submitted to the Hon. Secretary 14 days prior to the date of the Annual General Meeting.

Presentation Evening photos

If anyone would like to get a print ordered from Friday’s Presentation Evening please contact Chris Whitefield. www.chriswhitefield.co.uk or through his Facebook page Chris Whitefield Wedding Photography.

7”x 5” £3.50

8”x 6” £4.50

10”x 8” £5.50

Many thanks to Chris for once again taking some great photos.

Entry forms

All teams should have received an email with the AGM agenda attached, also the entry form for next season was also attached to the same email, please could the entry form be returned to Brian Newton by Monday 16th May 2022. If you have not received the email please contact Brian immediately.

Please could all entry forms be returned to Brian by Monday

Fourth Section B title for Woodmen

Woodmen are going up as champions of Section B after their close 4-pins play-off victory over Hammers. Both sides have gone up and down between Section A and B more times than any other sides, Hammers having won Section B on six occasions, while it was Woodmen’s fourth Section B title.

The Woodmen team can be dated back to the 78-79 season when they played in Section E on a Tuesday night at the Royal Oak, Milborne St.Andrew under the name Milborne Woodmen. Section E was won by the Woodmen in the 80-81 season, and then Section D was won in 84-85. For the 88-89 season their evening was switched from Tuesday to Wednesday. After six seasons in Section C the team spilt up and the name Woodmen was not seen again until the 96-97 season after Dave Way took over the Royal Oak team that had been previously the Milborne Terrors. Milborne Woodmen were now a team again playing on Thursdays and took their place in Section C where Royal Oak had played the previous season. Woodmen were promoted in 98-99 the season they changed nights to Fridays even though they had finished fourth in Section C.  After two seasons in the B section the Woodmen were unlucky to be relegated after finishing fourth from bottom. in 2003 Milborne Woodmen won Section C after beating Colliton Flingers in a play-off, and then won Section B the following season beating Goldies Chimps in a play-off. The Woodmen spent five seasons in the top section before relegation in 08-09 whilst playing home matches at the Bladen SC, Briantspuddle. The following season they were back at the Royal Oak with Tony Brown taking over as captain and they  bounced back at the first time of asking winning Section B in 2010, the team was now known as Woodmen with Milborne being dropped from their name. The 10-11 season saw both Woodman and Royal Oak rivals Monsters  relegated from Section A only for both to come back up after Woodmen finished as runners up to Monsters in Section B in 11-12. The 12-13 season saw Woodmen in 7th place, their best top flight finish. Woodmen were back in Section B for the 15-16 season and finished third and then won Section B in 16-17 but after just two seasons in Section A were back in Section B again. Woodmen’s play-off victory over Hammers means they have now won Section B on four occasions.  

Hammers can be dated back to the 1964-65 season when they played at the Great Western on a Tuesday night in Section D. The following season the team moved to Goldies but still kept playing on the Tuesday. For the 72-73 season Hammers moved to the Trinity Club to play on a Thursday. Hammers were promoted in 73-74 to Section C after finishing runners up in Section D. Section C was won by Hammers in the 77-78 season as the team headed to Section B for the 78-79 season. The team moved to a Friday night at the Trinity Club for the 80-81 season as the club done away with the old alley in the bar area and built two new ones in the function room. Hammers reached Section A after winning Section B in the 84-85 season. They stayed in the top section for three season before being relegated back to Section B but bounced back in just two seasons winning Section B in 1990. it was another three seasons before Hammers were heading back to Section B. They escaped relegation to Section C in 95-96 after finishing bottom of section B but luck was against them in the 97-98 season when finishing fourth from bottom of Section B they were relegated when the sections were cut from sixteen to fourteen.  Hammers had just one season in Section C as they were promoted back to the B section after finishing third. Hammers finished bottom of Section B in 2001 and then bottom of Section C in 2002. In the 02-03 season Hammers finished as runners up in Section D and in 04-05 were runners up in Section C. Hammers were heading to Section A in 2007 after winning Section B, followed by relegation back to B only to win Section B again in 2009 and then relegation back to B after yet again only staying in the top flight for one season.  Section B was won again in season 14-15, but as their last two visits to Section A it only lasted one season. It was a record sixth Section B title for the Hammers in 2018 and they managed to stay up in the 18-19 season. Once the skittles league resumed after Covid Hammers were unlucky to find themselves back in Section B but have gone up at the first time of asking. 

Play off goes to last ball

The final team match of the 21-22 season was played tonight and it was a cracker.

Hammers met Woodmen on alley one at the Colliton Club to see who would go up as champions to Section A.

Both sides showed why they were the top two teams in Section B with some great skittles with the lead changing from team to team.

Woodmen who were 4-pins up going into the last hand were left needing 64 to win after Hammers had hit 67.Woodmen’s anchor man Andy Lovett was left needing 12 to win and after leaving up a pair with his first ball took the 2-pins for a stick up, and his 15 gave the Milborne outfit a 4-pins victory.

Well done to both teams and good luck to you all next season in Section A.

Hammers 447 (T Durrant 71), Woodmen 451 (A Lovett 72).

Wanderers win the Plate

Puddletown Wanderers won the Open Plate final by 53-pins against Steamers to record their second Plate success, they also won it in 2018. The Wanderers were up all night after a good start and led by 33-pins after two hands. Steamers had a brief comeback when Gary Osborne hit back to back stick ups of 15 on hands three and four but it was Wanderers who finished the match on top with birthday boy Matthew King top scoring with 60.

All time record

4 x wins – Wide Boys

2 x wins – Patriots, Barmy Army and Puddletown Wanderers

1 x win – Unpredictables, Slingers, Merrymen, 3CA, Vic Reeves, Swan Abbots, The Imps, Woodmen, Alcotops and Half Pints