Wonder Women

Crossfire Ladies joined the league in 2012 playing in the last ever Ladies Section B on a Monday at the new Spitfire Club alley at Crossways. From the 13-14 season there was just one ladies league of sixteen teams. In 2017 the Crossfire Ladies were runners up in the Plate. The following season the team had moved to the Colliton Club on alley one and changed their name to Wonder Women, and again were runners up in the Plate. The team played for one season at the Victoria Hotel  in the 22-23 season, finishing third in the league and winning the last ever ladies plate, before playing last season at the Trinity Club on alley one.  

Note: Some members of the Wonder Women will be part of the newly formed Wingers that will play in Section C.

Merrymen

Merrymen were formed in 1992 and played in Section G at the New Inn, West Knighton on a Thursday, finishing third in their first season which saw them promoted to Section F for the 93-94 season.  Merrymen finished fourth in Section F in 95-96 which meant they were promoted to Section E. Merrymen were up again the following season, as although they finished sixth, they found themselves in Section D for the 97-98 season. The team were in Section C for the 00-01 season after finishing fourth in Section D the previous season, but a bottom place finish saw them relegated back to Section D. After a few promotions without finishing in the top two the Merrymen got their hands on some silverware  in 2002 finishing top of Section D. After one season in Section C Merrymen were in Section B, as the sections were enlarged from 14 to 16 teams. For the 05-06 season Merrymen switched nights to play on Fridays at the New Inn, a season that saw them relegated back to Section C. The team had a new home for the 06-07 season moving to the Frampton Arm’s, Moreton on a Friday.  After just over ten years in Section C Merrymen were relegated in 2018. When skittles resumed in 2021 the Frampton Arm’s alley had gone so Merrymen played on a Friday at the Three Compasses, Charminster, before moving back to where it had all started, the New Inn, West Knighton for the 22-23 season. The team had entered for the 24-25 season but after a few seasons struggling for a side captain Stan Hallett felt that with the sections back up to sixteen teams it would mean that with a longer season getting eight players would become even more difficult, so rather than withdraw during the season he had to unfortunately withdraw just after the AGM.   

Note: The committee excepted a late entry from Ship Apes to take the place of Merrymen.

Hotshots

Hotshots origins can be dated back to 1984 and a team called Vice Presidents A who were captained by Steve Major and played at the Magpie SC in Section E on Wednesday. The named was changed to Vice Presidents Ramblers and the home night switched to a Thursday for the next two seasons. It was the 87-88 season when the name Hotshots was first used as Steve moved the team to the Swan Inn on a Thursday, and was joined by David Potter, Pete Bradley and Andy Tompkins all from Chinks A. Hotshots first success was in the 89-90 season when they finished up runners-up in Section E. The 91-92 season saw the team move to the new alley at the Junction Hotel on a Thursday, but by the following season the team were on the move again, now known as Trinity Hotshots playing on alley one on a Wednesday at the Trinity Club. Alley two was their home for the 93-94 season with the team name back to being just Hotshots, but they were back on alley one the following season, and in 1996 finished as runners up in Section D, and then runners up again the following season in Section C. In 1998 the team became Colliton Hotshots when they moved to the new alley two at the Colliton Club, but were back to being just known as Hotshots for 99-00 season. After two seasons at the Colliton it was a move back to the Trinity as the team took up their first ever Friday home night, on alley one. It was onto another club for the 02-03 season with the Hotshots taking up home at the Conservative Club on a Friday. The Hotshots reached Section A after finishing runners up in Section B in the 05-06 season., although it was only a one season stay as the they finished bottom of the A section in 06-07. With the Conservative Club closing the Hotshots moved to the Victoria Hotel on a Thursday for the 11-12 season, with the season ending in relegation. Back in the Section C the team switched nights to Friday at the Vic for the 12-13 season. A bottom place finish in 2014 saw the Hotshots in Section D for the 14-15 season. In 2018 Hotshots finished as runners up in Section D, and a season later finished runners up in Section C,  as the team once again moved up the sections. In 2019 Hotshots, now back in Section B took up home at the Dorchester Town Football Club on a Wednesday, but the season was null and voided due to Covid. When skittles resumed in 2021 Hotshots played from alley one at the Colliton Club on a Wednesday, and gained promotion in the 22-23 season finishing runners up in Section B. Hotshots final season saw them playing in Section A where they finished ninth out of eleven.  

Note: Some of the Hotshots players from last season have formed a new team called Ship Apes.

At the AGM on Friday it was confirmed that Section D would be disbanded for the forthcoming season. With four small sections in the Open League since the league restarted after Covid, the committee felt that we needed to give skittlers a decent amount of games and also insuring that venues with alleys within our league get us much custom from our matches as possible, in the hope that we can keep as many alleys as we can still in use in the future. A year ago we had the plan of moving the Ladies League into Section D, this would have been based around four sections of 14 teams. But neither Section D teams or the ladies teams were overly keen on this idea, and some teams indicated that they would not enter if this went ahead, so the committee withdrew this option as we did not want to lose any teams.

So with the 46 teams we have at present in the Open League, the ideal solution of four sections of 14 teams is unworkable, so we had the choice to leave it as it was last season with only 20 games for teams or to  go back to 16 in three sections and give you a full season of skittles, the last time we based the sections around 16 teams was only back in the 2016-17 season, so it’s really nothing new. Although some of the concerns raised at the  AGM have been noted and will be looked at over the season.  

1963 was the first year of Section D, with Stragglers from the Plume of Feathers the first winners. Over the years most of today’s teams would have started in Section D or would have passed through it on their way up from Section E.

If this is the end of Section D then Strugglers from the Goldies will be the last winners.

Here is a pick of some of the past winners that still remain in our league in some shape or form

1974 – Untouchables

1979 – Muckspreaders

1980 – Skimmers

1982 – New Inn Yokels

1985 – Milborne Woodmen

1986 – Bladen Breakaways

1987 – Puddletown Wanderers

1991 and 1992 – Puddletown Imps

1993 – Wide Boys

1994 – Hartstoppers

1997 – Patriots

1998 and 2016 – Jokers

2001 and 2013- Misfits

2002 – Merrymen

2003 and 2024 – Strugglers

2005 and 2010 – Swan Abbots

2006 – Allsorts

2007 – Half Pints

2011 – Greyhound Essentials

2012 – Top Pins

2019 – Wareham Legionaires

2022 – Plodders

2023 – Alcotops

The AGM was held at the Colliton Club on Friday evening, here is a brief round up of the main rule changes and other topics.

League fees and the cost of entering the competitions remain the same as last season (please support the singles, pairs, etc in the forthcoming season)

Adam Barnes has joined the committee with Harry Ackerman stepping down.

As of the 24-25 season no team shell be able to have a home night on a Monday in the Open League.

There will no longer be play-offs to decide section winners, teams finishing level on points will be decided by their head to head record against each other during the season.

The rules for the new format that has been used for the Singles has been updated and can be found by clicking the Rules section at the top of the website.

Section D has been disbanded, while the Ladies League will continue with five teams for the forthcoming season. But unfortunately it has been confirmed that this may well be the final season for the Ladies League unless we get at least eight ladies teams entering for the 25-26 season.

The Open league will consist of three sections with 16 teams in Section A and 15 in Sections B & C, while the Ladies League has 5 teams who will play each other four times.

Hotshots and Wonder Woman have withdrawn from the league, while we have three new teams that will all be in Section C, Fifty Shades of Age, The Wafflers and Wingers.

The 24-25 season will start the week commencing Monday 26th August for the Open League and Monday 16th September for the Ladies League.

A big thank you to Dorchester Mayor Alistair Chisholm who presented the trophies at the league’s presentation evening. Alister was presented with a bouquet of flowers by our Vice Chair-person Sally Childs-Slade for his partner who unfortunately could not be present.

All photos were taken by Chris Whitefield Wedding Photography, as always a big thank you to Chris.

Thank you to the Trinity Club and all of it’s staff for their hospitality, the security team on the door and Sound Star for the entertainment.

Thank you to our committee for all their hard work throughout the season and on making sure Friday ran smoothly.

Lastly thank you to all of you skittlers who supported the evening. Enjoy your summer and we’ll see you all back on the alley for the 24-25 season.

Our two eldest teams met at the Bladen Club last night to celebrate Puddletown Wanderers 70th anniversary. Both Puddletown Wanderers and Puddletown Nomads appeared in the 1954-55 league fixture book, and both used the Kings Arms Puddletown as their home alley.