The 2025 Event
The 2025 competition was nearly cancelled for the first time in almost thirty years due to heavy rainfall. The start was postponed by an hour while organisers worked to clear the green of surface water to make it suitable for play. Despite occasional heavy showers, the culmination of the twenty-four individual 2025 season competitions proceeded as planned. ​The field included three multi-qualifiers: Stuart Ivers (5 qualifications), Pam Hodgetts (3), with Paul Clegg (2), and Barbara Dootson (2). Newcomers were Chris Livesey, Ross Hatzer, Danny Mackey, Pat Kitts, and Neil Langford, but only Chris and Ross participated; the other three and Lynn Bennett were absent, resulting in a field of 13. Four out of five matches in Round 1 were one-sided: Sylvia Jeffries (3) lost to Paul Garnett, Steve Hitchen (8) fell to Stuart Ivers, Derek Hitchen (11) was defeated by Paul Clegg, and defending champion Wayne Beazant (5) was well beaten by Chris Livesey. The only close match saw Cliff Berry edge Barbara Dootson 21-19 after trailing 15-19 late in the game.
In the last 8, Pam Hodgetts faced 2023 champion Andrew Godfrey. At 14 ends, Pam led 9-8, then won 7 straight ends for an 18-8 advantage. Andrew rallied, but Pam extended her lead to 20-12. Despite Andrew closing the gap to 16 and having a very close bowl at end 29, Pam delivered a perfect final bowl to secure the win. Debutant Ross Hatzer played against fellow debutant Chris Livesey. After being 9-7 down at the 12th end, Ross scored five doubles to take a 17-9 lead and went on to win the match 21-13. Paul Clegg never really got going in his match against Cliff Berry and bowed out with a lacklustre 9. Stuart Ivers and Paul Garnett had a great tussle with Stuart narrowly winning 21-18.
Cliff Berry and Stuart Ivers played a close semi-final. Stuart took an 18-13 lead by winning 8 straight ends, but Cliff responded by taking the next 6 ends to win 21-18, meaning we would have a new name on the trophy for 2025. Ross Hatzer got off to a great start against Pam Hodgetts in the other semi-final racing to an 11 nil lead after 8 ends. Pam scored 5 singles but the deficit was too great for her to get back in the game and Ross won the game 21-9.
The final proved to be a worthy game for the occasion Once again it was a match with never more than a few points in it. It was 5 across at 6 ends. 13 across at 19 ends. Then 14 across, 15 across and 17 across at 25 ends. Ross stretched Cliff at every opportunity with Cliff returning the block to the middle of the green to negate Ross’ tactics. Ross led 18-17 at 27 ends but Cliff scored a cheeky 2 to lead 19-18. Two more ends, two good leads and two singles and Cliff secured victory as the 2025 champion of champions and became the 17th winner to have their name inscribed on the trophy.
