To mark the 40th anniversary of Suffolk Carpet Bowls, invitations were issued to enter an event which was a twist on the annual Random Triples, a Random Fours. The idea was much the same, teams of 4 randomly drawn bowlers, playing four games across the day, but with another, quite big difference, the rules for the games would change for each round, and only be announced just before the games started

Happily, the event drew such a response that it was so overscribed that even with a few last minute dropouts, there were still the maximum 96 players on hand.

Round 1
The first round would be simple: normal rules apply.

And with one game played, the leaders were the team of Angela Lambert, Kate Luke, Neville Lay, and Sally Goodrich, who won 11-4. Just behind were Dave Clement, David Allen, Keith, Martina Robinson, Charley Newby, Colin Spriggs, Pauline Dibbin, and Steve Frost, who won their games with 10 shots.

Round 2 (3-2-1)
Here is where the scoring changed. This time the first shot would score 3, second scores 2, and third scores one point. No other shots count, and if the jack goes off, that’s 6 points to the opposition. Overall there are 42 shots to be played for, so some big scores were incoming.

The biggest win of the round was 32-10, while there were also a couple of draws, which was quite an achievement.

One of those who picked up 32 shots, was Pete Runnacles who leapt into the top spot from 13th place. He was now on 40 shots, but there were a lot of people very close behind, John Smith and Charley Newby were on 39 shots, Rita Runnacles was on 37, Doreen Payne had 26, Sally Goodrich 35, and Trevor Edge, Jane Sago, and Keith (surname still unconfirmed), on 34, making out the top 10.

Round 3 (Score the End)
A little less complicated this time. The closest wood wins the end, and the score received depends on the end being played, win the first end, score 1, win the 2nd end, score 2, etc. So there were 28 points to play for.

There were 18 players who won both their first two games, but only 8 repeated the trick for a third time.

Still heading the pack was Pete Runnacles, on 61 shots, Pauline Dibbin had 59, Rita Runnacles was on 56, Laurie Denton and David Clement were on 55, Clive Pearsons 54, and Pat Barrett and Martina Robinson had 51.

Behind them, with just one game to go, was a pack of 9 players who had dropped just one point, all of whom were still in with a shout.

Round 4 - (Organised Chaos - New Zealand-ish Rules)
Back to normal scoring rules this time, to make things easier. But if the jack goes off, that’s a 5 shot penalty, and the jack gets put back where it was before it went off. And just one more thing, the centre block is removed, just to make it easier to get at the target.

So, 8 players went into the final round with 3 wins, 9 more had 2 wins and a draw. But only 2 of the top 8 managed a 4th win, all the others lost, and only 4 of the chasing pack managed to also win, dropping just one point on the day. That's only 6 out of 96 players who went undefeated.

Sixth place went to Ned Trevitt, having come up from 16th after 3 games, Marion Peterson moved up from 17th to finish 5th, one shot ahead of Ned, but missing out on the top 4, and a prize, by 3 shots.

Trevor Edge went from 13th to 4th, finishing on 7 points and 56 shots, some way ahead, in 3rd, was Steve Frost who amassed a huge 73 shots, but had a draw in the 3-2-1 round, and so finished third.

And that left just those final two players who won all 4 games. Just missing out on the win, by 5 shots, was Clive Pearsons, with 8 points and 62 shots, while victory went to Pauline Dibbin, on 8 points and 67 shots.

Apart from the actual bowling, it was nice to see so many people who had played such a big part in Suffolk Carpet Bowls over the last 4 decades, not just playing, but also dropping in, even if just for a little while, to say hello.

Our sincere thanks go to everyone who came along, and to all those who helped organise the day.

We're also pleased to say that we raised around £700 on the day, which will be going to the charity which was decided by way of a vote by the participants, the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

You can view all the day's results here.

Pauline	Clive
Steve	Trevor

This year's Fab Fours saw an increase in entries this year, with 32 teams turning out to compete for the title.

Group 1
Withersfield A won the group, with the 3 wins and a loss, thanks to a 4 shot advantage over the team that beat them, The Bowling Party. Both teams qualified.

Group 2
Rapscallions went undefeated to win their group, dropping just one point along the way.

Group 3
Elmsett 2 and Hit & Hope both won 3 games, and lost one. Elmsett just took the group win, thanks to 5 extra shots, but both teams advanced to the knockout rounds.

Group 4
Scuderia Cavallino were clear group winners, winning all 4 games, and finishing 4 points clear of the rest.

Group 5
Jolly Old Norfolk dropped just a single point on their way to winning the group. None of the rest of the group could do better than 5 points.

Group 6
Hunter's Men were another team to win all their games. The best anyone else in the group could manage was 2 wins out of 4.

Knockout Rounds
Quarter Finals
The Bowling Poverty held the narrowest of leads after 5 ends (3-2), but Jolly Old Norfolk came on strong at the end, to won 8-3.

Withersfield A did not allow Hit & Hope a look-in, winning the first 6 ends to take the game 9-0 with an end to spare.

Scuderia Cavallino were never behind to Hunters Men, pulling out a lead in the middle part of the game, to take a 10-3 win.

Rapascallions had to come from behind against Elmsett 2, going from 4-1 down, to snatch a 5-4 win on the last end.

Semi-Finals
Scuderia Cavallino's win over Rapscallions was rested entirely on a 5 shot count on the 2nd end. Although Rapscallions pulled back to within a shot, Cavallino got away again, and won the game 9-5.

Jolly Old Norfolk had another tough game on their hands, this time against Withersfield A, 4-1 down they cam back to snatch a last end win, 5-4.

Final
Sadly Scuderia Cavallino were not able to put up much of a fight against Jolly Old Norfolk, which inched thier way into an 8-0 lead with an end to go. That last end did not produce a miraculous turnaround, but it did at least give Cavallion the consolation of a couple of shots, to allow them to avoid a whitewash.

All the day's results.

Jolly Old Norfolk

Scuderia Cavallino

After a close first half, Suffolk led current holders, Bury 8-4. The second, though, was dominated by Suffolk winning five of the games, taking the match 18-6.

This is the first time Suffolk has won this challenge since 2013.

After a couple of years where the entry was down on pre-pandemic levels, this year saw a record 102 bowlers wanting to play, and who are we to refuse any of them?

Round 1
Without any drawn games, there were 52 winners sharing the lead.

The best result of the session was a 13-2 win, which went to Geraldine Ide, Jane Sago, and Tony Stephenson. Two other games finished 10-1, with those on the winning sides being Jane Clarke, John Rookard, Lynda Jewers, John Nunn, Peter Exley, and Peter Fellingham.

Round 2
24 players made it two wins out of two.

Lynda Jewers, on 24 shots, led the way. Peter Fellingham (20 shots) was second, and Jane Clarke (19 shots) was third.

John Rookard was on 18 shots, Peter Exley and Phil Squibb were on 17, and Clare Leftley and Barbara Nunn had 16.

Round 3
Two drawn games managed to ruin the perfect results of no less than 5 players, and we were now down to a mere 8, who had won all 3 games, but there was not much between them.

Jane Clarke and Vic Goodey were top, on 26 shots, just one ahead of Andrew English, who was just one ahead of Clare Leftley and Sarah Fletcher. Barry Thorpe had 22 shots, Adam Hubbard had 20, and Rita Runnacles had 17.

Round 4
There might have been only 5 players left who had won all their games, but it was close.

Clare Leftley was on 32 shots, Rita Runnacles was on 32 shots, and Vic Goodey was on 32 shots. All that separated them (or not) were shots against, Clare’s tally was 12, while Rita and Vic’s were both 13. It was that close.

Not that the other two were very far behind, Vic Goodey and Adam Hubbard were both on 29 shots.

And it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that the three players on 7 points, Peter Fellingham, Mick Watkins, and Sue Davey would make it into the top 4 at the end of the day, and collect a trophy.

Final Round
In the end, there were 3 players who won all of their games, while 2 more dropped just one point.

In fifth place was Sue Davey, on 9 points and 35 shots. She was just edged out by Mick Watkins, who took 4th with one extra shot.

In 3rd, with 10 points and 35 shots, was Barry Thorpe, three shots ahead of him, in 2nd, was Adam Hubbard, and another 3 shots better, this year’s winner was Rita Runnacles.

We'd like to thank everyone who joined us, and we hope to see you all again next year.

The day's results.

This year's event saw 34 teams helping to raise funds for Cancer Support Suffolk.

As usual teams would get 4 games each, with the winners decided on points, shots for, and finally shots against.

Round 1
15 teams won their opening games, with three of them scoring 10 shots, Knodishll, Kenninghall and Copdock & Washbrook, and two scoring 9 shots each, Hintlesham & Chattisham C and Stanningfield B.

Round 2
After 2 games we were down to just 8 teams who had not yet dropped a point. Kenninghall (22 shots), Knodishall and Copdock & Washbrook (17), Hintlesham & Chattisham B (16), Odds & Ends (15), Norfolk Ally and Reepham (14), and Stanningfield (12).

Round 3
Just 4 teams made it three wins out of three. Kenninghall still led the way (27 shots), Knodishall still held 2nd (25 shots), Norfolk Ally (21), and Stanningfield C (19).

Final Round
Unfortunately for Stanningfield and Knodishall, they missed out on their fourth wins, which left only 2 teams.

Kenninghall won their final game 6-3, but unfortunately for them, Norfolk Ally trounced their final opposition 18-0, catapulting them to the top, and giving them the win by 6 shots, having trailed by 6 going into the last round of games.

Pts For Agst 1 Norfolk Ally 8 39 14 2 Kenninghall 8 33 16 3 Stanningfield A 6 38 19 4 Hintlesham & Chattisham B 6 34 21 5 Canine Whispers 6 31 14

We would like to give huge thanks to everyone who came along to play and who who helped contribute to a profit of around £1200.

You can find the final results here.

Winners Norfolk Ally Stephen Frost, Matt Frost, Maisie Self & Ally Hobbs

Runners-Up Kenninghall Phyllis Sutton, Rosemary Knox, Charlie Newbury & Patricia Clarke