This year brought the highest entry for the event since before the pandemic, with 35 teams taking part. The 7 group winners and the best runner-up would qualify for the knockout rounds.

Group Games
Brucie Bonus comfortably won their Group 1, winning all their games.

Group 2 came down to the final game with GT Sailing and reigning champions Jolly Old Norfolk vying for the win. GT Sailing only needed a draw, but it was Jolly Old Norfolk who won to take the group on shots.

Split Happens! went into their final game knowing that just a single shot would win them the group. As it was they won to take the group with maximum points.

Wicky Woo’s went undefeated in Group 4, dropping just one point along the way.

Group 5 ended up with 3 teams on 5 points, the best of which was 4 Vandals who needed 10 shots in their final game and got exactly that.

Comfortable Group 6 winners were Team Runnacles who won all their games and racked up the highest number of shots on the day, 40.

Group 7 provided the remaining two qualifiers, with the top two teams finishing on 7 points. Essex Allsorts won the group with 36 shots, Serenity were runners-up, and with no other runner-up getting no more than 6 points were through.

Knockout Rounds
Quarter Finals
Jolly Old Norfolk were off to a good start against Brucie Bonus, and were never in trouble, winning 10-4.

Closest of the games was Spilt Happen! against Serenity. It was only 5-3 in the end, but Split! were always in front and were never in danger.

4 Vandals raced out to a 6-0 lead over Wicky Woo’s and went on to win 9-3.

Team Runnacles were 2 down to Essex Allsorts after the first end but came through to an 8-3 win which looked more comfortable than it really was.

Semi-Finals
They had their chances, but Split Happens were denied more than once by Jolly Old Norfolk, who had 7 on the board before Split managed to score a shot. The final score was 9-3 to Jolly Old Norfolk.

4 Vandals led their game against Team Runnacles until the last, which took the game into a final end, although the Vandals had to rescue that last end to keep the opposition down to just one. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do that on the extra end, which went to Team Runnacles as they won the game 8-6.

Final
It was very much a battle of the overdogs as the two hot favourites to make the final did just that, with last year's winners Jolly Old Norfolk taking on Team Runnacles.

And it was as close as you might expect given the quality of the two teams, and at the end of full time the score stood at 6-6, so an extra end was required to separate them, and it went the way of Jolly Old Norfolk as they finished 8-6 winners and retained the trophy.

You can find the full results here.

After winning last year Suffolk just missed out this time.

Bury were off to the better start, winning 4 and drawing 1 of the 6 games.

However, Suffolk back in the second half winning 4 games, but it wasn't quite enough to overhaul Bury's lead as they won the match 13-11, although Suffolk did take the shots at 98-91.

Well done to all involved and thanks to the following teams for playing:- Bentley, Chelmondiston, Clapgate Lane, Elmsett, Harkstead and Old Felixstowe for Suffolk, and Barrow, Cockfield, Thurston, Tostock, Stanningfield and Withersfield for Bury.

This year’s event attracted 96 entries, and with 8 carpets, that allowed for everyone to play 5 games. The twist this year would be that some of the rounds would have slight tweaks to the normal scoring rules.

Round 1 (Normal Rules)
With no drawn games, 48 players recorded wins.

Frank Wilkin, Maggie Walton, and Paul Leach won their first game 15-0, to easily lead the way, while Colin Fellingham, John Rankin, and Matt Frost won 11-2.

Round 2 (3-2-1)
This time the wood closest to the jack would score 3 shots, the second best would score 2, and the third best scores 1, which meant there were 42 points were on offer per game.

24 players won their second game.

Mick Watkins led the way on 4 points and 42 shots, Sue Gilder and Maggie Walton had 39 shots, Paul Cousins and Ian Reeves 37, Will List and Glenn Mitchell 35, and Peter Exley 34.

Round 3 (Normal Rules)
Only 9 players made it 3 wins out of 3.

Sue Gilder was now leading, on 6 points and 48 shots, 4 ahead of Ian Reeves. Ian Lynch had 42 shots, Rob Parnell and Val Kidd 40, and Lynda Jewers, Paul Bishop, Don Poulter and Neville Lay 39.

A further 8 players were on 5 points.

Round 4 (Score the End)
The rules this time meant that whoever was closest won the end, and would get a score equating to the number of that end, i.e. first end scores 1, 2nd end scores 2, etc.

Only 5 players were now left still with maximum points. Ian Reeves had 8 points and 63 shots, Rob Parnell 58, Lynda Jewers 57, Ian Lynch 56, and Don Poulter 54.

Four other players, Pauline Smith, Tom Runnacles, Peter Frost and Tim Franks, had dropped just one point and were still in with a shout.

Round 5 (No Centre)
For this round the centre was removed, and normal scoring rules would apply, except that the penalty for taking the jack off would be 5 shots.

With all the games played, there were just five players left undefeated. Two of those had dropped one point, they were Tom Runnacles, who finished 5th with 9 points and 66 shots, while 4th went to Pauline Smith on 9 points and 77 shots.

That left 3 players on the maximum 10 points. Third went to Rob Parnell with 66 shots, one shot better was Don Poulter, who finished runner-up, but the winner was Ian Reeves, who ended up on 10 points and 70 shots.

Many thanks to everyone who joined us, we hope to see you all again next year.

Pts For Agst 1 Ian Reeves 10 70 35 2 Don Poulter 10 67 40 3 Rob Parnell 10 66 40 4 Pauline Smith 9 77 35 5 Tom Runnacles 9 66 38

You can find the full final results here.

This year’s Charity Fours, held to raise funds for St Elizabeth Hospice, saw an increase in entries over 2025, with 38 teams taking part.

Each team would play 4 times, and with no time for knockout rounds, the winners would be the team at the top of the overall standings after all the games were played.

Game 1
With no drawn games, there were 19 winners in the first round of games, with some substantial wins for the teams who would be leading the way at this initial stage.

Top of the lot were Mad Dogs, on 19 shots, followed by Claydon on 15, Burstall on 13, Clapgate Lane on 12, Elmsett B on 11, with Thurston in 6th place having scored 10 shots.

Game 2
Eleven teams made it 2 wins out of 2.

Clapgate now led the way, with 27 shots, Withersfield A were just 1 behind, Mad Dogs were down to 3rd (24 shots), Claydon were 4th (23), Burstall and Elmsett B had 21 shots, Reepham B 20, Old Claystead 19, Ellesmere 18, Reepham A 16, and the final team on 2 wins were Shalford A, with 15 shots.

Game 3
Eight of the eleven teams who had won their first two games, lost their perfect records, leaving Mad Dogs (6 points, 34 shots), Ellesmere (6 points, 27 shots), and Shalford A (6 points, 25 shots) at the top of the standings.

Two of this round's games involved 4 of the leading pack playing among themselves, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, ended in draws. Those teams were now all on 5 points, and were Withersfield A (31 shots), Elmsett B (27), Old Claystead (25), and Reepham A (21).

These were the only teams in with a realistic chance of taking the overall win.

Game 4
Three of the teams who were previously on 5 points, won their final games. Repham A finished on 7 points and 29 shots, Withersfield A were on 7 points and 39 shots, and Old Claystead had 7 points and 43 shots.

They had done all they could, but the three teams ahead of them at the start of the round all won their final games to finish with 100% records.

Third place went to Shalford A (8 points, 34 shots), runners-up were Ellesmere (8 points, 36 shots), which left Mad Dogs (8 points, 42 shots), as this year’s winners, by a margin of 6 shots.

Pts For Agst 1 Mad Dogs 8 42 12 2 Ellesmere 8 36 22 3 Shalford A 8 34 17 4 Old Claystead 7 43 15 5 Withersfield A 7 39 14 6 Reepham A 7 29 12

You can find the full final results here.

Winners Mad Dogs

Runners-Up Ellesmere

Many thanks to all who were there to support the event, and to everyone who was so generous in their support of the draw, both with prizes, and buying tickets, who helped us raise £1365.