The annual singles tournament started on 25th September with 9 members playing each other over 7 hoops. Karen and John Mariner each had 7 wins but as Karen had beaten John 4/3 in their encounter she was the winner on the day and went through to the final. The second half of this event took place on 4th October but, following the late withdrawal of 2 of the contestants only 7 players took part. Paul came through the group by winning all 6 of his games with Tony the runner-up with 5 wins. Mention should be made of Mick Fryer’s performance in coming 3rd with 3 wins. A brave effort in his first singles competition. So the final over 19 hoops would be between Karen and Paul on the 9th October. Unfortunately I arrived late as they were about to play the 19th hoop. Apparently it had been a monumental struggle particularly in the latter stages with no one taking a commanding lead as all the members present watched the final outcome. Paul was first to the 19th hoop and Karen was unable to clear. After 4 or 5 waves of his mallet Paul ran the final hoop to take the crown of singles champion 2018 but a first class final contested to the very end. Congratulations to Paul on his upteenth win in this competition. On the last club day of the season the final of the season long doubles took place between Judith and Mick versus John Skuse and Ernie. At one stage this looked fairly one sided with Judith and Mick trailing 3-6 but you never can tell. They fought back courageously to level at 6 all before disaster struck on the final hoop. Judith was last to play from hoop 12 and, with the shot of the match, cleared Ernie’s ball which was runnable. Eventually it left Judith with a shot of about 5 feet to clear John’s ball from in front of the hoop. What an anti-climax – she missed! John and Ernie emerged as very relieved winners. Phew!!!!!!! JS