After losing two qualifying games, Harry Stone recovered against more favoured opponents and threaded his way to the top of his division to reach the semi-finals of the Central Essex B.C. Two Woods Championship.
Stone met the experienced Stan Hawthorn but by now Stone was on a roll and eased himself into the final.
In the other semi-final, Les Field met a naturally gifted newcomer to bowls, Ken Wilson, who astonishingly had brushed all aside.
However, Les was in no mood to allow Ken to take any liberties and when he shook hands with Harry Stone before the final, both of them must have wondered if this was one of those days when everything that Harry touched 'turned to gold'. It was not.
For a while 'H' resisted the pressure and in the last couple of ends might have scrambled back into contention but the skills and experience of Les Field inexorably wore him down.
Les added to his trophy cabinet but Harry's performance will have encouraged all and sundry to believe that the Two Woods title of 2000 is not beyond them.
Presidents Day at King George's proved so popular that all would be entrants could be accommodated in the Mixed Pairs competition.
Eventually Edna Pullen and Brian Moxom met Liz and Les Field in the final, having disposed of Kay and Ken Witchell, and Irene and Henry Layer respectively in the semi-finals.
After a keenly fought game, it was Edna and Brian who received the Cup from their President Bob Petchey.
In an R.B.A. match over three rinks against Upminster, Len Wallis had to contend with late changes to his team but with John Ereira, Dave Palmer and Reg Dart he had a combination to command respect.
However, no one had advised Central Essex's opponents and they kept them at arms length to win 15-19.
Messrs Moxom, Kirby, Kimber and skip Baker ran into a packet of trouble on their rink and with an aggregate deficit of 21, Central Essex seemed bound to lose the overall match.
It appeared a tall order for even Cyril Robinson, but he lined up Bob Petchey, Mike Wilks and Les Field and charged to the rescue.
Upminster fell to the tune of 30-6, leaving Central Essex with a winning margin of just three shots.
In a friendly match over three rinks at Aveley against the L.F.B, Central Essex lost 47-53, the visitors' best effort coming from the team of skipper Brian Moxom, Brian Beard, Larry Mann who won 17-16.
Another three rinks friendly, against Hendersons at Harold Hill, resulted in the club losing narrowly over all 59-65 despite the efforts of skip Dave Palmer and his team of Harry Williams, Ron Colson and Larry Mann who won 21-15.
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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