JULIE Merry created history at Tilehurst Bowls Club when she won a clean sweep of five club competition finals, including the mixed pairs with husband Aubrey.
After claiming the club championship with a dominant 21-8 victory over Sandra Kemp, the doubles against Lesley Frost and Wendy West stood all square at 12-12 before she and partner Ann Probert raced away to win 22-12.
After looking in trouble at 7-3 down in the mixed pairs, the Merrys took 18 unanswered shots to move to an unassailable 21-7 lead.
More success followed for Aubrey when he had a convincing win in the singles handicap and took the triples crown with Andy Knapper and Mark Hancock.
Dan W Emberson, who had played alongside Andy Knapper when they won the national triples in 2013, turned on a superb performance to beat Knapper 21-17 to take the men’s singles champion title.
The 3-wood singles then produced the best game of the weekend with Patrick Hulbert, a Middleton Cup winner with Leicestershire, edging a single-shot win over Knapper.
New names on the honours boards will include Ron Dempsey, who claimed the drawn pairs with Ian White and took the novices Venn Cup with a victory over Rod Gray.
Full Results
Men: Club championship – D W Emberson 21-17 A Knapper
Handicap – A Merry 21-7 R West
3 wood – P Hulbert 17-16 A Knapper
2 wood – P Hulbert 16-9 I White
Senior – J Russell 22-14 D Freeman
Venn Cup – R Dempsey 21-8 R Gray
Drawn Pairs – I White, R Dempsey 24-20 P Curtis, I Wicks
2 wood pairs – S Winskill, A Knapper 18-12 L West, K Jones
Triples – A Merry, A Knapper, M Hancock 23-12 J Wood, S Winskill, P Hulbert
Ladies: Club championship – J Merry 21-8 S Kemp
2 wood – J Merry 16-11 M Sadler
100 points – J Merry 100-70 S Harding
Drawn Pairs – A Probert, J Merry 22-12 L Frost, W West
Mixed
Singles – S Kemp 21-20 G Neal
Pairs – J Merry, A Merry 23-12 I Norcott, R Kelly
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