History > 2000s > 2002

2002

Ladies Fours National Winners 2002

A ladies team from Consett Park Bowling Club won the Durham Championship, earning them the right to represent Durham in the Ladies Fours National competition held at Royal Leamington Spa in 2002.

The ladies won the competition, beating Penryn, Cornwall 30-10 in the final, and went on to represent England in the Home Nations Competition the following year.

The Early Rounds

The Consett Park ladies sailed through the Durham championships to earn their place in the England finals at Royal Leamington Spa.

The team were drawn to play in the preliminary round, before competing in the main knock-out competition. After their first five matches they had scored 119 shots and conceded only 45. They hadn't played the last end in any of those five matches.  

The preliminary round was played on the afternoon of Sunday 11th August, when Consett Park beat a team from Cumbria.  Rounds 1 and 2 were played on the morning and afternoon of Monday 12th August, with victories against teams from Hampshire and Hertfordshire.

On 13th August Consett Park played two more games, in rounds 3 and 4.  In the morning, they beat Peterborough, 24-7. After lunch they beat West Moors, Dorset 30-6; the opposition skip conceded with five ends to play.

The Semi-Final

In the semi-final the Consett ladies faced Exmouth Madeira, skipped by the British singles champion, Sue Harriott. Consett Park were winning 22-5 after 15 ends, but went to pieces for six ends, almost throwing the game away. Gill Jones, the Consett Park skip, was forced to kill the last end once, when Madeira were holding match lie, and had to cut the count on the replay to clinch their place in the final.

The Final (and the streaker)

The final was played on 14th August, on a hot afternoon.  Consett Park's opponents were Penryn, Cornwall, who had beaten Mansfield in the other semi-final.

There was a distraction for the ladies when a young male streaker hared across the rinks before running out of the gate and disappearing.

The Telegraph reported that "Edna Stokoe, the Consett Park number three, caught a distant glimpse of the naked invader, shrugged her shoulders and drew a back-toucher."

The Consett Park team built up a 30-10 lead after 19 ends, at which stage their opponents, Penryn, threw in the towel with two ends to play. 

After playing seven games Consett Park had scored a total of 171 shots and conceded only 76.

The Northern Echo's report of the finals included skip Gill Jones saying: 

"Playing in front of thousands of people was amazing. Usually at our club, you only get five or six spectators. At Leamington Spa there were 6,000. Every bowl you get near the jack wins a massive shout - it was a wonderful experience. 

The last occasion a Durham team won the right to don England kit was more than 40 years ago. It is brilliant for us, coming from a little town like Consett and going to represent our country"

Royal Leamington Spa Results

Sun 11th Aug 

1pm Preliminary round

Durham A 22 Cumbria A 11

Mon 12th Aug

9am 1st Round

Hants A 12 Durham A 23

2pm 2nd Round

Herts A 9 Durham A 20

Tue 13th Aug

9am 3rd Round

Durham A 24 Hunts A 7 

2pm 4th Round

Durham A 30 Dorset B 6

Wed 14th Aug

9am Semi-final

Durham A 22 Devon A 21 

2pm Final

Durham A 30 Cornwall A 10

Outstanding Achievement

In October 2002 Derwentside District Council honoured the Consett Park quartet, presenting  them with a certificate for their outstanding achievement in winning the Ladies National Fours Championship.

Home Nations Competition

In 2003 the Consett Park ladies represented England in the Home Nations competition in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, finishing as runner-up.  The competition was won by the Jersey Bowling Club, representing Jersey.

Durham "B" Team

Two teams, known as Durham "A" and Durham "B", represented Durham in the Ladies National Fours Championship at Royal Leamington Spa in 2002.  Unusually, both the teams were from Consett Park Bowling Club.  The "B" Team are shown in the photograph below.