Gala Time

May 26th - Berkhamsted Open Triples Gala

Thirty One teams entered the Berkhamsted Gala on the second May Bank Holiday.  We had been having a busy weekend already and now, arriving on a wet Monday morning with a whole day of bowling ahead, were uncertain how it would go.  We entered two teams. I was leading LG Blues and Frank had the LG Reds.  Playing their first Gala were Lesley and David, new to bowling last year and part of my new team.  Grete and Frank brought experience with Chrissie and I providing enthusiasm but a lot less years in competition than them.

Grete, David and I started off at 10 - we would play 4 matches with an hour between each. The first was...Berkhamsted 1sts on their own rink, having played on wet ground just the day before. It wasn't the best start we could have had. We went down.  The Reds drew the mercenaries, Century, who had travelled up from Middlesex with two of their men's county players and then borrowed a lady from Berkhamsted....both teams down.  The Reds complained to me that Century had not been friendly and had employed gamesmanship. It was to become a familiar theme across the day as they made themselves the least popular club in any Gala I've attended. Obviously there for the money, they didn't endear themselves to Herts and Bucks....

Back we went and got down to it.  Despite it raining virtually all day, despite the temperature never lifting and despite the slightly miserable start, we all enjoyed the experience. It was well run, we were well supplied with tea & coffee, home made cake and lunch.  In the end, we found our stride and had we not dropped a second game by a single point after winning most of the ends, we would have been at least 4th. Little Gaddesden Blue - 7th. What a good performance, I said... the six teams that beat us included two out of area specialists, Century and Aylesbury Town plus Herts, Garston Kings Langley 1 and Berkhamsted 1. All six had at least two county players in their teams. Our teams didn't even have anyone who had entered a county competition.  Little Gaddesden Reds - 12th. Also creditable.  Little Gaddesden previous teams have aimed not to come last. We'll be aiming higher next year.

And everyone was glad when Century blew the last game to come 3rd. Well done Aylesbury and Garston who ended up above them.

We'll, as Arnie would say be back.....