Berkhamsted Ladies did them selves proud on the second day of this years County Finals played at Hatfield.

 Anne Furlong reached her second two woods final but had the daunting task of playing the current All England Singles Champion - Shirley Page from Baldock. Having won the toss Shirley immediately found her range - bowling to shorter length jacks, and was soon 11 ahead. In a game where you soon run out of ends, Anne then made a magnificent fight back, playing to full length jacks. At this stage Anne was out bowling the English International and an upset seemed possible. Unfortunately a moments loss of concentration by Anne, when she delivered the jack into the ditch, allowed her opponent to set her favoured shorter jack length, and the Baldock player went on to win the title by 16 shots to 7.

 The Berko trio of Jackie Cormack; Doreen Webb and skip Marcia Pearce (see picture - Jackie on the left, Doreen in the centre and Marcia on the right)  reached the final stages of the County Benevolent Triples also played at Hatfield. In the semi-finals the Berkhamsted Ladies were involved it a thrilling encounter against a Croxley team with the result in doubt until the last wood came to rest. In this 15 end match the lead changed hands throughout. Berko started the last end one shot down and in spite of some excellent bowling from Jackie and Doreen, they were one shot down (two shots overall) with one wood to play. As is expected from all good skips, and in the theatre that is competitive bowls, Marcia played the perfect shot. She rested out the opponents shot wood and stayed for a count of two to give the Berko girls a passage to the finals by the narrowest of margins.

In the final they faced a trio from Holwell and this was also a very tight game. It was not until the last few ends that the Berko girls started to edge in front. The last end started with a 5 shot lead and again Jackie and Doreen provided a terrific platform to complete what should have been a winning formality.  But as the saying goes " It's never over until the fat lady sings" and this is particularly true in bowls. With her last wood, the Holwell number two trailed the jack to waiting woods and for a few moments the pressure was on. There was however no need to worry because Marcia kept her nerve and drew two perfect woods to secure a much deserved 16 shot to 9 win. This takes the Herts Benevolent Triples Title back to Berkhamsted for the second time.

 On Wednesday Berkhamsted entertained Waddesden in a mixed friendly match. Winning on all 5 rinks, Berko ran out comfortable victors by 101 shots to 69. Top rink was Jeff Cawley; George Cannon; Mary Cave and skip Peter Batchelor with a score of 21 shots to 9.

 In the end of season Dacorum Charity Shield competition, Berkhamsted made a good start when they visited Bovingdon. In spite of loosing on two of the three rinks the Berko side won overall by 66 shots to 50, thanks to an impressive 35:14 win by the ladies rink. In the semi-final Berko visited Kings Langley but although winning on two of the three rinks they failed to progress to the final. Top rink was Marion Maynard; Anne Cutting; Doreen Webb and skip Carole Dunn.