The Men’s Avalon B Team suffered two unexpected defeats when going down 1½-3½ away to Fosseway, and more surprisingly when home to Wheathill, which resulted in the same scoreline.
Against Fosseway there was a win for Paul Smith/Andy Parfitt, with David Braithwaite/Duncan Offer gaining a half. Against Wheathill, Mendip’s win came from Richard Clifford/James Herniman, with Trevor Oats/Merv Vaughan halving their match.
The Ladies held a Medal event which saw Anita Butcher win the weekend version with a nett-84. The Tuesday main event saw very difficult playing conditions which led to some high scoring. Silver Division was won by Edwina Willis with 78, Anita Butcher was second with 82, beating Chris Olds on count-back.
Bronze Division went to Nichola Croft with eighty, with Anne Collins second with 82 after count-back from Mary Ware. Copper Division went to Kay O’Connor with 79, with Val Dixon second with 82 and Elaine Richardson third with 83. After all this, Mendip’s representative in the Somerset County Silver event, the Dickinson Cup, will be Chris Olds, as Edwina is unavailable.
The Ladies who did not fancy the Medal played a nine-hole stableford, where Sally Burke won with sixteen points after count-back from Caroline Simper. Congratulations go to Anne Hopkins/Lulu Carolan, who won their third round Daily Mail Foursomes match against Wheathill. The Ladies Inter-Club Team played away to Mendip Spring, and after a good battle went down 2½-4½. Wins for Mendip came from Mary Ainsworth and Diane Stanton, with Nichola Croft gaining a half.
The latest Ladies weekend event saw a win for Ellen Reakes with 33 points, with Sarah James second with 26 and Chris Olds third with twenty. 26 Ladies competed for the Granny Trophy, and this event resulted in a win for Dee Garnsworthy with a fine 37 points. Julia Phillips was second with 34, and Lulu Carolan third with 32 after count-back.
The Ladies A Team lost their latest Alliance match 2-5 when home to Wedmore. It was a close-fought affair, with four of the matches going to the eighteenth. Anne Hopkins registered a fine win, with Fran Davies and Edwina Willis gaining halves.
The Seniors have had a very busy time recently, with four matches completed in the past two weeks. At home to Burnham, Mendip registered a 4-2 success with wins from John Brooksbank/Alan Evans-Jones, Bryan Lewis/Merlyn Saunders, Andy Frampton/Tony Taylor and Mike Lill/David Pilbeam. When visiting Clevedon, Mendip went down 3-4. Winners were Kevin Carmody/Phillip Cookson, Brian Lewis/Geoff Mosley and Rod Dyson/Darryl Livingstone.
The visit to Sherborne saw a heavy defeat 1½-4½ with a win for Mike Lill/Adam Spragg and a half from Bryan Lewis/Darryl Livingstone. And finally, it was back to winning ways when entertaining Weston, with Mendip running out winners 4½-1½. Mendip winners were John Brooksbank/Mike Snaith, Andy Frampton/Alan Edwards, Andy Griffiths/Tony Taylor and Bob Smallcombe/Kee Low, with Nick Inskip/Martin Osborne gaining a half.
At the annual running of the Tri-Partite match between Mendip, Tidworth and Stoneham, all 1908 Clubs took place. This year, the event was held at Stoneham, with each club fielding a team of six Ladies and fourteen gents. Playing conditions were extremely tough, with penal rough leading to a lot of ball-searching. A very enjoyable event, as always, ended with an easy victory for the home Club, with Tidworth second and Mendip third, thus giving up the Trophy that Mendip won in 2017.
Tony Williams