Daniel Mills won the Budleigh Salterton B-Level

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30 Apr-2 May 2005 (AC)

Daniel Mills won the tournament with 8 wins out of 8, and a handicap cut to 2.5. Paul Rigge finished with 6 out of 8, Peter Jones came in with 4 out of 6, and Peter Dyke won 5 out of 8.

Twelve players with handicaps ranging from 2.5 to 6 gathered for this annual early season tournament. The tournament was smoothly run as an Egyptian by Julie Horsley. The Budleigh lawns were playing well and had been cut nice and short.

Paul Rigge (3.5) from Bury set the early pace with his first ever tournament triple peel against David Clarke (6) of Sidmouth. Peter Jones (4.5) of Budleigh also made an excellent start with a comfortable first round victory, and then a close fought win over Paul, who was still coming down from the excitement of winning his Gold Award.

Budleigh player Roger Bowen (5) had an amazing victory over Peter Dyke (5) of Nailsea by just one point. Peter had been well over 10 points ahead and seemingly destined for victory at tea time, but after mistakenly pegging out one of his balls he just couldn't seem to hit the peg with the second. This match really did draw the crowds, even people playing on other lawns managed to lose interest in their own games to watch!

At the end of the second day's play Daniel Mills (3.5) of Bath and Bristol was sitting at the top of the pile with 6 wins out of 6. Paul Rigge was in 2nd place with 5 wins from 6. The two players met on the morning of the third day with Daniel coming out on top by +24 after making an excellent all-round break with his second ball, and not making any errors.

As ever, the Budleigh locals made all the visitors very welcome with some fine lunches and teas. Dennis Moorcraft (3) from Cheltenham provided some interesting recollections of Jane Babbage's (5, Budleigh) stepfather Major Freddie Stone, during one tea break.