Aberdeen Tournament 2016
10-11 September 2016, Albury and Westburn
Jim Wilson of Keswick won the Aberdeen & Crathes handicap weekend beating Brian Durward in a close final. Both players had looked strong in their blocks, winning three games each, and Jim went on to beat the Block 4 winner, David Houston in one semi-final. Brian looked as though he was going to lose to Keswick bandit Tom Ryan in the other semi-final, but a turn after time to take his second ball around won him the applause of the admiring spectators and a spot in the final. With Jim’s train departure looming the time limit was reduced to an hour and a half but in fact this wasn’t needed with both players playing well. A missed pegout by Jim gave Brian a good chance towards the end when he hit the remaining ball, but a missed short roquet at penult was fatal and Jim hit and finished. Janice Duguid won the block runners up prize of a bottle of SCA wine, beating Brian Clark in the final.
Six experienced players competed for the Malmet this year. With Brian Durward’s promotion to the Chairman’s Rosebowl, Alistair Malcolm was next in line and he easily justified his inclusion with a stunning performance. The other players were Alastair Burn-Murdoch, David Houston, Jamieson Walker, Hamish Duguid, and Joe Lennon. The Malmet players shared the same lawns with the more accomplished players in the sister event, the Chairman’s Rosebowl, and also enjoyed the challenge of tightly-set Aldridge hoops, kindly lent to the SCA by Balgreen CC.
John Surgenor won the Chairman’s Rosebowl. David Magee, John Surgenor, Alan Wilson, Chris Martin, Janice Duguid and Brian Durward met at Meadows to contest the Chairman’s Rosebowl. The weather was dry and sunny with a weekend forecast promising more of the same. Danny had cut the lawns on Friday evening and Alan, Chris and Alistair Malcolm had reset the lawns using the Aldridge hoops kindly lent by Balgreen Croquet Club.