Sport

Local girl’s success at county championships

Former Gillingham School pupil Annabel Drudge headed to the Hampshire County Swimming Championships at the new Winchester pool on February 5 ready to push for a county medal. Over seven events Annabel placed first and claimed the gold medal and took the title of 200m Breaststroke Hampshire County Champion in the 17 and over age group. Buoyed by her success, she then went on to win a silver medal for the 200m Individual Medley having also qualified for three finals in the 50 and 100m Breaststroke events and the 100m Fly.

Plenty of fish in the Stour

Gillingham AA Pairs match. River Stour from Trill Bridge to Catholics. (14 pegs)

Turnout for this match was down on recent weeks due to several covid cases and although the weather was foul and the river rising a foot during the match there were still lots of fish caught, although float fishing was virtually impossible. Winner on the day was Richard Cake who drew peg 40, the Willows, at Trill and caught eight chub on the maggot feeder and worms and maggots to weigh 16-08. Runner up was match secretary, Dave Sealey, who drew peg 49 at Catholics and winkled out six chub on maggot feeder and bread feeder to weigh 12-07, rueing the five that he lost in a snag. First: Richard Cake 16-08 Second: Dave Sealey 12-07 Third: Jack Stamp- 11-14 Fourth: Kev Harvey- 11-07 Dave Anders- 11-07 Sixth: Rob Manns- 8-09 This meant that Richard Cake and James Kiernan won the pairs with 4 points from Rob Manns and Dave Sealey on 5 points. Jack Stamp and Danny NcCoy and Kev Harvey and Adie West were equal third on 7 points. The next match is the Dave Hillier Memorial Upper Stour open on February 20. £20 all in. Draw at 8.15am at the Coking Farm Cafe at Coking Farm. Fish from 10-3pm.

Book in with Dave Sealey on (01747)823159.

Wincanton Golf Club Results

Seniors 9 Hole Turkey Trot – December 10

Phil Francis 19 John Westaway 16 ocb Richard Strong 16 Andy Smith 16

Seniors Monthly Stableford – January 4

Phil Francis 36 Brian White 30 Richard Strong 29

Monthly Stableford – January 9

Richard Ward 39 Rab Clyde 37 Brian White 36

Seniors 4BBB – January 11

Winners – Chris Mieville/Kees Schouten/ Kevin George 42

Winter Fourplay Foursomes – January 15

Winners - Nigel Orr/Mike Doddington

Seniors Florida Scramble – January 18

Winners: Chris Dibben, Jim Stephen, Pete Starkey, Jon Reed 39

January Medal – January 22

Mike Taylor nett 67 Ross Chandler nett71 Ed Gale nett 73

Seniors Back 9 Medal – January 25

Keith Williams nett 39 Kevin Dineen nett 45

3 Clubs/Putter Texas Scramble – January 30

Winners: John Atkins, Ed Gale, Brian White 42

Seniors Monthly Stableford – February 1

Kevin George 36 Brian White 33 Chris Meiville 31

Warminster keep fighting to the end

North Dorset Badgers 82 v 5 Warminster 2nd XV

North Dorset Badgers travelled north to face Warminster’s 2nd XV. The Badgers arrived with a strong squad including some familiar faces as well as new debutants Henry Dimmack and Ollie Barge, who added some youthful energy and some great skills that helped the Badgers to an impressive 82-5 victory. The game’s highlights consisted of a feast a tries over the course of the whole 80 minutes, including an impressive hat-trick by winger/flanker Sam Vincent who despite not favouring his position on the wing, finished off some well-worked plays. Further, try scorers in the backs included fullback Tom Bridger-Chilvers whose darting run beat several defenders, to score under the posts and scrum-half Tom Judd who also converted 9/10 of his efforts from the tee on the day. Winger Harry Phipps also got in on the action after sitting down the cover defender to get on the scoreboard. Another speedy effort, this time from replacement fullback Jack Leanne, saw him run one in from his own 22, leaving replacement winger Charlie (Chucky) Hill struggling to keep up in support. Forward names on the score sheet included Luke Biggs, who like any modern-day hooker, found himself on the wing to run in an impressive effort and Tom Barfoot, who fell over the line. The forward effort did not stop there, however. Led by the Man of the Match, Captain Zac Pearce, the Badger pack provided a solid platform as well as provided some dynamic interplay of their own during the game. A significant contribution to the tally was also provided by centre Mitchell Pearce, whose hard running lines enabled

BMV Table Tennis League

Division One

P W D L Pts

Stalbridge A 12 12 0 0 307 Compton A 10 7 0 3 250 Child Okeford A 12 7 0 5 242 CVA Falcons 11 7 1 3 212 Compton B 12 4 1 7 202 Child Okeford B 12 1 0 11 118 Compton C 11 1 1 10 98

Division Two

P W D L Pts

Child Okeford 2 11 8 0 3 272 East Stour A 11 7 0 4 232 East Stour B 12 7 0 5 228 CVB Nightjars 9 9 0 0 219 Compton D 11 7 0 4 206 CVC Robins 11 3 0 8 163 Compton E 11 2 0 9 156 Child Okeford C 10 5 0 5 135 Stal B Juniors 12 1 0 11 109

North Dorset Rugby Football Club announce death of former chairman

It is with great regret that North Dorset Rugby Football Club announce the death, on Thursday February 10, of their ex-Chairman, Paul Phillips. Paul was involved with rugby at North Dorset RFC for over 40 years as a Player, Team Captain, Parent, Tour Organiser, Secretary, Chairman, Vice President, Alickadoo and renowned White Liner. He will be missed by us all. The Club sends its deepest sympathies to Paul’s widow, Cynthia and their three boys, Laurence, Douglas and Michael, all of whom played for North Dorset RFC. For further information please contact the Club Chairman, Tim Rose 07970 810001, chairman@ndrfc.co.uk

him to bag four on the day. However, it was also to be his downfall, after dotting down over the line for what would have been his fifth, the referee called a forward pass. A big mention must also go to the opposition, Warminster, who despite the scoreline, kept fighting until the 80th minute. Their efforts did not go without reward, after some prolonged pressure towards the end of the game, their sizeable second row went crashing over for a consolation try. The afternoon provided an enjoyable afternoon of rugby and the Badgers now look forward to hosting Amesbury RFC in a second versus third league clash next weekend at Slaughtergate.

North Dorset win comprehensively

North Dorset Men 63 v 0 Puddletown

North Dorset welcomed Puddletown to Slaughtergate on Saturday and started the game with a flourish leading to a converted try from Jake Cannings swiftly followed by an unconverted one from Dave (Sticky) Stickland. North Dorset had set their stall out early and were to continue in this vein at a high pace, scoring 10 tries in all. Dorset’s powerful pack again proved too much for their opposition and there were several dominating scrums. Puddletown launched a series of strong attacks in the second half but were unable to breach a strong Dorset defence, spurring them on to the try of the match with the ball passing through eight pairs of hands to finally be touched down by Adam Geal. The final score was 63-0 but despite this Puddletown ran themselves into the ground even though the power and pace of North Dorset proved too much for them. North Dorset put in a fine all round performance and in the clubhouse later, to great cheering from the crowd, Dave Stickland was awarded G Ritchie Player of the Match.

Blackmore Vale Lions Half Marathon

The annual Blackmore Vale Lions Half Marathon was held on Sunday February 6, starting and finishing in Bishops Caundle. Fortunately, the race, started by Lions Vice District Governor Lesley Chudley, got under way after a break in what was a very wet morning, however they set off in dry but windy conditions. 239 runners lined up, down on previous years which was most likely down to the covid outbreak. All Saints Primary school provided refreshments and this year’s sponsors included Dikes of Stalbridge and Victoria O’Brien Cakes Bakes and Catering, who provided a box of goodies for the winners which certainly would have been wellreceived after another challenging event this year. All entrants received a specially designed buff. The men’s winner was Johnny Suttle of Bristol and West AC with a time of 1 hour 13 minutes 4 seconds. Followed by Ben Renshaw of Bridport Runners in a time of 1 hour 13 minutes 35 seconds. Ladies’ winner was Ann-Marie Bayliss of City of Salisbury A and RC with a time of 1 hour 24 minutes 20 seconds followed by Victoria Walls 18 seconds behind. Once against the fantastic support and cooperation of Lions, friends, local groups and associations helped make the event possible, all under the guidance of Race Director Lion Ines Braun. If you’re thinking of setting yourself a challenge and wish to take part in next year’s event you can contact our sports pages and we’ll pass on your details to the race organisers. sports@ blackmorevale.net. Or contact the Dorset Doddlers to start on your road to next year’s event. dorsetdoddlers. co.uk secretary@dorsetdoddlers.org.

COME AND JOIN US FOR BABY AND TODDLER SWIMMING classes with Turtle Tots! We teach 0-4s swimming and safety skills.Classes run in Sturminster Newton, Shaftesbury and Wincanton. Contact: becky. eakins@turtletots.com for more info.