The final county competition of the year, the mixed fours, was contested by 15 teams at the Larruperz Centre and it saw a continuation of Ross-on-Wye’s recent run of success with a victory for Elaine George, Ian Roe and Pam & Ian Park.

After victory over the defending champions Sue & John Dix (Ross) and Betty and Harold Aubrey (Weston) in the semi-final the Ross quartet came up against Hilary Carpenter, Dominic, Sandra and Anthony Rogers who had defeated their Woolhope team-mates John Jillings, John Mills and Shirley & Becci Cox in their semi-final.

Woolhope took the initiative early on in the final, establishing a 5-1 lead with a rare 3 shot end in what was an otherwise tight scoring contest. Ross, however, clawed their way back in with singles and set up a tense finale, tying the match after the regulation 8 ends and forcing it into a tie-breaker end. Ross then built a position around the jack which Woolhope were unable to disrupt and garnered the club their fourth successive county competition win.

The final of the LEH Two Counties trophy, the annual knockout competition for Herefordshire and Gloucestershire clubs, was contested for the second consecutive year between two Gloucestershire teams; Gloster Knights against Tewkesbury. Tewkesbury won by a single shot in the singles and won the pairs by 2 shots despite trailing 5-0 after the first 2 ends. The Knights made a storming start and after 4 ends they led 10-1 in the triples and 6-0 in the fours. The Tewkesbury triple then came back strongly and narrowed the gap to a single shot before slipping back slightly to lose by 3 shots. In the Fours, however, there was to be no comeback and the Gloster Knights four ran out winners by 11 shots to give their team a 40-29 victory overall.

Norman Allen, Herefordshire association president and tournament sponsor, presented the trophies and complemented the participants on the high standard of bowls. He also gave thanks to the organisers, particularly Rita Hancock who provided a wonderful buffet at the mid match interval.

A presentation also took place during this event to mark the sponsorship of the Herefordshire county teams by Westons Cider, who have assisted with the purchase of a new county kit.