Bampton Aunt Sally

Feature Articles	2021
This page carries items of general interest and may be used by the membership to promote events

New Trophy keepsakes		22nd October

As you know, since dinosaurs walked the earth, the Bampton League has awarded trophy keepsakes based on this metal casting design



The company producing them was based in Spain, but has now gone out of business owing to the spiralling cost of metal.
They have passed on some of their business to a similar company based in India, but on closer scrutiny, costs have virtually doubled and lead times
are in the order of six months.
Consequently we have researched and sourced an alternative, which will be released for the first time at the 2022 Finals.



The design is a mirrored glass plate in 'Bampton Green', mounted on a plinth. It has a central raised button containing our logo.
At the bottom is the engraved label

Bernie Huckin Memorial Tournament	Ducklington Sports & Social Club	12th Aug

From John Smyth:-

"As some of you may know the Dhpa Annual Flower Show takes place on Bank Holiday Monday 29th August at Ducklington Sports Club. Last year we organised the initial Bernie Huckin memorial Aunt Sally Tournament, which was great fun and was run as a pairs competition and won by Steve Whipp and Tony Grant. This year will be running the tournament again, but the format will be slightly different. It will be a singles competition this year and there will be a twist. In order to get a few more players to take part, we will give all non Aunt Sally players a 1 or 2 doll handicap per leg. Males will get 1 doll advantage, ladies and under 16 will get a 2 doll start. This year we will also be charging a £2 entry fee and all money collected will go to Helen & Douglas House in memory of another good friend Dale Edmonds who died last year. The competition will start at 2:00 and you can register from 1:00. We would expect to be finished by around 4:00. There will be a lovely trophy for the winners and of course the prestige."

Inter-League Oh Inter-League	11th April
Report by our Inter-League Team Manager Dave Tillyer

"The Bampton Aunt Sally Association Inter League team once again travelled to General Foods Sports and Social club on Thursday March the 31st to play in the Inter League shield competition.
The annual 8 a side competition, sees 8 Aunt Sally leagues battle it out on 4 indoor pitches, all at the slightly longer Banbury League length (we measure 30 foot from the iron, they measure 30 foot from the front of the swivel)



This years entrants were Banbury Summer, Banbury Winter, Bampton, Bicester, Chipping Norton, Kidlington, Oxford and the Yarnton indoor league. The competition which has been running since 1980 was first organised by Bampton league co founder Bob Watts along with his wife Margaret at the old Witney Town Football Club. Bampton have never won the event. In 2018 they were victorious in the plate competition, and over the years they have lost twice in the final - on both occasions to Oxford who are the current holders and have won it a staggering 21 times. This years team consisted of Ady Pitts, Paul Gill , Max Everett, Martyn Seacole, Tony Grant, Jeff Glenister, Dave Lee and Neil Lyon. First up were Banbury Winter. Bampton set but could only muster 15, which Banbury passed with ease. The next leg went to Bampton who despite a slow start managed to score 18 dolls off the last 4 players with Neil Lyon playing at anchor hitting a six. Banbury came up short which took the game to the third and deciding leg. Banbury set and again Bampton where up against it with another slow start - the last two players needed 10 dolls between them. Dave Lee scored 4 which left Neil Lyon needing to hit another six to win the game. What happened next will live long in the memory of all that where lucky enough to see it, with not a hint of nerves, Neil did the unthinkable and and hit yet another six, to win and send Bampton through to the next round. The semi final saw Bampton drawn against the Banbury Summer League. Banbury put a score of 20 on the board and Bampton responded well including a six from Ady Pitts. Anchor man Neil Lyon needing just one doll to take the leg, scored 5 to give a total of 25. In the second leg Banbury hit 24, which despite having scored 13 with the fiirst 4 players, the Bampton tailenders could not finish Banbury off and agiain it went to the decisive third leg. Bampton set in the third and final leg and posted a score of 22 which the Bampton team where convinced was not enough. Banbury however responded slowly and with a couple of the Banbury boys only scoring 1 by the time the Banbury anchor never even got to throw a stick. 2-1 Bampton. Bampton were now into the final and their opponents would be the current holders Oxford. Oxford set and lead off man Kevin Giles could only muster 1 doll as he got the Oxford scoring underway the final tally was 20 dolls and in reponse an early 5 from Martyn Seacole and 4's from Tony Grant and Jeff Glenister led to a total of 25 dolls 1-0 Bampton.! The second leg saw Bampton set and they where steady all the way through, but a 4 and 5 from Dave Lee and Neil Lyon playing at No7 and anchor posted a score of 24. As Oxford started to try and chase the score down another slow start meant the pressure was on and by the time the Oxford anchor came to throw he needed 5 to draw 6 for the win. A couple of stray sticks later the anchor man was walking to pick up his sticks, it was all over after 35 years of trying Bampton had finally won the Inter league Shield and had finally beaten the Oxford Aunt Sally League for the first time, what a night. !



Our victorious team: Tony Grant; Dave Lee, Neil Lyon behind Max Everett, Paul Gill, Jeff Glenister, Martyn Seacole and a photoshopped Ady Pitts

Overall it was a great team performance and everyone chipped in throughout the night. Our thanks go to all of the players for such a great achiement . Thanks also to the travelling support including President Fred Cook,Bez and Stevie Cleaver who finally got to see a Bampton team come away victorious and also to Greg Gilbert of Charlbury Travel who drove us there but was also kind enough to wait long after we were due to travel back so that we could finish playing in the final and collect the trophy. Finally, thanks to Pete Dempsey and all of the Banbury lads who organise the event every year and do a stirling job".