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54 Phonebox Magazine | July 2025LOCAL SPORT ROUNDUP OLNEY BOWLING CLUBThe Stan and Joan Eade Cup was held on the afternoon of Friday, 23rd May, and was well attended, with 24 players taking part, drawn into triples and played in 2 round-robin groups. In the fi nal, one triple took control early on, and the winners were Tracey Thompson, David Lewis, and Tony Davison.%u00a0 Runners-up were Chris Waller, Mike Byrom, and Wendy Collyer.%u00a0 Many thanks to Phillip Eade, who presented the prizes and also brought lovely cakes for the much-needed afternoon refreshments.The next one-day competition, the Cox Cup, will be held on Sunday, 15th June and then the Jock Smail Day on Sunday, 27th July.The friendly matches have continued to be played regularly, and social roll-ups held three times a week. Fancy learning to play bowls? Contact ray.smith.rs95@gmail.com to arrange a taster session. On the social side, coming up, there is a Race Night with fi sh and chip supper, a Quiz night on Friday, 1st August and a Musical Night with Andrew Hutchinson on Friday, 18th September.%u00a0 Want to become a Social Member?%u00a0 Contact Ray Smith as above.In early Spring of this year, table tennis tournaments took place in Olney for members of TTOFS %u2013 Table Tennis for the over Fifties.Those who wished to compete had the option to choose from three separate tournaments, which only involved TTOFS members and no other clubs. There were separate men%u2019s and ladies%u2019 singles tournaments, which took place on 24th February and 3rd March, respectively, and the doubles tournament was held on 10th March. This year, the organisation of these events was no mean feat, and the club was thankful to Dave and Kev Gingell, plus our Club Chairperson, Ian Candlin, for masterminding them. The games TABLE TENNIS FOR THE OVER FIFTIES OLNEY & CLIFTON FISHING ASSOCIATIONFishing season is back but did it return with a bang or a whimper? Well, at the moment, the jury is still out.If you cast your minds back to the opening weekend of last season, you will remember that two club records were broken, with new marks set for both bream and carp. I don%u2019t know if it was this memory that got anglers on the bank yesterday or a combination of the good weather and the end of their three-month imposed break, but there were more people fi shing yesterday on our waters than on any opening day of the last ten years.%u00a0Justin Gardner was at our Harrold section, and he had fi ve bream, with the biggest being an impressive 7 lbs 8 oz. At the next peg an angler had a 30 lb carp. Unfortunately no pictures were taken of any of these fi sh. Fish safety is always paramount, but if you get a chance to photograph your catch without it being detrimental to the health of the fi sh, then please do. Both our Facebook page and this column are greatly aided by having accompanying photos.I must admit I had a most infuriating time. I fi shed the famous Runway peg at Olney Mill, and when I caught a roach on my fi rst cast, I thought I was in for some great fi shing, but it was a real Curate%u2019s Egg of a session. I caught with virtually every cast, but 95% of my catch were minnows. I know minnows live in large shoals, so once you fi nd a shoal, you are likely to catch large numbers, but I%u2019m left wondering, is that why I hardly caught any %u201cproper%u201d fi sh or was my presentation all wrong? That%u2019s the thing with fi shing. It keeps making you think, and the more you think, the more you learn.The best news, though, is that all the people out yesterday caught something. This bodes well for the season, and hopefully, in next month%u2019s column, I will have some news on big catches with a couple of pictures as verifi cation!Tight lines, Damonwere hard-fought, with determination and great enthusiasm from all who participated. They are already looking forward to next year%u2019s tournaments.RESULTS Men%u2019s singles: Winner: Yongwang Tian. Runner up: Dave Hurley.Ladies%u2019 singles: Winner: Frances Gander. Runner up: Ros Ford.Doubles: Winners: Yongwang Tian and Sheila French. Runners up: Martin Bociek and Keith Hogben.If you are interested in joining our club, which has players of mixed ability (over 50 only) please call Gina on 01234 711657.Winners (above) and Runners up (left)