Pairs win for Malone and Stewart

They beat defending champions John Hamer and Pam Robinson, who also sponsored the event, by 15-5 in the final.

Malone and Stewart did not make the best of starts, trailing by 6-12 to Jean Gornall and M.Jeffreys before recovering to draw level.

They conceded a pair at the next end but then ran out to snatch an unlikely 15-14 victory.

Their quarter-final, against Viv and Margaret Smith, was closely contested from the start. The Smiths led by 7-3 and 9-6 before a break of five by Malone and Stewart put them ahead by 11-9.

The two pairs were level on 14 before Malone and Stewart clinched another narrow victory, by 15-14, with a single.

In their semi-final, against Barrie Morgan and Pat Skene, they were behind by 3-7 but fought back to level the scores at 8. Morgan and Skene pulled away again to lead by 13-8 but failed to score again as Malone and Stewart ran out to win by 15-13.

Hamer and Robinson began with a runaway 15-1 victory over Dennis Hartley and Pam Pilling but faced a tougher test against Geoff Jaskolski and Marie Lodge.

They trailed by 2-9 before taking the lead with a break of 9. The scores were tied at 12 and 14 before Hamer and Robinson scraped through by 15-14.

After nine ends of their quarter-final, against Alwyn and Muriel Guide, they led by 9-8, but the game was over two ends later as they finished with two fours to win by 15-8.

An opening break of nine in their semi-final, against Cathie Ness and Brian Hildred, proved to be too big a set-back for their opponents and they went on to win by 15-7.

In the final, Hamer and Robinson led by 5-2 but failed to score again as Malone and Stewart then ran out.

Quarter-final scores: P. & P. Schofield 9 B. Morgan/P. Skene 15; V. & M. Smith 14 B.Malone/L. Stewart 15; M. & A. Guide 8 J. Hamer/P. Robinson 15; B. Hildred/C. Ness 15 L. Hogan/C. Broadley 5.