BARNARD Castle 5s and 3s League was rounded off with a finals night on Monday, April 23, with Middleton Club taking the division A honours and Butterknowle’s Royal Oak sealing division B.
Julian Robinson, of Middleton, took the division A individual points trophy on 41 points ahead of David Dalton, of Cockfield’s Kings Head team.
The B division individual top scorer was Mel Heckley, of Butterknowle’s Royal Oak, on 40, ahead of Val Howe, of The Black Horse, on 38.
The league, which has been in existence for more than 50 years, remains strong with about 200 players representing 24 teams over the two divisions.
However, Nick Peckett, of the league committee, revealed that numbers have fallen slightly on earlier years.
He said: “I’ve been playing for 30 years and there was a time when there were 16 teams [in each division], in fact there was a waiting list to get in.”
He attributed the slight decline to the closure of pubs in Teesdale including the Beaconsfield, Montalbo, Oddfellows and White Swan pubs.
He added: “Then of course recently the George and Dragon, in Boldron, but that has been replaced by a private club, the Pinfold.”
