Cockfield Quoits Club held their annual ‘open day’ on Sunday; people came from far and wide, including Whitby and Hexham.

Former world champion Mike Mendelssohn came along and gave a demonstration of how quoits should be played. Trevor Cooper ran out eventual winner beating Mike in a thrilling final, winning £50 and £20 respectively. Richard Watson and Steven Bainbridge won a fiver apiece as losing semi-finalists.

I should mention at this point, that the ‘World’ of quoits ends at Whitby! But it is no mean achievement to become world champion.

Peter Allison was the last of the Cockfield lads to be knocked out, with a lot of the lads drawing top players in the early rounds.

Kevin Bowers deserves a mention as he is one of our most improved players and it was his birthday on Sunday.

Barry (Midge) Maughan thought he had a ‘bye’ in the first round, and indeed he did when he played Stephen Bainbridge, it was a Goodbye!! We managed to get a cracking photo of Barry with his trademark ‘I’m concentrating’ look, notice how the tongue comes out! Also, I think Vince (The Prince) Bradwell will thank me for the lovely photo of him concentrating!

A big THANK YOU to all the players and supporters for their involvement on Sunday, especially Mandy for the usual fantastic buffet.

Thanks also to Tupper for selling the raffle tickets.

Mind you, it was a bit nerve racking, as the last time Tupper sold raffle tickets at the club, he also sold the counterfoils!!

The day was hot and sunny, and it was nice to see so many people from the village out watching the quoits and supporting the local pub. (Oh how they supported it!!) Anyway, a good day was had by all, and I think the lads learnt a bit from some of the top players who turned up. Let’s just hope we can put it into practise and start a charge up the league!