Petersfield beat Seale & Sands in the Hunter Cup final at Frensham RBL Bowls Club.

The cup, which was presented to Frensham in 1939 by Mr E Hunter, has been played for every year since – with the exception of 2020 and 2021.

Seale & Sands have won the trophy on 12 previous occasions. Petersfield have won the trophy in 1995 and 2002.

The overall scores were extremely close, but at one stage on rink one it looked as though Petersfield were going to run away with the rink – the score after ten ends was Petersfield 14 Seale & Sands 4.

After 12 ends on rink two the scores were one point apart, and the game progressed evenly until end 17 when Seale & Sands went into a 19-15 lead with one end to go.

By the 18th and final end on rink one Petersfield had won 17-13. So the very last game on rink two decided the contest. Petersfield were two down at one stage, and it all came down to the last four bowls with Petersfield eventually recovering and winning by two shots to take the match 34-32.

Presentation of the trophy and individual medals was made by Frensham RBL Bowls Club president Chris Bonner, who congratulated both teams on an entertaining game.

A coronation chicken salad followed by strawberries and cream for both teams was served by Pat Peace and Ann and Jon Pitman, with tea and cakes for the spectators.

The proceedings ended with a raffle organised by Marge Sparkes and Heather Warner, thanks to the members and acknowledgement to Ken Danson of Frensham for organising the 2023 competition and Bert Pharo for preparing the green.

Seale & Sands captain Keith Alexander and Petersfield captain Margaret Hutchinson thanked all who had made the event a success.