January saw two series of Inter League fixtures and one rearranged game played.
Series Six on 9th January saw two games played in Division One and one in Division Two.
Brighton A beat their B team at the New Oak in a match where most players struggled with the table. Alan Brackenridge won the first for the B’s but the A team won the match by taking the next four legs with wins for Jim Millward, Dave Ingram, Grant Tully and Nigel Senior. The B’s took the last two via Stuart Carruthers and Jean Brackenridge to leave the final score as 4-3.
Following a shock home defeat in Series Five Redhill A bounced back with a 5-2 home victory over Worthing A. The hosts started strongly with Geoff Jukes and Tony Cross winning before Joe Oakley pulled a leg back for Worthing. Gary Powell put Redhill on the brink, and despite Terry Molloy winning the next for the visitors, the points were sealed by a win for Dave Constable with Colin Robbins adding an extra leg in the last.
In Division Two Lewes won 5-2 at home to Mid Sussex. Colin Southouse, Chase Newman, Dave Knight, Huw Lincoln and Richard Todd won for the hosts and Mick Kirwan and Derek Taylor for Mid Sussex.
On Sunday 16th January a rearranged match from Series Four between Littlehampton and Worthing B in Division Two was played. A tight game went to the deciding leg which Dave Hampton won in a low scoring frame against Tony Jenner. Steve Hurley, Steve Beach and Chris Lawman were the other winners for Littlehampton with Dave Jones, Pete Hickman and Gary Ridley securing legs for Worthing.
Series Seven was played on 23rd January, which followed the unfortunate withdrawal of West Sussex from Division One. This led to the two matches they had played to date being expunged from records.
Brighton A stayed top of the table with a 4-3 win at home to Redhill A on the new excellent top at the Stags Head. Bob Hall won the first for Brighton and Dave Ingram then secured a vital leg against the break in the second. Dave Jones got Redhill back into it before Jim Millward restored Brighton’s two leg lead. John Slee and Denise Wills both won with the break for the visitors to set-up a last leg decider in which Nigel Senior opened with enough to give Brighton the points.
Brighton B had started the day in second but were replaced by Tunbridge Wells after being thrashed 7-0 by the Kent side. It was one way traffic from the start of the match and the hosts never looked in trouble with wins for Pete Sainsbury, Bryan Stevens, Martin Russell, Curt Driver, Gerry Fitzjohn, Ian Wright and Richard Corbould.
Redhill B closed the gap of leaders Littlehampton by handing the visitors their first defeat of the season. Martin Pellett and Joe Elleson got the hosts off to the prefect start and despite Steve Hurley pulling a leg back the match was secured when Alex Hornby and Martin Greenway won. Michael Wilson added the fifth leg before Dave Hampton got a second leg for Littlehampton.
Worthing B moved level of points with Mid Sussex in third with a 5-2 away win. Alan Mepham won the opener against the break and Ben Goodwin doubled the advantage. Mick Kirwan and Richard Spurrier then levelled the match before Pete Hickman, Gary Ridley and Tony Jenner secured the win for Worthing.