A MELKSHAM skittles team – the Wiltshire Wonders – have reclaimed their British men’s title with one of the most convincing performances in the championship’s history.
They lifted the coveted trophy, beating Exeter’s Loungers by 16 points, with a final score of 357. Their long journey to the podium involved winning all six of their matches on the finals day of the British Skittles Championship in Torquay.
The team, who play out of Melksham Liberal Club, won their first British title back in 2014 and were runners-up in 2011.
The team quickly found their form and stormed through all three of their matches in the initial league round, booking their place in the quarter-finals. There they demolished Worcester’s Dirty Freshmen by 284 points to 260. It was closer in the semis, where they faced another Worcester team, the Numpty Dumptys ,but defeated them by 288 points to 281. That set them up as hot favourites in the finals, playing Exeter’s Loungers team, who were first-time finalists. In the event, the Wonders’ experience and stamina paid off. Both teams had begun playing in the finals 12 hours previously.
“We’re tired now, but so happy to win,” said a clearly exhausted John Wiltshire. “The lads played so well. It’s a long haul, but we were so determined to win. There were some great teams here as always. But on the day we were the best.”
The competition, organised by the Serious About Events company based in Torquay, began in April with 150 teams from all over the UK and Wales involved in a series of group rounds and play offs to determine the final 64 finalists. The championship is in its 14th year.
![Melksham Times Past
A column about days gone by in Melksham by local historian Lisa Ellis
The Independent Chapel and Women’s Rights in the 1840s
A document I recently transcribed lists the baptisms performed at the Independent Chapel. This record is especially helpful in that, along with baptisms, a lot of them include birth dates - one of the ways I discover which day someone was born.
The following is taken from a Wiltshire Times article published on 9th November 1878 which reports a speech given during the 100-year services and to celebrate their renovations (what we now know to be the Rachel Fowler Centre).
One speaker, Rev. T. Mann, minister in Trowbridge, talked about the Chapel’s origins when he related how Rev. Honywill came to Melksham and how he’d gone on to remain as the minister for the Independent Chapel for almost 60 years. [Honywill and his family lived on King Street in what we now call “Legion House”.]
Read more on our website, the link is in our bio.](https://scontent-lhr6-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.75761-15/505444438_18038424887647822_3264519508333556874_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_e35_tt6&_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=gXZQJoHTNiEQ7kNvwHezuPI&_nc_oc=AdlrJvMDapuork_EjycPOcegNeMnCA37GEIudkxkTeCfTgvB5iijE05ojpwlYCd5gN8&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr6-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=0ZY31jxOGx2M8z1ZqYNvEg&oh=00_AfPY_C0B8EndpVcx78sVp9qVJgtm368WREf36ZX1_jO3mg&oe=6855C74A "Melksham Times Past
A column about days gone by in Melksham by local historian Lisa Ellis
The Independent Chapel and Women’s Rights in the 1840s
A document I recently transcribed lists the baptisms performed at the Independent Chapel. This record is especially helpful in that, along with baptisms, a lot of them include birth dates - one of the ways I discover which day someone was born.
The following is taken from a Wiltshire Times article published on 9th November 1878 which reports a speech given during the 100-year services and to celebrate their renovations (what we now know to be the Rachel Fowler Centre).
One speaker, Rev. T. Mann, minister in Trowbridge, talked about the Chapel’s origins when he related how Rev. Honywill came to Melksham and how he’d gone on to remain as the minister for the Independent Chapel for almost 60 years. [Honywill and his family lived on King Street in what we now call “Legion House”.]
Read more on our website, the link is in our bio.")
