Pictures of my life

The Dunton Bassett and District Table Skittle League does not have a web site that I'm aware of but you are welcome to contact me at WINDSUMIKE@aol.com.

This is an aspect of my life which has been a constant over the past 27 years! Thats about how long I've been playing this particular form of the game of Skittles. 

These two were the Pairs Champions of the Dunton Bassett and District Skittles League a few years ago, when I was on the Committee.  I no longer have the time for that an left a couple of years ago.

It is also called Northampton Skittles as it is usually only played in the county and surrounding areas.  I live in Leicester, only about 35 miles from Northampton but there are no tables north of Leicester and most of the population have never seen the game!

The pic below is of the table at The Plough in Wigston, my home table for the past 4 or 5 years.  It was made by our skipper when we moved to the pub, a major move of about 200 metres from The Old Crown!  We had been there for many years until a temporary closure forced our change.

The top pic shows the layout of the table with 9 pins and 3 cheeses (round discs approx 3cm thick) which are thrown from 9 feet away.  It can be noisy and a little scary for the woodyard, 2 opposition players standing either side of the table!

There are lots of versions of the basic game.  Each league has its own rules, skittle diameter (Leicester ones are narrower than those shown), and material, plastic as shown or wood, all male, all female or mixed sex teams and no end of ways of playing and minor rules!

This pic shows the setup for the final rounds of the various cup competitions and the presentation of trophies for the division winners run by our league. 

We have 5 divisions of 12 teams each requiring 8 players in each match, most teams have a pool of about 12 eligible "signed on" players.  We have a rule that all matches are played within 6 miles of Dunton Bassett and games are played on Wednesday evenings.  There are many leagues and it is easy to play up to 5 or 6 times a week in different ones!

We play 7 legs, the home side all throw to set a total, then the opposition will chase that total and then set another leg to be chased by the home team and so on! Last night (3 Jan 2007) we lost to The Wigston Club (a team we know well!) in Division 4, 4-3. I played well!