It has been an exciting week with several individual competitions and tem events reaching their climax.

Pride of place must go to 'lucky' Les Foster (Devon), who won the first staging of the Craven Classic at Craven BC, Skipton, defeating David Smith (Silsden) 21-9 in a one-sided final.

'Smithy' had excelled in his semi-final against local top dog Chris Slater, beating his rival 21-20 in a tremendous game, but this effort seemed to have taken its toll in a rather poor final - an anti-climax for the supporters.

The other losing semi-finalist was Terry Throup (Spen Victoria).

There was a similar scenario in the Valley Merit final at Bradshaw Park where Richard Hargreaves had plenty in hand, defeating ten-times finalist Roy Sanderson (Oakworth) 21-16.

While Richard had comfortably beaten Len Buxton in his semi, Roy faced a tougher match against Chris Slater and triumphed 21-19 in a game where luck was on his side. He survived Slater's tremendous striking power of the end.

Three Skipton cups were also settled last week with success for three local clubs.

After losing in the inaugural Ken Johnson Trophy final last season, Whinswood made amends this time when they beat Broughton Road A at Rolls Royce, Barnoldswick.

They crushed holders Devon A in the semi-final at Cross Hills with Geoff Smith and Ted Barnes leading the way in style.

This form continued in the final, resulting in a seven-point winning margin. All the team did well, but Keith Ridding took the plaudits in defeating Arnie Ripley, while Derek Burgess used his green knowledge to clinch the match.

The Richard Lambert Trophy was easily retained by Oakworth as they thrashed Cononley B by 60 points at Keighley despite being without top shots Doug Street and Ted Woollett.

Alan Kyle (21-4) led the rout supported by Barbara Rowan, who notched up her first win in the event, 21-7.

Poor Cononley did not seem to know what day it was as they crumbled under the onslaught and only Phillip Boocock and Alf Roberts showed any form.

Keighley C completed a local hat-trick with an easy win in the Alan Ellis Salver over league champions Settle B at Gargrave. Skipper Stanley Hardacre and snooker star Joe Brinton took the honours with big wins.

The Dick Keighley Memorial Trophy at Cononley saw a deserved victory by Paul Webster (Devon) who easily beat Vic Longbottom (Cross Hills) 21-6 with some excellent play. Dick's son Alistair was on hand to present the prize money.

Cross Roads B are Division Five champions in the Halifax League to secure a second successive promotion. Their A team failed in their Division One championship bid but could still finish as runners-up to Walsden. Both Oxenhope clubs failed in their bids for promotion and Oakworth are relegated to Division Three.

Colin Jeffrey and Trevor Hargreaves retained their Halifax Veterans doubles title at Hipperholme with an easy 15-9 success in the final.

The action continues tonight with prelims in the Cockroft Yorkshire Handicap at Gargrave.

On Sunday the Skipton mixed doubles event takes place at Haworth and Lund Park with the final due at Cononley around 6.30pm.

The Norman Johnston final is at Rolls Royce on Tuesday (start 6.30pm) while the final Inter-District game is scheduled for next Friday against Harrogate at Cross Hills.

The Skipton Floodlit League is now in full swing with three sections playing until October 17.

The Featherstone Trophy on September 22 is almost full and entries should be sent to Donald Varley as soon as possible.

Haworth A won the end-of-season Veterans Team Knockout, defeating Cross Hills at Denholme. Their Hebden team are also top of Division Two, ahead of Cross Roads B while the chips are down for their Bradford team in the Observer League.

Worth Valley League latest positions - Division One: 1 Cross Roads A P 15, Pts 128; 2 Cross Roads B 17-95; 3 Sutton A 16-94; 4 Highfield A 16-93; 5 Cross Hills A 14-73; 6 Craven A 15-65; 7 Skipton Devon 15-65; 8 Whinswood A 16-63; 9 Oakworth A 15-44; 10 Bradshaw A 13-43.

Division Two: 1 Denholme A 13-77; 2 Cullingworth 13-75; 3 Lund Park A 12-74; 4 Steeton A 13-73; 5 Whinswood B 13-59; 6 Craven B 12-54; 7 Cross Hills B 13-52; 8 Haworth 13-46.

Division Three: 1 Sutton B 15-101; 2 Bradshaw B 14-85; 3 Keighley 14-79; 4 Silsden PF B 15-71; 5 Highfield B 14-68; 6 Lund Park B 15-64; 7 Steeton B 14-68; 8 Oakworth B 14-59; 9 Denholme B 14-55.

Handicap League - Division One: 1 Highfield A 16-200; 2 Cross Roads B 17-186; 3 Sutton A 16-164; 4 Bradshaw A 13-144; 5 Whinswood A 16-141; 6 Skipton Devon 15-138; 7 Craven A 15-137; 8 Oakworth A 15-129; 9 Cross Roads A 15-128; 10 Cross Hills A 14-116.

Division Two: 1 Whinswood B 13-117; 2 Cross Hills B 13-106; 3 Steeton A 13-103; 4 Denholme A 13-99; 5 Craven B 12-96; 6 Lund Park A 12-95; 7 Cullingworth 13-92; 8 Haworth 13-79.

Division Three: 1 Sutton B 14-183; 2 Highfield B 14-150; 3 Denholme B 14-137; 4 Steeton B 14-126; 5 Bradshaw B 14-123; 6 Keighley 14-121; 7 Lund Park B 15-120; 8 Oakworth B 14-93; 9 Silsden PF B 15-71.

Doubles League: 1 Denholme A 10-49; 2 Lund Park A 10-45; 3 Highfield 10-35; 4 Cullingworth 11-31; 5 Denholme B 12-25; 6 Cross Roads 10-21; 7 Lund Park B 11-16.

Picture: Whinswood beat Broughton Road, Skipton, by seven points to take the Ken Johnson Trophy at Barnoldswick. Pictured is the winning line-up, from left: Keith Humphrey, Derek Burgess, Arthur Brown, Margaret Slater, John Smith, Jenny Taylor, Keith Ridding, Sue Finnie, Geoff Smith, Ted Barnes, Graham Whitaker and Robert Scott.