Pipe smokers, friends and relatives from all over the country began turning up around noon at the Lansdowne Hotel for the 13th Norfolk Open Pipesmoking Championship. There were plenty of pipes to peruse, including Clive Humm's handmade Don Carlos, Ian Walker from Northern Briars, George Kristlik from Czech Republic with Jirsa pipes and Peter Blackman from Cadogan with Nordings and Chacoms. Lunch was started at 13.15 after toastmaster Dave Bullock, resplendent in his uniform, had said grace. After the excellent three course meal it was the turn of the guest speaker, director of FOREST, Simon Clark, who gave a very good speech relating to the proposed ban on smoking in public places. A giant raffle was then held in which, for the second year running, Richard Neville did extremely well (I wondered why he had travelled from London with an empty suitcase). The the time came for the main event, under the watchful eyes of referee, timekeeper and the BBC cameras three grammes of Dunhill My Mixture 965 were lit in Donegal Rocky pipes supplied by Peterson. Our visitor George Kristlik was first to bite the dust managing only 1.30. He was closely followed by John Elvin 6:20 and Veda Lumber 6:33. When John Walker went out on the hour this left six smokers. Tim Knight soon followed 1:00:58 to just miss on the prizes. 5th Place went to John Peart :from the Pipe Club of Stafford 1:01:10 4th to Jim Mcfadden JHPCB 1:07:05 3rd John Whitlock JHPCB 1:10:10 and after a grandstand finish the winner for the last 5 years our own Len Ellis 1:35:45 was beaten into second place by Reg Stevens JHPCB 1:36:59 proving that his victory in the British Championship was no fluke. Vice Chairman Reg Walker presented the prizes and trophies to the winners including the team trophy to the John Hollingworth Team, the first time this has left Norfolk. A very successful day was enjoyed by all, with 67 people partaking of the meal and 43 smoking in the contest. This has to be a record year, and thanks must go tot he Hotel for looking after us so well and indeed for putting up with us, to Sheila for selling a record number of raffle tickets and acting as timekeeper, to Ken Paterson our resident referee (must let him have a copy of the rules one of these years) and finally to you the contestants for making the effort to get there, some from quite a distance.

The Lansdowne Hotel Sunday 10 October 2004 3gm Dunhill My Mixture 965 Peterson Donegal Rocky 1 Reg Stevens 1:36:59 2 Len Ellis 1:35:45 3 John Whitlock 1:10:10 4 Jim McFadden 1:07:05 5 John Peart 1:01:10 6 Tim Knight 1:00:58 7 John Walker 1:00:00 8 Balraj Singh 55:00 9 Michael Taylor 51:20 10 Reg Walker 48:22 11 Chris Gregory 45:55 12 Julie Devitt 44:46 13 Dave Manders 44:04 14 Colin Wylie 43:22 15 Gary Weston 39:30 16 Bernard Allotey 39:25 17 Peter Blackman 37:32 18 John Green 35:55 19 Alan Taylor 34:48 20 Leon Pickering 34:40 21 David Polhill 32:28 22 Frank King Jnr 30:52 23 Mark Heel 30:37 24 Denis Lindley 29:24 25 Richard Neville 28:50 26 Martin Oliver 27:15 27 Tony Larner 27:10 28 Peter Wiseman 27:05 29 Richard Ravenscroft 25:52 30 Tony Kelly 25:50 31 Phil Leach 25:20 32 Dave Bullock 25:05 33 Peter Wrightson 24:55 34 Ian Walker 22:15 35 Tim Jennings 20:30 36 Alex Burn 19:15 37 Don Warman 19:07 38 Frank King Snr 18:30 39 Keith Coleman 16:35 40 Keith Garrard 15:15 41 Veda Lumber 6:33 42 John Elvin 6:20 43 George Kristlik 1:30

Team result 1 John Hollingsworth 4:43:32 2 PCN 3:36:34 3 PCoL 2:59:07

Top table.

Raffle prizes.

Guest speaker, Simon Clark, a director of FOREST.

Say cheese!

The invigilators

Before the event

Winner, Reg Stevens is congratulated by Len Ellis.