| Stuart Mann took a record fourth Bristol Premier League title. Second and third were Gaz Owen and Ian Tarr. Fourth placed Paul Gilbertson was unable to attend | |
| Premier Two had two parallel divisions for the first time, and Peter Edwards won the play-off between the two champions to decide the outright Premier Two champion. The other three players to gain automatic promotion -- Simon Baker, Phil Charlton and Dave Pym, all absent from the awards night -- were veterans of the inaugural Premier League in 2000, and now they're back! | |
| Lewis Young took the Conference League title, while second and third placed Simon Temme and Richard Holness also made it to the promised land of the Premier League | |
| Roland Herrera led the OGP from start to finish, and never looked like being headed, although the race for second place provided a memorable climax to the season. Runner-up Derek Clew distinguished himself by gaining enough points for second place, despite missing five of the twelve tournaments, while Blaine Buchanan did enough in the quarterly Lesters events to clinch third place | |
| Runaway winner of the IGP was Derek Clew, whose 494 points winning margin eclipsed even Marcus Wrinch's massive 2007 record margin. Runner-up was Lewis Young | |
| Latest winner of the Consulting Doubles Grand Prix title was Roland Herrera, partnered in three of the four tournaments by runner-up Lizzie Pearce, who couldn't make the ceremony. Third and fourth placed Blaine Buchanan and Peter Edwards were present to claim their prizes, though | |
| Lewis Young began the year with a handicap of three, but it was only when that reduced to two that he began to assert himself in the Handicap Trophy, running out a convincing title winner, well ahead of second placed Peter Edwards, who won the title last year. Sponsor Ed Turner is pictured, presenting Lewis with the prizes | |
| The 2008 Intermediates Trophy title went to Derek Clew, who follows a string of illustrious former winners into the Premier League ranks. | |
| The now unsponsored Rookie of the Year award went this year to Simon Temme, who was adjudged to have pipped Richard Holness to the honour | |
| Pictured here (again) is Roland Herrera, who notched an impressive record sequence of thirteen victories to gain an 8000 to 1 award. Roland has now kindly offered to sponsor these awards, and will give a £50 bonus to the first player who can exceed his record run | |
| Stuart Mann was year end rankings leader for the third year running, just holding off Ann Pocknell, who is a big loss to Bristol Backgammon, having moved to Norfolk | |
| Three of our quarterly Lesters Trophy tournaments now carry an additional reward in the form of a special memorial trophy. For a few years now the winner of the December event takes the John Chidgey Cup, won by Derek Clew in 2008, while Roland Herrera was the second recipient of the Samuel Meade Memorial Shield at the March tournament. New in 2008, linked to the June event, was the Sarah Rosich Memorial Cup, won by Blaine Buchanan | |
| Backgammon on Mondays was an innovation in 2008, and a four monthly "Autumn Grand Prix" was won by Gaz Owen | |