Harrogate, Collingham and Ilkley will have shiny new additions to their trophy cabinets after claiming the divisional titles at the end of an absorbing 2017/18 Harrogate League season.

Harrogate 1 rubber-stamped the Division One prize with a 12-4 thumping of fourth-placed Chapel Allerton 2. Needing only a single point to mathematically seal the crown, the celebrations began when No.3 Mark James took the first game 11/4 against Ian Hogg.

James went on to claim a 3/1 victory before Olly Hotchkiss downed the wiry and dangerous Paul Allen in five and Simon Myring overcame John Riley in four.

Second-placed Chapel Allerton 1 finished their season a week before with a hugely costly defeat, allowing Harrogate to sweep to a final victory margin of 13 points.

Third-placed Collingham signed off with a 12-0 trouncing of Harlow 1. Stephen Kettlewell ended the campaign with 14 wins out of 15 by beating Richard White, and it was also a quick night’s work for Robin Mannall and Ben Hodgetts further up the order.

The bell had tolled for Aireborough many weeks ago and their foray into the top tier ended with yet another shellacking, this time 12-1 at Otley 1.

Subject to the usual off-season administrative rubber-stamping, Aireborough will be joined in Division Two next season by Adel 1, who lost what was a de facto relegation play-off against Chapel Allerton 3 in emphatic style. Jason Miller, Thomas Whiteway and Cameron Ward dropped just one game between them in keeping Chapel A’s heads above water and ducking Adel into the brown stuff.

In Division Two, a thrilling promotion battle ended with Collingham kissing the trophy and new boys Dunnington pipping Chapel Allerton 5 to second place on points difference.

Seventh-placed Otley 2 played a significant role in deciding second place. They couldn’t muster a single player as they handed Dunnington a 12-0 walkover, meaning Chapel A 5’s 12-3 win over Adel 2 was never going to be enough to claw their way above the magic dotted line. Tim Manuel, Dave Stannard and Mike Robinson all won in four, but the squad were left to rue their loss to stablemate Chapel A 6ths the week before which ultimately proved very costly.

Champions Collingham 2 signed off with a 12-2 trouncing of Collingham 3, ensuring these clubmates finished at opposite ends of the table and will be two divisions apart next term.

Also heading into Division Three are Skipton, although they at least finished an otherwise disappointing season with a flourish by beating Chapel A 6ths 11-4 after the visitors could only raise two players.

Into Division Three and Ilkley 1 and Adel 3 had already sewn up the top two spots before this week’s finale. They both finished their fine season with narrow victories.

Ilkley 1 won the 'Moor derby' with bottom side Ilkley 2 thanks to Andy MacGregor and Ben Bearpark’s victories, while Adel 3 finished just four points behind them after rounding off with a 10-5 triumph over Harlow 2, who finish second from bottom.

With Division Four finishing last week, that’s a wrap for 2017/18. We’ll have news of all the administrative ups and downs after the committee meeting soon. Thanks for your commitment and support during the season and we’ll see you all in September!