Congratulations to September Canada Life International Award winners:-

Men’s Player of the Month: Peter Jones – Marown

Ladies Player of the Month: Joyce Ogden – Marown

Under 21’s Player of the Month: Toby Hart – South Ramsey

Peter was the obvious choice in the men’s game during September, having joined half way into the season ‘Jonah’ has settled in nicely winning his first Manx Masters at the first time of asking beating the best of the best on his way to picking up the title. In addition to this Jones contributed towards Marown’s success winning a fourth successive Club Team Championship title, whilst clearly strengthening their A Team in the second half of the season in their attempt to wrestle the title back from South Ramsey A. In addition to this Jonah won a Doubles competition with clubmate Glenn Boland at Finch Hill, whilst enjoying further success in the Men’s Doubles in the September Festival with teammate Colin Kelly.

The pick from the Ladies Section this month was a difficult choice with two names in the frame, it was Marown’s Joyce Ogden who edged the vote from the Ladies. Joyce started the month in devastating fashion, with a 21-4 win in the final of the JMS Veterans Shield helping her team on the way to victory as Marown retained the title, with another three single figure wins following. The pre-festival competition held at Castletown turned out to be something of a surprise victory on the day as a space opened up in the draw, with Joyce entering and not having any bowls with her used a set of club bowls. Joyce went on to claim her first win in a Ladies singles open beating some top lady bowlers on the day. This teed Joyce up nicely for the week, with the September Festival taking place Ogden reached the quarter finals in the Tourism, then just lost out 19-21 in the main event at the same stage to the runner up.

Toby was the easy choice in the Under 21 category winning his first Junior Manx Masters, with this being his last opportunity to do so, performing well to beat one of the outstanding Junior bowlers Madison McMullan in the final. Toby also performed well four his club team South Ramsey winning four games, while this is not in September – there will be no player of the month for October it is worth noting that I cannot recall two brothers winning an Open Competition as Toby and older sibling Austin performed brilliantly in the Juan Kelly Cup recently as the pair went on to take their first win in a Doubles competition.

Marown Bowling Club hosted the Juan Kelly Cup with the competition now in its sixth year 49 pairs took part just beating last year’s entry of 48. There were some interesting pairings making use of the handicap system which was played over two qualifying nights (Sunday and Monday), with four pairs qualifying each night in order to qualify for the finals night on Wednesday evening.

The format was any combination doubles, played over 15 ends with ends 5, 10 and 15 played as ‘power’ ends with the points scored counting double. The pairs were given a handicap based on their rankings in the Men’s and Ladies game. If scores were tied after 15 ends a one bowl shootout would take place to decide the winner.

There were some high profile casualties on both qualifying nights, in particular on Monday when a host of strong pairings made an early exit.

For finals night a re-draw took place to determine who the pairings would play on the night, with a good mixture of high and low handicaps still in the competition. The excellent floodlights came into good use for the duration of the competition.

Losing quarter finalists were home greeners Glenn Boland and Peter Jones (+2), who lost heavily to Port St Mary pair Jordan Drewett and Nathan Hamilton (+4) 10-23 with the game finishing two ends early as the latter pair could not be caught, while Derek Allen (Port Erin) and Steve Parker (Onchan) had a +4 handicap against Peel pair Tommy McMeiken and George Gadsby who were off +3, with the Peel men winning 18-15. The Port St Mary Husband and Wife pairing of Steve and Mavis Franks (+7) couldn’t get going until end 10 against South Ramsey’s David Bradford and Peter Collister (SCR) as they lost out 14-21. In the last quarter final another South Ramsey pair progressed with brothers Toby and Austin Hart seeing off Peel men Stevie and Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly 16-15, with all to play for on the last end the Hart brothers got the single they needed to score a two to leapfrog their opponents to win the game.

The semi-finals were fairly straightforward for both winning pairs with Drewett and Hamilton booking their place in the final with a 22-14 win over McMeiken and Gadsby, while the Hart’s stepped up a few gears – with the match finely poised at 13-14 against Bradford and Collister after 11 ends, the brothers scored a two, a four a three and a single to finish strongly with a 24-14 win.

The final got underway with the South Ramsey pair (+6) having a slight two chalk advantage over the Port pair (+4) it looked like it could be a close final with both pairs exchanging singles over the first four ends to leave the score at 8-6. On the first power end the Hart’s made their move as they scored a two, which doubled up to a four. From there they scored another four on end seven, followed by a single on end nine, in between conceding three chalks over two ends.

With Drewett and Hamilton chasing the game trailing 9-17, the second power end looked to be going against them as they were lying two down, with Hamilton killing the end no points were scored. After scoring a single on the following end any hopes of a comeback were extinguished as they conceded a single, followed by a four to put the score at 22-10 with just two ends remaining. This would have require a minor miracle to score two maximums just to tie, however end 14 became a dead rubber as Toby and Austin had their bowls well positioned to ensure this didn’t happen as they scored two to take their first win in this competition, with both brothers performing extremely well over both the qualifying night and the finals night, they fully deserved this victory.

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by Marown Club President Peter Kelly, who thanked Juan Kelly for once again sponsoring the competition, the Ladies for the refreshments over all three nights, everyone who entered, and all those who came to support. The sponsor Juan Kelly was then introduced to present the prizes with £560 paid out.

The proceeds from the kitchen and the raffle from this competition and the Autumn Shield held at Marown in early September resulted in the club raising over £1,300 towards Charity following the loss of three Life Members this year – Bert Winckle, Ian Kissack and Pat Withers with four charities receiving donations – The Parkinson’s Society, Hospice Care, Peel and District Anti-Cancer and Sight Matters (Manx Blind Welfare).

The 2022 BCGBA Mel Evans MBECentenary Mixed Pairs was held on Saturday 1st October at Owley Wood Recreation Club, Barrymore Road, Weaverham.

The first game of the day got underway at 10:00 with Paula Firth (Onchan) and Alan Moore (South Ramsey) facing Amy Ryder and Mark Owen (Shropshire) on the number one green with the IOM pair going into a 15-4 lead, eventually going onto win 21-13.

South Ramsey’s Elaine Moore and Glynn Hargraves were on the number two green, as they faced Warwick and Worcester pair Tracey Baker and Jason Galvin with Elaine and Glynn leading 16-10 and counting for three only for a great last bowl from Galvin to trail the block for two. From there the IOM representatives picked up just two more chalks as they lost 18-21.

Also on the number two green another South Ramsey pair – Jenny Moore and James Teare, they managed to see off the Wales pair of Linda Williams and Ritchie Jamieson 21-12, keeping their opponents to just one double with the rest of the points scored being singles.

In the Last 16 Jenny and James were up against Catherine Lockwood and Peter Hawkes (North Lancs & Fylde) finding themselves in a spot of bother trailing 13-19 after conceding two fours, however they did pick up three trebles. Trailing by one chalk at 19-20 and counting for four, with two bowls easily inside a foot, Lockwood pulled out bowl of the day to win the game 21-20 in a tough to take last end for the South Ramsey pair.

Paula and Alan faced Warwick and Worcester’s Michelle Jones and Ben Harris with the latter pair winning just seven ends to Paula and Alan’s 12 ends. The W&W pair went into a 20-17 lead, with Alan saving game on more than one occasion with his ability to strike, as they managed to pick up a double and two singles to sneak home 21-20 to reach the next round.

At the quarter final stage Firth and Moore were the last IOM representatives left as they faced Abbie-Jo Rhodes and Simon Rhodes from South Yorkshire. Trailing 7-9 the Onchan/South Ramsey pair shifted up a few gears as their opponents scored just one more chalk, scoring two fours, a double and four consecutive singles to see the game out 21-10.

At the semi-final stage Firth and Moore were always in control of the game against another South Yorkshire pair Andrea Ainley and Richard Moore as they booked their place in the final with a solid 21-13 victory.

In the final Firth and Moore faced Staffordshire pair Jordan Picken and Steve Davis who had just seen off the pair that had earlier put Jenny and James out of the competition. In their fifth game of the day they struggled to get going as whilst they kept their opponents down to singles and doubles they found themselves with a 4-17 deficit.

A mini comeback followed as they managed to sneak into double figures as they lost out 10-21, however both should take pride in their performances over the day.

The BCGBA Champion of Champions Event returned to the bowls calendar for the first time in three years, with the last time it was held in 2019 the Men’s title was won by Manx Man Colin Kelly at the famous Waterloo Bowling Green in Blackpool at ‘The Wembley of Bowls’ which is sadly no longer. The Men’s competition was held on Saturday at Monk Sports & Social Club in Warrington.

Representing the Isle of Man was South Ramsey’s David Bradford, who qualified in July having won the Manx Championship for a second time. He had the unenviable task of facing Callum Wraight in the first round, with his opponent having qualified through winning the BCGBA Senior Individual Merit for the second time. In truth Wraight could have qualified for this event many times over having won over 20 competitions this season, this in itself showing the task ahead of Bradford.

The Manx Man was a last minute arrival to the venue, having difficulty getting a taxi to the bowling green that morning, however Bradford arrived with a minute to spare before going on in the first round of games. Settling into the game early Bradford opted for a longer length, with Wraight preferring a shorter mark. The game was keenly contested throughout with the score tied at 14-14, then 16-16 only for Bradford to take the initiative and go into a 19-17 lead and then 20-18 to maintain his two point lead, as Bradford made no mistake as he went on to seal a famous 21-18 victory.

In the Last 16 Bradford went on to play Alex Hassall – Midland Masters Merit winner. In this game Hassall become something of a one bowl wonder with 15 singles scored and just one double, while Bradford scored four doubles which was ultimately the difference in a keenly contested game as he went on to win 21-17 to progress to the next round.

At the quarter final stage Bradford was up against Andy Proctor winner of the BCGBA Jack & Jean Isherwood Championship, with Proctor a IOM June Festival winner in 1993 enjoying something of a renaissance of late, as he built up a 10-5 lead over the South Ramsey man, with Bradford doing nothing wrong. With Proctor renowned for his striking ability enjoying considerable success with four hits from four strikes in the early stages of the game. Bradford had to big deep to get back into the game and managed to turn the game around to go into the lead by four points at 16-12. Proctor responded with two singles and two doubles to lead 18-16, only for the pair to exchange singles over three ends to put the score at 18-19. On the next end Bradford was counting for one, however a great last bowl from Proctor somewhat unbelievably made two to win the game 21-18 to end the hopes of Bradford.

In the semi-finals Proctor faced Chris Kelly winner of The Sandal Classic, with the former having built up a huge lead over his opponent, Kelly fought back to see the game out with a 21-19 win to reach the final. The other semi-final had Lee Kington winner of the Warwick & Worcester Merit have his run ended by IOM June Festival winner James Wilcox.

The final went to the wire with Kelly edging home 21-20 against Wilcox to pick up his first Champion of Champions title.

Ladies Event

On Sunday it was the Ladies turn to impress at the same venue with two local representatives competing, with more South Ramsey players featuring as Elaine Moore – September Isle of Man Tourism Winner took to the green with daughter Jenny Moore – Ladies Manx Champion also qualifying.

Elaine battled well in her game with Emma Tobin (British Parks Merit Winner) before succumbing 18-21 in her first round tie.

Jenny had the tough task of facing one of the top UK bowlers in Alexis Lunn-Gadd (Yorkshire Merit Winner) with Jenny putting in a good performance to win her first round game 21-14, with the final score only telling half the story as Jenny trailed 1-9 before hitting top gear as Lunn-Gadd scored just five more points to Moore’s 20 points from end seven onwards.

In the second round Jenny made a much better start against North Derbyshire Merit winner Janice Wilson with a 21-4 victory, keeping her opponent to four singles throughout the game as she progressed to the next round.

In the quarter final the game was much more evenly contested with a tough battle with Christine Davies winner of the Blackpool Spring Festival. Jenny managed to build up a seven chalk lead over her opponent to sit just one point away from victory at 20-13, however Davies had other ideas fighting back well scoring five singles and a double to tie the score at 20-20. On the deciding end Davies was counting one for game, however Jenny knocked her opponents bowl off to seal a 21-20 win.

At the semi-final stage and in her fourth game of the day Jenny faced Lynsey Gorman winner of the Merseyside Merit and another well known bowler. The game was once again well contested with Gorman eventually going into a four point lead at 14-10 after 20 ends. Jenny hit back to lead 15-14, only for Gorman to recover her four point lead at 19-15. The game looked to be going to the wire and so it proved with Jenny picking up three singles, then conceded a single to trail by two points at 18-20. A good two from Jenny tied the game at 20-20. On the deciding end Gorman played a good first bowl to beat Jenny’s lead, with Moore taking the block off the green to save the game. On the next end Lynsey once again put up a good first bowl to beat Jenny’s lead, which went unbeaten as Jenny ended up on the wrong side of a 21-20 score in this round to narrowly miss out on the final.

In the other semi-final Shannon Kernick winner of the Norden Open Singles managed to see off Lorraine Hirst (Enid Blackburn Trophy winner) with a 21-11 win to reach the final.

In the final the less experienced Kernick, had a tough battle with Gorman, however Kernick prevailed 21-17 to seal the title with a solid performance.

A good entry of 32 pairs contested the final Open of the season, the any combination pairs competition at Finch Hill for the Douglas Borough Council Challenge Cup.

On a chilly day the trophy was destined to have a new name on it with previous winners Jenny Moore and James Teare competing off – Island.

At the quarter final stage Marown duo Walter McCarthy and Karl Parker staged an impressive comeback from 13-20 down against Port St Mary pair Jordan Drewett and Nathan Hamilton to win.

The match involving Sam Clague (Marown) and Dean Kinley (Peel) against Marown’s Glenn Boland and Peter Jones was an entertaining encounter which saw Glenn and Peter prevail 21-18.

Onchan men Kevin Quirk and Steve Parker always had the measure of Victoria Johnson (Mooragh Park) and Nigel Tebay (Ballaugh) and ran out comfortable winners 21-15. In the game with father and son pairing Colin Kelly and Kevin Kelly (both Marown) a decisive ninth end saw their opponents Steven Waters and Bob Clark (South Ramsey) score four chalks which put them into a comfortable lead which they never relinquished.

In the first semi-final Boland and Jones were always in control against McCarthy and Parker to win 21-10. The second semi-final saw another impressive fight back with Waters and Clark coming back from 10-15 down to run out winners 21-16. The Final proved to be a rather one sided affair with Boland and Jones proving too strong for Waters & Clark to run out winners by a 21-10 score line.

The competition is sponsored by Douglas Corporation and her Worshipful Mayor Ms Janet Thommeny kindly came along to make the presentation. Thanks to the Ladies at Finch Hill for the catering during the afternoon and to all the members who helped out on the day.