Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

South Ramsey bowler Jenny Moore put the icing on the cake of a superb season on Sunday, winning the Holy Grail in Crown Green Bowls, the BCGBA (British Crown Green Bowling Association) Champion of Champions title at Monks Sports and Social Club in Warrington, as the 34-year-old wrote her name into Manx and UK bowls history. 

This season, Moore has been in fine form showing her absolute dominance in the local game having won her sixth Manx Championship, the Manx Masters for the sixth successive time, the Isle of Man September Festival – with two previous Festival tittles under her belt, the Jordan Cup, and went unbeaten throughout the entire ladies’ league season winning 22 games out of 22 played.

Moore representing South Ramsey qualified for the Champion of Champions through winning the Ladies Manx Championship and was a double qualifier through winning the Isle of Man September Festival. Jenny was in the mix with 15 other County Merit winners, whilst the rest of the field was made up by those who had won some of the games biggest competitions that were played throughout the season. 

At the start of play, there was a field of 32 top players from across the UK and with Moore having previously picked up the British Senior Merit in 2021, she would have fancied her chances to reach the latter stages in this event.

Heavy rain early in the morning led to a slightly delayed start of the competition. In the first round, this proved to be her toughest game of the day when she faced Sharon Tatem (Burton & District County Winner) winning 21-18 after recovering from a slow start, before finding her groove to advance to the next round. 

In the second round, Jenny faced Sarah Edmondson who was the North Lancs & Fylde County Merit Winner, with Moore taking a comfortable 21-10 win. 

So, to the quarter finals Jenny was up against Emily Kernick who qualified for the event by winning the Ladies Fleetwood Festival, and this resulted in a straightforward 21-13 victory for Jenny who advanced to the semi-finals. 

At this stage, Jenny took on Shannon Kernick who is the sister of Emily Kernick, with Shannon also being a double qualifier for the event having won the Norden Open singles & Ladies Autumn Waterloo. Jenny won this game to an even bigger score claiming her only single figure win of the day with a 21-7 victory, to secure her place in the final. 

The final saw Jenny up against Linda Williams, Wales County Merit winner who is well known on the circuit, having picked up more than one Waterloo title. Williams is well-known for preferring a longer length, however this wouldn’t phase Moore in the slightest. Having been in good form throughout the day, Jenny made a strong start to go into a 6-0 lead before Williams got back into the game scoring four chalks to trail by two points with the score at 4-6. 

Moore got back in and managed to build up an 11-5 lead and then extended this further as Williams inexplicably played out her own counting bowl to put Jenny 14-7 up. The Welsh County merit winner then picked up a single followed by a double to put the score at 10-14. 

This proved to be the last points that Williams would pick upin the match, as two great bowls in the corners put Jenny 16-10 up. With Williams determined to play a longer length Jenny played some great bowls to ensure her opponent never got a run in the corners.  

Four successive singles followed with the second in that run being a great last bowl from Jenny. With the score now 20-10 to Moore, a good lead which finished perfectly – six inches behind the jack, this proved to be good enough to secure a 21-10 victory to pick up the Champion of Champions title and with it the £1,000 first prize. 

Jenny was supported on the day with her Mum and Dad watching, along with partner James and their nine-year-old daughter, Blae in what was a proud day for Jenny and the family. Jenny became the first Manx woman to win this title, with surely to be plenty more in the future.

To put this achievement into context Jenny has proved time after time that she is a match for any bowler on the island – man or woman as she become the first Manx woman to win this prestigious trophy. To cap off a superb day they even managed to make the boat back in time.