Just one set of fixtures took place over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowls League and it was a perfect afternoon for Parkers in a session that saw all participants improve their averages.

The opening fixture on the card saw Castletown Cannons record a second victory of the campaign and just miss out on a maximum against opponents Bits n Bobs.

The Cannons last recorded this achievement back in December 2013, when the total points was 90, rather than the 126 at present.

Next up seventh placed Parkers kept the good form of the previous weekend going and brushed aside Bowl Rollers to win by a margin of 50 points and notch up their first full-house.

They then took the league maximums total to 13 with a comfortable victory over bottom side Bits n Bobs and in the process crept up behind Govags in the table.

Bowl Rollers have had a slow start by their standards, however they got fired up in the final encounter to defeat Cannons by enough chalks to remain above their challengers in the standings.

Both teams are now separated by an average of just one point – Rollers on 96.5 and Cannons on 95.5.

Results for Saturday, November 24: Bits n Bobs 81 (1), Castletown Cannons 125 (5); Bowl Rollers 76 (0), Parkers 126 (6); Parkers 126 (6), Bits n Bobs 83 (0); Castletown Cannons 99 (2), Bowl Rollers 118 (4).

Two round robins took place either side of the league games and in the midweek session the trio of Cliff Clague, Marg Tasker and Peter Karran took the honours ahead of Jean Thackrah, David Clucas and Trevor Barker.

Doubles was the order of the day in the other gang and it was Derek Allen and Patricia Lenton who topped the scoring in front of Bernard Galka and Mark Kelly.

Sunday’s group saw Steve Parker and Tricia Bull as clear winners in the doubles, with second spot going to Derek Allen and Sue Gawne.

Whilst in the other gang the trio of Jenny Moore, Mavis Franks and Marg Tasker took the spoils ahead of Steve Moore, Bernard Thackrah and Stefan Kelly.

Weather permitting the next weekend round robin will take place on Sunday, December 10.

There is a new team at the top of the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowls League after the latest two days of action and with a change of fourth and fifth positions, it is definitely game on for the title come next March.

Most of the teams competing have players in their ranks that can cause an upset on their day and this was certainly the case on Saturday and resulted in the first loss of the season for early leaders Outsiders.

All went to plan for the top two in their opening encounters, Outsiders dropped only four chalks whilst defeating Castletown Cannons and second placed Mooragh Lakers just eight in a victory over Parkers.

Lakers carried on their good form and just missed out on a full house in their clash with the Cannons; whereas Outsiders slipped to their first defeat at the hands of Parkers who recorded some great individual results to take a memorable victory.

This all left Mooragh Lakers top on an average of 120.2, whilst Outsiders slipped to 119.1, the same as third placed A-Team, who had the weekend off.

Results for Saturday, November 17: Outsiders 122 (5), Castletown Cannons 95 (1); Mooragh Lakers 118 (4), Parkers 98 (2); Parkers 108 (3), Outsiders 104 (3); Castletown Cannons 99 (1), Mooragh Lakers 124 (5).

The second day’s outcomes were pretty much as expected; however the margins in two of the results were perhaps not.

Just three places separated the sides in the opener, when fifth placed Seven-Up were ruthless in a 126 to 69 points defeat of Erin Porters – their first maximum to date.

Having lost both fixtures last time out, Louie’s Angels needed a win to get their challenge back on track and they were pushed all the way by Castletown Corkers, who have yet to record a victory.

Porters then recovered from their earlier set back to notch up a four games to two success over Corkers, who couldn’t quite hit the 100 points mark, but did improve their overall average.

Seven-Up had lost the previous three clashes with teams above them in the table, but this time they clearly had other ideas and beat rivals Louie’s Angels by a comfortable margin of 30 chalks and swap positions with them in the standings.

Results for Sunday, November 18: Erin Porters 69 (0), Seven-Up 126 (6); Louie’s Angels 117 (4), Castletown Corkers 105 (2); Castletown Corkers 95 (2), Erin Porters 108 (4); Seven-Up 120 (4), Louie’s Angels 90 (2).

Once again one of the groups taking part in the midweek round robin had to be settled by a roll-up and taking the honours were Peter Kelly, Derek Allen and Sue Gawne.

Just missing out were the trio of Bernard Galka, Ray Watterson and Pauline Whorral.

There were clear winners in the yellow jack gang with the victors being Jean Thackrah, Kevin Firth and Janet Monk, with second going to Maureen Hamilton, Steph Swift and Caroline Corlett.

Entries are now being taken for the J&M Lee doubles, this is a new competition introduced in memory of the Club’s former president, Jack Lee, who passed away earlier this year. Sadly his wife Margy died a short while afterwards.

The competition, which will be held on Saturday 22 December, will be run as a drawn doubles, with the format yet to be decided. In the meantime raffle tickets are on sale and prizes would be much appreciated. All proceeds will go to the RNLI.

The weather played a major part in proceedings over weekend in the the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League, especially on Saturday with defeats for second placed Louie’s Angels, along with losses for previously unbeaten players.

Heavy rain prior to and during the first session made for tricky conditions, although the playing surface did not show any signs of waterlogging.

First up were Erin Porters taking on Outsiders and the result was close, with just nine points between the two, which went in favour of the leaders to keep their unbeaten run going.

Also in action were the second and third placed sides, however this success went the way of the lower placed outfit after Mooragh Lakers beat Louie’s Angels by a good margin of 20 chalks.

Things didn’t get any easier for the Angels as they next had to take on Outsiders and they could only manage one win in a 121-93 defeat and as a consequence they slipped down the standings into fourth position.

Lakers then matched that winning total when they played Erin Porters and in doing so moved into second spot and closed the gap to the leaders by four down to just seven.

This session saw four players lose their unbeaten starts and along with individuals not taking part for one reason or another, there are only three members to have won all games to date.

Results for Saturday, November 10: Erin Porters 103 (2), Outsiders 112 (4); Louie’s Angels 96 (2), Mooragh Lakers 116 (4); Outsiders 121 (5), Louie’s Angels 93 (1); Mooragh Lakers 121 (5), Erin Porters 87 (1).

Things were much better weather-wise for Sunday afternoon’s participants and two teams left with a maximum apiece and a brace of wins.

Govags were in ruthless form in the opener when they recorded their first full-house of the season at the expense of bottom team Bits n Bobs.

Bowl Rollers were also fired up after notching up two wins last time out and they pushed the A-Team all the way, recording a three-all draw on games, but lost out on points.

Next up Govags and Rollers fought out the closest fixture of the weekend with another draw on games and the westerners triumphant by only four chalks to improve their average to 112.8.

Finally in a rather one-sided clash, the A-Team notched up their third and the league’s tenth maximum score, the unfortunate losers once again were Bits n Bobs.

Results for Sunday, November 11: Bits n Bobs 72 (0), Govags 126 (6); Bowl Rollers 84 (3), A-Team 108 (3); Govags 110 (3), Bowl Rollers 106 (3); A-Team 126 (6), Bits n Bobs 66 (0).

Two groups of six triples competed in the latest midweek round robin, with the closest outcome being in the yellow jack gang with the top three being decided by a roll-up.

Three trios finished on the same total and eventually taking the honours were the threesome of Steve Parker, Rita Callister and Gill Jopson, who edged out Ray Watterson, Trevor Barker and Tricia Bull. Just missing out in third were Sefton Dent, Kevin Firth and Peter Karran.

The other group was a little bit more open with the team of David Clucas, Bryan Corner and Bernie McPhee winning ahead of Doug Allan, Judy Kelly and Steve Crampton.

Outsiders remain as early leaders of the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League after the latest two weekends, however the margin has been reduced to an average of just half a point.

Teams occupying places in the lower half of the table competed in the first of three sessions to catch up with and recording two wins apiece were Parkers and Bowl Rollers, the first of the campaign for the Rollers.

This took place during an afternoon where sides played their opponents twice, with Parkers inflicting two defeats on Castletown Cannons, the first by a margin of 15 and in the second they increased the gap to 22.

Bowl Rollers meanwhile went agonisingly close to maximum scores in both encounters with basement side Bits n Bobs, dropping only five chalks along the way.

Results for Saturday, October 27: Castletown Cannons 103 (2), Parkers 118 (4); Bits n Bobs 86 (1), Bowl Rollers 124 (5); Parkers 116 (3), Castletown Cannons 94 (3); Bowl Rollers 123 (5), Bits n Bobs 83 (1).

Three of the leading five took part in the following days action, with two of them leaving happier than the other and as a result the title contenders group could well have been reduced to four.

First up were leaders Outsiders against fifth placed Seven-Up and the outcome saw the table toppers notch up an important victory by a margin of 11 points.

Currently third are Mooragh Lakers and they began with a score of 123 against Castletown Corkers, before recording an impressive win over Seven-Up, dropping just five chalks and increasing their average to 120.8.

Corkers may well have won a game in their opener, but could not prevent Outsiders from notching up a third maximum to date and keep their noses in front of second placed Louie’s Angels.

Results for Sunday, October 28: Outsiders 116 (4), Seven-Up 105 (2); Mooragh Lakers 123 (5), Castletown Corkers 86 (1); Castletown Corkers 76 (0), Outsiders 126 (6); Seven-Up 108 (2), Mooragh Lakers 121 (4).

Just one group of fixtures were scheduled last weekend and it was up to third placed A-Team to match the challengers as they endeavour to hang onto their crown.

They dropped just four points whilst defeating Parkers, before they racked up their second maximum of the season at the expense of Castletown Cannons to become the first team to win their opening six fixtures.

Govags also beat the southern outfit, but then went down by a margin of 20 points against Parkers and now have them breathing down their necks, with less than a point separating the pair on average.

Results for Sunday, November 4: Govags 118 (5), Castletown Cannons 105 (1); A-Team 122 (5), Parkers 93 (1); Parkers 112 (3), Govags 92 (3); Castletown Cannons 76 (0), A-Team 126 (6).

Two midweek round robins attracted good entries; the first had 53, which was divided into three gangs.

The yellow triples winners were Gill Malpass, Kevin Firth and Jenny Moore/James Teare, the latter two sharing the games. Also victorious in their groups were the threesome of Bob Berry, Mike Kelly and Jo Smith, along with the pairing of Janet Monk and Steve Parker.

A slightly smaller entry of 42 took part in last week’s gathering, with the successful gangs being Sefton Dent and Bernie McPhee (doubles); Mark Kelly, Steve Parker and Carol Kaye (yellow triples); and Alan Phair, Doug Allan and Jeff Wilson (black triples).

There were no major surprises in the final results over the latest weekend of play in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League with the top five sides in the table opening the gap over their rivals.

The biggest benefactors on the average points front were Castletown Cannons, they may well have lost their first fixture, but will have been pleased to take one game from opponents Seven-Up.

They followed this with a comprehensive victory over stablemates Castletown Corkers and the 115 chalks scored saw them climb above their rivals and also pushed non-playing Bowl Rollers into the bottom two.

Parkers were the fourth team competing and they began with a fives games to one success against Corkers, but then came unstuck against Seven-Up who are pushing hard to remain in contention with the four teams above them.

Results for Saturday, October 20: Castletown Cannons 82 (1), Seven-Up 122 (5); Parkers 113 (5), Castletown Corkers 90 (1); Seven-Up 123 (5), Parkers 82 (1); Castletown Corkers 84 (2), Castletown Cannons 115 (4).

Sunday’s participants were all occupying positions in the top seven in the table, two of them still unbeaten heading into this third weekend.

Opening the session were Erin Porters and Govags and they fought out a contest that was decided by the close margin of just four points in favour of the Porters.

Undefeated Louie’s Angels and A-Team then went head to head in a fixture that was probably the best so far this season, with the lowest losing players reaching 17.

The A-Team came out of top by just five points in a 120 to 115 result, but I’m sure the victors will have been more than happy to take their second victory against top-flight opposition having beaten Seven-Up the previous weekend.

Following this the two victors faced up to one another, with Porters Wayne Roberts preventing a maximum and putting last week’s newspaper headline on hold for a little while longer!

The final encounter saw Angels get back to winning ways with victory over Govags and this time it was Bryan Corner who prevented a whitewash, inflicting defeat on another of the former league merit winners.

Results for Sunday, October 21: Erin Porters 112 (4), Govags 108 (2); Louie’s Angels 115 (2), A-Team 120 (4); A-Team 118 (5), Erin Porters 98 (1); Govags 104 (1), Louie’s Angels 121 (5).

Having been in action just the one weekend, Outsiders lead the way on an average of 126, followed by Angels on 123; Mooragh Lakers 119.5; A-Team 117.8 and Seven-Up on 116. I think the battle for league honours come next March will be between this five, with the remainder battling for sixth place downwards.

Last week’s round robin session had the biggest entry to date, with 52 players being split into two groups of triples and one doubles.

Topping the yellow jack gang were Ray Watterson, Brian Lindsay and Tricia Bull, with second being taken by Ken Karran, Sue Gawne and Andy Sykes.

The other triples group had a close outcome with Derek Allen, Bernard Galka and Trevor Barker taking the honours, just one point ahead of Cliff Clague, Sefton Dent and Joy Stephens.

Finally in the doubles, Margaret Tasker and Mark Kelly teamed up to win ahead of Lil Smith and Derek Clarke.

The remaining four teams made their first appearance of the season in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League on Saturday with three of them heading for home with a win under their belts.

It was touch and go as to whether the session would take place after the heavy rain overnight and through the morning, but on arrival the green was declared playable so the games went ahead.

The opening clash on the list saw title contenders Seven-Up drop just 8 chalks against westerners Govags who themselves pushed hard to reach a total of 92.

Next up were current champions the A-Team, formerly known as Jacks Off, and they recorded the fourth maximum score of the campaign when they took on Castletown Corkers; another team with new players competing in their ranks.

The two successful sides then went head to head in the first real battle of potential league winners come next March and it was the A-Team who triumphed, but only by six chalks in a fairly low scoring encounter.

Three former individual merit winners lost out in this fixture, perhaps a reflection on just how tough the conditions were during the afternoon.

Completing the programme were Corkers and Govags, who fought out a three-all on games and the westerners taking the spoils by 112 points to 97.

Results for Saturday, October 13: Govags 92 (2), Seven-Up 118 (4); A-Team 126 (6), Castletown Corkers 73 (0); Seven-Up 101 (3), A-Team 107 (3); Castletown Corkers 97 (3), Govags 112 (3).

Having dropped just two chalks on the opening day, Louie’s Angels needed a perfect session to improve and that was exactly the outcome with two maximum results to take their tally to three so far.

They began with a 126 to 81 victory over Bowl Rollers, before inflicting a heavier defeat on a Bits n Bobs team who could only reach a total of 76.

Erin Porters also notched up two wins, the first leaving opponents Bits n Bobs trailing by a margin of 55, while in the second they beat Bowl Rollers by just seven points.

Results for Sunday, October 14: Erin Porters 119 (5), Bits n Bobs 64 (1); Louie’s Angels 126 (6), Bowl Rollers 81 (0); Bowl Rollers 91 (3), Erin Porters 98 (3); Bits n Bobs 76 (0), Louie’s Angels 126 (6).

The midweek round robin gathering was split into three groups, with the 44 entrants playing in groups of triples and doubles.

Taking the honours in the yellow jacks was the trio of Allan Kennaugh, Doug Allan and Maureen Payne; ahead of Julie Reilly, Marg Tasker and Peter Kelly.

In the black section the winners were Ray Watterson, Mavis Franks and Terry Bates, with second going to Ken Karran, Shirley Whelan and Bryan Corner.

The red doubles had a slightly larger group, with the top three pairs being Lynda Wilson and Bernard Thackrah; Brenda Bowyer and Patricia Lenton came second; and in third were Jean Thackrah and Andy Sykes.

Last weekend saw the start of the 18th season of outdoor winter bowls when the Manx Petroleum sponsored league kicked into action with three maximum wins recorded over both days.

The opening two fixtures had 5-1 victories on games, with Sonya Mercer preventing a whitewash for her team Castletown Cannons against southern rivals Erin Porters.

This while Mike Thomas (Parkers) held his nerve against opponent Thomas Keggen (Louie’s Angels) to win 21-19 and record the only win for his side.

Parkers next took on Erin Porters and recovered well from their earlier disappointment to notch up their opening victory by just eight points in a close encounter that ended three-all on games.

Having missed out by two chalks in the first outing, Louie’s Angels aimed to improve and this they did with the campaign’s maiden maximum win, achieved with comfortable ease against Castletown Cannons.

Results for Saturday, October 6: Castletown Cannons 82 (1), Erin Porters 116 (5); Parkers 83 (1), Louie’s Angels 124 (5); Erin Porters 105 (3), Parkers 113 (3); Louie’s Angels 126 (6), Castletown Cannons 71 (0).

Sunday saw a new look Outsiders square up against Bits n Bobs, who themselves had three newcomers in the team and it was the experienced outfit who came out on top, winning all six games.

Also taking part were last season’s runners-up, Mooragh Lakers, another squad with some new faces in the line-up and they went within one game of a perfect start against opponents Bowl Rollers.

Unfortunately for Rollers the afternoon didn’t get any better and they ended up on the wrong side of a six games to nil encounter with Outsiders.

Last up were Bits n Bobs and Mooragh Lakers and with the away side cruising through the first four games, things looked good for the former champions.

However in the final two games off the green Geoff Mayles and Franz ten Donkelaar both sneaked home with 21-19 wins against Janet Monk and Harry Barton.

Results for Sunday, October 7: Outsiders 126 (6), Bits n Bobs 64 (0); Mooragh Lakers 117 (5), Bowl Rollers 83 (1);  Bowl Rollers 69 (0), Outsiders 126 (6); Bits n Bobs 80 (2),  Mooragh Lakers 122 (4).

The club’s opening round robin session took place on the Wednesday prior to the league games and an entry of 38 was split into two groups from which the winners were Jeff Wilson, Lynda Wilson and Derek Clarke in the triples and the pairing of David Clucas and Mike Kelly.

All members are reminded that entries close for the round robin sessions at 1pm prompt and anyone arriving after that time will be denied entry.

For sides competing at weekends there are a number of club members available who are not allocated to a team, details of which will be held by the secretary should any captain require extra players.

The wet and extremely cold climate endured over recent weeks in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club were a distant memory as everyone enjoyed almost perfect weather at the final two events over the weekend.

One of those was the prize presentation afternoon, during which the annual Best versus Rest session opened proceedings and resulted in a comfortable victory for the Best outfit.

They were made-up with members of league winners, Jacks Off, plus the overall and ladies merit winners, along with a player from runners-up, Mooragh Lakers; their opponents were the merit winners or representatives from the remaining 11 teams.

It was unusual to have all 12-merit winners competing for the teams and representatives who filled in for the two who were promoted due to winning their merit titles supported them.

One slight difference from the league matches; was that games were played off scratch, rather than 21 up off six.

Scores (Best first, Jacks Off unless stated): Jordan Cain (Seven-Up, overall merit winner) 21, Doug Allan (Govags) 12; Alan Moore 21, Mark Kelly (Seven-Up representative) 20; Kim Hargraves 16, Frank Watson (Outsiders) 21; Glynn Hargraves 21, Gordon Corrin (Bowl Rollers) 11; James Teare (League runners-up, Mooragh Lakers) 21, Tracy Moore (Castletown Corkers) 16; Dido Kelly 21, Paul Bailey (Parkers) 6; Matthew Keggen 21, Tricia Bull (Louie’s Angels) 14; Stefan Kelly 14, Wayne Roberts (Erin Porters) 21; Elaine Moore 21, George Peach (Castletown Cannons) 9; Janet Monk (Mooragh Lakers, ladies merit winner) 18, Jenny Moore (Lakers representative) 21; Austin Hart 21, Geoff Mayles (Bits n Bobs) 13. Best 216 (8), Rest 164 (3).

The presentations followed and began with the team merit winners, all as listed in the results; next up was overall merit winner Matthew Keggen, who collected the Derek Killey memorial cup; Janet Monk(ladies merit) won the Geoff Osborn memorial trophy and Austin Hart (Jacks Off) took the junior merit title.

The team honours followed, and they included Angels (fifth), Seven-Up (fourth), Outsiders (third), Lakers (runners-up) and victors Jacks Off. Last but not least the club champion, Jordan Cain collected his award, with the runners-up spot in this competition going to Alan Moore.

The latest two round robins held saw Steve Parker and Kevin Firth top their group ahead of Mark and Peter Kelly; while in a second gang the winners were Bernie McPhee and Tricia Bull, with second going to Derek Cadamy and Lil Smith.

Peter Hughes and Jo Smith won a session held on Saturday, with Steve Parker and Derek Allen in second spot.

At the conclusion of the season thanks are expressed to Douglas Corporation staff who did a great job with the green; also anyone who helped in any way and especially those who contributed to Sunday’s refreshments and raffle.

Finally as mentioned some time ago the club would appreciate the return of a measure, which went missing from a session at Nobles No. 3 green.

An entry of 41 battled the weather and their opponents for the honour of club champion in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club on Saturday and it was Jordan Cain who emerged as the winner.

The action got underway at 12 noon to help get the event completed in one day and there were some close encounters during the opening rounds, all ending with only the ninth different winner from 17 championships held so far.

Unfortunately the competition was hampered by an extremely cold wind, which made for tough playing conditions and not much fun for spectators either.

Six different teams were represented in the quarter-finals, where the fallers were Terry Bates (Bowl Rollers), Bernie McPhee (Parkers), Derek Cadamy (Erin Porters) and Steve Parker (Mooragh Lakers).

By the time the semi finals went on, the players had also had a few showers of snow to contend with and in front of just a handful of supporters the four contenders took to the green.

First up was Lil Smith (Bowl Rollers) who had played exceptionally well all afternoon, but could not overcome the eventual winner who went on to record a 21-15 success.

The other game saw two-time winner and current holder of the title, Alan Moore (Jacks Off), compete against Erin Porter’s Caroline Whitehead and ended with a score of 21-10, a result that perhaps did not show how close this encounter was.

A shower of hail just towards the end of the semis lingered on the surface as the players went back on for the final and the big questions were could it be three titles in a row for Moore or could Cain, who plays for Seven-Up, record his first club championship success.

Moore took a two in the first end, before the game swung one way then the other, and after 13 ends the players were tied on 15 chalks apiece.

It was at this point that Cain headed into the corner of the green once again and after four more ends the players shook hands, giving the winner another trophy to add to his two merit wins in 2013-14 and 2016-17.

This Sunday will be the club’s prize presentations, preceded as always by the traditional best versus rest event starting at 1pm. The best will be made up from league winners Jacks Off; the ladies merit winner, Janet Monk; the new club champion and one player from runners-up Mooragh Lakers.

Their opponents will feature Jenny Moore (Lakers representative); Frank Watson (Outsiders); Mark Kelly (Seven-Up representative) Tricia Bull (Louie’s Angels); Paul Bailey (Parkers); Gordon Corrin (Bowl Rollers); Wayne Roberts (Erin Porters); Doug Allan (Govags); George Peach (Castletown Cannons); Tracy Moore (Castletown Corkers) and Geoff Mayles (Bits n Bobs).

The day before will be the final round robin session of the campaign as it has been decided that the club will close down at the end of proceedings on Sunday 25 March.

There were no surprises over the delayed final weekend of fixtures in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowling League and with the title already decided, the positions behind also remained unchanged.

First into the action were third placed Outsiders and they stormed to the 27th maximum win of the season at the expense of southern outfit Castletown Cannons.

They had begun the day 30 points ahead of Seven-Up, who had to match their rivals in the next encounter to keep alive any slender hope of catching them in the table.

Cannons were not giving up without a fight however and managed to take two games and 13 chalks off Seven-Up, which left Outsiders almost home and dry.

Well not exactly, as the persistent rain was making the playing surface extremely wet, as the two of them went head to head in a fixture that saw Outsiders hold off their rivals and maintain third spot.

Seven-Up in turn finished fourth, 22 points clear off Louie’s Angels, whilst waiting to compete the following day were outgoing champions Mooragh Lakers. They needed to score 180 points to finish as runners-up.

Results for Saturday, March 10: Outsiders 126 (6), Castletown Cannons 79 (0); Castletown Cannons 88 (2), Seven-Up 113 (4); Seven-Up 101 (2), Outsiders 109 (4).

There were some big questions to be answered going into Sunday, one of which, could Bits n Bobs break their losing sequence as they were sitting on played 20, lost 20, but sadly they showed up short of a player to make their task even more difficult.

Also who was finally going to win the women’s merit trophy, with the leading two – Janet Monk and Jenny Moore – going into the afternoon separated by just one point.

Lakers against Govags was first on the schedule with the westerners putting up a good fight to reach the 100 point mark and their two highest losers being the pair that played Monk and Moore – so the battle still went on.

Bits n Bobs then joined the action, but could not prevent another loss, as opponents Govags went close to their first maximum of the campaign.

The final fixture of the 2017-18 season, still had some important issues to settle, when Lakers went up against Bits n Bobs, sadly however the basement side could not manage that elusive victory.

Even though the losers took one game, it did not change the outcome of the women’s merit, after both contenders won to leave Janet as the overall winner just ahead of Jenny, who held this title for the previous three years.

Incidentally Lakers completed their campaign as runners-up and some 60 chalks ahead of Outsiders, also with an average of 171.4, which was better than last year’s winning tally.

This just went to show what a great season, champions Jacks Off have had, setting records along the way.

Results for Sunday, March 11: Mooragh Lakers 118 (5), Govags 100 (1); Govags 122 (5), Bits n Bobs 62 (1); Bits n Bobs 77 (1), Mooragh Lakers 121 (5).

A relatively small group of 28 attended the midweek round robin and the afternoon had two groups of doubles compete for honours.

The black jacks saw four pairs finish with only two points between them; Allan Kennaugh and Maureen Payne winning, ahead of Derek Cadamy and Derek Allen.

Whilst in the other gang there were three points dividing the top three, which had Alan Phair and Janet Monk at the top, with Steve Parker and Rita Callister in second.

This Saturday will see the club championship taking place, with the prize presentations and best versus the rest challenge the following Sunday, March 25.