The BCGBA Senior Individual Merit was held at Hawcoat Park Sports Club in Barrow-in-Furness on Saturday with the two qualifiers from the Isle of Man taking part in proceedings. A whole day of wet weather did put a dampener on the day.

Manx Champion David Bradford was on in the first set of games against Andy Fergus from Greater Manchester, with Bradford leading 16-5, his opponent then found his length to ultimately runout with a 21-19 victory.

Peel favourite Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly was drawn against Gareth Hughes from Wales, with Barney always being behind in the game he battled back to 18-19 only for Hughes to score the two chalks needed to progress.

The final had 2019 runner up Gary Owen (Potteries and District) up against previous winner Callum Wraight (Shropshire) with the latter storming into a 10-0 lead, who then went 20-4 up. Owen managed to get a run of ends together only to lose out 21-9 for Wraight to pick up his second win in this competition following his win on Merseyside in 2009.

It was another busy week of bowls in the Canada Life International bowling leagues, with a double week.

In Division One League leaders South Ramsey A started their week at Breagle Glen as they took on Port St Mary A with the visitors picking up a 3-7 win. Winning for Port St Mary were Trevor Quayle who beat Stefan Kelly 21-9, Paul Skelly beat Dido Kelly 21-11, whilst Robbie Cooil beat South Ramsey captain Glynn Hargraves 21-17.

On Wednesday South Ramsey A fared much better as they beat Onchan B 9-1 at home on a tricky green, with the home team handling it extremely well as they won four games to single figures, with David Bradford winning 21-1, whilst Bob Clark, Dido Kelly and Glynn Hargraves all won 21-2.

Marown A started their week off matching the leaders result as they came away from the Crofts with a 3-7 win over Castletown A. Winning for the Town men were Ron Williams who beat Peter Jones 21-13, Chris Lever won 21-16 against Paul Kelly and Mark Moorley won 21-20 against Harry Barton. Marown did manage to prevent the result from being any more damaging as Neil Withers beat George Foy 21-20.

On Wednesday evening Marown A recorded an 8-2 home win over North Ramsey A, as they lost one point this week to South Ramsey A. Three single figure wins from the home team came from Paul Dunn, Paul Kelly and Neil Withers. Winning for the visitors were Paul Allison who beat Sam Clague 21-19, whilst Rob Monk heavily defeated Harry Barton 21-7.

Douglas A slipped to two defeats as they were well beaten 1-9 at home to Onchan A, ended their week with a 3-7 away defeat to Castletown A.

Peel B started the week well with a 10-0 home win over Port Erin A, but ended it with a heavy 9-1 away defeat to Onchan A.

Marown B slipped to a rare home defeat as they lost 3-7 to Peel A at Crosby, bounced back to win 2-8 away to Port Erin A. The Breagle Glen men are in danger of being cut adrift as they currently sit 18 points from safety, which is a lot to make up with just six fixtures left to play.

Pacesetters South Ramsey B had a good week in Division Two as they recorded the biggest win in the second division, beating Noble’s A 9-1 at home. Four single figure wins from the home team proved their dominance, with Martyn Hobson being the lone winner as he had a comfortable 21-15 win over Austin Hart.

On Thursday night South Ramsey B were away to Port St Mary B, they matched Monday’s win to stretch their lead at the top to 11 points.

Second placed Marown C had a slender one-point lead over Ballaugh A prior to their league fixture, with the Crosby men coming away with a solid 2-8 win to extend their lead to seven points and consolidate second place. The two wins for Ballaugh could have gone the other way as Richard Hainge beat work colleague Jamie Joughin 21-17 to ensure he had office bragging rights, whilst John Keenan reminded his opponent he is still tough to shift on his own green as he beat John Kelly 21-18. The visitors had three close wins from Kevin Kelly, Stuart Clague and Walter McCarthy. Ballaugh’s hope of promotion appear to be fading away.

On Thursday night Marown C hosted Finch Hill A with the home team suffering an upset as they lost out 4-6, with the chalks going in favour of the visitors (147-148).

At the bottom of the table it is looking like a three-way fight between Onchan C on 51 points, Port St Mary B and Ballaugh B with both teams on 48 points.

In Division Three North Ramsey B could only come away from Crosby with a hard fought 4-6 win over Marown B, which allowed Noble’s B the opportunity to close the gap as they won 8-2 at home to Port Erin B on Tuesday evening.

On Thursday evening Noble’s B took their turn to sit the fixtures out as North Ramsey B hoped to capitalise on this with a home fixture with Douglas C. The Mooragh Park men didn’t disappoint as they won 9-1 to sit top by 13 points.

In third place Marown D headed north to take on South Ramsey D, as they looked to make up ground on second place Noble’s B, the visitors came away with a 3-7 victory, with Sam Colquitt winning the battle of the Juniors with a 21-13 win over Ryan Hargraves.

Peel Sunset Bowling club hosted the popular Peel Town Cup on Saturday afternoon, attracting a perfect entry of 46 men, with Ballaugh being the venue of choice in a bid to attract a healthy entry. The green was in good condition with the rain falling in the early stages of the competition, the weather improved as the day went on to end in sunshine. With handicaps ranging from +3 to +9, once again it made for an interesting day with some shock results. There were a number of high profile casualties early on with some excellent ties, as the handicaps did the trick with plenty of high scoring games throughout the competition.

Losing out at the quarter-final stage were Peel man Dougie Allan (Peel) who lost out to Steven Waters (South Ramsey) 19-21, Walter McCarthy (Marown) was beaten 18-21 by Philip ‘Pip’ Pemberton (Peel). Marown man Colin Kelly had his hopes of victory dashed by Bob Clark (South Ramsey) with the latter winning 21-14, whilst Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) won 21-15 against Derek Allen (Port Erin).

Both semi-finals were well contested with Waters (+6) just losing out to Pemberton (+7) 19-21, as the latter reached the final, whilst the two South Ramsey teammates faced off in the other semi-final with Hargraves (+3) getting the better of Clark (+3) this time out as he won 21-17.

The final got underway with Hargraves having enjoyed previous success in this competition in 2015, whilst Pip was making his first appearance in a final of a singles open. Pemberton made the stronger start building on the four chalk start on the card, playing a round peg to extend his lead to six chalks after eight ends with the score 13-7 to the Peel man. Hargraves responded to take five consecutive ends on a short round peg to edge ahead 14-13. A great last bowl on the following end from Pip when lying two down sent him on another mini-run as he won four of the next five ends to lead 18-15.

A change of tactics saw the South Ramsey captain opt for a longer length, with this appearing to work as Hargraves went 19-18 ahead and was counting two for game only for Pip to bowl in to level the game up at 19-19. A good lead on the following end wasn’t beaten, with Pip missing the opportunity to count for two to pile on the pressure. At 20-19 a loose end from both players resulted in Hargraves somewhat fortuitously scoring a single to level the game at 20-20. On the deciding end Hargraves composed himself picking a mark from the gate to the glass shelter approximately two thirds the length of the green and put up a good lead bowl 15 inches to the side of the jack. Pip left his first bowl just over two foot short, with Hargraves improving on his first bowl to play a side toucher, leaving Pip no other option other than to attempt to kill the end or trail the jack, however he got slightly low on the line as Hargraves claimed a 21-20 victory and with it his second win in this competition.

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by competition secretary Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly, who thanked the sponsors IOM Seafoods for their continued support, and Assistant Tournament Director nine year old Arran Dunn for his efforts throughout the day. Club President Lenny Kerruish was then introduced to present the prizes, he thanked Ballaugh for hosting the competition, their Ladies for catering, the greenkeeper for preparing the green and anyone else who had helped on the day.

The Dreswick Cup was held for the first time at Breagle Glen with an entry of 35 who took part on a tricky green with a good afternoon of bowling. The competition was once again sponsored by The Albert Hotel – Port St Mary.

In the quarter finals the current holder Bob Clark (South Ramsey) got the better of his captain Glynn Hargraves with a 21-14 win, whilst home favourite Trevor Quayle (Port St Mary), ended the challenge of Neil Dunwell with a 21-16 victory. Manx Champion David Bradford put paid to the hopes of Seamus Whelan (Port Erin) with a 21-10 win, whilst another South Ramsey man went on to reach the semi-final with Peter Collister seeing off Wayne Roberts 21-14.

In the first semi-final Clark got the better of Quayle in a keenly contested game with the South Ramsey man getting home 21-18 win to take his place in the final, while in the other semi-final Bradford put paid to Collisters’ hopes of a third win in this competition as the latter lost out 21-15.

In the final Bradford made the better start as he leapt into a 10-6 lead, however Clark clawed his way back into the game, with Bradford enjoying considerable success with his strikes being the main difference early on in the game with the score at 13-12. Bradford then settled on a mark over the middle of the green from the Café to the glass shelter and back as he scored eight consecutive chalks to run out with a 21-12 victory and seal his second win in this competition, with the last title picked up in 2005.

At the presentation Club President Margaret Tasker thanked the Port St Mary ladies for providing the refreshments, Wayne Roberts for running the competition, along with anyone else that helped on the day. Long standing sponsor of the competition Pat O’Meara from the Albert Hotel was then introduced to present the prizes.

In the Canada Life International Sponsored Division One this week South Ramsey A hosted Marown B on a tricky green. Whilst the home team won 7-3 on the night, they will have been hoping for a bigger home win to keep the chasing pack at arm’s length. For the home team captain Glynn Hargraves was the best winner with a 21-9 victory over Karl Parker, with the four wins for the home team being to 10, 11, 12 and 13 proving these were comfortable. For the Crosby men John Gelling got the first of their three wins, with a solid performance over Bob Clark as he won 21-16, with Jerome Surridge securing the best win of the night with a 21-8 win over Jordan Cain, whilst Glenn Boland had enough in the locker to edge out Stefan Kelly 21-20. Marown B are proving to be a formidable outfit; they are in my eyes the best B Team that I have come up against in my 30 years of bowls.

Marown A snatched the opportunity to claw some points back on South Ramsey A as they seen off Onchan B 9-1 at Crosby. Colin Kelly was their best winner as he beat Mark Kelly 21-3, with Harry Barton also winning to single figures as he beat Mike Alexander 21-9. The lone winner for Onchan was Jamie Clague with a resounding 21-13 win over Phil Kelly, whilst Steve Parker just lost out 19-21 to Sam Clague.

Douglas A performed well on their travels this week as they beat Port Erin A 2-8 at Breagle Glen. Captain Merv Sayle was their best winner with a 21-11 victory over Seamus Whelan, with Gordon Wynne- Smythe managing to hold off David Cain 21-19. ‘Deadly’ Derek Allen lived up to his name as he won 21-5 against Alistair Lothian for the home team.

Onchan A will feel they slipped up at home to Castletown A as they only won 6-4 on the night. Peter Slinger and Matthew Quirk both won 21-9 against Ian Watson and Mark Moorley respectively. For the visitors four points would have been a bonus on the night as Nathan Cooil won 21-13 against Will Penhallurick, a result matched by Derek Lewney who rolled back the years with his win over Phil Kerruish. Their other two wins were hard fought with George Foy beating Neil Dunwell 21-18, whilst Peter Oates won 21-19 against Mike Thomas.

Peel A took on Peel B, with the higher ranked team winning 7-3. The three winners for the B team were Robert Middleton who beat Tom Kelly 21-11, Andy Mackie won 21-14 against Dean Kelly, with Dougie Allan getting the third win as he beat George Gadsby 21-19. Brian Lindsay just missed out on gaining an extra point for his team as he lost 20-21 to Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly.

North Ramsey A couldn’t make home advantage count as they lost 4-6 at Mooragh Park to Port St Mary A, with the aggregate going in favour of the visitors by seven chalks (131-138). Paul Skelly and Wayne Roberts both won 21-9, with Trevor Quayle having to battle all the way for his 21-19 win over Steve Walmsley. The home team did get some big wins, with Paul Allison winning 21-8 against Nathan Hamilton, Rob Monk beat Jordan Drewett 21-9. Allan Callow and Gary Merrill both had to dig in to pick up their wins.

In Division Two South Ramsey B still head the table, however the teams below them continue to close the gap, following their 4-6 away win over Peel C. Edward Carlyle was the best winner on the night with a 21-5 win over Bob Berry, with Steven Waters seeing off Harry Kelly with relative ease thanks to a 21-9 win. All four losses for the visitors could have gone the other way with Austin Hart and Tony Dugdale both losing out 18-21 to Jeff Wilson and Jimmy Corlett respectively, with Chas Grills losing out 19-21 to Tony Carroon, as did Alan Moore to Phil Clarke.

Marown C now occupy second place thanks to their 9-1 home win over Onchan C. Kevin Kelly, Walter McCarthy and captain Stephen Rundle led the way for the Crosby men with single figure wins. For Onchan Roger Payne made sure it wasn’t a whitewash with his 21-12 victory over Stephen Storey.

Ballaugh A will have been pleased to come away from the Villa with a 2-8 win over Douglas B. John Maddrell was their best winner as he beat Les Quayle 21-7, whilst John Keenan got over the line 21-20 against Keith Fearnley. For the home team Mark Kneen won 21-8 against Barry McDonald.

Noble’s A look to be consolidating their place in Division Two as they beat Port St Mary B 8-2 at home. All wins for the home team were in double figures, with a 21-17 victory for Martyn Hobson over Ray Maddrell and Mark Quinns’ 21-19 win over Rod Swift proving less comfortable. For the Port men Bernard Thackrah was their best winner as he beat John Andrew 21-10, whilst Peter Collins won 21-18 against Dave Naughton.

Castletown B are 10 points off third placed Ballaugh A, following their 8-2 home win over Finch Hill A. John Matheson won 21-8 against Paddy Murphy, with Collin Holland performing well to beat Dave McCabe 21-14. For Finch Tony Epifani brushed aside Dave Faragher with a 21-6 win.

North Ramsey B gave a glimmer of hope to second placed Noble’s B in Division Three, after they could only muster a 6-4 home win over Finch Hill B. Stephen Oates was the surprise package of the night as he beat Ray Skelly 21-8. Two single figure wins from Mike Skelly and Andrew Honour ensured the aggregate went in favour of the home team.

Noble’s B capitalised on the points dropped by North Ramsey B as they swept aside Douglas D 0-10 on a tricky Villa green. Michael Johnson beat Clark Kelly 21-4, whilst Young Player of the month Alex Hampson continued his good form as he beat bob Banning 21-19. Greg Brew was the closest to picking up a win for Douglas, only to lose out 20-21 to Phil Salmon.

Marown D certainly can’t be written off just yet as they sit in third place, nine points behind Noble’s B after a 3-7 away win over Ballaugh C. Winning big for the visitors were Keith Watterson and Rob Bell, while Steve Cain and captain Steve Rough had to work hard to secure their wins. For the home team Paul Cubbon was the best winner as he beat Richard Bregazzi 21-7.

Port Erin B managed to field a full team this week as they beat Peel D 8-2 at home, with Trevor Barker the only single figure winner on the night as he beat George Gosden 21-9. For Peel Kevin Murray won 21-16 against Alan Crebbin, whilst Andy Jackson beat Robert Woodford 21-13.

South Ramsey D won 8-2 at home to Castletown C, with the battle of the juniors going in favour of the more experienced Ryan Hargraves as he beat Sam Quayle, with the latter getting off to a great start as he performed admirably only to lose out 21-17. Four single figures victories for the home team demonstrated their dominance on the night. For the Town men Thomas Keggen won 21-20 against James Moore, whilst David Quayle won 21-13 against Jay Moore.

In Bingo parlance ‘Kelly’s Eye’ is number one and that was certainly the case at Ballaugh in the Men’s Over 60’s Championship as Dave (Barney) Kelly stormed to a third successive Championship win.

With the Ballaugh Green looking extremely good on Tuesday the last eight in the Competition saw Alec Taylor (Peel) beat Mike Alexander (Onchan) 21-16,while Bryan Corner (South Ramsey) beat his clubmate Lee Dawson 21-10. An epic battle between Steve Parker (Onchan) and Dave McCabe (Finch Hill) ended in a 21-19 win for the latter player. This left the much talked about match between Kevin Quirk (Onchan) and Dave Kelly (Peel) with both playing some great bowls but eventually the Peel man was just too strong as he took a 21-11 win.

In the semi-finals we saw an intriguing battle between Bryan Corner and Alec Taylor with Bryan doing well on longer marks and Alec preferring the shorter ones. This match ended with Alec keeping his calm under pressure to win 21-19.

The other semi-final saw Dave McCabe valiantly attempting to ‘split the green’ and prevent his opponent getting into the corners but Barney was able to take control and win 21-11.

The Final between Peel Sunset clubmates Dave Kelly and Alec Taylor saw Dave put on a master class in bowling to take a 21-3 win despite Alec playing some great bowls.

The Presentation was introduced by Over 60’s Bowling Chairman Norman Kneen who thanked Ballaugh for being wonderful hosts of the Competition and he thanked Ballaugh members for measuring and their Ladies for the wonderful catering provided. He also thanked Andy Kennish and John Ryder for their help and Competition Secretary Mark Kelly for his hard work. The trophies were then presented by Mark Kelly and on receiving his trophy Dave Kelly also thanked Ballaugh for their hospitality and great condition of the Green.

Over 60’s Manx Championship Preview
The final stages of this years’ Over 60’s Manx Championship will be played to a conclusion at Ballaugh Bowling Club on Tuesday afternoon with action getting underway from 1pm. BCGBA dress code applies. Get yourself there for what promises to be a good afternoon of bowls. Think I will be taking a half day to watch things unfold.

Alec Taylor vs Mike Alexander

Alec was a good footballer in his younger days, who like his opponent has been on the bowls scene for quite some time now with Mike plying his trade in Division One in the night league for Onchan B, whilst Alec turns out for Peel C in Division Two having previously been an Onchan man.

In terms of head to head between this pair it is 2-1 to Alec, however Mike just pips it on chalks scored over the three games played. In terms of ranking position Mike edges it overall, is currently six places above his opponent in the Over 60’s merit.

Alec just can’t seem to let go of his football days, as he is often spotted kicking bowls that are half way across the green with the shout of ‘feet’ either encouraging him to give the bowl a good old welly or dummy the bowl completely and carry on walking as though nothing has happened.

Mike is a gentle giant behind closed doors with a passion unknown to many – that he holds the biggest collection of Care Bears on the Island, with his favourite being Grumpy Bear after a heavy defeat, with Good Luck Bear often not spoken to after a bad day on the green.

Bryan Corner vs Lee Dawson

Bryan is as keen as they come as he took up the game just five years ago having risen to 38th place in the Men’s rankings, he made the decision to cross over the Bridge from North Ramsey to South Ramsey a few years ago. Bryan loves nothing more than joining the ‘boys’ in Alan’s Café for a cup of tea in the morning as they put the world to rights with bowls being the hot topic of the day. His day will often consist of playing Over 60’s bowls, night league bowls, with lots of green time in between. It is very rare that I am up Ramsey and Bryan is not up having a roll. You can almost set your clock by him!

Bryan has an unknown number of vehicles, as I am sure he has a vehicle for every day of the week, instead of underpants of the day Bryan prefers a car of the day.

His opponent Lee or ‘Dawsy’ to most is a fellow club mate who has been around the block more than once, having started at Ballaugh, played for Peel for a good few years and more recently with South Ramsey C he appears to have got his mojo back having missed out on bowls for a good number of years due to family and work commitments. Dawsy has on the quiet won an open competition and was the ‘Collie slayer’ in qualifying, seeing off his much fancied club mate to reach finals day.

Dawsy for his sins is a die-hard Everton fan, has somewhat controversially decided to sport the official South Ramsey blue club shirt for Finals day rather than the hideous lime green shirt that his fellow C Team mates can still be seen in from Ramsey, when on the top of Snaefell in dense fog with a visibility range of two metres.

Steve Parker vs Dave McCabe

This is an interesting encounter with just four places separating these two in the Men’s rankings, with ‘Hooky’ Parker being the lower ranked of the two but interestingly with a 100%-win record over McCabe, with the pair having faced off three times. Both have been close in opens with McCabe losing out in the final of the Ken Williamson in 2019 and Parker reaching the final of the Over 60’s Manx Championship in 2018.

Steve can often be seen meditating around a bowling green in an attempt to keep his cool. Failing that Hooky will be creating a cloud of smoke, giving off a somewhat earthy smell as he frantically puffs on his shisha pipe throughout the day.

McCabe on the other hand will often be giving out dodgy tips to fellow bowlers on the horses ahead of a big race. I was struggling to put something in for Dave, but after a quick phone call we ironed things out with Dave giving me free rein to put whatever I wanted about him, however after hearing a story that went like this, I thought better of it… Dave was recently playing bowls at Fleetwood and there were a group of blokes sat behind Gill, who unknown to them was with Dave saying ‘That’s Dave McCabe from the Isle of Man, he’s not a bad player him’ as they went on to say ‘if he doesn’t beat you on the green, he will beat you off the green’. Gill held off asking Dave if he knew these guys at the time and only told Dave what had been said once they were well clear of the green. Given I actually like the ability to walk I will refrain on this one!

Kevin Quirk vs Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly

Never heard of these two before, but both have the potential to make good bowlers if they stick at the game. They are both new to the Over 60’s scene.

Joking aside this is a match-up between two of the games most successful players on the Isle of Man, with Barney’s success stretching back to the 1980’s, with five decades of winning pretty much everything there is to win in the game. Barney is the current holder of this title being undefeated in the Over 60’s Manx Championship to date, winning the title back to back in 2020 and 2021.

Kevin’s success has spanned four decades, no mean feat in itself, with two Manx Championships under his belt, one of which was won at Ronairco against Barney in the final in 2005. On his day Quirk is still one of the best perfect length bowlers on the Island, with the ability to pull out what can only be referred to as a ‘Kevin Quirk bowl’ – which to those who don’t know is to play the perfect bowl to beat what most would deem to be an unbeatable bowl.

Quirk or ‘Mad Dog’ as he is often referred to by his team mates is the ‘new born’ of the Over 60’s so to speak. This is Kevin’s first ‘bite’ at the Over 60’s Championship and he will be hoping that he does not bite off more than he can chew on Tuesday afternoon. Kevin has suddenly found himself with a lot more time on his hands having recently retired from the Post Office, so no doubt Rosemary has a list of things for Kevin to be getting on with at home. Speaking of the Post I am only mentioning this so you know who to blame if your Post is either turning up earlier or later than ever.

If Kevin is the new born then this would make Barney the toddler, which is a fitting description given his stature, even with his infamous Air Force 1’s being sported at greens all over the Island, they are now well travelled with trips abroad becoming a more common occurrence. I gave Barney a lot of stick in the last preview, so won’t go over old ground on this occasion.

Undoubtedly this is the tie of the round, with Kevin edging the head to head 2-1 in team competitions, although they will certainly have played each other a lot more in open competitions over the years, with the Manx Championship semi-final at Onchan in 2020 standing out, which Barney managed to get through 21-17. Whoever comes through this tie will certainly fancy their chances of going on to win the trophy.