There was a good entry of 46 who contested this year’s Dreswick Cup at Port St Mary. The competition was kindly sponsored by The Albert Hotel – Port St Mary. Good weather and a very good green led to an excellent afternoon of bowling.

In the quarter finals Derek Cadamy (Port Erin) lost 14-21 to Paul Skelly (Port St Mary), another home greener Chris Oates 8-21 to Stevie Kelly (Peel), last year’s winner Dave ‘Barney Kelly just lost 20-21 to Trevor Quayle, whilst Wayne Roberts lost 15-21 by Neil Withers (Marown).

In the first semi-final Paul Skelly played Ste Kelly, with both players playing great bowls and it was nip and tuck all the way. After 26 ends Skelly scored a double to take a 19-18 lead. Kelly hit back with a two and a single to take his place in the final. The second semi-final between Trevor Quayle and Neil Withers was also a quality game. At the halfway stage the score was 11-11. Quayle then put a good run together to win 21-15.

In the final Quayle started off the quicker taking a 11-6 lead. With excellent bowling from both players, Quayle reached the 20 mark with Kelly on 15. Kelly fought his way up to 19-20 before Quayle got the point he needed to win The Dreswick Cup for the third time, in what was a quality final.

At the presentation Wayne Roberts thanked the Port St Mary ladies for their usual excellent catering, Ray Watterson for the great condition of the green, anyone else that helped on the day, and Pat O’Meara from the Albert Hotel for their continued sponsorship.

The first Rayner Shield semi-final was played on Wednesday evening with South Ramsey A hosting Onchan A. The green was in fantastic condition and was running superbly considering the amount of rain throughout the day, with the gusting winds playing its part affecting the bowls.

First game off on the night was home captain Glynn Hargraves who was ruthless recording a 21-3 win over Mark Kelly, with Dave ‘Dido’ Kelly not far behind with his 21-6 win over Steve Parker. After just two games with a 32 chalk lead the home team became huge favourites knowing two more wins would be likely enough to secure the win on the night barring any heavy defeats. Kevin Quirk responded for the visitors with a 21-14 win over Peter Collister. The last game of the first half was a great battle between David Bradford leading 20-16 against Peter Slinger, only for Slinger to dig in to take four consecutive singles to level at 20-20 and lying one for game with a 15-inch bowl Bradford held his nerve to bowl in for game in what was an entertaining game to watch. 

In the second half Stefan Kelly put in a good performance scoring four doubles on the bounce to go from 8-6 up to 16-6 to take control, to beat Matthew Quirk 21-12. Alan Moore was next off and was the second home player on the night to get home 21-20 with Phil Kerruish 17-20 down he took three singles to level it at 20-20, only for Moore to put up a great first bowl to end the game. James Teare brought home the third 21-20 win of the night with his win over Frank Watson fighting back from a 16-20 deficit to win. With the match long over it was Chas Grills and Jordan Cain left on the green to entertain the crowd, with Grills leading 16-10 Cain dug in to run out with 11 consecutive chalks to take a 21-16 win.

The match of the season in Ellan Vannin Fuels division one took place at Crosby on Monday night between league leaders Marown A and current champions South Ramsey A. The visitors started strongly with captain Glynn Hargraves winning 21-13 over Dean Kipling after taking a 15-1 lead, Kipling dug in to claw his way back into the game. Next off was Alan Moore who had the visitors biggest win 21-12 against Phil Kelly, with Moore winning 17 ends to Kelly’s seven ends. James Teare continues to impress for the A team to make it 3-0 to the visitors with a good 21-14 win over Paul Kelly. Neil Withers took the only win in the first half for Marown with a 21-5 victory over Ian Moore to reduce the chalks difference to eight in favour of the visitors. In the second half the match was finely balanced with Colin Kelly swinging the aggregate in favour of Marown with a 21-9 win putting the home team four chalks ahead. Next off was David Bradford who claimed a hard fought 21-18 win over Paul Dunn, with Bradford taking a 9-1 and 14-6 lead which helped as Dunn found his rhythm to fight back well to get some all-important chalks on the board. Securing a fifth win on the night for South Ramsey was Stefan Kelly who held a 10-1 lead over Matthew Keggen, which he then extended to 19-9 only for Keggen to respond with three doubles on the bounce which would prove crucial in the match result. Kelly finished the game off with two singles to claim a 21-15 win. Last match on the green was between John Gelling and Peter Collister, with Collister performing well in the second half of the game to recover from a 4-15 deficit before losing out 15-21. Not many teams will go to Marown and take five games off the Crosby men yet South Ramsey did just that, however Marown had the last laugh of the night to edge the aggregate by a solitary chalk (135-134) to take the draw which kept their opponents at arm’s length.

Onchan A capitalised on the clash at Crosby to take a good 9-1 home win over Marown B to close the gap by four points on the league leaders. For Marown Peter Kelly prevented the whitewash with a 21-12 victory over Frank Watson.

In the other matches Castletown A brushed aside their B team with a 9-1 win, with Bob Clark the only winner with a 21-17 victory over Juan Kermode.

Noble’s A took a good 4-6 win away from Mooragh Park with their win over North Ramsey A with Tommy Collister merciless with his 21-0 win on the night.

South Ramsey B closed the gap on Marown B despite slipping to a 3-7 home loss to Peel A, whilst Douglas A did enough to take a 6-4 home win over Port St Mary A.

In division two Ballaugh A continued their good form with their 2-8 away win over second from bottom North Ramsey B, whilst Port Erin B took a hard fought 4-6 away win over Marown C who continue to hold their old own in a match that had five games losing to 19 and above in a finely contested match.

Port St Mary B slipped to a disastrous 3-7 home defeat to their C team with the result suggesting some of their players should be playing in different teams. Finch Hill A performed well to see off close rivals Onchan B with a 6-4 home win.

In division three runaway leaders South Ramsey C recorded a hard fought 6-4 home win over Onchan C, whilst the fight for second goes on with second placed Noble’s B winning 9-1 at home to Douglas C, Finch Hill B lie in third after their 3-7 away win against Port Erin B, whilst Ballaugh C were ruthless with their 10-0 home win over Peel D. Just four points separate second place Onchan (74) and fourth placed Ballaugh (70).

Peel hosted the Lancaster Cup men’s doubles with 27 pairs taking part.

At the end of the competition it was two new names on the trophy with the South Ramsey duo of Tony Hart and Lee Dawson winning the final against home greeners Dougie Allan & Gordon Corrin 21-13. With the score at 13-9 to Hart/Dawson they conceded a four to allow Allan and Corrin to level the score at 13-13. This kick started Hart and Dawson to respond by running out to take a deserved 21-13 win.

Losing out in the semis to the winners were the home pairing of Alan Cromwell & Tony Carroon (14-21), whilst the other semi was well contested with home greeners Brian Lindsay & Peter Greenlees losing out 18-21 to Allan and Corrin.

Losing out in the quarter finals were home pairing and competition favourites Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly and Tom Kelly, David Proctor (Peel) & Glenn Boland (Noble’s), Alan Moore (South Ramsey) & Sam Clague (Castletown) along with Derek Allen (Port Erin) & Alec Taylor (Peel).

The presentation was made by Peel competition secretary Dave Kelly, who thanked the sponsor David Lancaster, the team who ran the competition, all the club members who had helped throughout the day.

North Ramsey Bowling Club hosted the popular Ramsey Town Cup on Saturday with the competition attracting a good entry of 47, no doubt helped by the fine weather.

The winner was Peel man Tom Kelly who claimed a deserved 21-15 victory over Reginald Temporaza to claim his first open competition title. There would no doubt have been some nerves from both players with neither player having reached the final of a singles open competition previously, it was Kelly who made a good start with two doubles to take a 10-6 lead playing a short round peg, extending this further to 15-9 after switching tactics to a short mark over the middle of the green which had served him well throughout the day, before Temporaza hit back with a six point run on a round peg to level the game at 15-15. Kelly got back in on his favoured mark to run out with two singles and two doubles to claim his first open win and the £80 first prize. Kelly had performed well all day with his ability to hit strikes serving him well.

In the semis Tom Kelly had the unenviable task of overcoming his father Colin Kelly, with Tom doing just that beating Colin 21-20 to take his place in the final after fighting back from a 17-20 deficit and brilliantly saving game to beat two good bowls in the corners. Tom went on to claim two singles and a double, forcing Colin to strike on the last end but not getting the result he hoped for with the hit, whilst Temporaza was always in control in his game performing well to beat Steve Parker (Onchan) 21-11.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Stefan Kelly (South Ramsey), who lost to Tom Kelly (17-21) in a good quality game, along with fellow South Ramsey men James Teare who lost to Colin Kelly (9-21), Sid Bolton was beaten by Temporaza (18-21) and Dean Kinley (Castletown) lost to Parker (15-21).

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by competition secretary Gary Lenton who thanked everyone who had entered, along with the club members who had helped with the running of the competition. North Ramsey club president Helen Martin was then introduced to present the prizes.

Marown hosted the popular Tynwald Day R & A Grimshaw Trophy on Friday with 34 pairs taking part on a tricky green.

There were plenty of shocks in the early rounds, with some of the favourite pairings taking an early bath.

At the end of a long day it was the Onchan/South Ramsey pairing of Phil Kerruish and Glynn Hargraves, who beat the Marown duo of Matthew Keggen and Paul Kelly 21-18. The final started with neither pairing able to break away from the other, with no more than two points between the finalists until Kerruish & Hargraves trailing by one point at 13-14 took the next three ends with a three, a single and a double to leap ahead 19-14. The Marown pair fought back with two doubles in between a single to the opposition to pull the score back to 18-20 before Kerruish/Hargraves secured the one point needed to take the win and the trophy.

Losing out in the semi-finals to the winners were the young pairing of Sam Clague (Castletown) and Glenn Boland (Noble’s) who lost out 12-21. The other losing semi-finalists were Onchan pair Jordan Cain and Matthew Quirk who lost out 14-21.

Losing out in the quarter finals were home greeners Gary Cooper & Arnie Withers, Paul Dunn & Neil Withers, South Ramsey duo Stefan Kelly & James Teare, along with Peel men David Proctor and Andy Kennish.

At the conclusion of the competition the presentation was made by competition secretary Philip Kelly, who thanked everyone who had helped with the running of the competition and the Marown Ladies for the refreshments provided throughout the day. Marown President Lil Smith was then introduced to present the prizes.