News: Announcements
Isle of Man vs Derbyshire
Isle of Man County Squad 2015
The Paddy Power sponsored Isle of Man Senior Men’s county team took the greens for the final time this year and fell just short of finding their first illusive overall victory.
They took on a very strong Derbyshire team both at Castletown and away in Burton on Trent and despite losing out in both legs can draw many positives from another brilliant display at the highest level.
It was an emotional day all round for both counties as they spent the match was dedicated to the memory of both our own Lillian Slinger and Derbyshires Darren Smith, two of the finest exponents our sport at seen.
It had almost become the norm for the Manxmen to win their home leg, having done so on the last three occasions, and the performance of the visitors to stop them was a stark reminder of just how hard bowls is at the top table.
Gellings home man of the match Phil Kerruish was the only local winner in the first four and he was simply magnificent as he beat Belvedere’s ‘Matt Kelly-Walley 21-13. Paul Stretton (Belvedere) won the Endsleigh Insurance player of the leg award for his 21-12 win against Peter Collister.
There was more success in the next four blocks as the Isle of Man added two more victories with Port St Mary’s Ewan Cooil winning 21-12 against Chris Adams (Burbage) and John Kennish fighting his way back with a brilliant performance to win 21-19 over John Dewey (Belvedere).
David Bradford added his name to the winners list playing extremely well to beat Paul Hawker (Whaley Brodge) 21-15. That was in for the locals on home soil as they went down 8 games to 4 and by 30 points.
Across he water something quite remarkable was happening as the men in red in yellow put in their finest away team performance to date and at one point and unprecedented away leg victory looked on the cards, however they lost out by just four points overall.
Barney Kelly led from the front with a totally assured Captains performance to put the Isle of Man 1-0 up as he beat Dave May 21-17. Neil Withers lost out by the narrowest of margins in the next game going down 21-20 before Jordan Cain righted the ship with another inspired away county performance beating Conor Chamberlain 21-18.
The Island didn’t have to wait too long for their next win as Rob Monk was in truly sensational form to win 21-9 against Neil Worthington and pick up the Endsleigh Insurance Man of the match awards for his efforts. I can’t put into words how well he played and I am sure he made his grandma Lillian proud with his breathtaking performance.
Matthew Quirk and Peter Slinger both came close, scoring 20 and 19 respectively, before Paul Skelly picked up his first county win and the Isle of Man award for man of the match after a spirited performance to fend off the battling Mick Grattan 21-19.
Phil ‘Rambo’ Kelly is fast becoming the patriarch of the Isle of Man team and he put in another stunning display last man on to beat arguably Derbyshires best player Paul Chamerlain 21-15. To put this into perspective Chamberlain has won his other two home matches this year 21-4 and 21-6. Five wins, two 20’s and a 19 is not just competing away from home it is showing that we really can mix it with the best. I am sure it will not be too long before our stars align both at home and away to bring us the overall match victory we so desperately want to see. A massive thank you to sponsors Paddy Power, Castletown for hosting the match and anyone else who helped in any way.
June Festival
June Festival Winner 2016 - Jenny Moore
There was local success in the recent June Bowls Festival as South Ramsey’s Jenny Moore won the ladies main competition in fine style, beating former winner Julie Green (Castle Private) 21-16.
Moore was simply uncompromising on finals day and despite Green’s best effort never looked rattled, as she went one further than her previous best effort, and added her first main competition victory to her two tourism wins from previous festivals. Along with the main prize she also picks up the trophy for furthest Manx Lady in the competition.
It is hard to find the words to describe how well Jenny played and she was simply magnificent with every bowl she sent on Friday, and in my opinion would have gone close, or even won the men’s competition.
Take nothing away from Green though, she too played her part in a wonderful final and also played tremendously well all day, and without question the two best players from the whole week contested the final.
In the semi-finals Moore extinguished the challenge of visitor Lorrain Hirst (Linthwaite Hall) 21-11, whilst Green was equally as impressive defeating Dawn Benn (Penwortham Sports) at the same stage.
Losing out in the quarter finals was another South Ramsey player Lyn Bolton who also had a great week before going down 21-14 to Green.
The local men didn’t fair as well as the ladies on this occasion with no players making it further than the last 64 of the competition for the first time in my memory. The one bright note was the ever improving Bernard Thackrah (Port Erin) who picked up the George Craine trophy for furthest local in the competition.
Visitor Kez Smith (Crossgates) held his nerve in a scintillating final to fend off the challenge of Callum Wraight (Kings Heath Park) and win 21-18.
Wraight will be heartbroken to come so close after laying two to go 20-19 up, before Kez bowled in, but on reflection he should be pleased with how he played as there was not a lot more he could have done. Smith was just too good on the day and adapted to wherever he played.
His temperament in the final was flawless and he never once looked like he wasn’t in total control of the match despite the tight score line. My hat goes off to him as he adds another victory to the Crossgates stable, and with so many talented players it can only be a matter of time before they add another.
John Bailey (Llanwurst BC) won the men’s Tourism Competition with a very impressive 21-13 victory over Danny Parkinson (Rishton). Bailey is a course and distance man and his win comes as no surprise however Parkinson is a new name to me and with the way he played I think he could definitely be one to watch in future festivals. Marown’s Colin Kelly made it to the last eight narrowly losing out to Matt Gilmore (Wirral) 21-17.
Thursday was also a red letter day for the Island ladies as former Onchan resident Rachel Quirk, now representing Crossgates from Yorkshire, was superb in winning the ladies tourism competition with a 21-18 victory over Maureen Lyons (Pensby). She was by far the best player on Thursday morning and thoroughly deserves her victory. Jenny Moore was the only other local in the last eight losing out 21-15 to Angela Atherton (Ulverston Cons) in the quarter finals.
In the consolation competitions Barry Simm (Lunne Road) took top honours with a 21 17 win over Jimmy Hynes (Spring Bank BC) whilst Caroline Hall (Cleveleys) won the ladies competition beating local Joyce Ogden (Nobles Park) 21 14.
Stuart Gall (Rishton) won the Last chance mixed competition defeating Michael Coupe (Houghton) 21-18 after a very closely contested final. In the Visit.com Flyer Brian Coleman (Zetland) beat teammate Steve McManus (Zetland) 9 3 in the final.
As always the doubles competitions proved popular with locals and visitors alike and the highlight of these was the open doubles where players can pick their own partners. Andy Spragg (Calow BC) & Callum Wraight were victorious defeating Lee Evans (Barr Lane) & Lee Bleakley (Tottington Cons) 11-9 in the final.
Thanks go to the Department of Economic Development for their support and funding of the festival is without them it quite simply wouldn’t happen. I would also like the thank David Cretney (MLC) for presenting the prizes.
Highest praise of all can only be reserves for Steve Moore and his team who do a remarkable job in putting on and running what is arguably the best event on the bowls calendar. They are a credit to the Island and if they continue to learn and improve things the way they are doing the festival can only go from strength to strength and numbers will undoubtedly increase.
So that’s it, another festival over, and whilst there were some magnificent performances this time around the week belongs to Kez Smith and Jenny Moore as they are the current King and Queen of Crown.
June Festival Blog
Lilian Slinger
Lillian Slinger
It is with great sadness that my family wish to announce the death of our beloved mum, Lilian Slinger.
She will be remembered always for being the most loving mum, grandma and great grandma who had a tremendous generosity of heart and zest for life.
Among the many friends she had in her bowling career the word “legend” has been mentioned many times and some of her major achievements are recorded below.
1994 winner Spring festival Pontins
1995 winner Yorkshire Bank “Golden lady”
1996 winner Spring festival Pontins
1996 winner Illumination Classic Pontins
1999 winner Ladies Fleetwood festival
2000 winner Illumination classic Pontins
2000 winner Isle of Man ladies Manx Championship
2001 winner Isle of Man June Festival
2012 winner Isle of Man ladies Manx Championship (at the age of 78)
1996 runner up Ladies Talbot
1996 runner up Yorkshire Bank Golden Lady
1998 runner up BCGBA Individual Merit “All England”
2010 runner up Isle of Man September Festival
2003 winner BCGLBA Dorothy Piearce pairs with Janet Monk
In addition she qualified to play in the Bass Masters in 1996 at the Raikes Hotel Blackpool.
She represented her county North Lancs and Fylde for a few years before moving to the Isle of Man in 1999 to be with her family. She then went on to represent the Isle of Man at county level.
Since 2003 she had been a loyal member of North Ramsey bowling club, holding position of captain for the over 60’s ladies team for many years.
She was still bowling up to last September having got to the last 16 of the IOM bowls festival knocking out one of the favourites, only then going out against the eventual winner.
She found out in November that she had incurable cancer and faced this knowledge with tremendous bravery and courage. She always remained positive throughout and retained her unique sense of humour.
She truly was a remarkable woman, a great champion, but above all totally devoted to her family.
Post received from Janet Monk
Isle of Man vs Derbyshire Teams Announced
Isle of Man County Squad 2015
The final match for the Isle of Man County Team against Derbyshire will take place Sunday 3rd July
The home leg will take place at Castletown whilst the away leg at Belvedere Bowling Club
Home Team (Venue: Castletown Bowling Club)
| Name | Club | # | Name | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trevor Quayle | Port St Mary | 1 | Jon Guess | Burbage |
| Dean Kipling | Marown | 2 | Richard Peach | Burbage |
| Phil Kerruish | Onchan | 3 | Matt Kelly-Wally | Belvedere |
| Peter Collister | South Ramsey | 4 | Paul Stretton | Belvedere |
| Dave ‘Dido’ Kelly | South Ramsey | 5 | Lee Davis | Old Whittington |
| Ewan Cooil | Port St Mary | 6 | Chris Adams | Burbage |
| Kevin Quirk | Onchan | 7 | Scott Palmer | Dronfield Woodhouse |
| John Kennish | South Ramsey | 8 | John Dewey | Belvedere |
| David Bradford | South Ramsey | 9 | Paul Hawker | Whaley Bridge |
| Aaron Clark | Douglas | 10 | Steve Barber | Chaple Park |
| Paul Dunn | Marown | 11 | Ed Furniss | Rowditch |
| Glynn Hargraves | South Ramsey | 12 | Andy Spragg | Old Whittington |
Away Team (Venue: Belvedere Bowling Club)
| Name | Club | # | Name | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly | Douglas | 1 | Dave May | Stretton Anglesey |
| Neil Withers | Marown | 2 | Dan Petcher | Netherseal |
| Jordan Cain | Onchan | 3 | Conor Chamberlin | Stretton Anglesey |
| Matthew Keggen | Onchan | 4 | Darren Carter | Stretton Anglesey |
| Rob Monk | North Ramsey | 5 | Neil Worthington | Stretton Anglesey |
| Matthew Quirk | Onchan | 6 | Jason Angusish | Stretton Anglesey |
| John Gelling | Marown | 7 | Adam Hartley | Alvaston & Boulton |
| Colin Kelly | Marown | 8 | Brian Smith | Stretton Anglesey |
| Peter Slinger | Onchan | 9 | Andy Thompson | Swadlincote Catholics |
| Paul Skelly | Port St Mary | 10 | Mick Grattan | Marehay |
| Paul Kelly | Douglas | 11 | Ian Brown | Stretton Anglesey |
| Phil Kelly | Marown | 12 | Paul Chamberlin | Stretton Anglesey |
IOM vs North Lancs & Fylde Report
Isle of Man County Home Team vs North Lancs & Flyde 2016
The Paddy Power sponsored Isle of Man senior men’s team faced off against and extremely strong North Lancs & Fylde team on Mad Sunday and won the home leg at Port St Mary, however they lost out overall.
This is becoming a familiar story for the Manx Men as this is their third consecutive home victory, however they are yet to pick up an overall win.
With the team taking part in the competition for only the second year we should be delighted with these performances as the team really is taking on the best that the sport has to offer, however it is testament to how far we have come that this result is still tinged with a bit of disappointed as we had hoped for more.
They are really flying the flag for the Isle of Man proudly and there was nothing but praise from their counterparts from across the water who could only applaud everything about the local effort from the hospitality shown by Port St Mary, the organisation on the day right through to some brilliant performance both home and away.
The Port St Mary green is an absolute testament to the club and thanks go to the green keepers for the preparation of it. It was quite simply frightening! This was by far the fastest green that the Island team has used to date in the Crosfield Cup, and overall the home side handled it well with five out of twelve winners, but taking the leg victory on points.
There were some real positives to take out of the day and first county wins for Matthew Keggen and Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly were definitely amongst them. The former picked up the Gellings man of the match award for an Isle of Man player as a result of his battling 21-17 win over Tommy King.
Colin Kelly, Peter Collister and John Kennish all showed their class and put in superb displays to add to the Islands tally of wins and ensure the points victory.
Visitor Sam Patterson picked up the Endsleigh Man of the Match award for his 21-15 win over David Bradford.
Take nothing away though from those that didn’t win, we place too much emphasis on winning individual games when the code in the Crosfield cup is all about points, and every point scored by every player went towards this win. To put in in its simplest terms if the losing players had all scored one less point we would have lost the match. This was a real team effort.
Away from home was a slightly different story and there were real lessons learned about both the class of the opposition and the importance of a strong home side on a difficult green. This is a learning curve though and every day is a school day and the team will be much stronger after this match.
Two real highlights though were the performances of Jordan Cain and Trevor Quayle. Cain picked up the overall Endsleigh Man of the Match award for his superb 21-16 win over North Lancs Captain Dave Watters, whilst Quayle was magnificent winning the Gellings award for his 21-13 win over the incomparable Mike Leach.
There were other good performances too and despite falling short of the overall win the Manx Men can be very proud of what they are achieving in this competition.
If they take heart from anything it should be Cumbria’s victory this weekend over reigning champions Warwick and Worcester. Not long ago Cumbria were considered an easy match and questionably the weakest team in the competition and yesterday they beat unquestionably the strongest county in the sport. Our day will come.
R H Green Fours
R H Green Fours Winners 2016
Bob Clark & Jordan CainSaturday saw the welcome return of the above competition, kindly sponsored by Newsbeat, and a quality field of 16 pairs took to the green in what turned out to be better than expected weather conditions.
A number of Island players were entered and made quick work of their first round matches, particularly the pairings of Dave Bradford and Glynn Hargraves, and Bob Clark and Jordan Cain who both won 21-5. In the other first round matches, last minute entrants Peter Hughes and Peter Partington were unlucky to lose 20-21 to Ian Kissack and Mike Hargraves; similarly Grahem Moore and Les Warburton lost 21-19 to Neil Withers and Paul Dunn who struggled to get over the line as they took 4 ends to get the final point.
In the quarter finals, Dave Bradford and Glynn Hargraves took on Neil Withers and Paul Dunn in what was expected to be a close match. In the early stages this was the case but from the sixth end it was Withers and Dunn who found their length and with the help of 2 and 3 point ends they quickly raced to a 21-10 victory. Arthur Halsall and Tony Epifani came good against Kevin Mort and John Lightfoot with a 21-15 win and a similar scoreline took Bob Clark and Jordan Cain past Ian Kissack and Mike Hargraves. The last quarter final match between Derek Allen and Dave McCabe, and James Teare and Alan Moore was much closer with the scores level at 16 each after 14 ends but it was Teare and Moore who made the better finish to win 21-18.
The semi finals saw Arthur Halsall and Tony Epifani on home ground get off to a good start but they couldn’t match the 2 and 3 pointers thrown at them by Neil Withers and Paul Dunn who eventually romped home 21-9. The second semi final was similar as James Teare and Alan Moore won the first four ends to lead 11-5 against Bob Clark and Jordan Cain but once again it was the 2 and 3 point ends that helped Clark and Cain win 21-17.
On the basis of their earlier performances the final was eagerly awaited but it took Neil Withers and Paul Dunn 6 ends to get off the mark and with Bob Clark and Jordan Cain playing some exquisite bowls and scoring a 3 and a couple of 4’s the match was all over in 10 ends with Cain and Jordan running out worthy winners by 21 points to 8.
The prize presentation was made by Peter Partington, Chairman of Finch Hill Bowling Club and Ken Kinrade, Competition Secretary with the losing semi finalists receiving £20 Newsbeat vouchers, the losing finalists £50 Newsbeat vouchers and the winners £100 Newsbeat vouchers and the R H Green Cup.
Special thanks go to our generous sponsors Newsbeat, to Merve Sayle for preparation of the green and to Lyn Kinrade and Hazel Hughes who kept everyone fed and watered throughout the afternoon and to all those who helped make this a very successful competition.
June Festival Draws Released
The festival team have released the Main draw for the Mens and Ladies competition. They are available to download/view with below links.
Live: IOM vs North Lancs & Fylde Scorecards/Blog
