Peel Bowling Club hosted the Lancaster Cup men’s doubles on a fine Sunday afternoon, on a green that is improving year on year as 25 pairs entered the competition.

Falling at the quarter final stages were Castletown pair Kieran Krypner and Nathan Hamilton who lost out 9-21 to Andy Clark (Castletown) and Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey), whilst an all Marown clash was won by Neil Withers and Paul Dunn 21-12 against Colin Kelly and Juan Killip.

Also progressing were South Ramsey’s John Kennish and David Bradford as they beat Marown pair Matthew Keggen and Paul Kelly 21-15, with an all-Peel contest being won by Stevie Kelly and his father Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly to the same score against Dougie Allan and Gordon Corrin.

The semi-finals were straightforward for both pairs that went into the final as Withers and Dunn beat Clark and Hargraves 21-11, whilst Kennish and Bradford put paid to the challenge of the Kelly’s to the same score.

The final got underway as Withers and Dunn won the first four ends to lead 9-3. Kennish and Bradford worked their way back into the game to level up the game at 10-10, with 10 ends played. Despite the Marown pair going a few points ahead at 14-11 the game was nip and tuck, with the South Ramey men taking their own three-point lead at 17-14. From there Withers and Dunn dug deep to turn the game around as they scored three doubles over five ends with their opponents being kept to two singles. A single on end 22 was enough to secure a 21-19 victory and secure the title for a third consecutive time.

The presentation was made by Peel Bowling Club Chairman Dougie Allan, who thanked the sponsor David Lancaster Limited for their continued support, the team who have worked on the green to improve the surface, those who helped run the competition and all the club members who had helped throughout the day.

Week three of fixtures took place in Canada Life International Sponsored Division One on another blustery evening, with Peel A coming away from Crosby with a 3-7 victory over Marown B. Winning close games for the Peel men were Stevie Kelly, as he beat Phil Kelly 21-19, whilst Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly beat John Gelling 21-18, with Sam Clague responding for Marown as he beat David Proctor 21-18.

South Ramsey A had a tough home game with Onchan A, in a keenly contested game as the home team won 7-3. John Kennish stepped in for the home team, with his 21-5 win over Will Penhallurick sealing the two points for the aggregate. Winning for the visitors were Phil Kerruish, Jamie Clague, and Matthew Quirk.

Port St Mary A picked up their first win of the season, as they beat Castletown A 6-4. Robbie Cooil beat Aaron Richardson 21-6, with Nathan Hamilton responding for Town as he beat Tim Williams 21-4.

North Ramsey A played their first home fixture of the season at Mooragh Park as they won 5-3 on games against Douglas A, however they lost the aggregate by two chalks (139-141) with Stuart Garrett helping the visitors cause with a 21-9 win over Joe Kneale to seal a 5-5 draw.

Early leaders Marown A played their lower ranked C Team on Tuesday evening under much improved conditions as the A team won 9-1 to extend their lead to three points over South Ramsey A. Preventing the whitewash was C team captain Stephen Rundle as he beat Neil Withers 21-17, with Dan Smith the next closest to picking up a point as he lost 17-21 to Paul Dunn.

In Division Two South Ramsey B inflicted a third straight defeat of the season on Castletown B, as they came away from the Crofts with a 3-7 victory, as just 11 chalks separated the teams (137-148), with Ben Dugdale and Tony Hart both sneaking home 21-20 against Alan Phair and Ross Moore respectively.

Ballaugh A also won 3-7 away from home by the same margin of chalks (140-151) against Douglas B at the Villa. Mike Spooner helped Ballaugh’s cause with a 21-8 victory over Willie Cowley, whilst Nigel Tebay won 21-19 against Andy Foster, with Richard Hainge edging home 21-20 against Steve Gregg.

Finch Hill A won 7-3 at home to Port Erin A, whilst the two biggest wins of the night went in favour of league leaders Peel B who beat North Ramsey B 9-1, with Onchan B inflicting a heavy defeat on Noble’s A to the same score.

In Division Three Noble’s B, C and D head up the table in that order, as the B team (pictured) won 8-2 at home to South Ramsey D, Noble’s C caused an upset as they beat South Ramsey C 3-7 away from home, whilst Noble’s D beat Peel C 7-3 at home.

Ballaugh B came away from Port St Mary B with a 2-8 victory, whilst Marown D got their first win of the season under their belt, as they came away from the Park with a 3-7 win over Onchan C.

In Division Four Noble’s E sit in joint 2^nd place as they picked up their third consecutive 6-4 victory of the season, this time beating Douglas D at the Villa, taking the aggregate by eight chalks (135-143), proving once again that every chalk counts.

League Leaders Ballaugh C stretched their lead at the top to seven points, following their 9-1 home win over Douglas C. North Ramsey C played their first home fixture of the season, as they matched their result in their first fixture with a 9-1 home win over Finch Hill B. Peel D were awarded a 10-0 home win over Port Erin B who were unable to field a team.

Rearranged fixtures from match week two saw Port Erin A slip to a 2-8 home defeat to Peel B, whilst Noble’s C beat Onchan C to the same score.

The first official men’s singles competition of the season was held on Sunday, with a healthy entry of 39 taking part in the Ken Williamson Cup, with entries higher than when the competition is traditionally held in June.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Nathan Cooil (Castletown) 19-21 to home greener Matthew Quirk, Dave McCabe (Douglas) 15-21 to Bob Clark (South Ramsey). In the other half of the draw another home greener Mike Kelly got the better of clubmate Will Penhallurick, whilst an all Marown contest was won by Jamie Joughin as he beat Sam Clague 21-17.

The home green hopes were ended at the semi-final stage as Joughin breezed through to the final as he beat Kelly 21-14, whilst Bob Clark recovered from a slow start to see off Quirk 21-18, as the South Ramsey man crucially kept his opponent down to a single two, whilst scoring five doubles himself.

The final saw Clark start as favourite, as he looked to retain the trophy, whilst Joughin was appearing in his first final of a men’s singles open competition. The Marown man took two of the first three ends, to lead 8-4, with Clark soon getting into his stride as he scored five doubles, and kept Joughin to just three more singles as the South Ramsey man ran out a clear 21-11 winner to lift the trophy for a third time.

The presentation was made by Kevin Quirk with thanks given to Dave Tait for running the competition and to the ladies for putting on refreshments. Ken Williamson’s niece Diane Crossley was then introduced to present the prizes.

Castletown Bowling Club hosted the Charity Cringle Fours men’s open competition on Saturday attracting 16 pairs to compete for the trophy.

The quarter finals saw James Teare and Alan Moore (South Ramsey) beat Noble’s pair Paul Moore and Lee Price 21-14, Glynn Hargraves and Bob Clark (South Ramsey) won 21-12 against another Noble’s pairing of Dave Naughton and Mark Bradshaw. In the other half of the draw Jordan Cain and Stefan Kelly (South Ramsey) eased home 21-11 against Collin Holland (Castletown) and Shaun Seal (Douglas), whilst John Kennish and David Bradford (South Ramsey) came through 21-17 against Brian Kelly and James Kelly (Marown).

An all South Ramsey semi-final took place as Hargraves and Clark dominated to win 21-8 against Teare and Moore, whilst a low scoring affair in the early stages saw a tight game in the other half of the draw Kennish and Bradford eventually pipped Cain and Kelly to the post 21-18.

Hargraves and Clark made the better start as they raced into a 12-6 lead, however a mistake from Hargraves as he sent the jack off the green allowed Kennish and Bradford to work their way back into the game. A strong finish from the latter pair on a shorter mark saw them run out with a 21-16 victory.

The presentation was made by Phil Taubman, who thanked Murray Cringle for sponsoring the competition, with £132.50 being raised for Sight Matters.

The second round of fixtures took place in Canada Life International Sponsored Division One on a wet Monday evening, as early leaders Marown A maintained their lead at the top of the table with a 7-3 victory following a 7-3 home win over Onchan A, with 18 chalks separating the teams (152-134). For the home team Neil Withers came through a battle with Matthew Quirk 21-19, Colin Kelly recovered from a 6-10 deficit to win 21-15. Impressing for the visitors were Neil Dunwell, who beat Paul Kelly 21-13, Reg Temporaza won 21-15 against John Gelling, whilst Peter Slinger used all his experience as he came back from 13-17 to edge home 21-19 against Glenn Boland.

Castletown A welcomed South Ramsey A to the Crofts, with the visitors 4-0 after the first four games, however this didn’t tell the whole story. Dido Kelly and Jordan Cain prevailed 21-17 against Nathan Cooil and David Quayle respectively, whilst Glynn Hargraves trailed all game against Nathan Hamilton, then finished strongly to win 21-19. In the second half of the match Bob Clark returned to the fold as he won 21-6 against George Foy. Town then picked up three wins with captain Jordan Drewett leading the way 21-9 against Peter Collister, Aaron Richardson held off a fightback from James Teare to win 21-17, with Ian Watson pulling off the most impressive result of the night as he beat David Bradford 21-13, resulting in a 3-7 victory for South Ramsey with 13 chalks separating the two teams (131-144).

Peel A got their first win of the season as they beat Port St Mary A 8-2 at home, with three close games as Dave Saxon beat Mike Ashmole 21-20, Tommy McMeiken had enough in the tank to hold off Trevor Quayle 21-17, whilst George Gadsby beat Wayne Roberts 21-19.

Douglas A took on Marown B at the Villa, as they played the closest match of the week as the home team edged it 6-4 on the night thanks to taking the aggregate by three chalks (138-135).

North Ramsey A came away from Crosby with a 4-6 victory on Tuesday evening as they took the aggregate by 14 chalks, helped by Steve Walmsley’s 21-9 win over Peter Kelly.

In Division Two South Ramsey B got their campaign up and running with a 9-1 home win over Finch Hill A, with Brian Aspden preventing the whitewash with a 21-17 victory over Eddie Carlyle.

Onchan B inflicted a 9-1 defeat on Castletown B, as the Town men sit on three points after two games.

Douglas B sit on 17 points at the top as they won 8-2 at home to North Ramsey B, whilst Noble’s A rearranged their game from Monday evening to Tuesday as the visitors Ballaugh A came away with the spoils following their 3-7 victory.

In Division Three South Ramsey C bounced back from their opening day defeat to beat their lower ranked D team 10-0.

Home wins to a 6-4 score line were the order of the evening, as Peel C, Port St Mary B, and Ballaugh B beat Noble’s B, Noble’s D and Marown D respectively.

In Division Four Noble’s E (pictured) continue to impress, as they won 6-4 at home to Peel D, with eight chalks separating the two teams (143-135). Douglas C managed to see off their D Team 8-2.

Elsewhere North Ramsey C took a 1-9 victory over Castletown C in their first fixture of the season, having sat out the first round of fixtures, whilst Ballaugh C went on to beat Finch Hill B 2-8 away from home.

There were 19 entries for the Finch Hill Newsbeat Men’s Doubles took place on Sunday afternoon, on another blustery day, with conditions appearing to affect the bowls more than the previous day when the wind was stronger.

The excellent standard of play was evident from the start as two preliminary games went to 21-20 and the third game 21-15. Two juniors Arran Dunn (Marown) and Kian Bradford (South Ramsey) teamed up and gave an excellent performance against Marown’s Paul Dunn (Dad) and Neil Withers just losing 17-21.

The quarter finals resulted in two games going to 21-20 with Rob Middleton and Peter Greenlees (Peel) beating Jordan Drewett and Dean Kinley (Castletown), and Alex Yates (Noble’s) and Steve Parker (Onchan) pipping Les Brookes (Finch Hill) and Eddie Carlyle (South Ramsey). The other quarters saw home greeners Mark Taylor and Stephen Oates getting past Sammie Clague (Marown) and Nathan Hamilton (Castletown, then Neil and Paul comfortably beating Ray Beattie and Bryan Corner (North Ramsey).

The winners of the semi-finals were Taylor and Oates 21-16 over Middleton and Greenlees, and Withers and Dunn Paul beating Yates and Parker 21-11.

Up to the middle of the final it was nip and tuck until Neil and Paul (last year’s runners up) won two bountiful ends, pulling ahead to finally win 21-14 against Mark and Stephen. to pick up the trophy for the fourth time in the last six years.

Thanks to Finch Hill. The standard of the running green received many compliments.