The Onchan Commissioners Any Combination Doubles took place on Sunday with a strong field of 33 pairs.

The unfortunate prelim round losers were Sam Clague & Dean Kinley (Castletown) beaten 21-18 by Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) & Bob Clark (Castletown). The Round of 32 went to form with no great shocks. Amanda & Martha Butler (Marown) took a creditable 9 against Paul Dunn & Neil Withers (Marown). Marown’s Evan Leece played well to carry Arnie Withers to 15 against Derek Allen (Port Erin) & Bernard Thackrah (Port St Mary). Closest game saw Steve Parker & Kevin Quirk (Onchan) narrowly beat the South Ramsey team of Alan Moore & Chas Grills 21-20.

Last 16 saw Paul & Willie Cowley (Douglas) win to single figures as did Trevor Quayle & Wayne Roberts (Port St Mary). The progress of Parker & Quirk was halted by home greeners Mark Kelly & Reg Temporaza. Walter McCarthy & Glenn Boland (Marown) narrowly missed out 21-20 to Sue Gawne (Onchan) & Andy Kennish (Peel). A similar fate was met by Dunn & Withers at the hands of Hargraves & Clark. The local derby saw Mike Thomas & Neil Dunwell overcome Jo Kelly & Paul Clinton 21-16.

The quarter finals saw Kim Hargraves & Peter Collister (South Ramsey) defeat the Cowley Boys. Roberts & Quayle ran out from 17 across against Kelly & Temporaza. Zain Naeem (Finch Hill) & Jan West (Douglas) saw their earlier form leave them against Gawne & Kennish. Hargraves & Clark (of pink hat fame) rounded off the quarters by beating Dunwell & Thomas.

Semi-finals lined up Kim Hargraves & Collister against Roberts & Quayle; Gawne & Kennish versus Glynn Hargraves & Clark. It was good to see larger than usual numbers stay to watch these very competitive match ups. Going through to the Final were Roberts & Quayle winning 21-13 along with Gawne and Kennish by a margin of 21-11.

As the clouds thickened, the final got under way with some very evenly contested ends. Roberts & Quayle began to take control & were leading 18-12 before their opponents began to regain their touch. A result of 21-19 in favour of Gawne & Kennish bore testament to their ability to dig in.

Thanks were given to all those that helped on the day. The trophy & prizes were presented by Kathryn Williams, Vice Chair of Onchan Commissioners to whom the Club are grateful for the continued support.

Port St Mary pair Wayne Roberts and Trevor Quayle returned to North Ramsey to win another of this year’s Open pairs competitions.

Twenty-six sets of bowlers from all areas of the Island played a great afternoon of bowls at Mooragh Park.

Some good bowling took place in the opening rounds leading to the quarter finals and some very close games. Willie and Pauline Cowley (Douglas) just lost out to John Cannan and Tony Smart (North Ramsey) 17-21. Paul Dunn (Marown) and Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) fought hard against home greeners Ray Skelly and Brian Colquitt but were pipped at the post 20-21. Paul Cowley and Bob Callow (Douglas) played well but lost against Roberts and Quayle 16-21. Derek Allen (Port Erin) and Bernard Thackrah (Port St Mary) had a real tussle against juniors Lily Gawne (Onchan) and Alex Hampson (Noble’s) who played brilliantly but just lost out 21-19.

The first semi-final was an all-North Ramsey game between Cannan and Smart against Skelly and Colquitt with each pair playing some fantastic shots to finish 19-21 winning Skelly and Colquitt a well-deserved place in the final. In the second semi Quayle and Roberts had a convincing win against Allen and Thackrah 21-9.

A robust crowd of supporters remained around the green and were rewarded with a thrilling final. As the cloud thickened and some light drizzle fell conditions on the green changed challenging the players, especially on pace. Both pairs played well in a very close match. The south team took an early lead, but the Ramsey duo caught up leaving them neck and neck in the final end 20-20. It could not have been a closer final, but Quayle and Roberts got the final point leaving them the winners of the Ken Parker Cup 2021.

Prizes were presented by Mike Skelly, President of North Ramsey and the Club secretary Pat Lenton. Mike thanked Steve Parker and his family for their generous sponsorship and everyone who worked so hard to make the day so enjoyable. Wayne and Trevor also thanked the sponsors, helpers and everyone who took part in the competition.

Finch Hill Bowling Club hosted a Mixed Doubles on Saturday afternoon. The competition was sponsored by Apollo Blinds with 33 pairs taking part on a heavy green after the recent spell of wet weather.

Bowing out at the semi-final stage were Rebecca Teare and Paul Dunn (Marown) 17-21 to Fiona Kennish (South Ramsey) & Sam Clague (Castletown), whilst in the other semi-final Caroline Whitehead (Port Erin) and Mark Kelly (Onchan) were lost 12-12 to Lyn Bolton (South Ramsey) & Trevor Quayle (Port St Mary).

The final started off fairly evenly with neither pair able to get a firm run with the jack or score any more than a double. After 11 ends the match was finely balanced with the score tied at 12-12 Bolton and Quayle took charge of the game winning four consecutive ends, scoring a two and a three along the way to take firm control of the game at 19-12. Kennish and Clague weren’t done there winning the next two ends to pull the score back to 15-19. Both pairs exchanged singles over the next three ends, which was enough for Bolton and Quayle to seal a 21-16 to take a well-deserved victory.

The presentation was made by Joyce Ogden who thanked the new sponsor Apollo Blinds, everyone who had entered, the club members for their support & providing the refreshments. Chris Reynolds from Apollo Blinds was then introduced to present the prizes.

Sunday 1^st August saw the 3R’s Limited sponsored Douglas Town Cup event with both Ladies and Men’s Singles being held by Douglas Bowling Club on their Green at the Villa Marina.

In the Ladies Event at quarter final Stage we saw Clare Cooper (Marown) beat Paula Garrett (Douglas) 21-14 and Janet Monk (North Ramsey) beat Kim Hargraves (South Ramsey) 21-16 while Margie Tasker (Port St Mary) beat Shannon McMullan (North Ramsey) 21-15. In the final quarter-final we saw Jenny Moore (South Ramsey) beat Rebecca Teare (Marown) 21-11.

The semi-finals saw a close battle between Monk and Cooper with Janet eventually taking a 21-18 win and Moore proved to be too strong for Tasker as she took a 21-14 win.

The final started with Moore leading well but with Monk playing some great second bowls to take the ends. As the game progressed Moore gradually took control and played well to take the win 21-13.

The Men’s event saw some great bowls throughout and at the quarter final stage Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) beat Will Penhallurick (Onchan) 21-16, Reg Temporaza (Onchan) also beat Nathan Hamilton (Castletown) 21-16 and Trevor Quayle (Port St Mary) beat Phil Kelly (Marown) 21-17. The last Quarter Final saw a strong performance from Neil Withers (Marown) as he beat Steven Waters (South Ramsey) 21-7.

In the semi-finals a great battle between Hargraves and Temporaza saw Hargraves edging a 21-20 win and the second semi-final saw Quayle play superbly to beat Withers 21-10.

It was nice to see that a good crowd had stayed to watch the finals and they were treated to a great display of bowling from both finalists with Quayle eventually beating Hargraves 21-20.

The Trophies were presented by Rob Mathews of 3R’s Limited who thanked everyone who helped to put on the event and the competitors for a great display of bowling while Trevor Quayle on receiving his Trophy thanked the sponsor and Douglas Bowling Club for putting on the event.

South Ramsey hosted the Kennish Cup on Sunday with 28 pairs taking part to play on a superb surface on another fantastic day to play bowls.

Losing out in the quarter finals were South Ramsey pair Elaine Moore & Glynn Hargraves who lost 17-21 to Paula Firth (Onchan) & Trevor Quayle (Port St Mary), Grace Gawne (Onchan) and Kevin Firth (Douglas) who were defeated 13-21 by Gill and Andy Morgan (South Ramsey), with Janet and Rob Monk (North Ramsey) losing to the same score to home green pair Jenny Moore & James Teare. In the last quarter it was an all South Ramsey match with Gill Dixon and Alan Moore getting the better of Kim Hargraves and Peter Collister 21-16.

The semi-finals were straightforward for both winning pairs as Firth and Quayle ended the challenge of the Morgan’s 21-9, while Jenny Moore and James Teare went one better as they beat Gill Dixon and Alan Moore 21-8 to progress to the final.

The final was also one way traffic with Moore and Teare dominating the game as they beat Firth and Quayle 21-9 to deservedly retain the trophy last played for in 2019.

At the conclusion of the competition the presentation was made by competition secretary Kim Hargraves, who thanked the Kennish/Moore family for their sponsorship, the club members who had helped with the running of the competition and the Ladies for the refreshments provided with the all you can eat salad proving extremely popular. Elaine Moore and Fiona Kennish were then introduced to present the prizes.

The second half of the season got underway in Ellan Vannin Fuels Division One this week with four 10-0 wins from the top four teams in glorious weather.

Arguably the most impressive of the big wins was from South Ramsey A who travelled to Crosby to take on Marown B on a tricky green, however they had to battle for their first 10-0 win of the season. Chas Grills dug in to recover from a 2-10 deficit against Bobby Thorne to get over line 21-20. Also having to dig deep were David Bradford after a tough encounter with Jerome Surridge with the latter making his return to league action after injury before losing out 17-21. Walter McCarthy stepped up from the C Team and he led 6-0 and 14-9 against visiting captain Glynn Hargraves before Hargraves kicked into gear to see the game out with a 21-17 victory to seal the 10-0 win for the visitors. Also winning for South to single figures were Alan Moore and Dave ‘Dido’ Kelly as they beat Glenn Boland and Peter Kelly.

Peel A remain in joint second with Marown A following their impressive 10-0 win over their lower ranked B team, on another green which was running incredibly well thanks to the recent hot and dry weather that we have enjoyed. A team captain Gary Smith won 21-1 against Brian Lindsay, Peter Greenlees returned to winning ways with a 21-2 win over Colin Moore, while Tom Kelly beat Robert Middleton 21-5.

Marown A kept in touch with their own 10-0 away win against bottom of the league Noble’s A matching the home result at the start of the season. The Marown men were ruthless with only three Noble’s playing reaching 13. Winning to single figures for the Crosby men were Colin Kelly, Phil Kelly and Dean Kipling. Noble’s only managed to score four more chalks than they scored away from home as they scored 83 chalks on the night.

Port St Mary A rounded off the 10-0 wins in division one on the night with the visitors Ballaugh A struggling to adapt to a fast surface as they just made it over 100 chalks. For the Port men Trevor Quayle and Robbie Cooil both won to single figures. For the visitors Edgar Quine lost 17-21 to Paul Skelly, Tony Quine was defeated 18-21 against Dan McCabe, while John ‘Shirt’ Keenan lost 19-21 to Tom Colllins.

Onchan A recorded a solid 7-3 home win over Douglas A with Matthew Quirk maintaining his perfect record to win his eighth game of the season, this time out heavily beating Keith Rise 21-2 on his former green. Not far behind winning 21-4 was Phil Kerruish who beat Gordon Wynne-Smythe. Perhaps an opportunity missed for a 10-0 win themselves with Frank Watson losing 17-21 to Jimmy Sansom, Mark Kelly was beat 19-21 by Shan Seal while captain Pete Slinger lost out 19-21 to the in-form Andy Cannell.

North Ramsey A made home advantage count at the third time of asking following two home defeats – albeit to Marown A last week, as they defeated Castletown A 7-3. For the home team Tony Smart inflicted a second league defeat of the season on Bob Clark as he won 21-13, Allan Callow seen off Peel Town Cup finalist Dean Kinley 21-9, while Rob Monk made it six wins out of six with his 21-8 victory over Aaron Richardson. Gary Merrill battled to a 21-19 win over Ian Watson with Paul Cannan beating Nathan Hamilton. Winning for the Town men were Sam Clague, Nathan Hamilton and Jordan Drewett over Steve Walmsley, Ray Skelly and John Cannan respectively.

In Division Two South Ramsey B got their up and down season back on track as they swept aside the 9-1 win against their lower ranked C Team. Tony Dugdale was the only winner to single figures for the B as he beat Tony Hart 21-8, with four of the other winners for the B team winning to 17 or above from Bryan Corner, Christian Caley, Edward Carlyle and George Brew. The lone winner for the C team Lee Dawson as he beat Austin Hart 21-6.

Castletown B won 8-2 at home to Finch Hill B with Peter Oates leading the way for the home team with his 21-2 win over Kevin Stannard, with Ron Williams beating Chris Thompson 215 and Derek Lewney winning 21-7 against Mark Taylor. Winning for Finch were Brian Murphy as he beat George Foy 21-19 and Chris Duggan who won 21-13 against Alan Phair.

Douglas B hosted Marown C at the Villa with the home team taking a 6-4 win with the match well contested, however the single figure wins from Steve Gregg, William Cowley and Bob Banning were enough to seal the two-point aggregate.

Finch Hill A were in fine form with their 10-0 home win over Port St Mary B, with all the visiting players reaching double figures, with Bernard Thackrah & Ray Maddrell coming closest to grabbing some points as they lost to 18 and 19 to Arthur Halsall and Peter Hughes respectively.

Port Erin A rounded off the 10-0 victories with their win over Peel C at Breagle Glen winning two of the games 21-20 from Seamus Whelan who beat Jimmy Corlett, while Derek Cadamy edged home against Phillip Clarke.

In Division Three Onchan C came away from their match at the Villa with Douglas C with a 3-7 victory to stay at the top on 78 points. Stuart Garrett turned out for the home team and beat Allan Kennaugh 21-4, with Ken Clark being the best winner for the visitors as he beat James Teare 21-7.

Ballaugh B recorded an 8-2 home win over Noble’s B to move join top with Onchan C. They just missed out on a full house by three chalks with Fred Waggett losing out 19-21 to Stephen Corkill and John Looney suffering a 20-21 loss to Stewart Cubbon.

Port Erin B welcomed Douglas D to Breagle Glen with Ken Horsley winning 21-3 against Joe Phelan and Ed Benson won 21-7 against Juan Readshaw. For the visitors Nick Firth continues to impress as he won 21-17 against Alan Crebbin, John Ferguson won 21-10 against Christopher Dent and David Cowley beat Stuart Garrett 21-15.

Marown D had a tough home against Ballaugh C with a lot of new players adapting to the extremely tricky green extremely well as they won 8-2. Steve Rough won 21-1 against Richard Green, Rob Bell did well to beat Trevor Jones 21-17, Alan Gault beat a fellow new bowler Nigel Tabay 21-16, Alex Colquitt 21-. Dan Smith made a rare appearance as he beat Peter Corlett 21-12, while Alex Colquitt won 21-16 against Gordie Moore. The two winners for Ballaugh were to single figures with Brian Lace and Maurice O’Reilly beating Phil Dunn and Steve Cain respectively,

South Ramsey D were due to be the hosts for their fixture against Castletown C however the visitors were unable to field a team resulting in South Ramsey being awarded a 10-0 win.

On Wednesday evening the second set of fixtures took place in the Mixed League with the highlight being Castletown B hosting Marown C with both clubs taking the opportunity to use the match to introduce a number of juniors to a competitive league fixture as they fielded 17 juniors with only one adult taking part on the night which was once again played in glorious weather.

With five players on each team making their competitive debut it was the visitors Marown who won by 76 chalks (110-186) with four players winning to single figures (Charlie Bell, Rebekah Kelly, Amanda Butler and Emily Cooper). The one winner for Castletown was Freddie Palmer, another player making his debut as he beat Martha Butler 21-18, with Grace Quayle scoring well before losing out 19-21 to Alex Colquitt. Dylan Marsh performed well only to lose 17-21 against Sam Colquitt. This was a great advertisement for crown green bowls on the Island and speaks volumes for the work being done by both clubs to bring new players into the game.

On Sunday Ballaugh Bowling Club held the Spar Mixed Doubles on a glorious day in a wonderful setting. With a field of 45 pairs it was always going to be a long day with the final finishing just before 8pm.

In the top half of the draw the two quarter finals were Chris Price and Wayne Roberts (Port St Mary) against Clare Cooper (Marown) and Bob Clark (Castletown). After 10 ends there was just one point in it but Cooper and Clark then scored steadily and won 21-16. The second quarter final was an all South Ramsey affair with Elaine Moore and Glynn Hargraves versus Jenny Moore and James Teare after 10 ends it was 17-8 to Jenny and James but Elaine and Glynn pegged it back to 19-15 before James and Jenny got two singles to win 21-15.

In the bottom half of the draw home greeners Shirley Watling and Richard Green versus Lyn Bolton (South Ramsey) and Trevor Quayle (Port St Mary). The more experienced pairing of Bolton and Quayle took the game 21-9. The final quarter final was between Helen Withers and Karl Parker (Marown) versus home greeners Michele and Paul Cubbon. After 16 ends it was 18-17 to Withers and Parker then a three gave them the win 21-17. Before going on to the semi-finals can I commend the two Ballaugh pairings with all the players being relatively new to the sport they acquitted themselves well.

In the semi-final the game between Cooper and Clark versus Moore and Teare was close up to end 14 then Cooper and Clark took four straight ends culminating in a four to win 21-14. Bolton and Quayle were ahead from the fifth end against Withers and Parker and kept ahead to win 21-15.

As so to the final Claire and Bob scored consistently to win 21-13 against Bolton and Quayle.

At the conclusion Club Captain John Maddrell thanked everyone for supporting the event, the green keeper Matt Moffatt for preparing the green, the Ladies for such wonderful catering and Jonathon Kermode of Spar for sponsoring the competition for the 10^th time. John also thanked Richard Faragher, Maurice O’Reilly and Trevor Jones for running the competition so efficiently. The prizes were presented by Jonathon Kermode on behalf of the sponsors Spar.

The Port St Mary ‘any combination threesomes’ took place on Sunday 13th July. A great entry of 36 teams battled it out to take the honours of winning this competition, which was being held on this green for the last time. With 108 bowlers taking part, the atmosphere around the green was fantastic.

After a long afternoon and many good matches played on a good running green, we finally got down to the semi-finals. In the first semi-final Paula Garrett, Stuart Garrett and Harley Garrett (Douglas) took on Ryan Hargraves, Glynn Hargraves and Stefan Kelly (South Ramsey), with the latter ending the good run of the Garrett’s team. It was a good match to watch and good to see younger players competing with experienced players. In the second semi-final, last year’s winners Bob Clark, Jordan Cain and Matthew Quirk (Castletown/Onchan) were up against the strong team of Neil Withers, Phil Dunn and Paul Dunn (Marown). Although the score line of 21-13 might suggest a one sided match, every end was hard fought with some great bowling from all players. The consistent good bowling from last year’s champions was the difference in this match to take them through to the final.

In the final Clark, Cain and Quirk carried on their excellent bowling. Hargraves, Kelly and Hargraves were also playing well, but the defending champions just kept the pressure on and came up with the bowls when needed, winning the match 21-11.

At the presentation, club President Pete Collins presented the trophy to the winners and thanked the sponsors Jacksons Engineering and everybody at the club that helped make the competition a success. Finally, Port St Mary Bowling Club would like to thank all the competitors and spectators that came down for their support and generosity, and best wishes for the future.

It was a busy day for North Ramsey bowling club on Saturday when two events were held in the beautiful Mooragh Park. 

In the morning the inaugural Rheuben Thomas Memorial Trophy was held for with 23 juniors taking part. The under 11’s bowlers played a round robin format in two groups. The winners of each group were Katie Roberts and Bailey McMullan. They then played a final match with home greenerBailey coming out on top and Katie a very worthy runner-up. 

The over 11’s group had some great games with the semi-finals between Toby Hart (South Ramsey) losing out 15-21 to Luke Kenna (North Ramsey), whilst Alex Hampson (Noble’s) was defeated 20-21 by Grace Gawne (Onchan) with both being very exciting games. 

In the final Luke and Grace played some great bowls but Grace Gawne was the winner. 

Rheuben Thomas was a very popular member of North Ramsey and when he sadly died earlier this year his family wanted him to be remembered by promoting junior bowls. Prizes were awarded by his wife Heidi and daughter Millie.

The afternoon competition was the Lilian Slinger any combination doubles event. 36 pairs took to the green in the opening rounds. 

From the start the standard of bowling was superb with competition strong across the age groups and clubs. After many close games the semi-finals were played. Wayne Roberts and Trevor Quayle (Port St Mary) were up against Jenny Moore and James Teare (South Ramsey). Jenny and James were quickly 11-5 up but Wayne and Trevor gained control and after six ends were 17-11 up eventually winning 21-15. The other semi-final was between Lil Smith and Rosie Winkle (Marown) against Paul Dunn and Arnie Withers (Marown) with the girls on the back foot after five ends down 5-14 but 11 ends later they won 21-14.

After a long day the final was game set and match to the boys Roberts & Quayle, who were dominant from the start, but Lil and Rosie had some great bowls and thoroughly deserved their place in the final.

The prizes were awarded by Lilian’s great granddaughter Eva and thanks were given by North Ramsey to the family for their sponsorship and trophies. Thanks were also given by the winners to North Ramsey for organising and running such a successful event.

39 pairs competed for the Port St Mary Cup mixed doubles on Bank Holiday Monday. Another day of good weather made the day very enjoyable. The green was running very fast, making it very tricky to get close to the jack.

At the quarter final stage Lyn Bolton (South Ramsey) and Trevor Quayle (Port St Mary) beat Elaine Moore and Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) 21-14. Home greeners Chris Price and Wayne Roberts beat Fiona Kennish and Steven Waters (South Ramsey) 21-15. Rebecca Teare and Paul Dunn (Marown) beat Jenny Moore and James Teare (South Ramsey) 21-20, whilst Kim Hargraves and Stefan Kelly (South Ramsey) beat Lorna Brady-Glover and Ray Maddrell (Port St Mary) 21-11.

First of the semi-finals saw the reigning champions from 2019, Bolton and Quayle take on Price and Roberts, a close match all the way to the end with the latter winning 21-19. In the second semi-final Teare and Dunn took on Hargraves and Kelly, as always at this stage another tough match, but Teare and Dunn won 21-14.

In the final Teare and Dunn stepped up a gear and were always in control eventually winning 21-11.

The presentation was made by club president Pete Collins, who thanked the sponsors Isle of Man Farmers, and everyone at the club that helped make the competition a success.