The Port Erin Cup Mixed Doubles was held at Breagle Glen on Sunday afternoon.

Marown had three pairs lose out at the quarter final stage with Clare Cooper and Sid Bolton defeated 19-21 to Ballaugh pair Maria and Mark Dimsdale, Lyn Bolton and Peter Jones lost out 15-21 to Marown club mates Debbie Leece and Neil Withers. Rebecca Teare and Paul Dunn just lost out 20-21 to home greener Caroline Whitehead and Kevin Firth (Douglas), whilst Shirley and Gordon Corrin (Peel) were beaten 12-21 by Jenny Moore and James Teare (South Ramsey).

The semi-finals saw the Dimsdale’s edge home 21-20 against Leece and Withers to reach their first final, whilst Moore and Teare eased through with a 21-14 win over Whitehead and Firth.

The final was all one way traffic as the more experienced pairing of Moore and Teare kept their opponents down to two scoring ends securing a 21-9 victory. 

Thanks were given to the club members for their help throughout the competition and Ed Benson for preparing the green.

Men’s Player of the Month: Gordon Wynne Smythe – Douglas

Ladies Player of the Month: Nicci Cain – Port St Mary

Under 21’s Player of the Month: Katie Jacobs – Douglas

The men’s pick went to Gordy Wynne-Smythe who impressed as he went undefeated in April, winning four games comfortably for Douglas A in the league, then impressed with a superb 21-19 win over the vastly experienced John Gelling (Marown).

The Ladies award went to Nicci Cain who picked up her first singles title last month, as she held off tough competition to pick up the Ladies Non-Winners Cup, coming through a tough semi-final with Joy Stevens 21-19, then beating home greener Alison Stockham 21-14 in the final.

Katie Jacobs picked up the Junior award thanks to a solid start to the season winning her first match 21-9 at Ballaugh. Whilst her next outing was a defeat every chalk counts in the ladies league, Katie lost out by just two chalks (19-21) to one of Castletown’s top bowlers – Hannah Drewett. Katie went on to pick up a further three wins, beating Ballaugh’s Maria Dimsdale 21-16, which is her only defeat of the season to date, then went on to win 21-12 against Lisa Bradshaw and won 21-11 at Mooragh Park against Joy Morris. Well done Katie!

Marown Bowling Club were the host club on Saturday as they held the Marown Magic Carpets Mixed Singles for the fourth time attracting an entry of 42, with fine weather and a good atmosphere around the green.

The competition was once again played in a big smash style format, which has proved popular in the U.K. and is played over 15 ends with ends 5, 10 and 15 played as ‘power’ ends with the points scored counting double. Players were given a handicap ranging from 0 to 4. If scores were tied after 15 ends a one bowl shootout would take place to decide the winner of the game.

Losing quarter finalists were visiting bowler Ben Phillips by the finest of margins 13-14 to 2023 winner David Bradford (South Ramsey), Paul Quirk (Peel) lost 13-15 to Dave McCabe (Douglas), with South Ramsey’s Kim Hargraves also losing to the same score to Marown man Peter Jones, with Bob Clark comfortably winning 19-10 against South Ramsey teammate Glynn Hargraves.

The semi-finals were low scoring affairs as Bradford won 13-8 against McCabe, whilst Clark held off Jones 14-9 to book his place in the final.

The final got underway with a close contest expected between the South Ramsey clubmates, however Bradford proved he is back to his best as he won eight of the first nine ends taking a 12-1 lead to realistically put the final out of reach of Clark. With two points scored on the power end and a two on the next end the score stood at 5-12 with four ends left, however Bradford got the single he needed to seal the win and in doing so retained the trophy.

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by competition secretary Phil Kelly, who thanked Magic Carpets for their continued sponsorship, the Ladies for the refreshments, the players for entering, with Ken Bawden then presenting the prizes.

South Ramsey Bowling Club held the Chas Grills Memorial Trophy for the second time on Sunday. The format of triples once again proved to be popular amongst the Islands bowlers as 22 teams – 66 bowlers took part. The competition was supported by CTH Insurance.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were the South Ramsey trio of Jenny Moore, James Teare and John Kennish 12-21 to Marown’s Glenn Boland, Peter Jones and visiting bowler Jamie Box, with Andy Clark (Castletown), Kian Bradford and Dad David Bradford (both South Ramsey) losing out to 11-21 to South Ramsey’s Kim Hargraves, Fiona Kennish and Peter Collister.

In the other half of the draw Lynda Cadamy, Jayne Smith and another visiting bowler Danny Barwise took a 21-8 win against Marown’s Debbie Leece, Clare Cooper and Rebecca Teare, whilst Marown’s Colin Kelly, Walter McCarthy and Tom Kelly led 19-10 against Jordan Cain, Glynn Hargraves (both South Ramsey) and Matthew Quirk (Onchan) only to concede 11 chalks over three ends to lose 19-21.

Both semi-finals were keenly contested as Boland, Box and Jones led 17-9 against Hargraves, Kennish and Collister, only for a spirited fightback from the latter team to level the game up at 18-18, with the visiting trio seeing the game out with a single and double to book their place in the final 21-18. The other semi-final went to the wire as Cain, Hargraves and Quirk only won seven ends to their opponents nine ends, however a five and two three’s ultimately got them over the line 21-20 against Cadamy, Smith and Barwise.

In the final Boland, Box and Jones won the first two ends, were unfortunate not to pick up a five on the first end as Quirk saved four points with his last bowl. The first scoring end for Cain, Hargraves and Quirk was a five, followed by three singles and a six which quickly moved them into a 19-8 lead. Two singles pulled the score back to 19-10 and with Boland, Box and Jones counting for four only for a superb last bowl from Quirk which won the end to put the score at 20-10, instead of what could have been 19-14. The next end the game finished with Cain, Hargraves and Quirk getting the one chalk needed to secure the superb trophy with a 21-10 victory.

At the presentation, competition organiser Glynn Hargraves thanked the sponsors, competition secretary James Teare for running the sheet, the ladies for the superb choice of refreshments, along with everyone who had supported the competition with their generous donations. Arlo’s Adventure were the charity supported, having recently supported members of the bowling community, with this a grand sum of £1,500 was raised on the day with thanks to the generosity of everyone who had entered the competition, with Charity Trustee Sarah Owen and her family present to present the prizes and accept a cheque for the funds raised for Arlo’s Adventure throughout the day, with the charity supporting Manx Residents and their family members who require Hospital treatment in the United Kingdom, also provided bereaved families with emotional and practical support.

Spot prizes were also awarded to the furthest Junior – Kian Bradford (South Ramsey), the team to score the first six of the competition, and the losers in the longest game, with a £50 note roll up being held before the semi-finals, which was won by Peter Collister.

Storm Kathleen was in full force on a blustery Saturday afternoon, with 24 pairs braving the conditions to compete for the KNR Construction trophy, with the rain holding off for the duration of the competition.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Lynda Cadamy and Glenn Boland to Marown clubmates Rebecca Teare and Paul Dunn 20-21, South Ramsey’s James Teare and Jenny Moore were defeated 15-21 by Lyn Bolton and Peter Jones (Marown), home greeners Katie Jacobs and Bob Callow led 19-14 against Elaine Moore and Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey), before losing out 19-21, with Paula Garrett and Mark Kneen coming through 21-16 against fellow home greeners Mel Smith and Keith Rise.

At the semi-final stage Moore and Hargraves took a comfortable 21-13 win over Garrett and Kneen to book their place in the final. In the other game Teare and Dunn led all game before losing out 20-21 to Bolton and Jones who trailed 17-20, only to finish with two doubles to win 21-20.

The final was a fantastic tussle, that had high scoring ends, with just 14 ends played. Moore and Hargraves claimed the first three on the second end, only to immediately concede a three. On the next end Bolton and Jones were counting for one with Elaine playing out the counting bowl perfectly to score four, as they went on to lead 14-10. The Marown duo hit back superbly to score eight chalks over three ends to lead 18-14. The South Ramsey pair hit back once more scoring a four themselves to level the game up at 18-18. A two for Jones and Bolton on the next end had them within touching distance of the trophy, however a single for Moore and Hargraves saw the game finely poised at 19-20. A good lead from Hargraves, and a great bowl from Moore were unbeaten to give Moore and Hargraves a 21-20 victory in a good final.

The trophies were presented by Neil Clarke of KNR Construction, with Glynn Hargraves thanking the sponsors, Douglas Bowling Club for hosting the event and the Greenkeeper for a much-improved playing surface.

Marown held the opening tournament of the highly anticipated 2024 season, with the Ian Kissack floodlight competition sponsored by Ardern & Druggan Limited attracting a healthy entry of 68. The competition was played over four days, with handicaps ranging from two to eight with two qualifiers from the four qualifying sessions.

The competition commenced on Sunday afternoon with Peel man George Gadsby the first to qualify for finals night, whilst home greener Colin Kelly eased his way through the afternoon session.

Sunday evening resulted in two home green players qualifying with Paul Kelly seeing off teammate Neil Withers along the way, while Phil Kelly progressed as he beat club mate Matthew Keggen 21-18 to progress.

Monday evening saw South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves safely navigating his way through his four qualifying games. In the other half of the session another South Ramsey player booked their spot in the quarter finals with two victories over home greeners Juan Killip 21-7 and Clare Cooper 21-16.

The last qualifying session took place on Tuesday evening, as a further two home greeners booked their spot as Walter McCarthy beat three time champion David Bradford (South Ramsey) 21-12 to qualify, whilst Peter Jones got through his three games.

The competition was redrawn at the quarter final stage with Colin Kelly seeing off Jenny Moore 21-11, whilst Phil Kelly recovered from a big deficit to run out with a 21-20 win over George Gadsby.

In the other half of the draw Glynn Hargraves held off Walter McCarthy to win 21-15, whilst Peter Jones staged a comeback to see off teammate Paul Kelly 21-19. Unfortunately due to a power failure it was agreed to finish the competition on Sunday afternoon.

In the first semi-final Colin Kelly’s route to the final was never in doubt with a 21-6 victory over Phil Kelly. In the other semi-final Hargraves performed well to take 18-7 lead over Jones, with the latter staging a remarkable comeback to level the game up 18-18. Hargraves got back in at right time when lying two down to retake the lead 19-18, with Jones picking up a single to level up at 19-19. Another single from Hargraves put him within touching distance as a good second bowl a foot behind the jack forced Jones to play the perfect bowl to save game and level the game up at 20-20. On the deciding end Jones played an 18 inch bowl which wasn’t beaten to reach the final and complete a stunning comeback.

The final being played on a green that is in superb condition got underway with Kelly taking the first five ends, as he threatened to run away with the game scoring five singles in the corners to lead 7-2. Jones, not one to panic got back in to the game taking a 16-10 lead, and then led 17-13 with a superb display of bowling. Four singles from Jones was enough to take the victory to pick up the Ian Kissack Shield.

The presentation was made by Marown President Peter Kelly, thanked the sponsor Ardern & Druggan for their continued support, with thanks also given to the Marown ladies for the excellent refreshments provided over the duration of the competition. Ian Kissack’s sister Gill Kissack-Grundey was then introduced to present the prizes.

Men’s Player of the Month: Bob Clark – South Ramsey

Ladies Player of the Month: Jenny Moore – South Ramsey

Under 21’s Player of the Month: Sam Colquitt – Noble’s 

The men’s pick went to Bob Clark who impressed in a host of competitions. Clark won the pre-festival Autumn Shield prevailing in a field of 96 to get his festival week off to a good start. Clark also picked up the Festival Men’s Doubles title with South Ramsey teammate Glynn Hargraves, then reached finals day of the men’s main event before losing out in the quarter finals to Callum Wraight.

On the Sunday following the festival Bob won the Wilfrid Quayle Mixed Doubles at Castletown for a second successive year, this time partnering Hannah Drewett. For South Ramsey Clark won all three games, to finish the season with 19 wins from 21 games played, only missing the season’s opening fixture away to Castletown on his old stomping ground. His most impressive individual result during the month was a resounding 21-9 victory over Marown captain Paul Dunn in the final of the Mixed Team Championship with a solid performance as he helped the Team retain the trophy.

The Ladies title was an obvious choice with this being awarded to Jenny Moore, who went undefeated in the league winning 22 games from 22 played. Jenny started the month winning the Festival for a third time, then picked up a sixth successive Manx Masters title a little over a week later. Jenny also shone in the Mixed Team Championship final for South Ramsey inflicting a 21-7 defeat on Paul Kelly to seal the victory. Jenny then travelled to the U.K. to compete in the Champion of Champions on Sunday 1^st October, whilst this does creep into the following month it is worth a mention as there isn’t a Player of the Month award for October. Moore swept aside all before her beating top quality opposition throughout the day to lift the ‘Holy Grail’ of bowls making history to become the first Manx Lady to pick up the title.

Sam Colquitt picked up the Junior award thanks to winning the Junior Manx Masters Title for the first time at South Ramsey beating clubmate Alex Hampson 21-18 in a good quality final. Sam who had previously won the Young Manx Masters five years earlier put out pre-tournament favourite Madison McMullan with a brilliant performance winning 21-16 in the semi-final. In addition to this Sam paired up with Jo Smith to pick up a convincing 21-15 victory over Debbie Leece and Juan Killip in the Club Team Championship, whilst also seeing off David Manley 21-12 in the league for Noble’s D.

Marown Bowling Club hosted the Juan Kelly Cup, with the competition now in its seventh year 44 pairs taking part as the curtain was brought down on the 2023 season.

There were some interesting pairings making use of the handicap system which was played over two qualifying nights (Monday and Tuesday), with four pairs qualifying each night to qualify for the finals night on Wednesday evening.

The format was any combination doubles, played over 15 ends with ends 5, 10 and 15 played as ‘power’ ends with the points scored counting double. The pairs were given a handicap based on their rankings in the Men’s and Ladies game. If scores were tied after 15 ends a one bowl shootout would take place to decide the winner.

There were some high-profile casualties on both qualifying nights, as some of the more fancied pairings made an early exit. For finals night a re-draw took place to determine who the pairings would play on the night, with a good mixture of high and low handicaps still in the competition. The excellent floodlights came into good use for the duration of the competition.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Marown’s Martha Butler and Brian Kelly (+7) 14-25 to Stevie Kelly (Peel) and Paul Dunn (+2) (Marown), Colin Kelly and Juan Killip (+2) lost out 11-16 to fellow home greeners Jayne Smith and Lyn Bolton (+4).

In the other half of the draw brothers Tom and Kevin Kelly (+2) were beaten 14-22 by Paula Firth (Noble’s) and son Nick Firth (+8) who plies his trade for Douglas, whilst the Noble’s father and son pairing of Andy and Lee Greggor (+8) lost out 13-23 to Castletown’s Chris Lever and David Quayle (+4).

The first semi-final was a big win for Kelly and Dunn who beat Smith and Bolton 25-10 to go through to the final. The other semi-final was a good game between Lever and Quayle, who were up against the Firth’s was edged by the latter pair as the game had just a chalk separating the pairs with three ends left to play, with the score 20-19. A strong finish from Paula and Nick ensured they went through to the final.

The final got underway with Kelly and Dunn having to give a six start to Paula and Nick, however this advantage was wiped in just two ends to put the score level at 8-8. Kelly and Dunn shown their dominance with a strong performance to keep their opponents down to three scoring ends, with Kelly finding a tricky mark on the riverbank side of the green to see the Peel/Marown combination runout with a 28-12 victory.

At the conclusion of play the presentation was made by Marown Club President Peter Kelly, who thanked Juan Kelly for once again sponsoring the competition, the Ladies for the refreshments over all three nights, everyone who entered, and all those who came to support. Juan Kelly’s son Colin was then introduced to present the prizes.

The 2023 BCGBA Mel Evans MBE Centenary Mixed Pairs was held on Saturday 7th October at Owley Wood Recreation Club, Barrymore Road, Weaverham.

The first games of the day got underway at 10:00 with South Ramsey pair Elaine Moore and Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) facing Maggie and Rob Swift (North Lancs & Fylde) on the number two green with the IOM pair recovering from a slow start to build up a 19-12 lead. Their opponents scored seven chalks to level the game up at 19-19. On the following end counting for three and lying game a good bowl saved two. With Elaine and Glynn 20-19 up a measure settled the following end to put the score at 20-20. On the deciding end a good lead bowl from Maggie was unbeaten as Moore and Hargraves agonisingly lost out 20-21.

Another South Ramsey pairing featured on green two with Gill Dixon and Stefan Kelly up against Olivia and Max Jefferson (North Midlands) with the game finely poised at 11-11, before the North Midlands pair went on to claim a 21-14 victory.

On Green One there was better success for Marown duo Lyn Bolton and Peter Jones who swept aside their opponents Janet Cross and Eddie Gowen (Cheshire) 21-7. A third South Ramsey pair lost out as Jenny Moore and James Teare were beaten 9-21 by Emma Ribbons & Jeff Brown (Potteries and District).

In the second round Bolton and Jones switched to Green One as they edged a close encounter with Jodie Dickinson and Tom Wiltshire (South Yorkshire) 21-18 to go through to the next round.

In the quarter finals Lyn and Peter made light work of their opponents as they beat Louise Ollerton and David Molyneux (Lancashire) 21-8 to book their place in the semi-final.

At the semi-final stage Bolton and Jones struggled to get in as they came up against Yorkshire pair Jasmine Kendal and Craig Gant, as they were beaten 6-21. Kendal and Grant did go on to win the competition as they beat Sophie Rigney and Tom Eccles (Greater Manchester) 21-19, with the Marown pair being able to console themselves as they lost to the eventual winners.

On Sunday South Ramsey were competing in the World Club Championship at the same venue as the Mixed Pairs the previous day as they played on Green One. South Ramsey had a tough day on a tricky, yet interesting green as they had just one winner against Yorkshire team Thongsbridge, a team littered with top players. David Bradford was the lone winner as he beat Craig Gant 21-19, with Bob Clark losing out to the same score to Adam Jones. Next highest scorers were James Teare who lost out 16-21 to James Davison, whilst Jordan Cain was last game off the green as he was beaten to the same score by Richard Jackson. The overall score was 166-97, as Thongsbridge ended up going through to Finals Day at Heaton Park in Manchester this weekend as they went on to beat Bradfield (South Yorkshire) in the qualifying game by 20 chalks 160-140.

South Ramsey bowler Jenny Moore put the icing on the cake of a superb season on Sunday, winning the Holy Grail in Crown Green Bowls, the BCGBA (British Crown Green Bowling Association) Champion of Champions title at Monks Sports and Social Club in Warrington, as the 34-year-old wrote her name into Manx and UK bowls history. 

This season, Moore has been in fine form showing her absolute dominance in the local game having won her sixth Manx Championship, the Manx Masters for the sixth successive time, the Isle of Man September Festival – with two previous Festival tittles under her belt, the Jordan Cup, and went unbeaten throughout the entire ladies’ league season winning 22 games out of 22 played.

Moore representing South Ramsey qualified for the Champion of Champions through winning the Ladies Manx Championship and was a double qualifier through winning the Isle of Man September Festival. Jenny was in the mix with 15 other County Merit winners, whilst the rest of the field was made up by those who had won some of the games biggest competitions that were played throughout the season. 

At the start of play, there was a field of 32 top players from across the UK and with Moore having previously picked up the British Senior Merit in 2021, she would have fancied her chances to reach the latter stages in this event.

Heavy rain early in the morning led to a slightly delayed start of the competition. In the first round, this proved to be her toughest game of the day when she faced Sharon Tatem (Burton & District County Winner) winning 21-18 after recovering from a slow start, before finding her groove to advance to the next round. 

In the second round, Jenny faced Sarah Edmondson who was the North Lancs & Fylde County Merit Winner, with Moore taking a comfortable 21-10 win. 

So, to the quarter finals Jenny was up against Emily Kernick who qualified for the event by winning the Ladies Fleetwood Festival, and this resulted in a straightforward 21-13 victory for Jenny who advanced to the semi-finals. 

At this stage, Jenny took on Shannon Kernick who is the sister of Emily Kernick, with Shannon also being a double qualifier for the event having won the Norden Open singles & Ladies Autumn Waterloo. Jenny won this game to an even bigger score claiming her only single figure win of the day with a 21-7 victory, to secure her place in the final. 

The final saw Jenny up against Linda Williams, Wales County Merit winner who is well known on the circuit, having picked up more than one Waterloo title. Williams is well-known for preferring a longer length, however this wouldn’t phase Moore in the slightest. Having been in good form throughout the day, Jenny made a strong start to go into a 6-0 lead before Williams got back into the game scoring four chalks to trail by two points with the score at 4-6. 

Moore got back in and managed to build up an 11-5 lead and then extended this further as Williams inexplicably played out her own counting bowl to put Jenny 14-7 up. The Welsh County merit winner then picked up a single followed by a double to put the score at 10-14. 

This proved to be the last points that Williams would pick upin the match, as two great bowls in the corners put Jenny 16-10 up. With Williams determined to play a longer length Jenny played some great bowls to ensure her opponent never got a run in the corners.  

Four successive singles followed with the second in that run being a great last bowl from Jenny. With the score now 20-10 to Moore, a good lead which finished perfectly – six inches behind the jack, this proved to be good enough to secure a 21-10 victory to pick up the Champion of Champions title and with it the £1,000 first prize. 

Jenny was supported on the day with her Mum and Dad watching, along with partner James and their nine-year-old daughter, Blae in what was a proud day for Jenny and the family. Jenny became the first Manx woman to win this title, with surely to be plenty more in the future.

To put this achievement into context Jenny has proved time after time that she is a match for any bowler on the island – man or woman as she become the first Manx woman to win this prestigious trophy. To cap off a superb day they even managed to make the boat back in time.