The third running of the Rheuben Thomas Junior Bowling Trophy was held on the morning of Sunday 11th June on the glorious setting of the North Ramsey Bowling Club green in Mooragh Park. An entry of 22 competitors was split into two groups, the younger/less experienced bowlers playing in a Round Robin event with the older/more experienced bowlers playing in a knockout competition for the Rheuben Thomas Junior Bowling Trophy.

In the Round Robin event the competitors were split into two groups with the winner of each group meeting to decide the outright winner of the event. Enya Christian was a clear winner of one group with newcomer Landon Allison winning his group by just one chalk. In the final Enya got off to a flying start leading 4– 0 after the first four ends and despite a determined comeback by Landon in the last few ends Enya ran out as the winner 7–3.

In the knockout event Madison cruised through the quarter-finals to set up a semi-final meeting with Clark Kelly. Madison led 12-4 after 12 ends and looked to be well on her way to reaching the final however Clark fought back gamely and was leading 19-18 after the 27th end. It was Madison, however, who won the contest scoring a 2 and a 1 on the last two ends, winning 21-19. The other half of the draw saw Victoria Johnson playing Lola Tebay in the semi-finals. This was again a very close game with the lead changing multiple times and after 28 ends Lola led by 19-18. Mirroring the scoring of the other semi-final it was Victoria who ran out as the winner scoring a 2 and a 1 on the last two ends.

In the final Madison dominated the game and was never behind winning the match in the 18th end 21-7, thereby retaining the trophy she had won the previous year.

The prizes were presented by Heidi Thomas (Rheuben’s widow) assisted by NRBC Junior Coach Janet Monk. In addition to the main trophy presented to Madison she and Enya Christian received small trophies to keep whilst runners up Victoria and Landon received silver medals. All competitors received a bronze medal commemorating the event.

NRBC would like to thank Heidi and all her family for their efforts to support the event and everyone else who contributed to the running of the competition.

A healthy entry of 34 pairs took part in this year’s Port St Mary mixed doubles open competition held at Breagle Glen on Bank Holiday Monday on another fine day.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Sue Gawne (Noble’s) and Andy Kennish (Marown) 17-21 to Marown pair Rebecca Teare and Paul Dunn. An all South Ramsey affair between Kim Hargraves and Peter Collister who were up against Elaine Moore and Glynn Hargraves was well contested with the latter pair progressing 21-18. Jean Thackrah (Port Erin) and Bernard Thackrah (Port St Mary) reached the end of the road as they were beaten 10-21 by South Ramsey’s Jenny Moore and James Teare, whilst Port Erin’s Voirrey Curphey and Seamus Whelan lost out 14-21 to Philippa and Alec Taylor (Marown/Peel).

The first semi-final was Teare and Dunn who were up against Moore and Hargraves with the latter pair forced to swap the playing order as they trailed 10-14, before going on to turn the game around to book their place in the final with a 21-17 win.

In the other semi-final Moore and Teare won 21-9 in just 11 ends as the Taylor’s scored a three on the single end they did win.

The all South Ramsey final was expected to be a tight match with Elaine and Glynn sticking to the order that had got them through the semi-final as they won the first two ends with singles. Jenny and James scored two doubles in between Elaine and Glynn picking up two more singles to tie the score at 10-10. The following two ends were dead ends with James taking the jack off the green, with Elaine returning the favour. The following end Elaine and Glynn were lying three only for James to play a great last bowl to edge ahead 11-10.

Elaine and Glynn then took control of the game with three consecutive doubles, conceding two singles in between another double to lead 18-13.

A single put Elaine and Glynn 19-13 ahead. On the next end Jenny and James were counting one, only for Elaine to trail the jack through to lie game which Jenny was unable to beat for Elaine and Glynn to take the win 21-13.

The presentation was made by Port St Mary Club President Margaret Tasker who thanked everyone at the club that helped on the day. In his speech Glynn noted that it had been a couple of years since he and Elaine had won a mixed doubles competition.

In glorious sunshine and on a much-improved green 37 any combination doubles bowlers played in the Lilian Slinger competition at Mooragh Park on Sunday afternoon. 

With some pairs having to play three games to reach the quarter final stage all four matches were well contested with Rob Monk (North Ramsey) and Matthew Quirk (Onchan) just edging out Marown pair Glenn Boland and Peter Jones 21-20. South Ramsey pair James Teare and Glynn Hargraves battled back from an 8-19 deficit to Marown duo Brian Kelly and James Kelly, with Teare and Hargraves lying two only for James to play a great bowl to split the two counting bowls and trail the jack to win the game 21-18. The home green pairing of Geoff Porter and Brian Colquitt just lost out 18-21 to the brother and sister pairing of Alan Moore and Jenny Moore, whilst another North Ramsey pair Allan Callow and Tony Smart lost to the same score to Eddie Carlyle (South Ramsey) and Les Brookes (Finch Hill).

At the semi-final stage it was the end of the road for the Marown all Kelly pairing as Monk and Quirk won 21-15 to book their place in the final, whilst the Moore’s won to the same score against Carlyle and Brookes.

The final was nip and tuck early on with neither pairing able to get a run, with the score 10-9 to Monk and Quirk after eight ends. The following end resulted in the Moore’s scoring a three, only for the North Ramsey/Onchan pair to respond by taking three of the next four ends as they also scored a three to take the lead 15-13. Six singles followed with Alan and Jenny winning four of the six ends to tie the score at 17-17.

On the 21^st end the South Ramsey pair were lying three, with Quirk having no option other than to strike, a clean hit of the bowl which was touching the jack which ricocheted several times before settling only to inexplicably still be three down to fall behind 17-20.

On the following end a great lead from Alan fell over kindly to sit directly behind the jack, only for the end to be disturbed, then killed when the jack was knocked off the green by their opponents. The next end proved to be the final end of the match with Alan again putting up a good lead, which Rob beat, only for this to be beat back once more. After a few efforts at taking out the counting bowl it was a 21-17 victory for the brother and sister pairing in what proved to be a great final for the watching crowd.

The presentation was made by Gary Lenton, who thanked the catering team for all the refreshments, Mike Skelly for running the sheet and the team for preparing a much-improved bowling green. The prizes were presented by Lilian’s daughter Janet, who sponsored the competition. In his speech Alan thanked North Ramsey for holding the competition, commenting on the ongoing improvement in the green, also went on to say it was nice to win with Jenny as they would have been arguing when they played together as kids!

A healthy entry of 26 junior bowlers from all over the Island entered the Junior Manx Championship at Noble’s Bowling Club on Sunday. There was a good crowd in attendance on a hot day, with the winner of the competition having to win five games to claim the title. With several of the older Junior Bowlers now ineligible to enter, it was guaranteed to be a new winner this year.

This year, going against recent years it was more boys than girls through to the latter stages, as six boys made it through to the quarter finals and two girls, with some great bowls played by all the Junior bowlers.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Katie Jacobs (Douglas), who just lost 18-21 to Alex Colquitt (Noble’s), home greener Alex Hampson was beaten 17-21 by Clark Kelly (Douglas), Grace Gawne (Noble’s) ended the hopes of Dylan Marsh (Castletown) 21-11, whilst Castletown’s Sam Quayle came through 21-14 against Sam Colquitt (Noble’s).

In the semi-finals Grace kept up her good form as she ended the challenge of Sam, who had performed well all day, displaying great composure only to lose out 14-21. The other semi-final was between Alex and Clark, with the latter at one point looking favourite to progress to the final leading 15-10 only for Alex to work his way back into the game, and to see the game out with a 21-19 win to book his place in the final.

In the final Grace who suffered heartache last year in the final looked nailed on to win only to eventually lose out 21-18 she took the early initiative, taking the lead 4-0 after just three ends, only for Alex to settle into the game well to lead 5-4.

Grace responded to win seven of the next 10 ends scoring five doubles’, conceding just three singles to build up a commanding 16-8 lead – coincidentally the same score she led last year. Despite losing three consecutive singles Grace rallied once more to close the game out in style with a single, a two, then two further singles, beating a good first bowl from Alex on the final end to claim her first Junior title with a 21-11 victory.

The presentation was made by Association Press Officer Glynn Hargraves, who thanked Noble’s Bowling Club for hosting, Wayne Roberts for running the competition. Glynn went on to say how good the standard of bowls was along with how well all the Juniors had behaved. Grace was then presented with the Shield.

Both Grace and Alex will represent the Isle of Man at the UK Junior Individual Merit on Saturday 19^th August at Essington Bowling Club in Staffordshire.

PlumbMaster Rayner Shield

New sponsors for the Isle of Man Crown Green Bowls – Men’s Section are PlumbMaster who are part of Haldane Fisher. They have agreed a two-year deal sponsoring the Rayner Shield and the Rayner Plate, the Association Cup along with the Men’s Doubles Manx Championship which takes place later in the season.

Match of the night on paper was between Peel A and Marown A with the Crosby men being drawn away from home. A solid performance from the visitors resulted in a 2-6 win on the night. Colin Kelly signed off before jetting off with a 21-9 win over Pip Pemberton, Marown captain Paul Dunn shown no mercy to George Gadsby with a 21-7 victory. For Peel Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly inflicted a 21-14 defeat on John Gelling, Tommy McMeiken beat Paul Kelly 21-15, whilst Gary Smith just lost out 20-21 to Glenn Boland.

The real match of the night was between Douglas A and Onchan A at the Villa with the score 4-4 on games the match was decided on chalks, with the visitors advancing to the quarter finals with as they won by just three chalks (140-143). For Onchan Neil Dunwell was the best winner as he beat Gordon Wynne-Smythe 21-8, whilst for the visitors Merv Sayle went one better with a 21-7 win over Will Penhallurick. Claiming victories in close games for the Villa men were Keith Rise who edged it 21-20 against Phil Kerruish and Ian Moore who beat Mike Thomas 21-18. For Onchan Kevin Quirk had his work cut out to beat Mark Kneen 21-17.

Current Rayner Shield Holders South Ramsey A won 8-0 once again in their second-round match on a vastly improved Noble’s One green. Whilst they won all their games, with four of them to single figures, they didn’t have it all their own way as Alex Hampson performed well to lose out 15-21 to South Ramsey captain Glynn Hargraves, as did teammate Phil Salmon against Jordan Cain. Highest scorer of the night for Noble’s was Stephen Corkill as he just lost out 19-21 to Stefan Kelly.

Port St Mary A lost out 3-5 at home to Castletown B despite having home advantage, however they could console themselves slightly as they won on chalks (138-130) with the impact of missing three regulars from the team just too damaging on the night, as Dan McCabe lost 20-21 to Alan Phair, Bob Kay was beaten 19-21 by Ian Watson, and Wayne Roberts lost 17-21 to Peter Oates. Winning big for the Port men were Peter Collins and Trevor Quayle who both won 21-7 against John Matheson and Willie Corkill respectively.

South Ramsey C made home advantage count as they won 5-3 at home to Peel C, with Lee Dawson making his first night league appearance of the season as he impressed massively as he continues his road to recovery with a 21-2 win over Jeff Wilson, whilst Anthony Kelly ensured the match didn’t go down to chalks with his 21-20 win over Phillip Clarke.

Division Three side Douglas C hosted first division team Marown C, with the visitors coming away with a 1-7 win, claiming four single figure wins on the night. Preventing the whitewash was John Ferguson who beat Kevin Kelly 21-17, whilst teammate Juan Readshaw was on the wrong side of a 20-21 against Dan Smith.

Douglas B who are ticking along nicely in Division Two hosted Division One strugglers Castletown A, it was the Villa men who caused a mini upset as they won 6-2 on games with the chalks telling a different story as they won by just one chalk (140-139). Nathan Hamilton was the best winner for Town as he beat William Cowley 21-4, whilst Stuart Garrett won 21-9 against Jordan Drewett.

Port St Mary B welcomed North Ramsey A to Breagle Glen with the visitors easing to a 1-7 victory, however two of the wins to 21-20, with Steve Walmsley and Allan Callow beating Nicholas Peterson and Derek Cain respectively. Bernard Thackrah prevented the whitewash for the Port men.

PlumbMaster Rayner Plate

With handicaps awarded based on League placings the match of the week in the last 16 of the Plate was between Peel B (+20) and South Ramsey D (+70) as the match finished 177-177 with the Peel men clawing back 50 chalks to tie, only to advance to the quarter finals as they won 7-1 on games, since they couldn’t be separated on chalks. Lone winner for the visitors was Frank Feeney as he beat Gordon Corrin 21-10, whilst Peel’s best winner was Dougie Allan who won 21-4 against Geoff Collier. Dewi Bartlett made it four wins from four games played defeating South Ramsey captain Franz ten Donkelaar, with Bartlett rumoured to have played bowls to a high standard in Wales.

Another epic encounter was between Marown D (+50) and Ballaugh B (+60) at Crosby with the home team just sneaking home by two chalks (188-190), with Ryan Holdaway turning out once again as he won 21-9 to help his team progress to the next round.

Finch Hill A (+45) progressed with a 27-chalk victory (178-205) away to Noble’s C with the Noble’s men performing admirably as Lee Greggor and Dean Sowerby won 21-20 against Stephen Oates and Brian Murphy respectively, whilst Terry Bates did well to beat Dave McCabe 21-15.

Port Erin A (+30) drew 4-4 on games, only to lose out by 16 chalks (174-190) to Noble’s A (+50) as Bernie Durcan beat Mark Bradshaw 21-8, with David Cain winning 21-9 against John Andrew as they attempted to claw back the chalks.

Finch Hill B (+50) overturned a 15 chalk deficit on the handicap at home to Peel D (+65) as they won by 13 chalks helped by winning 6-2 on games, as Peter Woods won 21-9 against Will Mitchell, whilst four of his Finch teammates won 21-15, and the final win 21-14 was claimed by Tony Jones as he beat Mike Ashmole.

South Ramsey B (+25) had a dominant home win against second division side North Ramsey B (+60) as they won by 62 chalks (193-131) despite having to give the Mooragh men a 35-chalk start, they won all eight games on the night, with five games being won to single figures.

Ballaugh C (+50) were crushed 0-8 at home to Marown B (+15), with the Crosby men winning on the by 38 chalks (145-183).

Ballaugh A (+30) made light work of visitors Port Erin B (+70) despite having to give the Breagle men a 40-chalk start as they won by 33 chalks with three single figure wins helping claw back the chalks.

Canada Life International Mixed Team Championship

In Group A Marown A welcomed North Ramsey A to Crosby with the home team winning three games to single figures in their 29-chalk victory (152-123) as Neil Withers, Paul Kelly, and Glenn Boland beat Steven Waters, Madison McMullan, and Rosemary Quirk respectively, whilst Janet Monk won 21-6 against Rebecca Teare for the visitors.

In the other match in Group A Ballaugh A hosted Douglas A, it was the visitors who picked up the two points as they won by just one chalk (154-155) despite losing 6-3 on games.

In Group B Port St Mary had the visit of Peel to Breagle Glen as the home team by 35 chalks, despite the games being a lot closer going 5-4 in favour of Port St Mary.

The other fixture in Group B was between Noble’s A and South Ramsey A, with the home team winning two games as they lost out by 43 chalks to the current holders. Winning for the home team were Mark Bradshaw who performed well to beat James Teare 21-18, whilst Stephen Corkill won 21-8 against Fiona Kennish.

Canada Life International Mixed Team Plate

In the Plate competition in Group A Noble’s B took on Finch Hill at home with the visitors coming away with the victory by 20 chalks (156-176) as they won 3-6 on games.

North Ramsey B had the visit of a relatively inexperienced Marown B with the Mooragh men winning by 25 chalks, Katie Johnson was the best winner for the home team, whilst James Kelly and Phil Dunn were both single figure winners for Marown as they beat Joe Kneale and Bailey McMullan respectively. Just losing out 19-21 was Ryan Holdaway to Olivia Johnson.

In Group B another team fielding several new Bowlers was Douglas B who were at home to Port Erin with the home team losing out by 32 chalks, as Paul Cowley lost out 20-21 to Jean Thackrah, whilst Junior bowler Clark Kelly performed well only to lose out 18-21 to Steve Durcan.

The following thirteen juniors travelled to Heaton Park on Saturday 20th May to play in the BCGBA ladies section run Junior Championships, Emily Cooper, Grace Cooper, Emily Jacobs, Katie Jacobs, Graiagh Smith, David Manley, Aalish Moore, Sam Quayle, Dylan Marsh, Erin Quayle, Alex Hampson, Lacey McMullan and Bailey McMullan. With only five teams taking part there was only one group and the first round saw IOM A play IOM B. The result shows just how how well match all of them are with the B beating the A team 81-79. Grace, Emily C, David and Lacey winning for the B and Graiagh and Katie winning for the A.

The second round for IOM A saw them change greens which will have had an impact on their match result when they were beaten by a strong Yorkshire side, 32-90. The IOM B stayed on the same green as their first match and did well against Warwick & Worcester B 45-81. David and Erin both winning their games.

The third round for IOM A was against Warwick & Worcester A. Alex Hampson helped keep the opponents score down with a 15-0 win. Dylan Marsh came back from 0-10 down to just lose 14-15 on the last bowl of the game. Thanks goes to our super supporter Shannon McMullan for her encouragement. Final match result was 50-75. The IOM B team sat this round out.

The forth round was the final match for IOM A against Warwick & Worcester B and with four winners, Dylan, Sam, Katie and Graiagh, Alex dropping 3 points and Aalish dropping 7 points the team won 80-51. IOM B were up against the strong Yorkshire side but came away with a great score of 67-75. David winning his third game, Grace and Emily C winning their second.

The fifth and final round, IOM B played Warwick & Worcester B and there was only 1 point in it. Winners were Grace, Bailey and Lacey. David got 12, so only dropping 3 points all day. Last game of the day saw our youngest bowler Emily Jacobs have an epic battle. 3-9 down to 12-12, then unfortunately losing the next three ends to ones. The match result was 79-80.

Yorkshire were the overall winners, Warwick & Worcester A second, with Warwick & Worcester B, IOM A & IOM B coming joint third.

Thanks goes to BCGBA Ladies section and Yvette Gregory for running the competition, IOMCCGBA for expenses, Tina Hampson for all the organising of the teams on the day, Andy Kennish for travel and all parents and supporters.

Sunday May 21^st saw the staging of the 2023 Haldane Fisher Mixed Pairs Crown Green Bowling Competition. All the twenty four pairs taking part were treated to a Green that was running well and found by many to be quite tricky.

At the Quarter Final stage we saw Rebecca Teare and Paul Dunn (Marown) beat Joyce Ogden (Marown) and Lee Dawson (South Ramsey) 21-17 while home greeners Jan West and Andy Cannell (Douglas) took a 21-16 victory against Sandra May and Mark Kelly (Onchan). In the bottom half of the draw we saw Jenny Moore and James Teare (South Ramsey) beat Debbie Leece and Neil Withers (Marown) 21-19 and Paula and Stuart Garrett (Douglas) beat Paula and Nick Firth (Nobles and Douglas) 21-17.

In the semi-finals a strong performance on their own Green from Jan West and Andy Cannell resulted in a 21-9 win against Rebecca Teare and Paul Dunn , while Jenny Moore and James Teare took a 21-17 win against Paula and Stuart Garrett.

This brought us to what turned out to be a thrilling Final with the Moore/Teare pairing starting well and building up a 12-9 lead but then a run of three singles for West and Cannell brought the score to 12-12. Jenny and James then built up their lead to 18-12 but their opponents then got a three to make it 18-15 only to lose a two on the next end and leave the South Ramsey pairing leading 20-15. Jan and Andy then scored five over the next three ends leaving the score at 20-20 but then Jenny and James won the deciding end to win the competition.

The prizes were presented by the President of Douglas Bowling Club Kay McKiernan and James Teare thanked Haldane Fisher for sponsoring the event and Douglas Bowling Club for hosting it and the Green Keeper for a Green that was running well but tricky.

With a free date in the Bowls Calendar Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly took the opportunity to hold a competition open to all with players paying £25 for the privilege, resulting in an £800 prize fund. The location of choice was Douglas Bowling club, with the competition being touted as the Villa Classic. The weather was fair all day, with music being played it made for a good atmosphere around the green, with 32 players taking part and plenty of spectators in attendance.

Losing out at the quarter final stage to earn themselves £40 each were Bob Clark (South Ramsey) who lost out 17-21 to Neil Withers (Marown), Rebecca Teare (Marown) was beaten 15-21 by Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey), Glenn Boland (Marown) was heavily defeated 6-21 by David Bradford (South Ramsey), whilst Peel man Stevie Kelly lost out 15-21 to Paul Dunn (Marown).

At the semi-final stage it was South Ramsey versus Marown in both games. Losing out to collect £90 were Hargraves, who was well beaten 11-21 by Withers, whilst Dunn fell to Bradford 15-21.

The final still had almost 50 people in attendance. It was Bradford who got off to a flier, was always in control of the game as he built up a lead of 13-4 after seven ends playing a mark over the middle of the green. Bradford never relented as he managed to claim a solid 21-10 victory over Withers and with it the first prize of £300, whilst the Marown man could console himself with £160 for his effort on the day.

The presentation was made by competition organiser Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly, who thanked Douglas Bowling Club for the use of the green and for the refreshments, Brian Kelly for helping run the competition and everyone who had entered.