There was a disappointing entry of eight ladies’ for the British Merit Qualifier played at Finch Hill on Sunday 19 April.

The sunshine at the start of the afternoon soon disappeared to leave a very cold and windy afternoon, but the inclement weather did not detract from the standard of bowls on display.

In the first round ( the quarter-finals) there were some close games with Rosie Winkle reaching 17 against Helen Martin and Lil Smith coming from behind to pip Lyn Bolton 21-20.

Quarter-finals: Caroline Whitehead 21, Mary Alderson 7; Helen Martin 21, Rosie Winkle 17; Lil Smith 21, Lyn Bolton 20; Janet Monk 21, Shirley Whelan 14.

The weather was probably at its worst for the semi-finals where, despite some good bowling from their opponents, Helen and Janet came through to meet in the final.

Semi-finals: Helen Martin 21, Caroline Whitehead 12; Janet Monk 21, Lil Smith 13.

Janet had the better of the early exchanges in the final, having the advantage 10-4 before Helen started to fight back closing to 12-14. With two 2’s and a single Janet stretched her lead to 19-12, before Helen won the next six ends to make it 17-20 her opponent taking the next end to win 21-17.

Janet will now represent the island in the British Merit at Nuneaton on 11 July.

Association President, Pat Robertson congratulated the players and thanked the Finch Hill for the use of their facilities.

Special thanks go to Anne Caine who came along and provided very welcome warm drinks on a very cold afternoon.

The ladies’ season got under way at Port St Mary on Saturday 4 April with the non-winners Hands Trophy 2014 held over from last season when it could not be played due to inclement weather.
The disappointing entry of 15 may have been due in part to the cold weather endured so far this season, but conditions could not have been better as the event started, although the mist rolled over later in the afternoon. There were some very close matches throughout and this carried through into the final.

Quarter-finals: Margaret Tasker 21, Connie Pettegrew 7; Kim Hargraves 21. Tricia Bull 19; Paula Firth 21, Rita Callister 13; Maureen Payne 21, Lin Ruscoe 20.
Semi-finals: Kim Hargraves 21, Margaret Tasker 6; Paula Firth 21, Maureen Payne 14

In the final Paula stormed into an early lead of 14-6 before Kim clawed her way back having the better of the middle stages leaving a very exciting “nip and tuck” finish with Paula coming through to take the trophy 21-19.

The prizes were presented by Association president, Pat Robertson, who thanked the Port St Mary club for their hospitality, congratulated the greenkeeper on the state of the green and also thanked everyone involved in the smooth running of the afternoon.

There was an entry of 33 for the IOM Ladies’ Merit for the Barbara Lee Trophy played at Ballaugh on Sunday 15 September. The green was running well and there were some very close, and some not so close, matches during the afternoon.

Quarter-finals: Jenny Moore 21, Rita Callister 6; Alison Keggen 21, Jenny Maddrell 20; Ann Gale 21, Mary Alderson 16; Lilian Slinger 21, Caroline Whitehead 16.

Semi-finals: Jenny Moore 21, Alison Keggen 17; Ann Gale 21, Lilian Slinger 13.

The final could not have been closer as the two players matched each other throughout. After Jenny led by two points at 7-5 the next time there was a two point gap between the two players was on the 25^th. end when Jenny led 16-14 and then increased the lead to three at 18-15. Ann took the next four ends to lead 20-18.Jenny replied with a two before getting a single on the 34^th. end to take the match and the title.

Association President, Pat Robertson thanked the Ballaugh club for hosting the event as well as all those who had helped in the smooth running of the afternoon before introducing Tracy Nicol, Barbara’s daughter, to make the presentations.

Another Festival has come to an end and after a glorious week weather-wise. Manx ladies made their mark with some strong performances during the latter stages.

It looked promising in the main event on Thursday afternoon when the last 32 contained 14 local players, but with some of them coming up against each other ,seven remained in the last 16.With Jenny Moore, Lin Ruscoe, Meg Williams, Joyce Kelly and Janet Monk going out at that stage only Tricia Bull and Chris Price remained in the quarter-finals. Tricia lost out 21-13 to last year’s winner Tracy Ryan, while Chris lost to eventual runner-up, Violet Dennison, 21-15. This gave Chris the Blanche Kaye Trophy fr the Manx lady who had progressed furthest in the competition.

In the Tourism event two local ladies made it through to the semi-finals on Thursday morning, Elaine Moore going out at that stage to Eilleen Pye while Rachel Quirk went through 21-20 against Tracy Ryan. Rachel then beat Eileen Pye to progress to the final where she went down 13-21 to Claire Williams.

The four pairs in the ladies’ doubles semi-finals all contained a Manx lady, Jenny Moore and Val Young putting out Lyn Bolton and Hilary Forshaw, while Helen Martin and Janet Gleave saw off Elaine Moore and Dawn Benn. In a very close final Helen and Janet Came through to win 11-9.

In the ladies’ consolation Paula Garrett made it through to the quarter-finals but three out of four pairs in the Mixed doubles semi-finals contained a local lady. .Lyn Bolton and Andy Mailer put out Heather Horsburgh and Brian Furber 9-7 to meet Margaret Tasker and Richard Hoyles in the final In another close encounter Margaret and Richard came through to take the title 9-7.

The Castletown ladies’ singles, sponsored by the Bowling Green Café, took place on Sunday 31 August in glorious weather. The 10.30 am start saw a field of 45, including 15 visitors, gather to produce some fine bowling.

The quarter-final stage saw three local players, Margaret Tasker, Lyn Bolton and Elaine Moore bow out together with Paula Gamon ( Norley) while Chris Price and Cath Wall (Lloyds Manchester0 progressed to the semis, leaving the final to be contested by Carleen Doody-Millington ( Wrockwardine Wood) and Veronica Lyon (West Derby Recs).

In the final Carleen had the better of Ronnie, who had been bowling superbly all afternoon, to come through to take the game, and trophy, 21-12.

Thanks go to Ellen from the Bowling Green Café for sponsoring the event.

The weather was not kind to the 31 ladies who gathered at Peel on Saturday to compete for the Essie Quayle Cup with fairly heavy rain during the later stages. The green was running well and there were some very close games during the afternoon.

Quarter-finals: Philippa Taylor 21, Mary Alderson 16; Chris Price 21, Janet Monk 20; Heather Horsburgh 21, Joyce Kelly 20; Lyn Bolton 21, Lin Ruscoe 16.

Semi-finals; Philippa Taylor 21, Chris Price 16; Lyn Bolton 21, Heather Horsburgh 10.

Early exchanges in the final brought the score level at 10-10 before Philippa had the better of the next few ends to take a lead 16-13 at which point Lyn pulled back to 16-17.Two singles and a 2 from Philippa brought her through to win 21-16 in an excellent game.

The presentation was made by the winner of the “Wet T-shirt” competition, a water-logged Heather Horsburgh who thanked all who entered and those who had stayed to the conclusion of the competition.

There was an entry of three girls for the Junior Girls Merit which was played at Ballaugh on Sunday 10 August. Despite a heavy shower at the beginning the weather cleared to allow some good bowls to be played.

The event was played as a Round-Robin with the girl with the highest number of chalks representing the island on 30 August.

Harley Garrett 15, Casey Bolton 8; Casey Bolton 15, Bethany Kennish 4; Harley Garrett 15, Bethany Kennish 4.

Final order : Harley Garrett 30 points, Casey Bolton 23 points and Bethany Kennish, who will be a threat in years to come, 8 points.

We wish Harley all the best on 30 August

There was an entry of 19 for the ladies’ singles sponsored by Paddy Power which was played at Douglas, alongside the men’s event, on Saturday 23 August. The warm weather and fast green led to some interesting games played in good spirit.

Quarter-finals : Pat Withers 21, Maureen Payne 16; Jo Smith 21, Jenny Moore 19; Rita Callan 21, Wendy Cowin 20; Paula Garrett 21, Lil Smith 10.

Semi-finals : Jo Smith 21, Pat Withers 18; Paula Garrett 21, Rita Callan 16

Paula got off to a strong start in the final winning seven of the first eight ends to lead 15-8. Jo then won the next five ends to level the score at 15-15, but could only manage to win one more end as Paula ran out the winner 21-16.

Roy Williams remarked how kind the weather had been for the competitions for the two Douglas Town Cups before introducing Andy Foster, from Paddy Power, to make the presentations.

There was an entry of 30 for the ladies’ singles open played at Port St Mary on Wednesday 13 August for the W.A.Roberts Trophy sponsored by Celtic Associates Ltd. Despite a rain interruption during the afternoon the weather cleared to give fine weather for the latter stages.

Quarter-finals: Tricia Bull 21, Paula Firth 17; Val Macfarlane 21, Win Collister 14; Ann Maddrell 21, Chris Holland 14; Chris Price 21, Hannah Kermode 14.

Both semi-finals were very close. Tricia and Val were neck and neck to 19-19 when Val got two singles to come through 21-19, while in the other match Chris raced ahead to 16-9 before Ann fought back to 19-19. A 2 at the next end saw Chris through to the final.

In the final the scores were level at 14-14 before a spurt from Val took her into a 20-16 lead. Chris took the next three ends to make it “all but across”, before a win for Val on the next end gave her the title 21-20.

Ann Maddrell then thanked all those who had helped during the afternoon running the sheet and providing the refreshments, and also the green keeper, before introducing Iain Wood from Celtic Associates Ltd to make the presentations. Iain said how much he had enjoyed the bowls and that they would be delighted to sponsor the competition again next year.