Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

The first official men’s singles competition of the season was held on Sunday, with an entry of 37 taking part in the Ken Williamson Cup, with entries higher than when the competition is traditionally held in June after a long week of festival bowls.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were James Teare (South Ramsey) 14-21 to Tom Kelly (Marown), Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) 15-21 to Colin Kelly (Marown). Walter McCarthy just lost out 19-21 to Marown clubmate Neil Withers, whilst Castletown man Nathan Hamilton beat Nigel Tebay (Ballaugh) 21-13.

Both semi-finals were plain sailing for the winners as Colin Kelly beat his son Tom 21-11, whilst Hamilton’s hopes of a first open win were ended by Withers 12-21.

The final got underway with Kelly winning the first two ends with singles, only for Withers to score 10 chalks over the following eight ends to lead 12-6. Kelly responded with 10 chalks of his own over just ends in the corners to lead 16-12. Withers managed to close the gap to just two chalks at 15-17, however one more burst from Kelly sealed a 21-16 victory.

The presentation was made by Kevin Quirk with thanks given to Dave Tait for running the competition and to the ladies for putting on the refreshments. Ken Williamson’s relative Caroline Heathcote was then introduced to present the prizes on behalf of Ken Williamson’s family. In his speech Colin stated it was the third time he had won the trophy having won it for the first two years the competition was played in 1996 and 1997.