Ladies’ Association Pre-Festival Open
The Ladies’ Association Pre-Festival open took place at Port St Mary on Sunday 18 June, sponsored by the Slinger family in memory of their mother, Lilian , a stalwart of the Manx bowling community, who died last year.
The event attracted a field of 52 which included 19 visitors. The weather suited the occasion, but many competitors were caught out by the very fast green. Quarter-finals: Natalie Hughes (Crossgates) 21, Ann Maddrell 19; Pat Shevlin (Birchfield) 10, Rachel Quirk (Crossgates) 21; Sarah Varley (Rishton) 21, Jayne Kneen 12; Janet Monk 21, Jenny Moore 19.
In the first semi-final Rachel was in control from the start with Natalie unable to get her nose in front at any point, while in the other Janet had a slender lead after seven ends at which point Sarah took control to run out the winner.
Semi-finals: Rachel Quirk 21, Natalie Hughes 12; Sarah Varley 21, Janet Monk 13.
Sarah was 12-9 up after seven ends at which point the two players shared ends, with Rachel getting a greater number of 2‘s to levl up the score at 16-16 after fourteen ends. Three singles meant Sarah got to 19 first, before Rachel replied with two singles. Winning the next two ends gave Sarah the game to become the first winner of the Lilian Slinger trophy.
Association Competition secretary, Elaine Moore, thanked Port St Mary for the use of their green, their help on the green and also the amazing raffle and food, before thanking the Slinger family for sponsoring the event and introducing Peter to make the presentation.
Peter praised the green, saying it was the best on the island. His mother would have been so proud of the event and the standard of bowls on show – particularly in the final -and delighted that the winner, came from their part of England