Westlands Bowling Club News

Westlands Bowling Club

Westlands News

Details of achievements by members
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Westlands Club News 2016

Congleton League win "Frank Green 6 a side Trophy"

The "Frank Green 6 a Side" is a Knock-Out Competition for teams playing in the Congleton League.
Congratulations to Steve Howe and his team on winning this competition for the 3rd time in the last 4 years.
This was a superb achievement as the Congleton League is a very tough League with some really strong teams.
19 teams entered the 2016 event which began at the completion of the normal League fixtures.
Teams are handicapped and games played under floodlights on neutral greens .
En route to the final, the Westlands team accounted for Congleton Pk A, Congleton C.C. B, Knypersley A and Norton Central B.
The final, against Clough Hall, was at Congleton Railway Club on 3/10/16, details are below.

Clough Hall B.C.		Westlands
Brian Clarence	21	12	Martin Walker
Fred Donaldson	6	21	Steve Howe
John Skelding	15	21	Adam Jackson
Harry Minor	21	20	Matt Hill
Andy Hush	21	16	Lee Brown
Tom Mumford	20	21	Richard Burgess
Handicap	+ 12	+ 6	Handicap
Clough Hall Total	116	117	Westlands Total	Victorious Westlands Squad

The first 3 pairs provided some great bowling and after 3 games Westlands had wiped out the handicap and led by 6 points.
Clough Hall fought back and with 5 games completed the score was tied at 96-96. The final game between Richard Burgess and Tom Mumford was a fantastic encounter. Tom lay 20-19 and, on a long pegging mark, had a bowl within a foot of the jack. This appeared to be a match winning position but Richard produced a miraculous wood to take the end.
In a cliff-'hanging final end Richard secured the game and match winning point.
The general consensus was this must have been the most exciting Frank Green final ever contested!

Division 1 Newcastle League Championship

Our Newcastle 1^st team, captained by Allison and Dave Jackson topped Newcastle League Division 1.
In a thrilling climax to the season they won the title by just 3 chalks.
This was the the first time the Club had won this title since 1986.
This success completed a quick fire double for the team as they had won the Division 2 Championship the previous season.
Congratulations to Allison, Dave and the team.

Matt Hill tops Congleton League Averages

Congratulations to Matt Hill on topping the Congleton League Division 1 Averages.
Matt won 16 of his 20 games and in the process dropped just 15 chalks (only lost 1 away game).
This is an outstanding achievement as many of the top players compete in this League.
Well done Matt.

Oakhill Jubilee League Division 4 Title

Our Oakhill team, captained by John Ford, won the Oakhill Jubilee Division 4 Championship.
The team was formed in 2014 when they finished 3rd in Division 5.
In 2015 they went 1 better and, as runners-up earned promotion into Division 4.
In 2016 they were Champions of Division 4 and promoted into Division 3.
Well done John and the team.

Matt Bailey wins Newcastle League Division 1
Champion of Champions Merits

The Newcastle League "Champion of Champions" competition is held at the end of the season. Each Club is invited to send a player to represent them in this singles merit competition.
The 2016 Competition was held on Sunday 4^th September on the Wolstanton Park/Wolstanton Marsh greens. Matt Bailey was selected to represent the Club in the Division 1 section.
Matt did us proud by winning this competition.
In the Semi-Final he had a 21-14 win against Pat Simpson (Barlaston Plume) and in the Final he accounted for Linda Bourne (Wolstanton Park) by the same score.
This was a great achievement by Matt as he had only returned to bowling this season. He had played as a Junior but after a few years absence from the game this was his first experience in a Senior League.

Harry Walklet retains 2016 President's Cup

The number of entries for the President's Cup continues to rise with 38 members entering the 2016 competition. The format for this event requires that a separate draw for opponents is made prior to each round.

A preliminary round involving 12 players took place in May. The 32 surviving players went on to enter the first of 5 rounds which took place between June and August.

The final, between Harry Walklet and Ian Farrimond, took place on 27^th August. On his path to the final Harry beat Jim Miles, Janice Adams, Phil Shaw and John Ford. Due to a withdrawal, Ian had a 1st round bye, in subsequent rounds he accounted for John Shuker, Bernard Regan and Doug Longmore.

In a very tight final Harry just came out on top with a 21-20 win. Congratulations to Harry for winning the President's Cup for the second year running and to Ian for reaching the final.

Harry became just the 2nd person to retain this trophy, emulating Terry Bloor's wins in 1988 - 1989.
This was a second 2016 success for Harry who had already won the Club Doubles with Steve Howe.

Thanks to all participants who played every game by the prescribed deadline. This ensured that the competition progressed smoothly throughout the summer months.

Special thanks again to Bernard Oates who has revitalised our Club Competitions. The Club are very grateful to Bernard for his tremendous work in the role of Competitions Secretary.

Bernard Oates wins 2016 Westlands Cup
The Westlands Cup handicap competition was held on Sunday 14^th August. All members of Westlands Bowling Club and Westlands Ladies Bowling Club are eligible to play in this event. There were 24 entrants on a dry, mild afternoon. The players were divided into 4 groups, the 6 players in each group had similar handicap ratings. In a series of preliminary games each person played 3 limited ends matches against members of their own group. The winner of each group then went forward to the play off stage. In the semi-finals Bernard Oates accounted for Harry Walklet and Janice Adams beat Norman Thompson. The final was a very close affair which hung in the balance until the last end when Bernard just pipped Janice. This was Bernard's first win in this competition. Many thanks to all those who entered and congratulations to all 4 prize winning semi-finalists.
Thanks to everyone who helped make the day a great success. Players and supporters provided food for an excellent buffet. Thanks for the help with jobs including setting up, tidying up, running the raffle, card marking, making tea, taking photos, etc.
Through the hard work and initiative of Bernard Oates the 2016 Club competitions have been an enormous success. The Club are most grateful to Bernard for running these events. In this, our last competition of the season, he certainly showed off his organisation skills. Everything ran perfectly and he even managed to win the competition - now that really does take some organising!!

2016 Westlands Men's Doubles Success for Harry Walklet and Steve Howe
The Annual Men's Doubles was held on Sunday 7^th July, organised by our Competitions Secretary, Bernard Oates. The overcast afternoon was punctuated by a number of showers, a few of which were sufficiently heavy to force the 12 competitors from the green. There was some high scoring in the 3 round-robin sessions with Ian Farrimond and Steve Howe accumulating 32 and 24 points respectively. In one semi-final Ian and his partner Phil Shaw lost to Steve and Harry Walklet. In the other semi John Shuker and Dave Brown lost to Dave Kidd and Paul Curley. In the final Harry and Steve ran out 12-4 winners over Dave and Paul. Steve was retaining the title he won in 2015 but it was Harry's first win in the competition.
Many thanks to all participants for entering. Thanks also to supporters for scoring, running the the kitchen and taking photos.
The Club are most grateful to Bernard Oates for organising this competition and for providing the above summary.

Julie Dale & Ian Carter
Runners-Up in Saturday Mixed League Doubles Competition

Congratulations to Julie and Ian on reaching the Saturday Mixed League Final.
They qualified for Finals Day with 2 wins at Mount Pleasant Club in June. Finals day was held at Knypersley B.C. on Saturday 6^th July.
In their quarter final they accounted for Club mates Josie and Doug Longmore. In the semi-final they made a good come-back to pull off a 21-16 win. They fought well in the Final but eventually went down 21-13.
This was a great achievement by Julie and Ian who are both in their first full season of competitive bowling.

Janet Mairs Trophy 2016 Success for Pauline Dale and Steve Howe
The 2016 Janet Mairs Trophy was organised by our Competitions Secretary, Bernard Oates. This event is open to members of Westlands Bowling Club and Westlands Ladies Bowling Club. June 5^th provided a perfect Sunday afternoon for the 4^th running of this mixed doubles competition. The field of thirty two included included Maureen Clarke who was looking for her 3rd consecutive win in this event.
All participants and their supporters made their usual generous contribution to the catering. After a round robin session, in which games were of 10 ends, players and their guests enjoyed an excellent buffet. After the break the four highest scoring ladies and the four highest scoring men went through to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals: - Ann Davies and Ian Farrimond beat Janice Adams and Harry Walklet Pauline Dale & Steve Howe beat Joan Laney & Paul Curley An excellent final saw Pauline and Steve ran out winners of the trophy. They were both winning their first mixed doubles title at the Club. Special congratulations to Ann who did really well in reaching the final in her first season of bowling. More Photos
	Click on photo for larger image
Thanks to everyone who entered and especially those who came early to set up and help keep everything running smoothly throughout the day. Many thanks to Bernard Oates for organising this competition and for providing the above summary.