Ormskirk Bowling Club

The Club is very sad to hear the news that Winnie Rowland has passed away. Winnie played with several of us at the Windmill for many years before becoming one of the founding members of Ormskirk Bowling Club. Very much an ‘Old Skemer’, Winnie was unable to play in recent years due to poor health. She was well known for her dry sense of humour and friendly nature and will be much missed. The Club sends its condolences to all Winnie’s family and friends. Funeral details will be posted once we have them.

1st Prize Pauline Snelson £40

2nd Prize Judith Reese £25

Congratulations to this month’s winners. The draw was conducted at last night’s Committee Meeting and was made by Mike Fagan.

To those existing and new members who would like to support the club, details to join and pay £5 a month per ticket are on the 100 Club tab on the club website. Your contributions are/will be greatly appreciated.

There were 24 entrants in the comp and came from our club (both existing and new members) the Dog & Gun and Aughton Institute making it 12 pairs.

All games were played on the grass green and each pair played 3 games of 9 ends.

The pairs with the highest point after the 3 games went through to the Semi Final

Angie Barklem & Nikki Davies 34 points

Peter Grimes & Mathew Finch, 32 points

Nick Slater & Dave Roper, 30 points

Two pairs tied on 27 points, Dave Allister & Van Muller along with Mike Fagan & N Carter

 A “play off” of 3 ends decided who went through which was Dav & Van.

The Semi Finals played to 11 ends

Angie & Nikki played Nick & Dave with Angie & Nikki winning 11 -9

Peter & Mathew played Dave & Van with Peter & Mathew winning 9-8

The Final played to 13 ends

Angie & Nikki played Peter & Mathew, Angie & Nikki won the toss for the jack and went into resounding lead, it was 6 ends before Peter & Mathew got a point.

After 12 ends Angie & Nikki were 13 – 5 up meaning that Peter & Mathew were unable to catch them.

Congratulations to the winners of the Autumn Pairs 2023 Angie Barklem & Nikki Davies. A big thank you to Eric Barklem for running the competition.

Many congratulations to our club member Susie who won the 2023
BCGBA Ladies County Average Winners Classic in Abergele. Susie has been consistent for us throughout the season and this outstanding achievement is well deserved.

SUZIE IN CONTROL TO WIN LADIES AVERAGES 

SUZIE LAWSON overcame the wet conditions when 

she crossed the border into Wales to win the 2023  

BCGBA Ladies County Average Winners Classic.  

The Lancashire average winner found the Abergele  

green to her liking as she recorded a comfortable 21-9  

final victory over Alyson Evans (North Warwickshire),  

winner of the inaugural competition in 2010. BCGBA  

Ladies President, Mavis Hancock, was on hand to  

make the presentations. 

Lawson was rarely troubled on her way to the final.  

Sarah Edmondson (North Lancs & Fylde) lost her way  

from seven across in the first round to suffer a 21-10  

defeat, while Lynn Carter (Yorkshire) was restricted to  

just a further chalk as she was unable to recover from  

a bad start which saw her trail 17-6 and an eventual  

21-11 loss.  

She booked her place in the final at the expense of  

Gillian Greenbank (North Midlands) who, like Carter,  

found herself 16-6 behind in no time. A series of two’s  

gave her hope, but Lawson dug deep to win 21-12. 

The next club competition takes place as above and will be run by Eric Barklem. Pairs to be drawn with a £2 entry fee per person. Please arrive by 12.45pm for a prompt start. All welcome.

Congratulations to our Ormskirk team that last night won the Premier Division of the Ormskirk Bowling League. The league has been dominated by the Skelmersdale Rebels team for over 20 years but finally it all came good this year, with the 11-1 win at home a few games ago against the Rebels perhaps proving decisive. The team needed 6 points last night to take the title and things went a bit wobbly when top of the averages Aaron ‘Yorkshire Pudding’ Backhouse lost to Peter Mercer. However, that was to be the only loss and the team took the title by a whopping 8 points. This is the first time that one of our teams has won the top division of a bowling league. It has been a real team effort and much deserved. Some of the delighted faces are shown on the pictures below.

Not to be outdone our Ormskirk Castle team has romped away with the Division A title by an even more incredible 39 points! Massive congratulations to them as they join our other team in the Premier Division next year.

1st Prize Keith Knaggs £40

2nd Prize Anthony Daw £27.50

Congratulations to this month’s winners. The draw was conducted at last night’s Maghull League Fixture at Burscough Cricket Club and was made by Dean Simmonds.

To those existing and new members who would like to support the club, details to join and pay £5 a month per ticket are on the 100 Club tab on the club website. Your contributions are/will be greatly appreciated.

There was a good turnout last Sunday of 18 bowlers to fight it out for the honour of being the Club’s singles champion for 2023, with a good mix of experienced players right through to beginners and one of the club’s youngest players (Jenson Clare) also bravely taking part. Players were divided up into 4 groups with the winners or each group going through to the semi finals. They had to play both on the artificial and the grass greens to ensure that it was totally fair.

Group A saw Aaron Backhouse qualifying from the group of 4. Beginner Sue Graham fought valiantly but still got the wooden spoon with Mike Sylvester and Lorraine Birchall both playing well. Group B was another 4 person group and favourite Dave Hulse came through as expected, with beginner Kaz McAvoy doing well to come second, Leanne Clare and Pauline Silvester completed the last 2 places.

Group C was rightly called the ‘Group of Death’ with former winner Ian Mayne and top Federation Bowler Mike ‘Faganator’ Fagan. both in there, as well as the bookies outside chance Dean Simmonds and Phil Birchall. It was always going to be an uphill struggle for beginner, Marilyn Ramsden. Despite Ian beating Mike in their match, Dean produced a superb performance to beat Ian. With Mike racking up bigger wins in his other games he went through with a better points score, Dean not finishing far behind Ian. Finally in Group D the main challenger to Ian Gill was Dave Roper, who just lost out in a tight game to Ian, and finished second in the Group. Keith Knaggs and John Clare filled the 3rd and 4th spots respectively. Young Jenson Clare fought well but still came last in the group, however he is one to watch out for in the future.

The semi finals were drawn out and Mike and Aaron were pitted together. It was a tight game which came down to the final end but Mike just took it 8-7. In the other semi Ian took on Dave, and Dave just couldn’t recover from being down after the first 6 ends on the artificial. It finished 12-7 to Ian

So to the final and Mike just couldn’t reproduce his form from the semi final and the title was Ian’s for the second year in a row with an 11-1 triumph. Some pictures from the comp are shown below. It was a great afternoon and thanks to all those that came and made it such a great event.

After a green inspection just now the greens are fit to play so if you are coming please arrive by 12.45 at the latest.

Due to the heavy rain overnight and this morning there will be a green inspection at just before 12 noon to see if the green is fit and safe to play on this afternoon. The decision will be posted on this website so please keep your eyes peeled for news.