Ormskirk Bowling Club

The Club is extremely sad to announce the passing of Ken Knowles, who died last Thursday (8th September) following an accident from which he could not recover. Ken was the Club’s first Treasurer from its formation in 2013, until he handed over the reins just about 3 years ago to Martin Roberts. He made a massive contribution to the Club in its initial years and helped steer us through the setting up of the Club. He had previously acted as the Treasurer at the Windmill Bowling Club, working across the road at the Borough Council Offices.

Ken had not really played in the last couple of years as he was devoting more time to his family, but had previously played for one of our Wednesday night teams. He was very much a family man and will be sorely missed by his wife Jacqui and his two children, David and Kerri. In fact David, along with Ken, helped to erect our away hut by the artificial green when it was brought from the Windmill.

Details of Ken’s funeral will be posted once we have them, and we will hold a minute’s silence tomorrow night at our social event at Aughton Institute to remember Ken.

Just to let everyone know that our charity fundraising night on Thursday (15th) evening has been confirmed for Aughton Institute at 7pm. Please arrive for around 6.50pm and come armed with a few pounds to spend on the quiz, raffle, horse racing and, most importantly, Julie and Pauline’s famous Bingo!!

We will also have a cake sale if anyone would like to bring any home baked cakes and please bring any raffle prizes if you have anything to spare. Anyone is welcome to come along as all monies raised will go to the charity.

Not for the first time this year we have been contacted by the cricket club to advise that on a number of occasions cars have been driving at excessive speeds past the cricket club. As a reminder the speed limit is 5mph and there are frequently times when young children are playing and could be vulnerable.

We are dependent on the cricket club for access to our club across their land and at present we are reliant on their permission. If this persists we run the risk of being unable to park outside our green and have to park on the road which will cause additional congestion.

Please respect the limits in place and rest assured that we will be asking all the league representatives to cascade this message to all visiting teams.

Thank you.

The ‘Walkathon for MND’ (Motor Neurone Disease), where a group of crown green bowlers are walking through 14 counties in 14 days, has now started and they will be walking from Bellingham BC in Wigan to Ormskirk BC on Thursday 15 September. This is to raise awareness of the disease, raise money to help research to find effective treatment and to also raise awareness of our great sport of crown green bowls. The Clubs where they are arriving are all holding some form of fundraising activity on the evening they arrive, and so we are doing something similar.

We will be holding a special evening on Thursday 15th September, which will include a quiz, Julie’s famous bingo, ‘horse racing’, a target wedge bowling competition, and a raffle. The venue has yet to be determined but it will start at 7pm. All members (and anyone else) are welcome to attend and bring along any friends and relatives – the more the better as, on top of any prizes for winners, all monies will go to the Mel Evans MBE Foundation, which is raising money for research into MND. If anyone would like to do any baking we can also do a cake sale to raise a bit of extra cash.

We will publish the venue shortly but please pencil this into your diaries, as it is sure to be a fun night.

If you cannot attend but would like to donate then please visit this Just Giving page Steve Clamp is fundraising for The Mel Evans MBE Foundation (justgiving.com).  There is more info on the Walkathon Facebook page – (6) Walkathon For MND | Facebook.

If anyone would actually like to join the walkers and do the walk from Wigan to Ormskirk on Thursday 15th contact Ian Gill for more information.

A cracking afternoons bowling was bad as 13 pairs contested the Autumn pairs in the beautifully warm September sunshine. After a bit of confusion at the start Dave Roper, Martin Roberts and Chris Horsfall saved the day and managed to get things organised. The pairs were split into 3 groups with each group winner and the best runner up qualifying for the semi-finals.

Group A was fiercely contested with a number of tight edgy games. Aaron Backhouse and Dave Roper eventually topped the group with 39 points with Chris Horsfall and Dean Symmonds finishing runners up with 30 points. It had gone down to the last game with Aaron and Dave beating Chris and Dean 10-7 in a thrilling back and forth contest to top the group.

If the wasn’t exciting enough Group B was even tighter with only 8 points separating the 4 pairs. Peter Grimes and Anne Johnson edged the group with 30 points narrowly pipping Steve Denning and Brian Green to the post as they finished on 28. Group C contained 5 pairs and as such provided a grandstand finish to the group stage as the very last game decided the best runner up spot as Pauline Snelson and Martin Roberts secured an impressive 14-5 win over Danny and Matthew Finch to finish on 35 points and join group winners Mike Fagan and Peter Bailey (39pts) in the semi finals.

The qualifiers were drawn from a hat and the 2 semi finals were decided. In semi final one Mike and Peter overcame Aaron and Dave 7-4 in a tense and competitive match with neither pair giving an inch to their opponent. Semi final 2 was equally close but played in a less tense atmosphere Anne and Peter managed to edge out Pauline and Martin 8-6 with a well taken double on the last end.

And then onto the final which was a hard fought but ultimate one sided affair with a bowling masterclass shown by Mike and Peter as they swept aside Anne and Peter 13-3 with an end to spare. Well done to all of our finalists. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon was had by all and ultimately bowls was the winner with so many excellent games on show.

Thanks to Brian Green for taking photos and to everybody who helped mark cards and keep things
running.

The next club competition will take place next Sunday. Please arrive by 12.45pm if you wish to take part so we can start promptly. There will be a £2 entry fee. Anyone wishing to help co-ordinate the event please let one of the committee members know.

Due to a poor forecast tonight’s session has been cancelled and as we are now nearing the end of the season there will be no more sessions this year.

We will recommence next year for those who are new to the game or want to come and give it a go.

Congratulations to Lorraine Birchall who finally got her first win of the season this evening whilst playing for the Ormskirk Magpies. All that practice with husband Phil is finally paying off!

FINAL

Ian Gill 16 Aaron Backhouse 7

Semi Finals

Ian Gill 11 v Dave Hulse 10
Aaron Backhouse 15 v John Leadbetter 6

There was a superb afternoon’s bowling in the sun today with 16 people battling it out to be crowned the Club Singles Champion for 2022, with Ian Gill taking the honours for the second time since the competition started.

The first round was a round robin with 4 groups of 4. The format saw 8 end played on the grass and 8 on the artificial for each match. Group A saw Aaron Backhouse come out easily on top with an impressive 46 points haul, knocking Mike Fagan into second with 37 points.. Group B was also a fairly easy win for Dave Hulse, who got 45 points, and Dave Croft took second place with 36 points. Group C saw John Leadbetter get a massive 50 points to take top spot, with Peter Grimes, on 37 points, just pipping Dave Arnold (33 points). Finally Group D was quite a close affair. Ian Gill took top spot with 39 points, narrowly ahead of Jacky Denning (37 points), Jacky having beaten Ian in their match, and Marg Copeland on 35 points. It was Steve Denning’s generosity in gifting Ian 20 points that enabled him to win the group!.

The semi finals were drawn and Aaron Backhouse cruised through against John Leadbetter by 15-6. The other semi was much closer with Ian Gill just beating Dave Hulse 11-10.

On to the final and it was nip and tuck on the artificial for the first 8 ends. Ian shocked Aaron with some of his own tactics by striking him off on the very first end. Ian toom a bit of a lead on to the grass and never relinquished it, finally taking the match and trophy with a 16-7 victory. Bowls was the real winner though as a great day was had by all.

The next club competition will take place next Sunday. Please arrive by 12.45pm if you wish to take part so we can start promptly. There will be a £2 entry fee. Anyone wishing to help co-ordinate the event please let one of the committee members know.