Ormskirk Bowling Club

Our planning consent for the lighting and shelters etc has now been granted by the Council.  Thanks to Ken Knowles for his work on this.

One of our planning requirements was that we had to paint our container green and thanks to Ted Baker, John Leadbetter, and Ian & Matthew Gill (when he wasn’t having a ‘rest’) this was done tonight.  Thanks to all that helped.

A cracking day’s bowling today saw Ian Gill crowned as the Ormskirk Bowling Club’s Singles Champion for 2018 after defeating Ian Mayne in the final.  A large field of 24 bowlers turned out and there will be a full report posted in due course.

A Charity Pairs Competion to be held in aid of Queenscourt Hospice will be held at our club on Sunday 16 September.  Details on the link below.  Please note that the Autumn Pairs competition planned for that date will be postponed and a new date rearranged.  Any new or beginner bowlers will be paired with more experienced bowlers. Start time is 11am, with practice from 10am.  Entrance fee is £5 per pair (£2.50 each).  Eric Barklem can supply further details if required.

The event is being sponsored by OCTAGON Wealth Management, The Wharf, Burscough.  There will be raffle prizes and you can bring your own food and drink

Congratulations  to Ian Mayne who was part of the victorious Lancashire team who won the Men’s National Triples today in the flat green game, beating Devon in the final.  This is a marvellous achievement when you consider how few flat greens and players there are in the County compared to many other counties.

When added to Dave ‘Flash’ Gordon reaching the last 64 of the Waterloo, it emphasises what talent we have within our Club.

The lights were given their first trial this evening

There was a very reasonable turn out of 20 bowlers on a glorious sunny day for this year’s Roy Ashcroft Memorial Trophy, and it was good to see some of our newer members coming along and giving it a try. We split into two groups of 5 pairs to play in a round robin and played in a new revolutionary format.  Each match was played over 8 ends but the twist was that 4 had to be played on one green and then the other 4 on the other green.

In Group A Les Farrell and Rylan Irwin were in fire wining all their games with a +25 points difference.  Ian and Hannah Jones came in second after managing 2 wins and a draw.  Group B also saw run away winners, with Steve Denning and Dean Simmonds winning all their matches and amassing a large +32 points difference.  Ian Gill and Dave Roper scrapped into the semis with 2 wins and a +17 points difference.

On to the semi finals and the hot favourites, Steve and Dean crashed out 13-2 to Ian & Hannah, with Hannah playing an amazing game on the carpet to seal it. The other semi final was a bit closer and it was neck and neck after the first 4 ends on the grass.  However Ian & Dave pulled away on the carpet to take it 8-4.

The final was therefore the battle of the group runners-up with the winners of each group having run out of steam in the semis.  The crowd seemed to be favouring Ian & Hannah, but it was Ian & Dave who proved to be the villians of the piece and they ran out 11-3 to lift the trophy.  it proved to be a great day though and the format seemed to work.

The Roy Ashcroft Memorial Trophy will be held this Sunday at 1pm.  Try and arrive for 12.45pm so we can draw pairs and get started as quickly as possible.  All members welcome, beginners will be drawn with more experienced bowlers.  Two pounds entry per person.  I am reliably informed that Eric does not have any barbecues planned which almost guarantees us good weather!!

Our Ormskirk BC team will be playing in the Knock Out Cup Final for the 2nd Division tonight (Wed 1st August) at Aughton Institute against the Botanic Gardens.  Play starts at 7pm so nip along and give them some support if you can.  Let’s see if we can lift our first trophy of the season.

Today’s competition (Roy Ashcroft Memorial Trophy) has had to be postponed due to the weather.  We will hopefully hold it next Sunday, but this will be confirmed during the week