Ormskirk Bowling Club

A superb days bowling was had on Sunday for the Chairman’s Cup.  Unusually warm mid October weather meant that everyone was in their tee-shirts and there was a good turn out of 8 pairs.

The first round was round robin.  Group A saw Peter Ashcroft and Kevin Wilcox come top with three wins.  Strongly fancied pair, Steve James & Peter Bailey came second, with Chris Butler & Martin Roberts in 3rd.  Pauline was so desperate for a wooden spoon for her kitchen that she engineered a last place berth with her partner Ted Baker!

Group B saw Dave Ball & Mike Fagan run away with top spot with Ian Gill & Nick Slater finishing in second.  Third spot went to Les Farrell & Rylan Irwin, with the wooden spoon in this group to Dean Simmonds & Ed Stockley.

So to the semi finals and Peter & Kevin soon saw off Ian & Nick 11-5.  The other semi was a closer affair with our Chairman Steve desperate to do well in his own trophy and win a pairs comp for the first ever time.  The game was nip and tuck throughout until the last end where Dave & Mike pulled away to take the match 11-8 to shatter Steve’s long held dream (some might say a fantasy?).

The final was a cracking match and once again it was close throughout.  The consistency of Dave & Mike just won out though and they took the trophy 11-8.

Big thanks to Steve James our Chairman who supplied all the food and drinks for the day.  All in all a fantastic afternoon’s bowling and some pics are set out below.

Due to a poor weather forecast for tomorrow afternoon we are going to cancel the Winter Pairs Comp that was due to be held.  We are still due to hold the Chairman’s cup this year and, if we can find a date our Chairman is free, will try and schedule it in.

This is what bowls is all about. This match is a semi final in the Champion of Champions played at the Waterloo last weekend in front of a boisterous crowd. Watch the players, particularly Callum Wraight, dance around the bowls and swirl their cloths, particularly once it gets past 5-5.  The match ends in a dramatic finale.  What a tremendous match.

We are finalising the Winter Ladder to start on 1st October.  If any further members wish to join they can do so now or at any time during the season – just get in touch with Ian Gill.  Details of how the ladder works, and the initial 2017/18 ladder itself,  are under ‘Winter’ on this website.

Well done to Dave Ball and Peter Ashcroft who won the Club’s Autumn Pairs competition.  They defeated Fritz Yarwood and Dave Hulse in the final.  With seven pairs in total a good time was had by all.

Our Autumn Pairs comp will be held tomorrow.  Arrive at 12.30 for a 1pm start.  This is for club members and any friends or family.  Pairs will be drawn out of the hat so you don’t need a partner and you don’t need to pre-register in advance.  Fritz will be running this comp so those attending please give a hand as it is his first one.  Entry £2 will all monies given out as prizes.

The interest in winter bowling last year has led the committee to wonder if there would be interest from within our club, and from other clubs, in playing in a 2017-18 Winter League on the artificial green.

Outline Proposal

• Matches to be held on Saturday or Sunday mornings
• Games to be played from first weekend in October to last weekend in March
• Captain of first team listed on fixture to decide if green is unplayable, e.g. ice / snow
• Teams to consist of 4 players (no need to register a squad of named players at the start of the season or to play the same four players each week. The only exception to this would be where a club enters two teams, in which case players will need to register with one team or the other)
• Matches to consist of four single games, 21 up, played at the same time
  Clubhouse and male / female toilets will be accessible Jacks, tapes, mats, scorecards will be provided
• Tea / coffee, refreshments, will be available, at no cost
• ‘Full members’ of Ormskirk Bowling Club (£35 per year) and ‘Winter members’ (£25) will not be required to pay on match days.
• Non-members of OBC will be asked to pay £2 per player, per fixture, to be left in the clubhouse
• Ormskirk Bowling Club will co-ordinate the season’s fixtures and maintain the results table
• All fixtures will be published before the start of the season
• Trophy to the winning team and £50 prize at the end of the season

For example, if eight teams entered, fixtures would look like:

Saturday 7th October:
10am – Team A v Team B
11.30 am – Team C v Team D Sunday 15th October:
10am – Team E v Team F
11.30 – Team G v Team H

1 point would be awarded for each game won
2 points would be awarded for the aggregate
1 point to each team for a drawn aggregate

Any comments on the idea of hosting a winter league at OBC, if you wish to enter a team, and your thoughts on the proposal set out above, should be sent to Steve James at james.s52sky.com@sky.com.  Anyone interested in joining the club as a winter or full member please contact the club using the page on this website. If we get sufficient interest in the winter league we will give it a go.

The Chairman’s Cup, which was due to be held on Sunday, is going to be postponed.  This is due to the unavailability of our Chairman and the poor weather forecast.  Members will be informed as soon as possible about  future arrangements.