Ormskirk Bowling Club

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.

A big thanks to all who have been able to help over the last week or so.  the artificial green has now had the gutters cleared and it has been completely sprayed.  It will be ready for use again on Sunday.  If anyone is knocking around over the weekend feel free to start putting back the rubber pads in the gutter.

The grass green has been completely scarified and seeded and we are just awaiting some top dressing to put a light cover on the green. This work should make a big difference to the quality of the green next season if the seed takes successfully.

Special thanks to Eric Barklem who has gone above and beyond in arranging and doing the work, with several full days spent in back breaking work.

The Club held its first singles competition yesterday and there was a good turnout of 22 bowlers taking part , including some of our beginners and juniors.  Everyone was split into 5 groups with the winners and 3 best runners-up progressing to quarter finals.

Group A saw Ian Gill triumph in first place, with Brian Elliott, who also qualified, a close second.  Group B was a bit closer with Eric Barklem taking top spot and Jacky Denning second, with Chris Butler just missing out.  Group C saw Jack Denning, who had come out of retirement, drawing for top spot with Joey Copeland – Jack winning a sudden death 3 end play off to top the group, but Joey also qualified as a best runner up.

Group D was the ‘Group of Death’ with Dave Hulse, Steve Denning, Ted Baker and Dave Ball battling it out with newcomer Pauline Snelson.  It was tight to the end and with Dave only mustering a 11-10 win over Pauline this handed the aggregate to Steve Denning to win the Group and qualify.  Finally Group E saw ‘Marvelous Marg’ Copeland topping the Group ahead of Angie Barklem.

After what seemed an eternity we reached the quarter finals and due to the time these had to be shortened. Ian beat Margaret 7-4,  Joey beat Eric 7-5, Brian beat Jack 7-4 and finally, in the battle of the Dennings, Steve beat Jacky 7-2.

This set up some great Semis and Joey kept his nerve to edge past Ian 7-5, and Brian Elliott took out Steve Denning 7-4.

The final was played in the deepening gloom and it was Joey Copeland that took the first every Ormskirk BC Co-op Funeralcare Singles title by 9-3 against Brian to take the trophy and £30 in prize money, which was presented by Jan from the local Ormskirk Branch.  Their support has been much appreciated by the Club.

Some photos from the day are set out below – thanks to everyone that attended.  e should be able to get the timings a bit better for next year!!