Around the greens
Kirkhill
The Kirkhill Bowling Club finals week meant finals and semi-finals having to be played midweek to meet deadlines before the big day on Saturday.
Past Presidents and committee have a game scheduled for Tuesday, September 8, at 6.30pm. This will be followed by the usual joint meeting.
The 2 bowls singles is scheduled for Sunday, September 6; members are advised to check the noticeboard for information. The Wallsend mixed sheet is already on the gents noticeboard. There is a section on the sheet for ladies to add their names to this popular event.
Some of the winners this week: Charlie Lamont won against John Burns in the President’s trophy; Campbell McCulloch, Gerry Ritchie, Dougie Wilson and Peter Mullen won the Rinks final versus Alex Smith, Les Reekie, Charlie Lamont and Tom Coleman; Charlie Lamont and Brian Gallacher beat Billy Lockhart and John O’Brien in the Balloted pairs final.
On finals day itself Charlie Lamont beat Rennie Dobinson in the Gents’ Championship final; Christine McLeod beat Eleanor Ferguson in the Ladies’ Championship final; Jim Cunningham beat Joe McGuiness in the gents’ Vice Presidents final; Gordon Cunningham and Jim Murphy beat Jack and Eric Donaldson in the nominated pairs final; Billy Lockhart, Hugh McNulty and John Burns beat Roy Linder, John Lowe and Ian Ross in the gents triples final; Jean Kerr beat Maureen Conway in the Ladies Convenor’s trophy final; Helen Nisbet beat Gail Savage in the ladies two bowls singles final.
Members interested in the bonus ball competition will be pleased to learn some numbers are still available, see the sheet on the noticeboard for details or contact Hugh McNulty directly.
On the social front, it looks likely that a Christmas cabaret function will go ahead on December 19. The original sheet to express interest is still displayed for those intending to attend.
The entry sheet for tickets for the October 9 Sportsman’s dinner has been posted. Sandy Strang is the main speaker and full details are on the ticket request form. These tickets are snapped up quickly, so members need to get their name and likely numbers on the sheet soon to avoid disappointment.
A big thanks is due to all who made finals day and week so successful, the markers, the scorekeepers, the spectators, the greenkeeper Davie Fleming, the bar staff Sam Maxwell and Julie, the duty directors and the off duty directors, the photographer Callum Morton, the Umpire Ronnie Wilson, President Roy Linder and Match Secretary Iain McKay, and all those who were winners or runners up this week.
However the club can not have winners without losers so a massive thanks to all who entered the competitions and were not ultimately successful, without them there can be no winners.
Burnside
Last weekend brought the eagerly awaited finals weekend at Burnside with a few familiar faces seeing their way through to the last hurdle.
Pride of place goes to the Club Championship winners with a new name on the gents trophy. Congratulations to Stevie Jackson who came from behind to defeat Robert Whiteside in an excellent match to win the major trophy in his first full season. In the Ladies competition defending champion Frieda Thomson retained her title after defeating Margaret Perston in the final. The same two players will battle it out again next Saturday in the Ladies Presidents Trophy together with the gents competition between Alex Abercrombie and Boots McDonald with the same 2pm kick off.
In the other singles trophy to be decided at weekend, The Train Cup, it was again a close encounter in a match which saw one of the youngest members Jack Connolly managing to strike gold after defeating Pat Doherty. Pat has now achieved a hat trick of losses in the final of this competition and will be hoping to change the record next year.
Sunday saw the nominated and balloted gents pairs finals played in glorious sunshine. The vastly experienced duo of Ian Cleugh and Frank Clark took the nominated title against Jack Connolly and Chris Allan and in the balloted John Sinclair added to his vast collection of honours by defeating Sandy Scrimgeour and Geoff McNee. In this victory he was helped by a great display of bowling by his skip Robert Pert who steered his way to win his first trophy in Burnside this century.
A nail-biting final was held on Friday evening and the triples tournament went late into the evening and the outcome went to the wire. However it was the unfancied trio of Ron Davie, Kenny Stirratt and Marc Stirratt who held on to take the title by defeating the pretournament favourites of Tom Connor, Cammy Taylor and Peter Horne.
Matches were followed by evening of customary celebration and commiseration with club raconteur Roberti Perti keeping all amused by his tales and wit all related in a variety of different native tongues and dialects.
External competitions saw the top five travel to Kingswood in the district semi –final last Wednesday. Burnside were up against a strong Clarkston team who managed a 4-1 win on the night bringing to a halt Burnside progress in this event after a great run.
In the Glasgow League Burnside played their final fixture this season and went out in a blaze of glory by securing victories home and away against Hawthorn BC and achieving the full five points from this fixture which saw Burnside finish a creditable fourth position in the league.
Rutherglen
The Club finals were played over last weekend. On the Saturday there was a large turnout of members to support those participating. The results were as follows: Championship: Winner – Murray Paul, Runner up – Sam O’Donnell
Presidents: Winner – Mark Kelsey, Runner up – Barry Finlayson
Vice Presidents: Winner – John Morris Runner up – William McIntosh
Senior Singles: Winner – Gil Morgan, Runner up – Stuart McIntosh
Senior Pairs: Winners – Billy Ross and Alex Colquhoun, Runners up – Ian Hamilton and Jim Malloch
The Club pairs final was played on Sunday with Mark Kelsey and Murray Yule winning against Ewan Mackie and Joe Paul
The RC Hardie Singles final between Mark Kelsey and Brian Connelly will be played on Thursday evening with the Ladies Medal final between Mark Kelsey and Gary Kelsey due to be played next Sunday afternoon.
Overtoun
The sun was shining brightly for the first of the Overtoun Finals’ weekends, which have had to take place on four separate days to accommodate players involved in more than one event.
On Saturday, the Ladies and Gents’ Singles were scheduled to be played, with Barbara Drummond up against May Stark and Eddie Picket to face Tommy Macfarlane.
The ladies’ game, between reigning champ, Barbara, and former champ, May, was always going to be an exciting game. The heads were close and it was nip and tuck to begin but Barbara managed to find form and drew ahead to secure the title of Ladies’ Singles Champion.
The gents tie looked to be just as exciting with two fine players in contest. It could have been anyone’s game but, in the end it was Eddie Picket who emerged as Champion.
In the Men’s Pairs, two new members, Jamie Jamieson and Benny Brown reached the final in their first season, playing against two old-timers, Jim Eggie and John Meikle.
The two new boys played well but could not match the experience of Jim and John who took the title. The Ladies Pairs was a closely fought tie between Jeanette Alexander and Barbara Drummond against Myra Law and May Stark. Jeanette and Barbara got off to a flying start but Myra and May pulled back and then took the lead. They couldn’t hold the advantage though and Jeanette and Barbara ploughed back to win.
Next weekend, the club holds its Memorial Day, when former members will be remembered. As part of the day, the Presidents Singles will be played between John Meile and Barbara Drummond. On Sunday, it is hoped a large crowd of supporters will be there to watch the finals of the Ladies’ and Gents’ Triples.
Last Monday, there was great excitement for the Overtoun triples, Anne Macalpine, Jean Robertson and Liz Keenan, when they beat Kingswood to reach the final of the Rutherglen District Competition.
Cambuslang
No Monday points night this week but the Season winners are: Brian Page 14 points, John Hill 12 points, Ken Walton and Willie Rae 10 points.
All competitions are going well and this year the gents finals will be held on September 19 and 20 at 2pm.
The gents match v Carmyle on Saturday is cancelled.
Cambuslang District Seniors Rinks League: Last Wednesday the final league game at home against Mount Florida BC was cancelled due to the green being flooded by heavy rainfall.
Indeed no Cambuslang District league games were played as every match got cancelled, however the league was won outright by Mount Vernon BC
In the Rutherglen District Ladies Bowling Association Finals held at Cambuslang on Monday, August 31, Cambuslang pair Tricia Coyle and Jessie Johnstone beat Kingswood in the final, and in the triples, Cambuslang trio of Eleanor McLean, Joan Grant and Cathie Meikle defeated their opponents from Overtoun Park.
Kingswood
It may be late in the season, but there is still plenty to play for at Kingswood.
Last Wednesday the men played against Busby at Weirs in the GBA Top Five. All the games were very close and Kingswood won by the narrowest of margins 3-2. They play the District Final at Queens Park on Wednesday, September 2 at 6pm.
Then on Friday it was the Hillpark Knockout semi-finals with the Senior Fours first up in the afternoon, but they were resoundingly beaten and unfortunately in both the singles and pairs games in the evening, Titwood won both games to end the Kingswood challenge for this year.
Last Saturday saw the first of the finals being played at Kingswood.
Jamie Sinclair became the youngest ever champion when he won his final against David McMonagle.
Jamie’s partner Rachel Magee won the Ladies Championship for the second time in her match against Barbara Brown and Rachel’s father won the Gent’s Presidents Trophy for the first time.
In the three other finals played Joan Whitehill and Helen McMurdo won a final end nail-biter against Barbara Wills and Cathy Gemmell to win the Ladies Nominated Pairs.
In the Gents Nominated Pairs Stephen Hearton and David Hutchinson were two up playing the last end against John Redmond and Charlie Boyle and managed to retain the lead and win the match.
Finally on Saturday, Kay Farrell and Derek McFadden dominated the Mixed Pairs Final against Chris and Brian Holland and won by a clear margin.
On Sunday it was day two of the 2015 Finals. In the Balloted Pairs, Eric Boag and Andy Johnston succumbed to Billy Wheelans and newly crowned club champion Jamie Sinclair.
In the Triples Alan Bellshaw, Joe Kavanagh and John McKechnie took an early lead, but Grant Cameron, Alan Brown and David McMonagle fought back to go two shots up with one end to play.
However Alan Bellshaw played a tremendous last end which was consolidated by his team mates leaving David McMonagle with the task of saving the match which he did.
An extra end was required and again David was required to turn over a match lie against him. Again he was up to the task by taking out the shots against him to win the game.
David Greig won the over-45’s singles final against Gordon Whitehill.
The Ladies section had two singles finals played. Barbara Brown who had lost a close championship final the previous day was up against Ann Stevenson in the VP Final. Barbara controlled a close fought match, but with the score 20-19 in her Barbara’s favour Ann secured the two shots to win.
In the other singles Rachel Magee, the 2015 Ladies Champion, lifted the Ladies President singles title by beating her pairs partner Nikki Hutchinson.
Finally on Monday the Ladies RDBA was held at Cambuslang BC and Kingswood was represented in both the pairs and the fours.
In the pairs, Margaret McElveen and Chris Holland were up against a home team and throughout this was a very close match with Cambuslang, one up playing the last end.
However Kingswood laid three shots and game in the final end when the Cambuslang skip ditched the jack to win the game.
In the Fours, Cathy Gemmell, Liz Wood, Sheila Cumming and Marjory Kyle got off to a poor start against Mt. Florida going 9-0 down, but they kept at it and eventually won the match by one shot.
Halfway and District
The sun came out for finals day just at the right time and the greens were in perfect condition as eight finals took place.
It turned out to be a family affair as brother and sister David Fergus and Lillian O’Neil were crowned champions for 2015.
All eight finals turned out to be close affairs. David defeated Tommy Allison in the gents final and Lillian beat Helen Torrance in the ladies. In the Ladies Presidents final Margaret Delaney beat Fiona Firth 21-20 in another cracker.
Derek Paterson came from behind to defeat David Armstrong in the gents VP’s and in the ladies Nessie MacFarlane Sandra Keary survived a comeback against Maureen Burnett to win that game.
In its inaugural year the John Docherty Cup was won by Alan Barr who defeated Jim McKnight in yet another great game.
The two pairs finals also went right down to the wire. Charlie McIntyre and Hugh Gebbie beat the father and son team of Jim and Martin Wilson to win the LBA pairs. In the Ladies Presidents pairs, last years runners up Kirsty Wilson and Taylor Gray became the youngest winners of a club competition when they defeated Maureen Lewis and Patricia Logan after an extra end.
Another four finals will take place this Sunday at 2pm. In the gents SBA Pairs Hugh Gebbie and Jacky Fergus will play Jake Islip and Tommy Allison. In the ladies VP Pairs Taylor Gray and Elaine Ralston will play Sandra Hughes and May Fergus.
Both ladies and gents senior singles finals will also take place. In the ladies Fiona Firth will play Helen Torrance and in the gents George McCutcheon will play Jim Wilson. The remaining two finals will take place on Sunday, September 13 at 2pm when David Fergus plays Tommy Allison in the gents presidents and Margaret Lynn and Maureen Lewis will play Fiona Firth and Helen Torrance in the ladies senior pairs.
John Sheppard and Stephen McIntyre took part in the Super Series Grand Finals at Kelvingrove Park at the weekend. The Halfway pair were extremely unlucky in their first round game and they lost against the eventual runners up Scott Livingstone and Stewart McMillan from Hyndland. Club champion David Fergus will take part in the singles this Saturday and he is up against Stuart Cruikshank of the Highlands at 10.30am in the first round. The second and third rounds will take place at 1.30pm and 4.15pm with the semis and final taking place at 11am and 2.15pm on the Sunday. Good luck David!
This Saturday sees the Newton Cup 2+2 Rinks (sponsored by the Lynn and Bilsland families) take place with a 9.30am for 10am start. Eighteen teams will participate and battle it out for the honours. Saturday 12 sees the Dalton Triples take place, the Newton Arms 2+2 Mixed Rinks is on Saturdy 19 and the George Mair Triples (sponsored by Drumsagard Academy) will take place on Saturday 26. The MacMillan Coffee Morning will also be taking place on Friday 25 and another quiz night will take place on Sunday 27, more details to follow in the coming weeks.
Whitefield
Last weekend saw the remainder of this year’s finals played out at the Whitefield.
The President’s cup was won by Michael O’Hagan in a tight encounter against Gerry Boyd. It was a successful weekend for the O’Hagan family as Mark O’Hagan wrapped up a victory in the Vice President’s trophy against Alisdair Paton Jnr.
Andy O’Hagan and Ian McShane won the Nominated Pairs against David and Jim Hefferland. It was almost a clean sweep but Helen Flannigan put up an excellent display by winning the Ladies President Cup against Georgie O’Hagan. The Mixed Pairs Trophy was won by Claire Walker and Mark O’Hagan against Joyce and David Kelly.
The RDBA Triples league was concluded with a defeat in the rearranged fixture with Burnside. The Seniors final games in the Cambuslang and District League were cancelled due to adverse weather.
As the match had no bearing on the outcome of the league title, it will not be replayed but the Seniors finished a creditable second place in the competition.
Finally, the Monday night aggregate was won by Bert Latkowski and Peter Law who finished 19 points up.