Around the greens
Kirkhill
On Saturday the club hosted a round of the Glasgow Cup. Kirkhill had four visiting gents rinks, including Burnside and Tollcross.
The gents played 21 ends and Kirkhill achieved two home wins and two losses but the visitors were eight shots up in total. Kirkhill’s highest-up rink was skipped by Gerry Ritchie, aided by George Campbell, John O’Brien and Willie Shearer, who donated their winnings to charity.
On Sunday the mixed 2- 4- 2 competition took place in slightly better weather. The format was four games of four ends each, with the total score determining the winner. Kirkhill had welcomed Eddie and Patricia Stewart from Burnside to join the fun and they repaid their welcome by winning the Centenary Trophy with the highest plus score.
The games at the weekend were supported by many people: May Donaldson organised the Sunday raffle, Ronnie Wilson did bar duty and collected the fish suppers on Sunday, Helen Nesbit was a last-minute substitute following an emergency withdrawal, allowing normal play to take place. On Saturday Willie McAllum provided catering and worked with the Kirkhill skips to keep everything running smoothly in co-operation with Sam Maxwell.
For Sunday’s play High and Pat McNulty took on the overview and organisation of the day, which was enjoyed by so many people.
Kirkhill members can look forward to a sportsman’s dinner in October and the Christmas cabaret in December. Members need to look out for the entry sheets to reserve places soon.
Kirkhill’s new Invitational Triples in September, sponsored by club member Ronnie Lewis, has been well received with a large number of entries already and places are now at a premium.
Rutherglen
On Wednesday morning the club plays against Cambuslang.
In the Glasgow Top Five singles Rutherglen had a fine win against Stamperland last week and now play at Burnside tonight (Wednesday).
The winners of the club’s 2+ 2 tournament last Saturday were Gary Kelsey, Jackie Ferguson, Jim Mallin and Colin Ferguson. The runners-up were Kenny Grummitt, Ian Paul, Willie Whyte and Ross Reid. This game was sponsored by Fosters Funeral Care and Heineken.
All the club internal tournaments have reached the semi-final stages. The confirmed semi-finals and dates are: Championship – William Wales v Stuart McIntosh and Gil Morgan v Mark Kelsey.
President’s – Gil Morgan v Mark Kelsey (Thursday at 6.15pm) and Billy Ross v Murray Yule.
Vice-President’s – Alan Anderson v Martin Waters. Bill McIntosh has already won through to the final with a win against Ian Latta.
Ladies Medal – Jack Ferguson v Murray Yule (Thursday at 6.15pm) and Alistair Riach v Mark Kelsey (Friday at 6.15pm).
C Hardie – Duncan Brodie v Alastair Dick (Friday at 6.15pm) and Mark Kelsey v Andy Gorman.
Senior singles – William Wales v Ian Hamilton and Brian Connelly v Alisdair Campbell.
Nominated pairs – Ronnie McDonald and Jim Malloch v Ian Paul and Kenny Grummitt, and Alex Hutton and Alastair Dick v Andy Gorman and Mark Kelsey.
Senior pairs – Ian Hamilton and Alistair Riach have already reached the final with a win against Billy Ross and Jimmy Simpson. Jim Malloch and Jim Lindsay will play Stuart McIntosh and Alex McGregor today (Wednesday) at 2pm.
This Saturday’s internal tournament is the George Fraser two bowl pairs, starting at 11am.
The Monday evening aggregate game was won by John Rigby and Joe Paul.
Burnside
Last Saturday Burnside had four teams in the Glasgow City Cup. They thanked all their hosts for a great day of bowling. The clubs hosting were Kirkhill, Partick, Cardonald and Busby. Burnside secured three victories but it was the comradeship that was the real winner on the day.
On Tuesday in the Rutherglen and District, Burnside’s home team won with a reverse in the away fixture. In the senior fours both home and away teams got over the winning line first and in the Glasgow Bowling League both teams had victories against Maryhill BC. In the Top Five Burnside again were successful, winning 4-1, and will now play at Clarkston on Wednesday.
Internal competitions are heating up and one final has already been decided. The Train Cup will be contested between the up-and-coming Chris Allan and the highly experienced Walter Matthews. In the triples the trio skipped by Alex Abercrombie await the winners of this week’s semi-final, to be played on Friday evening.
In the Monday aggregate Pierre Horne’s crack outfit quietened down the team anchored by KB Fox. In a topsyturvey game KB and squad came out of the traps too quickly, petered out and threw in the white flag after a relentless display of bowling served up by Pierre and his team of Danny Bruce, Jake Burns and Stephen Leonard.
Whitefield
It is the big build- up to the club championship finals this weekend. The club wished all the very best to the finalists.
Last Saturday president David Russell hosted the annual charity day to raise funds for Rutherglen Community Carers, particularly in their support for people with dementia. A great day was had and, as has become tradition, many played in a wide array of fancy dress.
Whitefield thanked everyone who played in costume as it added more fun to the day. For the record David Hefferland, Georgie O’Hagan, Agnes Fitzpatrick and Michael O’Hagan won the bowling competition against John McIntyre, Joyce Kelly, David Kelly and Brian Martin. The president thanked all the club’s sponsors, club members and visitors for putting together such a tremendous event, raising more than £3000 with a further £1000 in pledged donations to boost the total even further.
The Top 10 notched up a great win against Quarter in the second round but lost out by one shot in an exciting encounter against Clarkston, Airdrie, in the following match.
The Lanarkshire Rinks Leagues were washed out due to the torrential rain on Friday evening. Rearranged for this week, the Division 8 team travel to Clarkston and the Division 18 team are away to Victoria Coatbridge. This Friday sees the last week of action, with promotion for both teams still a possibility. The Division 8 team take on Foxley and the Division 18 team are up against Greengairs.
In the Tuesday night RDBA Triples League a small upturn in fortunes saw the away team win 21-13 against Rutherglen but an 18-10 loss at home sees the club firmly rooted at the bottom of the table.
Mark O’Hagan has made a strong start in the Bowls Scotland Super Series, reaching the last 32 of the gents event, to be held at Kelvingrove this weekend.
Monday night’s aggregate was won by David Cavanagh, Brian Martin and Peter Law, who were seven shots up.
Halfway and District
David Fergus made it through to the grand final of the Bowls Scotland Super Series Singles after winning his three qualifiying games at the weekend. David started off with two victories on home soil on Saturday and won 21-19 in his final qualifier at Garrowhill on Sunday afternoon. Stewart Conway also won his two games at Halfway on Saturday but was defeated 21-17 in his final game on Sunday. Martin McIlree and Tommy Allison both fell at the first hurdle on Saturday.
The pairs qualifiers take place this weekend. Halfway have entries in both the ladies and gents disciplines. The ladies qualifiers will take place at Halfway and the gents will play at Uddingston, Kirkintilloch and Colville Park at 10am and 2pm on Saturday, with the final qualifiers at Garrowhill again on Sunday afternoon.
Last Saturday saw the Tildesley Triples (sponsored by John Kerr) take place at Halfway and District. There was a full house and cracking weather as 24 teams battled it out for the honours. Eventual winners were the Cambuslang team of Trisha Coyle, Cathy Meikle and Jessie Johnston, who beat Margaret McCulloch’s Blackhill team in the final.
The Lanarkshire League home games were washed out on Friday night. The Division 3 game took place on Monday night and Halfway all but secured safety with a 6-0 win over Blackwood. This Friday’s visitors are title-chasing Wishaw South. The Division 10 game against Wishaw South was due to take place on Tuesday night. The Division 10 team travel to Gartcosh for their last game on Friday night. This week’s games will start at 6.15pm.
In the RDBA Triples League, Halfway won at home and lost away to Croftfoot last week. This week’s opponents in the final game are Kirkhill.
On the seniors front the District 26 league teams finished their campaigns with two home wins and two away losses on Monday morning. Gemmell Trophy games against Kirkhill and Burnside will take place this week.
Finals days will take place on August 27 and September 4. There are lots of semi/quarter-finals on over the course of this week.
In the gents championship Stewart Conway was due to play Stewart Dunsmore on Tuesday night. Martin McIlree will play Tommy Allison next week in the other semi-final. On the ladies side Mary McIntyre will play Elaine Ralston on Thursday and Sandra Keary will play Fiona Firth next Thursday. The sheets are on the board for the September competitions. The Newton Cup 2+2 rinks will take place on September 3, The Dalton Triples on September 11, the Newton Arms Mixed Rinks on September 17 and the George Mair Triples on September 24.