Around the greens
Last Saturday saw finals day (sponsored by Birrell Corrance Funeral Directors) take place at Halfway & District.
For the first time in the clubs history all finals were played on the front green with four games starting at 1pm and four starting at 3.30pm.
A great crowd turned out and the weather helped the greens play the fastest they have been all season.
First up was the Singles Championships and Senior Singles finals. The Gents Championship was last off and was a cracking game between Stewart Conway and Tommy Allison. Tommy went 20- 13 up but Stewart clawed it back to 20-18 and had a chance to make a three only to miss out narrowly and lose 21-18.
Fiona Firth got off to a flyer in the Ladies Championship against Mary McIntyre and eventually won 21-11 to get her name on the board for the first time after years of just missing out.
John Smith beat Jacky Fergus in Gents Senior Singles and Helen Torrance beat Maureen Burnett in the ladies senior singles.
Next up was another three singles and one pairs final.
The Ladies Presidents Pairs went right down to the last bowls and Maureen Lewis and Patricia Logan just pipped Sandra Hughes and Flo Thomson in a cracking game.
The Nessie MacFarlane Ladies Singles was also a cracker and was 20-20 going into the last end. Taylor Gray beat Ailsa Barr 21-20 in a nailbiting finish.
The gents VP Singles was another close game and with the scores at 18-18 Martin McIlree took a three to win 21-18 against Charlie McIntyre.
In the Gents John Docherty singles final the scores were tied at 7-7 before Watty Islip pulled away to beat Alister Thomson in another good game.
The Gents Senior Pairs final between Alex Duncan and John Smith v Watty Islip and George Thomson took place on Tuesday night, the result of this will follow next week. A second finals day ( also sponsored by Birrell Corrance Funeral Directors) will take place this Sunday at 2pm and a further five finals will be played.
Hopefully another good crown will turn out to watch what should be close games. In the Ladies Presidents Singles Mary McIntyre will play Sandra Keary.
In the Gents Presidents Singles Tommy Allison will play Martin Wilson. In the Gents SBA Pairs John Smith and Charlie McIntyre will play Stephen McIntyre and John Sheppard and in the Gents LBA Pairs Bryan McAllister and Stewart Conway will play Alan Barr and Martin McIlree. In the Ladies Senior Pairs Sandra Hughes and Maureen Lewis will play Rena Duncan and Helen Torrance.
The only remaining final after this is the Ladies VP Pairs and this will probably be played on Sunday, September 18. This will be confirmed in the next week.
For the second year running David Fergus will play in the Grand Finals of the Bowls Scotland Super Series Singles. This will take place on Saturday and Sunday at Kelvingrove Park. David’s last 32 game against Midlothians ex Scottish Internationalist Steven Currie will take place at 10.30am.
The last 16 will take place at 1.30pm with the quarter finals at 4.15pm. The semi finals and final will take place on Sunday at 11am and 2.15pm respectively.
The Division 10 team played their final re-arranged Lanarkshire League game last Tuesday night and all three rinks lost on a very tricky green at Gartcosh. Both Division Three and Division 10 teams finished mid table and will hopefully push for promotion next season.
This Saturday sees the Newton Cup 2+2 Rinks competition (sponsored by the Bilsland and Lynn families) take place at the club with a 9.30am for 10am start.
At least 14 teams will battle it out for the trophy and prizes. The Dalton Trophy is on Sunday 11. The Newton Arms Mixed rinks is Saturday 17 and the George Mair Triples takes place on Saturday 24. The club will also host the usual charity coffee morning on Friday, September 23 at 11am. Tickets cost £3 and are available from behind the bar. Any funds raised will be split between the Beatson and McMillan Cancer.
Burnside
An excellent weekend of weather accompanied Finals Weekend at Burnside and a feast of bowling was enjoyed by all members and guests alike.
Finals kicked off on Friday evening with the balloted pairs in which Jim Gibson and David Roberston jnr ran out winners against Kenny Stewart and David Lyburn. The only sour note of the weekend was regarding the scheduled triples final in which a late call off meant the title was won without a bowl being thrown. The successful trio were Ian Wilson, Archie Couper and Chris Allan.
On Saturday a short sleeved crowd watched three finals with The Gents Championship taking pride of place. After an enthralling game the title went to Stephen Leonard who won the trophy in his first final. He managed to defeat John Sinclair who has previously lifted the title on a number of occasions and who, at 88 years young, is our oldest finalist in the history of the competition. This is all the more remarkable given that this right hander has had to play with his left hand over the past few years due to a sporting injury.
In the Ladies Presidents Prize another excellent tussle saw Frieda Thomson manage to get the better of Jean Worrall to secure victory. Finally on Saturday the Train Cup was won by Chris Allan who conquered Walter Matthews to take gold. Celebrations and commiserations went on long into the evening to cap what was a smashing day.
Finals moved on to Sunday with the Gent President’s Prize which saw yet another of the younger members lifting the trophy. Jack Connolly put on an excellent display of bowling to defeat Robert Whiteside to take this trophy. On the green at the same time the Nominated Pairs saw Cammy Taylor and Iain Mackintosh lifting the title against Boots McDonald and David Robertson jnr. The Ladies Championship Final was held over until next weekend and will now be played next Sunday.
Earlier in the week Burnside had some great news by achieving promotion in the Glasgow League. The away team won against Milton of Campsie by one shot with the home team going down by the same margin. However Hillington Park lost both fixtures meaning good news for Burnside BC. In the Glasgow District Top 5 semi final Burnside were not so fortunate going down narrowly to Croftfoot in a match played at Eaglesham, ending a good run in this competition.
Finally this week, the club said goodbye to Nancy Sinclair, one of the bar staff for the last 20 years. Nancy is retiring from bar duties and will be remembered affectionately by all who will miss her cheery disposition and excellent service and the club hope she enjoys her well deserved retirement
Kirkhill
On Sunday, August 28 Dougie Wilson playing at Baillieston BC won a close fought singles final against a Blackhill BC player, in the North Eastern League top 10 competition. This was a brilliant result for Dougie who won by 21 shots to 15 in warm sunny conditions.
On Saturday 27, Kirkhill Bowling Clubs Finals Day, there were roughly 28 players and markers on the greens and many members and directors working in the clubhouse to help out and serve the players. They were joined by around 94 spectators who were at the club.
The finalists and results on the day were:
East green
Rink one, Gents Championship, G Ritchie v R Dobinson (winner).
Rink two, Ladies Championship, E Ferguson v C Macleod (winner).
Rink three, Gents Presidents, K Harkin (winner) v J Burns.
Rink four, Gents Vice Presidents, C Durnian (winner) v M Smith.
Rink five, Lady Presidents, G Sheridan v J Burns (winner).
Rink six, Gents Nominated Pairs, H McNulty/M Dooley (winners) v B Gallacher/C Lamont.
West green, Ladies Two Bowls Singles, S Gallagher v J Kerr (winner).
The large crowds enjoyed refreshments during play and watched some great bowling, particularly the Gents Singles Championship Final which was very closely fought.
Everyone had a great day, but for some of the winners it was a day of bowling they will never forget.
Rutherglen
In the last game of the Cambuslang and District League last Wednesday morning, the club lost both game against Overtoun.
The club fared slightly better in the Glasgow League on Thursday evening, sharing the points against Barr and Stroud.
Finals Day is this Saturday and Sunday when a large crowd is expected to support the competitors.
The finals got underway on Saturday and Sunday of last week. The results so far are:
Championship: Winner, Markey Kelsey, runner-up, Stuart McIntosh.
Presidents: Winner, Mark Kelsey, runner-up, Murray Yule.
Vice Presidents: Winner, Bill McIntosh, runner-up, Martin Waters.
Senior Singles: Winner, Alisdair Campbell, runner-up: William Wales.
Senior Pairs: Winners, Ian Hamilton and Alistair Riach, runners-up, Stuart McIntosh and Alex McGregor. Still to be played: Ladies Medal: Murray Yule v Mark Kelsey
R C Hardie: Alastair Dick v Mark Kelsey or Andy Gorman
Nominated Pairs: Ian Paul and Kenny Grummitt v Andy Gorman and Mark Kelsey
The Two Bowl Triples tournament is to be played on Saturday, September 3 followed by a home friendly against Croftfoot on September 10 and a visit to East Kilbride on Saturday, September 17.
Whitefield
The club finals continued at the weekend with a number of finals played out to a very high standard.
The Mixed Nomination Pairs winners are Georgie and Mark O’Hagan who won against Helen Flannigan and Jim Molloy. The Gents Nomination Pairs was won by Dougie Smith and Aly Paton against Steven Boyd and Michael Rodgers.
The Gents Seniors champion is Tam McLinden who won a very tight match against Ian McKinnie.
The Ladies Seniors Championship was won by Barbara Morris against Helen Flannigan. Barbara then followed this up with a win against Joyce Kelly to lift the Ladies President’s trophy.
Helen Flannigan won the Mary Ingles Trophy against Ruth Corrigan and to round things off for the weekend, Jim Kearney picked up the Secretary’s Cup against Andy O’Hagan
This weekend sees the club take on visitors from Abbey Bowling Club, Arbroath in a challenge match.
On Sunday the club finals are concluded and all members and visitors are most welcome to see the remaining matches.
Away from the club, Mark O’Hagan plays in the grand finals of the Bowls Scotland Super Series Singles Championship, staring his campaign against Michael Connelly from Dumbarton. Good luck Mark, the club wish you well.
Finally, Monday nights aggregate was won by Ronnie Cowie and Tam McLinden who were 12 shots up.
Overtoun
Overtoun members basked in the sunshine last weekend to watch a feast of finals beginning on Friday night with the Men’s and Ladies’ Triples Finals.
On Saturday, the Gents’ and Ladies’ Championship Singles games were played alongside the President’s Singles and the Corporation Cup Mixed Pairs.
On Sunday afternoon, some members looked a bit ‘wabbit’ as they arrived to play for the third day in a row, but the standard of play remained high and spectators were treated to another two exciting games as the Men’s and Ladies’ Nominated Pairs Finals were played. The results were as follows: Men’s Singles Champion - John Sanderson Runner up - Tommy Macfarlane Ladies’ Singles Champion - Lesley Masterson Runner up - Ann MacAlpine Gents’ Pairs Winners- Jamie Jamieson and Benny Brown
Runners-up- Eddie Pickett and John Sanderson Ladies’ Pairs Winners- Jeanette Alexander and Barbara Drummond
Runners- up- Ann Macalpine and Lesley Masterson Men’s Triples Winners- Eddie Pickett, Hugh Lambie and John Sanderson
Runners-up- George Buchanan, Colin Harvie and James Masterson Ladies’ Triples Winners- Anne Macalpine, Anna McLean and Barbara Drummond
Runners- up- Margaret Tarbert, Jeanette Alexander and Lesley Masterson President’s Singles Winners- Eddie Pickett Runner-up- Ian Noddings Corporation Cup ( balloted mixed pairs)
Winners- George Buchanan and Barbara Drummond
Runners-up- Anna McLean and John Allison
We will feature more bowling pictures over the next few weeks.