Around the greens

CAMBUSLANG

In the Rutherglen and District Bowling Association, Cambuslang club champion Brian Page won the RDBA singles final at Whitefield in a closely fought game against Kirkhill member Campbell MacCulloch.

The club’s triples team of John Mitchell, Ian Skillen and Jim Kirk also made the final but were beaten by Rutherglen.

The RDBA triples league teams were home and away to Overtoun Park BC on June 16 and both games were won. Today (Wednesday) Cambuslang are home and away to Rutherglen.

In the Cambuslang District Seniors League last Wednesday, Cambuslang had two rinks away against Whitefield and lost both games, which leaves Cambuslang at the bottom of the league after eight league matches.

Today, the rinks games are away against Mount Florida.

On Monday, points winners were pairs Ralph Caldwell and Jim McGall, who were seven shots up.

HALFWAY AND DISTRICT

Last Saturday saw the Joe Nelson (ladies pairs) take place at Halfway, as 14 teams participated and eventual winners were Maureen Burnett and Margaret Delaney who beat Laura Sheppard and Lillian O’Neil in the final.

Sunday saw the Cadbury’s Fingers invitation pairs take place where 38 teams fought it out for the cup and Whitefield’s father and son team of John and Ally Paton beat Hugh Gebbie and Stephen McIntyre in a close final.

Charlie and Stephen McIntyre won the Rutherglen and District pairs last Friday night. They defeated St Leonards at Whitefield in a high scoring final. In the triples league Halfway won at home but lost away to St Leonards. This week’s opponents are Tollcross, next weeks are Burnside.

The seniors had a good week in the district 26 competitions. On Monday morning there were home and away wins over Uddingston and a home win over Lesmahagow in the league.

Last Thursday Halfway beat Dalserf at home in the top 10. The next round takes place on Thursday morning and Halfway will be at home again against either Strathaven or Coalburn. Willie Anderson and Jim Wilson both made it through in the second round of the singles and John Murray and George McCutcheon won through in the pairs.

The Lanarkshire League begins on Friday night. The division three team are at home to Hamilton Caley and the division 10 team travel to Holytown. The LBA top six also starts this week and Halfway are away to Whitefield on Thursday night in the first round.

The ladies LWBA ties continue on Wednesday with Fiona Firth in action in the singles and Elaine Ralston and Helen Torrance in the pairs.

The sheets are on the board for the Cambuslang friendly game on July 11 and the Balloted Pairs on July 18.

KINGSWOOD

The past two weeks has been extremely busy for the Kingswood bowlers and with a fair degree of success.

The various leagues for the men continued with mixed results, but it was within the various national and county championships that results were been positive.

The senior fours of Willie Watson, Eric Boag, Gordon Elwood and John Wood won the Rutherglen and District final last Friday and earlier in the week Hugh Simpson, John Davidson, Alistair Kyle and Kenneth Kyle won the Chapman Trophy against Overtoun.

In the Glasgow BA, the sponsored fours won the district final and go forward to the semi-final on Sunday, June 28, at Giffnock.

In the Scottish, the men have two teams through to the district final to be held at Busby tomorrow (Thursday). In the pairs Graham Magee and David Greig had a convincing win in the district semi-final against Hampden and the Triple of John Redmond, Willie Rankin and Stephen Hearton won a final end nail-biter against Clarkston.

Already on their way to the Bowls Scotland finals at Northfield are the Kingswood ladies who have once again demonstrated their ability to cope with bad weather, difficult greens and challenging opponents.

Their district semi-finals were played at Wellcroft with all four disciplines represented and although the triples lost a close game in torrential rain to Busby, the singles, pairs and fours won.

The district final was played at Queen’s Park that no longer displays past glory as the venue of the Scottish finals. However the testing greens did not deter Helen McGregor who beat her Templeton opponent in the singles.

The pairs of Nikki Hutchinson and Rachel Magee had a convincing win over Wellcroft and finally the fours won a topsy-turvy game against Stamperland.

Hopefully Kingswood will be challenging for Scottish honours on five fronts and a large support is expected.

In the other championships, the Kingswood ladies fours are through to the semi-final of the East Renfrewshire today (Wednesday) at Cardonald.

In the West of Scotland the ladies have the two bowl pairs and fours through to the district final at Croftfoot on June 30.

The ladies GBA started last week with the singles, pairs and triples all going through to the next round. The fours will enter the competition later.

Last Saturday the Kingswood jubilee day was held after being rescheduled from earlier in June.

The final was a tremendous game with the score level going into the last end and even then the shot changed repeated until the two skips had one bowl each to play. Charlie Boyle played a well-weighted bowl to recapture the shot leaving Kenneth Kyle a very difficult shot to regain the shot, but unfortunately it was not to be and Charlie’s team won the trophy.

Then on Sunday it was the Bowls Scotland District semi-final of the mixed pairs with Chris and Brian Holland up against the Queen’s Park team.

The early exchanges were close and with the score at 7-5 to Queen’s Park they picked up four shots and then progressed to comfortable win. Queen’s Park plays Clarkston in the final on Friday.

Also on Sunday it was the turn of the gents in the Renfrewshire finals held at Charleston Bowling Club in Paisley.

Kingswood’s triples team of George Newall, Stephen Hearton and David Hutchinson played Wellington Park and the Kingswood men had a tremendous start, picking up six shots in the first end. They continued with their good form and ran out comfortable winners to lift the trophy.

KIRKHILL

There were superb performances from the gents seniors in the Wednesday league this week with both teams winning to go top of the league.

Campbell McCulloch played in the single handed final of the Rutherglen and District Bowling Association competition on Friday night losing 2117 in a close final.

The North Eastern league teams had three victories against Springboig

On Friday night Dougie Thompson and Alastair Robertson won the latest round of the Harry Noble competition being seven shots up while earlier in the week Kenny Harkins and new member Martyn Robertson won Monday’s round of the George Adams trophy.

The club was delighted to receive news of new sponsorship deals this week which helps their financial situation remain stable. Part of this included a large new trophy/shield for their Commonwealth mixed singles competition.

The club thanked Gordon McClellan, Alastair Firth, Ronnie Wilson and Sam Maxwell for their part in the discussions leading to the new sponsorship.

The main competitive event of the week was the ladies invitational lunch bowl on Tuesday afternoon.

The competition was played out on their west green, leaving the gents seniors free to play on the east green.

A variety of clubs had representatives playing in the lunch bowl invitational, including players from Giffnock, Cambuslang and East Kilbride, to compete in a friendly way with Kirkhill’s finest.

First and second prize went to Mary Newlands and Barbara Bell respectively and all agreed that a great afternoon was had by all. The catering side of things was done by Helen Nesbitt and Eleanor Ferguson and players were full of praise for their efforts.

Overall it was a great afternoon for the ladies, with decent weather, a good laugh, good bowling and good prizes, food and refreshments.

OVERTOUN PARK

Last Saturday at Overtoun, the greens were full as the club welcomed Kirkhill for their annual friendly game. Overtoun went out all guns blazing to try to regain the trophy which Kirkhill have won for a few years.

After a hearty breakfast, the challenge began and a good number of close games were played with plenty of breaks for refreshments. Everyone agreed it was a great day, not least the guests because when the points were tallied, it was discovered that Kirkhill had retained the trophy for another year.

The Corporation Cup reached a conclusion on Monday night with the spectators treated to an exciting final between James Masterson and Barbara Drummond against Ann McAlpine and John Meikle.

It was nip and tuck at the start and after 10 ends the score stood at seven apiece.

The turn around came in the 11th end when James and Barbara were denied a few shots as John’s last bowl clipped the jack, knocking it to the side to lie three shots. James and Barbara fought hard to draw level again but could not come back and so Ann and John were the worthy sinners of the Cup.

Last week’s Rutherglen District triples brought another double defeat for the Overtoun gents when Burnside beat them home and away but the men regained some of their honour on Wednesday morning when the seniors had a marvellous double victory against Mount Florida.

Tonight (Wednesday) the ladies are off to Whitefield for a friendly game and then on Sunday, it is the gents’ pleasant task to put on their pinnies and wait on the ladies and their guests as they enjoy their ladies day.

RUTHERGLEN

Last Wednesday the senior fours of Ian Stewart, William Wales, Kenny Grummitt and Jim Malloch beat Springboig BC in the semi-final of the Glasgow Bowling Association championships. The finals will take place at Yarrows on Saturday, July 4, at 2pm.

In the Bowls Scotland district playoffs Mark Kelsey has won through to the singles final which will be played at Busby BC on Thursday evening at 6.30pm.

In the R and D championships finals, Jim Mallin, Andy Gorman and Mark Kelsey won the triples against Cambuslang last Friday evening at Whitefield BC. The senior fours and Gilliland fours both lost out.

The club had its annual 2+2 game last Saturday which was sponsored by Fosters Funeral Directors and Heineken. The final was won by Duncan Brodie and I Stewart from Rutherglen and their visitors Louie Dixon and Bobby Fair from Croffoot. The runners-up were Rutherglen’s Alex McLean and Brian Connelly with Jim Booth and Adam Watson both from Croftfoot.

The Monday evening aggregate game was won by Don Mathieson and Gary Kelsey.

WHITEFIELD

An inspired performance from the men’s Top Five saw them progress to the semifinals of the Millennium Trophy with the tightest of victories against Houldsworth. Their next match against Eddlewood will be played on Sunday, at Eddlewood Bowling Club at 6.30pm, and all at the Whitefield wish them all the best.

The Top Six are next to take centre stage with a local derby against Halfway and District Bowling Club at the Whitefield on Thursday at 6.30pm. The previous night, the ladies host Overtoun Park Bowling Club to renew old friendships. The Top Six team would like to thank the ladies for organising a switch of dates to accommodate their tie.

In the Rutherglen and District Triples League, there was one victory and one defeat against Kingswood.

The seniors gents had a win and a defeat in the Lanarkshire District 26 league against Stonehouse and in the Cambuslang and District Seniors two wins were notched up against Cambuslang.

On Saturday, Whitefield hosted their annual local charity day raising funds for worthwhile causes in the area. Members were joined by a number of visitors and some novice players trying out bowls for the first time – some with an impressive natural flair for the game.

Everyone had a great time and Whitefield raised over £600 on the day with hopefully some additional money to be generated. The winners on the day were Helen Flannigan, Mark Docherty, Michael O’Hagan and Eddie Docherty. Runners-up, and close on the heels of the winners, were Phyllis Boyd, Mary Irvine, Gerry Boyd and David Russell.

The Lanarkshire Leagues begin on Friday with the division eight team away to Coalburn and the division 18 team also away to Gartsherrie.

Whitefield will be closed maintenance all day on Friday.

This Saturday, Carmyle were due to visit but unfortunately this match has been postponed.

Finally, Tom Doyle and George McDonald senior ran out winners in the Monday aggregate 20 shots up.

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