Around the greens
Eighteen teams participated in the Clyde Refrigeration Invitation Rinks on an entertaining day at Halfway and District.
The eventual winners were Michael Logan, Bob Bilsland, John Kerr and Jim Lynn who defeated Bob Meikle’s Hamilton Caley rink in the final last Saturday.
This Saturday sees the Fergus Trophy played for as Halfway take on Condorrat in the annual friendly match. The gents are at home while the ladies are away.
The ladies triple of Sandra Hughes, Taylor Gray and Lillian O’Neil won their Bowls Scotland District quarter and semi-finals last week and will now play Bothwell away in the district final on Sunday afternoon with a place at Northfield at stake.
The fours lost their semi- final at Whitefield on Saturday. Taylor Gray played her Junior Singles quarter-final last night with the winner progressing to play at Eddlewood this Friday. Helen Torrance lost her senior singles quarterfinal on Thursday.
Halfway’s senior gents also had a good week. In the RDBA the rink of Alex Duncan, Kenny Russell, George McCutcheon and John Lowe made it through to the final after defeating Cambuslang. The finals night will be held on Friday, June 15 at Tollcross.
In the Lanarkshire the senior rink of Wullie Anderson, Bob Forsyth, John Kerr and George McCutcheon made it through to the district final after defeating Bothwell in the semifinals. The district final will take place tonight,Wednesday, at Bothwell with Bellshill or Colville Park the opponents. The triples lost their LBA district semifinal against Dalzell. In the other RDBA ties the singles and triples both narrowly lost their semi-finals and the Gilliland League team just missed out on a place in the final after a narrow defeat.
The triples league started this week with Croftfoot the opponents.
Next Tuesday’s opponents are Whitefield. The gents top five lost their first round tie away to Mount Vernon on Sunday.
The gents Bowls Scotland first round ties took place last Friday with only the triples winning through. They played Burnbank at Douglas last night, Tuesday, with the winners progressing to play at Dalserf on Friday.
In the West of Scotland WBA ties last Monday Fiona Firth lost her singles tie 21-20.
The pair of Flo Thomson and Helen Torrance won their game and will now play at Halfway next Monday in the next round.
The LWBA ties start today. The singles play at Hunter, the pairs at Lesmahagow and the triples at St Leonards.
The district seniors won both games against Strathaven last week but lost both to Whitefield. This week’s opponents were Udston and Bothwell while Blantyre await next week, with Halfway B having a week off.
The Curley Cup Pairs and Gents Invitation Pairs (sponsored by Jim and Audrey Stoddart) take place on June next weekend of June 16 and 17 respectively, the entry sheets are on the board for both of these competitions. In the North Eastern league Rutherglen had two home wins and an away win against Kirkhill Bowling Club.
Last Saturday’s friendly game at Milton of Campsie was cut short due to torrential rain. The weather failed to dampen the spirits of those involved and with the usual Milton hospitality everyone had a great day out.
In the Cambuslang and District Seniors league we had two wins, full points, against Whitefield last week. Next game is against Templeton.
Mark Kelsey has progressed through to the Glasgow championships singles quarter final at Bellahouston next Wednesday evening and the Bowls Scotland district semi-finals at Giffnock next Thursday evening.
Joining Mark in the district semi-finals are the pairs, Billy Ross and Alastair Dick, and the triples, Gil Morgan, Gary Kelsey and Jim Simpson who play at Giffnock and Burnside respectively.
Murray Paul was just beaten in the semi-final of the Rutherglen and District singles away to Burnside.
This Saturday Rutherglen is hosting a county game with Glasgow South playing Dumfriesshire.
The Monday evening aggregate game was won by Bill McIntosh and Billy Hodge. Last week was a busy one at Burnside with many games taking place in several competitions.
The Monday night aggregate game was played in balmy weather and the team of Scott Stevenson, Jim Gibson, Ken Stirratt and skipped by Peter Horne scooped the prizes by winning their game by 14 shots.
The club hosted the Rutherglen and District semi-finals last Tuesday with games in the afternoon and evening. The evening games gave members a real interest with Burnside being represented in the singles and pairs games.
Club president Walter Matthews played in the singles game against Murray Paul, of Rutherglen Bowling Club. Walter raced into an early lead but Murray fought back to make the game closer. The latter stages of the game saw Walter recover and win through in what was a great game to watch. The final will be played at Tollcross BC on June 15 starting at 6.30pm.
Best foot forward, Walter Matthews wins through to the Rutherglen and District singles final.
The pairing of Iain Mackintosh and Chris Allan played Kingswood in what turned out to be a thriller. Iain and Chris narrowly lost out after coming back to take the game to an extra end against Kingswood BC.
The club’s participation in the GBA games was snuffed out on Wednesday when those remaining lost out in their respective games.
Conversely, Burnside now have an interest in four of the semi-finals of the Bowls Scotland competition. The triples, fours and over 55 fours are all through to the semi-finals and these games will be played at Giffnock BC tomorrow starting at 6.30pm. These promise to be great games and all club members are encouraged to get out and cheer them on. It was a disappointing week for Overtoun members out in the Bowls Scotland competition. In the over-55s singles, May Stark was unsuccessful in her second round tie against Kingswood. Then, on Saturday, at Giffnock, Barbara Drummond lost 21-14 to Queen’s Park while Christine Allison and May Stark lost to Cathcart in the ladies’ pairs.
Colin Harvie, James Masterson, Dougie Noddings and Hugh Lambie have been playing well in the Gilliland League, reaching the semi-final. In the final, they started off well and looked set to go through to the final, only to be beaten over the last two ends. Everyone now looks forward to the Gala 2-bowl competition which takes place this Friday, June 8 at 6.30pm. Kirkhill Bowling Club held its June Tournament, an open competition on Saturday which was sponsored by Co-op Funeralcare.
Once players started to arrive they were offered tea, coffee and a roll and sausage.
John Coubrough, club president, welcomed everyone to the club. Gordon McLellan and Jim Proctor organised the day, supported by Jean Kerr and Christine MacLeod.
There were four sections with each team playing five games of five ends in the sweltering heat and there was a threat of a thunderstorm on the way. Sun tan cream and hats were a necessity.
At about 3.15pm the weather forecasters were proved to be correct as thunder and a heavy shower drenched a few bowlers.
Another 20 minutes later, the storm was over, however play had continued uninterrupted and a few drops of rain did not deter the resolute bowlers.
The winners of the four sections played in the semi- finals as Kirkhill bowed out in the last four stage.
The eventual winners were Uddingston Bowling Club’s B Magowan, E Thomson, D Fleming, A McGuinn.