Visitors grab spots in final of Memorial

THE Jack/John Bramley Memorial qualifier at Love Lane attracted 16 bowlers all looking for a spot in finals day.

Timperley visitor Chris Telford had a major fright in his opening game. Trailing 0-10 he came storming back to win 21-17 against Lynn Gale.

In his qualifying match, Telford ensured there would be no repeat of his slow start from the previous round.

The man from a famous bowling family cruised home 21-8 to secure his spot in finals day.

Stalybridge-based bowler Andy Jones was the next qualifier, seeing off Ben Mills followed by in-form John Cunningham.

It was time for Andy to sit down and see if his son James could also produce the goods and qualify.

James had a right tussle with Bob Whyatt but eventually crashed into finals day by the minimum margin 21-20.

The final qualifying spot was secured by Gary Hoof who overcame Quarry Bank’s Dave Stott.

There was a separate team competition run for those already in the finals day with a mixture of singles and pairs games.

There were eyecatching wins for Shaun Miller 31-14, Jamie Bramley 31-19 and Ian Stokes 31-12 in the opening section.

Elsewhere, Paul Dooley overcame Danielle Miller and Steve Ellis beat Liam Lambert.

With eight chalks between the teams the pairs games looked to be crucial and in particular the last two matches. Ian Stokes and Liam Lambert defeated an in form Rodger Miller and Steve Crowther with surprise ease.

That meant Jamie Bramley and Andy Raymond needed to hold there nerve in the last match. The Greater Manchester county parks team mates did just enough winning 21-20 against Steve Ellis and Shaun Miller.

The bowling season is nudging ever nearer and league fixtures are now starting to appear.

S and D, Workshops and several other leagues have their calendars released.

Most league fixtures can be found on www. stockportbowls.co.uk.