2016 proved a successful year for Dairy Lane and Silksworth
2016 proved a good year for the local bowls scene as teams from around the area racked up a number of titles.
2016 was a superb year for Houghton Dairy Lane’s Susan Forster, Glynis Morgan and Joan Rodgerson as they notched up another couple of county titles.
In the Fours final alongside Margaret Metcalfe, the Dairy Lane quartet beat Sunderland’ s Sue Almond 21-16.
After that, the Forster-Morgan-Rodgers on combined as a triple to secure a second county title when they beat Elm Tree’s Lisa Simpson 23-15.
The Elm Tree pair, however, gained revenge in the final of the Pairs which stopped Forsterand Rodgers on registering a third county title.
Later in the season at the National Championships, the Dairy Lane duo were left to ponder what might have been. Victories against Oxford shire’ s Pam Shepherd (21-9), Suffolk’s Julie Spice (21-12) and Hampshire’s Viv Mansell (23-16) set up a semi-final against Devon’ s international duo of Sophie Tolc hard and Natalie Chest ney.
In the semi-final, the Dairy Lane duo missed a chance of reaching the final, after racing into 10-1 lead, they still led 13-7 after 11 ends, however, the semi-final slipped away from the manda 15-2 return over the last 10 ends in the Devon pairs favour sealed a 22-15 defeat for Forster and Rodgerson, who then went on to win the title.
The Men’s county finals were held at Stockton and it proved to be a very successful one for Silksworth as they lifted three county titles.
In the Singles final, David Bolt was never in danger of a third Singles success, Bolt’s opponent Dipton’s Michael English was left shell shocked trailing 20-1 after only 10 ends and only 25 minutes of play. In the end it finished 21-7 to the Silksworth star.
The second Silks worth title came in the Two Bowl Singles as young Jaxon McKenna produceda polished performance to defeat Hartlepool Old Boy’s Carl Higgins 16-9, with three ends to spare.
M cK en na’ s hope sofa county double were dashed as in the final of the Junior Singles, on a difficult rink, defending champion Darlington RA’s Barry Hopkins inflicted a 2114 defeat.
This was Hop kin’ s third junior success in his final year in the event. The third Silks worth title came in the Fours as Gary Farquhar steered Shaun McIntosh, Stevie Cairns and Billy Ferry to a cracking 21-7 win over Stockton’s Paul Mosley in only 16 ends.
In the Triples final, Houghton Dairy Lane’s Colin Brown, David Armstrong and Dan Todner were always playing catch up against Hartlepool Park’ s Dale Or am, before shaking hands at 16-8 with one end un-played.
The Men’s County A team were left ruing an opening 175 Muras Trophy loss to Northumberland as they went on to beat Yorkshire 18-4 and Lancashire 19-3. However, holders Northumberland also won their two games to retain the Muras Trophy.
In the Middleton Cup round robin games, Durham lost their opener 18-4 at Manchester against Lancashire, but an 184 win over Derbyshire at Selby raised hopes of getting out of the group.
The final group game against Cumbria was originally due to be played at Silksworth, but a below par playing surface saw it switched to Spennymoor. However, another below par surface forced a third switch to Billingham at John Whitehead Park which on the day wasn’t in good nick either.
Despite a late Durham charge, Cumbria held on for a six shot 17-5 win, Lancashire’s 16-6 win over Derbyshire saw them finish top of the group and qualify for the last eight knockout stage. In the Women’s John’s Trophy, Durham were stuck in a group of three. An 18-4 loss to a strong Lincolnshire outfit sealed Durham’s fate of not qualifying.
There was some good news for the women in the Walker Cup Double Fours, in the regional event, Durham beat Yorkshire (+10) and then Cumbria in the regional final (+9) to secure a place at Leamington Spa where they faced Devon in the semi-finals.
Despite a tremendous performance, Devon proved too strong, Joan Rodgers on played out a draw and Ann Anderson’ s rink lost by five.
In the Men’ s B al comb eDoubleF ours, Durham were beaten 37-34 at Hough ton Dairy Lane by a new look Cumbria side. David Bolt steered his quartet to a hard fought 17-16 win over Ben Sherwin, however, RA’s John Fielding quartet were always playing catch up and despite a late charge went down 21-17 to Steve Irwin.
There was some national success for Durham at the National Championships, where in the Women’ s Senior Singles, Darlington Woodland’s Ann Anderson put together four wins to reach the final against Berkshire’s Bet Aubrey. Happily for Anderson there was no repeat of her 2008 final loss as the Woodland player ran out a very impressive 21-4 winner.
The SWBA League title was won for the first time by Sunderland. The once proud league used to boast 14 teams, sadly times changed and with Ryhope and Silksworth Ladies both dropping out mid-season, the league was down to just six clubs.
The women’s competition titles were shared around as the Singles title went to Ryhope’s Brenda Forrest, the pairs title went to Sunderland’ s Charlotte Bay liss and Lorraine Breheny who beat Whitburn’s Brenda Harper and Muriel Felce 17-13.
The Sunderland duo landed the Ash brooke Funeral’ s sponsoredOpen Pairs competition. The Town Triples title went to Ryhope as Sheila Wright, Sheila Thomson and MargaretMitch in son defeated W hi tb urn’ s Moira Smith, Maureen Smith and Brenda Harper.
The Fours crown went to the Barnes Park quartet of Linda For rest, Maureen Burnett, Gwen E lt ring ham and Ann Callaghan who beat Sunderland’ s Jean Graham, Christine Hopper, Janet Sykes and Susan Almond 24-11.
The Marjorie Marshall Triples title went to the W hit burn trio of Maureen Smith, Brenda Harper and Muriel Felce.