Houghton falter at the semi-final stage of national championships
As the indoor national championships come to an end at Nottingham, hopes of a first ever national final appearance for Houghton were sadly dashed at the semi-final stage.
In the over-60 double fours, the Houghton squad were left dreaming of what might have been as they went down 40-24 to Falaise.
Joe Sutherland, Mal Baker, Peter Brickle and Dale Oram kept plugging away and managed to record a 20-15 win over Trevor Logan.
Sadly things were unravelling on the other rink as Michael Wright, Stevie Tindale, Ian Whorlton and Frankie Froud had a tough evening against Steve Jeapes, going down 25-4.
The dream may have been dashed but to get to the last four has been a great achievement by the Houghton lads.
In the final, Falaise were beaten 34-23 by Westlecot.
Still at Nottingham, after the win over Cumbria’s Trevor Taylor, Stanley’s Bret Arkley lost the next round of the triples 18-3 to Norfolk’s Wayne Willgress.
Willgress ended the Vipers’ Mal Peach and David Bolt’s hopes in the pairs – the Shields duo were always chasing the game but did get back to 15-12 only to see Willgress pull away again 20-12.
The Norfolk star went on to take the title with an extra end win over Exonia’s Robert Paxton.
In the women’s event, Hartlepool’s Devon Cooper and Danielle Martinson lost in the last 16.
There was nearly another national title heading north as the Hartlepool duo of Tony Greathead and Albert Ward narrowly missed out in the final of the over-60 pairs final, losing 19-16 to Falaise’s Steve Jeapes.
The Hartlepool duo had earlier beaten Cumbria’s Ricky Gallagher 16-15, Loddon Vale’s Geoff Green 19-10 and forced a nailbiting 1312 semi-final extra end win over Wymondham Dell’s Geoff Batley.
The defending women’s over-60 pairs champions,
the Vipers’ Jackie Stewart Tallack and Maureen Charles, couldn’t repeat last year’s feat, and in their opener they were beaten 18-7 by Nottingham’s Pam Cutts.
The host club Nottingham lifted the Mason Trophy double fours; in the final they beat Sutton 37-26.
Spalding, the conquerors of the Vipers, lifted the Denny Cup after easing past Norfolk 78-44 while Melton landed the Denny Plate with a 81-56 win over Clarrie Dunbar.
The women’s Yetton Trophy went to Norfolk, who beat Lincoln by 53 shots.
The Yetton Plate title stayed local as Nottingham beat Whiteknight’s 96-62.
As one national championships
end, another gets underway next week as Newark will host the latter stages of the EBF championships.
There is plenty of local interest taking part from April 19-24.
A field of 64 were due to take to the green at Hartlepool yesterday as the Open Singles Circuit lands in the area, with some of the cream of north east bowls on show – details of the winner in next week’s report.
This weekend many outdoor clubs will open their greens for the first time this season.
On the national stage, following the decision to hold a British Isles Championships at the end of June at Llandrindod, Wales Bowls
England will hold a playoff between their 2019 and 2021 champions to determine who goes forward to the championships.
Locally, Durham’s Dunston national senior fours champions Brett Arkley, Tony Humphries, Alan Theobald and Alex Bryden will face Berkshire’s Trevor Broad for the England slot in the senior fours event at Oxford on May 15.
The Bowls England club competition draws have been made.
In the top club, after their great run last season the Silksworth Pumas will tackle Jarrow West End, and Houghton Diary Lane will play Pelton Fell.
There are three local entries in the double fours – Silksworth Pumas host Dunston, Dairy Lane host Elm Tree and Roker Marine host Pelton Fell.
In the Tony Allcock over60s double fours, Dairy Lane will travel to Hundens or Jarrow West End.
In the men’s champion of champions, there is an all Puma affair as Billy Ferry plays David Bolt, Marine’s Peter Thomson travels to Blackhall to play Paul Hartley while Usworth’s Brian Poulter hosts Elm Tree’s Mark Hodgson.
*Bowls’ Big Weekend is back! The sport’s annual national open weekend returns for 2022 from Friday, 27 May to Sunday, 29 May.
This is a national initiative offering clubs the opportunity to promote a welcoming and socially-distanced sport and attract new members.
Bowls England are hosting a series of webinars, exploring topics such as marketing online, promotion in your local community, how to run a great event, and the ins and outs of GDPR.
The organisation is also investing in a national media and PR campaig, and offering a new digital platform for clubs to purchase extra posters, leaflets and more, as well as download free social media assets to use to shout about your event. For more information visit www.bowlsengland.com.