Congratulations go to the winners Mike Milne and John Tomlin who won 15-8 in the final against Chris Harding and Steve Pursall.
On Sunday, a record entry of 38 took part in the President’s Cup, including several guests of our President, Bill Nowell.
The top half of the draw saw Joe Parker make progress to the final with wins against new member Wendy McLoughlin (21-10), Jim Finnimore (21-16), Dave Bedford (21-16), Tony Wakefield (21-14) and Mark Eustace (21-4).
Joe’s opponent in the final was Mike Dunlop who reached this stage with wins against Colin McKenzie (21-9), Phil Kitchen (21-13), Bob Mitchell (21-17) and Kevin Leddy (21-17).
This was Mike’s first Hesketh singles final since winning the Coronation Cup in 2011, while Joe has yet to win a singles title, having being runner-up in the 2012 Championship Cup. Joe had played particularly well to reach the final, beating some strong opponents on the way and looked a likely winner as he led 13-9 in the final. Mike is an experienced campaigner, however and found his best form to win 9 consecutive ends to win the final 21-13. Congratulations to Mike on winning the 2014 President’s Cup.
A consolation competition was held for those who lost their first game and this was won by Jim Halsall who defeated Richard Rawcliffe 15-9 in the final.
Thanks go once again to Irene Nowell, Pat Jones and Betty Plant who provided refreshments and organised a raffle and whisky roll. In total £136.00 was raised towards club funds. Congratulations to Bill Nowell on another successful President’s Day.
20 competitors turned out for our Round Robin on a gloriously sunny Saturday 5th of July
The competition was organised by Jim Finnimore in place of Mike Milne who away having a day out at the races.
Their was some good friendly competition and many cups of tea during rest periods.
The day was eventually won by Mike Dunlop with + 15 with joint Second place going to Eileen Rawcliffe and Alan Bond with + 13
The next competition is the Presidents Cup on the 20th of July.
This is Bill Nowells final year as President and we would hope you all support him at this event.
GREEN BOOKINGS
Please note that the green will be unavailable for use by members on the following dates as it has been booked by private parties :-
Saturday 2nd August & Sunday 17th August
The Committee apologises for any inconvenience that this may cause.
VICE-PRESIDENTS TROPHY 2014
The Club’s second pairs competition of the season, The Vice-Presidents Trophy, took place on Saturday 28th June and fortunately the rain stayed away on an overcast afternoon.
As usual, the pairings were drawn randomly and by a remarkable coincidence, Jim Finnimore and Alex Rimmer were drawn to partner each other for a second successive pairs event, having been finalists in the Spring Pairs held earlier in the season. Jim and Alex were clearly intent on going one better this time and progressed to the final in the top half the draw with wins against Kyle Dawes and Pat Jones (21-12), Mike Milne and Harvey Wright (21-13) and Jim Halsall and Geoff Rimmer (21-16).
Their opponents in the final were Kevin Leddy and Don Parish who had survived a scare in their first game, narrowly overcoming Irene Nowell and Fergal Wright 21-19. This was followed by another impressive win against Luke Dawes and Mike Dunlop, the final score being 21-14.
The final was expected to be close but Jim and Alex had had to play an extra game and this proved to be a disadvantage as Kevin and Don cruised to a 21-4 victory with Kevin leading the way with some excellent bowls, ably supported by Don.
A Plate competition was run for those pairs losing their 1st game and this was won by Irene Nowell and Fergal Wright with a 15-11 success in the final against Brian Jones and Margaret Langley.
June Message from the Chairman
I have been delighted to hear all the positive feedback from our members and visitors about the excellent condition of our green and the tidiness of the surrounds. It is the committee’s priority to maintain these standards and with the continued support of everyone involved in the green maintenance I am confident we will do this.
At the AGM it was announced that the club were looking into the possibility of providing floodlights. I am under no illusion that this will be a testing project with many logistical and cost issues. We have received quotations and that has given us a clear indication of what we can achieve. Mike Burrill is in the process of putting together a planning permission application which he couldn’t start until we had the quotes from the floodlight companies. I will keep you all updated on the progress.
The competitions and round robins are receiving impressive turnouts. Congratulations to Eileen Rawcliffe and Joe Parker for winning the Spring Pairs.
Talking of competitions the club are holding a photography contest. We would love to see your photos of anything that is connected to the bowling club. The best 3 will receive a prize at the awards night and some of entries will be shown on the website and Facebook. It is very simple to enter just email your pictures to secretary@hesketharmsbowlingclub.co.uk
In last month’s message I asked any ladies that wanted to form an afternoon team to come forward. Some did, so there will be a list going up on the notice board.
There are plenty of activities coming up so please visit our website, find and like us on Facebook, email the Secretary ‘secretary@hesketharmsbowlingclub.co.uk’ or phone me on 07761733024.
Keep up the good work.
Chris Harding
Sunday 15th June saw 19 players compete for the Coronation Cup and it was pleasing to see a couple of members playing in their first club handicap.
The top half of the draw saw Brian Jones progress to the semi-final with wins against Mark Rowlinson (21-12) and John Walton (21-17). Brian’s semi-final opponent was Irene Nowell who had come through two tough games against Mark Eustace (21-19) and Jim Halsall (21-20). Irene had also had to play a preliminary round game and this proved to be a disadvantage in the semi-final with Brian running out a comfortable 21-8 winner.
Brian’s opponent in the final was Jim Finnimore, still in fine form following his succes in the Botanic Garden’s President’s Cup the previous day. Jim reached the final with wins against Mike Dunlop (21-12), Dave Bedford (21-19) and John Stennett (21-13).
With both players starting on +2 a close final was expected and with Brian leading 11-10 it looked like going down to the wire. However, by winning 5 out of the next 7 ends, Brian took a decisive 18-12 lead and although Jim acored a couple of singles to narrow the gap, Brian was able to score the three chalks required to secure a 21-14 victory. Congratulations to Brian on winning The Coronation Cup for the second time, having won it previously in 2009. Well done also to Jim who narrowly missed out on an impressive double of two tournament wins in one weekend.
A plate competition was held for first round losers and this was won by Mike Dunlop, who defeated Mark Rowlinson 15-14 in a close final.
The next competition is to be held on Saturday 28th June, when members will play for The Vice-President’s Trophy (1.00pm start). This will be a pairs event and members are reminded that guests will be welcome to take part in this competition.
Message from the Chairman May 2014
All,
The new season is up and running!
Thank you all for paying your subscriptions promptly. I would also like to pass on my gratitude to the Captains for helping to collect the money in and pass it on to the Treasurer. The 2014 membership numbers are going to be very similar to the previous year.
Our eight league teams look in very good shape for player numbers and there are already signs that some of them will be challenging for silverware. If there are any members that are looking to play league bowls for the first time or there are current league players wishing to play in an additional side please speak to me and I will put you in touch with the appropriate captain.
Congratulations to Barry Coates for lifting our first competition of the year, the Rose Bowl. Thank you to all that took part, it was an excellent turn out.
If there are any ladies that would like to discuss the possibility of forming a ladies afternoon league team please contact me.
There are plenty of activities coming up so please visit our website, find and like us on Facebook, email the Secretary ‘secretary@hesketharmsbowlingclub.co.uk’ or phone me on 07761733024.
Carry on the good work.
Chris Harding