A break in the poor weather conditions allowed 22 members to compete for the Coronation Cup on Sunday 1st July. This was not a bad turnout considering that several of our regular competitors were helping out at a junior bowling event at the Botanic Gardens.
In the top half of the draw, Pat Higgins progressed to the semi-final stage with closely fought wins against George Hitchmough (21-17) and Keith Jones (21-17). His semi-final opponent was to be Hesketh Hawks’ Captain Norman Parry, who reached the semis with comfortable wins against Richard Rawcliffe (21-11), Eileen Rawclife (21-8) and Alan Bond (21-9). This semi-final was expected to be a tight game and so it proved. Despite Pat leading 13-7 and 15-12, it was Norman who took the lead at 19-18 but was unable to get the two chalks he needed to reach the final as Pat won the last two ends of the game to win through to his second final of the season.
The bottom half of the draw saw Leo Tobin reach the semi-final with wins against Sue Davies (21-13) and Pat Jones(21-16). Leo’s opponent in the semi-final was the experienced Bill Nowell, who had beaten Eric Groom (21-10) and Joe Parker (21-16). Having an advantage of 2 chalks on the handicap, Leo established an early lead which he was able maintain throughout the match to reach the final by a 21-14 margin.
Both Leo and Pat had been beaten finalists in Hesketh singles competitions before, guaranteeing a new name on the Club’s Roll of Honour. It was Pat who started strongly in the final and after 10 ends had established a 14-9 lead, having scored five 2s. At this point though, Leo found his form and won the next five ends to take the lead at 15-14. Pat was unable to recover the lead as Leo was able to score another couple of 2s in gaining the 6 chalks required, the final score being 21-17.
A Plate competition was held for 1st Round losers and this was won by Richard Rawcliffe who defeated Brian Jones 21-15 in the final.
The Next competition will be The Chairman’s Shield, to be held on Sunday 22nd July. This will be a pairs competition in which pairings will be drawn at random. Members’ guests are welcome to take part in this event