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Spring Pairs

SPRING PAIRS 2017
30 members attended the club on Saturday to compete for the Spring Pairs Trophy. As usual, partners for the afternoon were drawn randomly and this produced some strong pairings.
In the top half of the draw Wayne Graham and Phil Richards progressed to the final with wins against Jeff Brown and Laurie Townson (21-16), Les Miller and Peter Smith (21-13) and in the semi-final, Kevin McCormack and Pat Miller (21-13). Their opponents in the final were to be Alex Rimmer and Fergal Wright, who had defeated Barry McArthur and Ken Rimmer (21-7), Bill Bloor and Noel Morgans (21-18) and Pat McArthur and Richard Rawcliffe (21-14).
Although Alex and Fergal won the first two ends of the final, Wayne and Phil produced a winning run of six ends to establish commanding 15-7 lead and looked favourites to claim the title. Although Alex and Fergal won the next three ends to close the gap to 13-15, Wayne and Phil were able to maintain the advantage, closing in on victory at 20-16. However, in one of the most exciting finals seen at the Hesketh, Alex and Fergal ran out to take the Spring Pairs Trophy by the narrowest of margins. Congratulations to all four finalists for producing an entertaining finale to competition. In particular, well done to Alex on his first tournament win, having lost in four previous finals.

The Plate competition for those knocked out in their first game was won by Jim Halsall and Pat Jones, who defeated Chris Harding and John McCabe 15-8 in the final.

The next competition will be the Coronation Cup, a singles handicap and will be held on Sunday 18th June, starting at 12 noon.

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May Update

HESKETH ARMS NEWS UPDATE – MAY 2017

SPRING PAIRS
Members are reminded that the next club event will be the Spring Pairs, which will take place this Saturday, 13th May starting at 12 noon. Please report to the green by 11.45am for registration to allow for a prompt start. Pairings will be drawn at random on the day.

SOUTHPORT FEDERATION
The Southport Federation team got to off to a successful start to the season in April, winning their fixture against Doncaster ‘B’ by 16 games to 8.
The Hesketh Arms was well-represented, with Alistair Adams, Kez Adams, Mike Milne, Mark Wilde and Fergal Wright all playing in the home leg at Scarisbrick Bowling Club and Chris Harding and Jon Roberts playing in the away leg. Special mention must be made of Fergal Wright who won 21-8 and to Kez Adams who won the home team man of the match award for his 21-10 win playing at number 1 block on his Federation debut.
The next game for the Southport team is on Sunday 21st May and the home leg will take place at Fleetwood Hesketh, starting at 2.00pm. The Hesketh Arms will be represented at home against Rochdale Ladies by Mike Milne, Mark Wilde and Fergal Wright. Alistair and Kez Adams have been selected to play at Milnrow in the away leg. Spectators for the game at Fleetwood Hesketh will be very welcome, to help the Southport players continue their winning start to the season

GREEN BOOKINGS
Please note that the green will unavailable for members on the following dates due to private bookings :-
Thursday 8th June – 11.00am – 6.00pm
Sunday 2nd July – all day
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
We would request any members who have not yet paid their subscriptions to please do so.
Especially any team members.

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Rose Bowl 2017

ROSE BOWL 2017
An excellent turnout of 38 members took part in the Club’s first internal competition of the season on Sunday, on a mainly fine day.
In the top half of the draw, Fergal Wright, winner of the Rose Bowl in 2015, made comfortable progress to the quarter-finals with wins against Alex Rimmer (21-10) and Pat McArthur (21-15). Fergal’s quarter-final opponent was three-time Hesketh Arms singles winner Mike Dunlop and this was expected to one of the games of the day. Mike started strongly, winning seven out of the first eight ends to lead 12-1 but Fergal fought back and won eight out of the next nine ends to take the lead at 14-13. From then on, it was nip and tuck with Fergal eventually progressing to the semi-final with a 21-19 win. In the semi-final, Fergal faced former Club president, Bill Nowell, who had enjoyed three close victories over Janice Hobson (21-20), Dave Warrior (21-19) and Dave Bedford (21-20). These close games probably proved to be a disadvantage to Bill in the semi-final as Fergal ran out a 21-10 winner.
The bottom half of the draw saw last year’s Coronation Cup winner, Brian Sutton, make steady progress to the semi-final with wins against Jeff Brown (21-19), Ken Rimmer (21-17) and Wendy McLoughlin (21-16). Brian’s semi-final against Richard Rawcliffe was closely fought, with Brian holding a narrow 16-14 lead after 21 ends. However, Brian was able to win the next four ends to reach another final, the final score being 21-14.
The final started off with neither player dominating and after eight ends Brian led 8-6. At this point, however, Fergal hit top form and won ten consecutive ends to establish a 20-8 lead. Although Brian was able to score a double to make it 10-20, Fergal scored the one chalk required to claim the Rose Bowl for the second time in three years.

A Plate competition was also held and this was won by Peter Smith, who defeated Janice Hobson 15-12 in a closely fought final.

Many thanks to all those who contributed to a successful start to the Club’s competition season.

The next event will be the Spring Pairs, which will be held on Saturday 13th May. Pairings will be drawn on the day. Please report by 11.45am for a 12 noon start.

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April News Update

HESKETH ARMS NEWS UPDATE – APRIL 2017
APRIL ROUND ROBIN
The Club’s first event of the season was held on Sunday 2nd April when 28 members took part in a Round Robin. Eileen Rawcliffe came fourth, just behind husband Richard in 3rd place. The runner-up was Pat McArthur but the clear winner, with an impressive aggregate of  +31, was Norman Simpson. Many thanks to all those who supported this event on a pleasant Spring afternoon.

EASTER ROUND ROBIN
Another excellent turnout of 35 members attended the Club’s second event of the season, the Easter Round Robin. The afternoon produced a close result, with the winner being Sue Davies, whose aggregate of +19 was just one ahead of runner-up Margaret James on +18. Jim Halsall was 3rd on +16 and Margaret Langley took fourth prize with a score of +15.

Many thanks to George Hitchmough, who took over the running of this event at short notice.

ROSE BOWL SINGLES HANDICAP
Our next event will be the Club’s first internal competition of the season, which will be the Rose Bowl. This is a singles handicap and will be held on Sunday 30th April, starting at 12 noon. Please report for registration by 11.45 am so that the draw can be made in time to allow for a prompt start.

TROPHY ENGRAVING
It would be appreciated if those members holding club trophies would return them when they next attend a weekend event or competition. This will enable us to have them engraved with winners’ names before they are played for this season.
MIKE MILNE

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Green Now Open

The green is now open to members.
A social round robin is the first event for members commencing at 2.00pm on Sunday 2nd of April.
Mike Milne will be organising the event and your subs can be paid on the day.
Full Membership – £40.00
Social Membership – £20.00
Junior Membership – £17.50
The competitive season commences 3rd of April
The social Round Robins start on Tuesday the 4th of April
The Friday Round Robin starts on the 7th of April
We look forward to seeing all our old members and we welcome new members

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Thank You and March UpDate

Thank you to all those who turned out this Thursday morning to help tidy up the green.
Brian Mycock, Bill Bloor, Ray Sutton, John McCabe, John Rimmer, Jim Doherty, Martin Gilbert.
A special thanks to Roger van Beever, Wendy McGloughin, Lawrie Townson and Sue Davies who took on the challenge of the ivy on the club house and defeated it.
A special thank you to Peter and Lynne Smith. Peter for painting the club house and Lynne for cleaning the club house.
It was nice to see Jim Finnimore turn up and say hello to many of his friends.
Regards
George Hitchmough

NEWS UPDATE – MARCH 2017
GREEN OPENING
The Green will be open for members from Saturday 25th March.
APRIL ROUND ROBINS
The first Club event of the season will be a Round Robin on Sunday 2nd April, starting at 2.00pm. This will be followed by an Easter Round Robin on Saturday 15th April, also starting at 2.00pm.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Members are reminded that subscriptions for 2017 are now due and have been set at the following rates :-
Full Membership – £40.00
Social Membership – £20.00
Junior Membership – £17.50
Full Membership applies to those members playing for one or more of the league teams and includes the payment of league fees and cost of fixture books/cards.
Social Membership is available to members who wish to play on a casual basis.
Early payment of subscriptions would be appreciated. Please forward to :-
Mike Milne, 20 Coudray Road, Southport PR9 9NL
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Sunday 30th April – Rose Bowl (Singles Handicap) 12.00 noon start.
Saturday 6th May – Friendly match v Liverpool Cricket Club – further details will be available in April.
Saturday 13th May – Spring Pairs (Doubles – pairings to be drawn) 12.00 noon start.

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February Update

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Many thanks to all those who attended the Club’s AGM, held recently at the Churchtown Conservative Club. We are grateful to the Conservative Club for allowing us to use their excellent facilities.
At the meeting, the Chairman, Chris Harding, congratulated Ray Sutton on a very successful two year term as Club President. The newly elected President for the 2017 season is captain of the Harriers, John Stennett. We hope that John enjoys his time in this role.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
The Annual General Meeting set the following subscription rates for the 2017 season :-
Full Membership – £40.00
Social Membership – £20.00
Junior Membership – £17.50
Full Membership applies to those members playing for one or more of the league teams and includes the payment of league fees and cost of fixture books/cards.
Social Membership is available to members who wish to play on a casual basis.
Early payment of subscriptions would be appreciated. Please forward to :-
Mike Milne, 20 Coudray Road, Southport PR9 9NL
LEAGUE TEAMS
The Club is delighted to be able to enter two more teams into the local leagues for the 2017 season, taking our total number of teams to eleven These are a second team in the Burscough and Lathom Men’s Bowling League on a Friday evening and also a second team in the Southport and District Men’s Veterans’ League on a Monday afternoon. If anyone is interested in joining a team, they should contact the captain of the team they would like to play for or any officer of the Club. The details of our league teams along with the captains’ contact numbers are :-
LV LEAGUE
EAGLES (Premier) – Chris Harding 07761733024
FALCONS (1st) – Jeff Brown 01704 214104
HARRIERS (1st) – John Stennett 01704 231755 / George Hitchmough 07977500131
BURSCOUGH LEAGUE
OSPREYS (2nd) – Mark Rowlinson 07763176455
VULTURES (2nd) – Chris Harding 07761733024
AUGHTON LEAGUE
KESTRELS (1st) – Richard Rawcliffe 01704 809691
HAWKS (3rd) – George Hitchmough 07977500131
SOUTHPORT PARKS
KITES (1st) – Brian Mycock 07929827050
SOUTHPORT VETS
MERLINS (2nd) – George Hitchmough 07977500131
HOBBYS (3rd) – Roger Van Beever 01704 211978 / Jeff Brown 01704 214104
MAGHULL LEAGUE
MIXED (4th) – Sue Davies 07473767558
MIKE MILNE
Pre Season tidy up.
We will be looking for help to tidy up the green before the season starts. Garden Pruing, Weeding, Leaf collection and Removal.
Sometime early March. Please help if you can.

Regards
George Hitchmough
Secretary