Hesketh Arms Bowling Club

JULY ROUND ROBIN
The July Round Robin was well-attended on Saturday, with 27 members taking part. In fourth place was Noel Morgans with a score of +9, just two behind Laurie Townson on +11. Norman Simpson was 2nd with an aggregate of +15 but the winner was Jim Halsall on +17.

FRIENDLY V. EMMANUEL BOWLING CLUB
Places are still available for the friendly fixture this coming Saturday, 6th August at Emmanuel Church Bowling Club on Cambridge Road. The match will start at 1.00pm and refreshments will be served at the end of the game. If you are interested in coming along, please email Mike Milne at michaelmilne66@outlook.com or call 07752352065.

CHAIRMAN’S SHIELD
The third and final random pairs of the season will take place on Sunday 7th August, starting at 12 noon. Please be at the green by 11.45am to allow for a prompt start.

CROSSENS RACE NIGHT
Crossens Bowling Club would like to thank all Hesketh members who supported their Race Night.
They raised £ 1057.70

FRIENDLY MATCH V. EMMANUEL BOWLING CLUB

The Hesketh Arms Bowling Club has been invited to take a team to the Emmanuel Church Bowling Club (Cambridge Road, Southport) to a play a friendly fixture on Saturday 6th August, starting at1.00pm. Refreshments will be served in the hall after the match.

Anyone interested in playing in this game should please contact Mike Milne as soon as possible as numbers will be required for the catering requirements. Please either email michaelmilne66@outlook.com or phone 07752352065

PRESIDENT’S DAY 2016

The Club enjoyed another successful President’s Day on Sunday when Ray Sutton welcomed a record turnout of 39 competitors to take part in the President’s Cup.

In the tough top half of the draw, Jim Halsall had to negotiate a Preliminary Round tie against Jeff Brown (21-13) before getting past Jim Doherty (21-15), Norman Simpson (21-14), Brian Sutton (21-16) and Mike Dunlop (21-10) on route to the final. These were five good wins against difficult opponents.

In the bottom half of the draw, Dave Bedford reached the final with wins against Peter Smith (21-19), Jim Finnimore (21-12), Steve Lomas (21-10) and in the semi-final, Wayne Graham (21-13).

In the final, Dave started strongly, winning five out of the first six ends to establish a 10-4 lead. However, Jim was able to hit back and regaining the form he had shown in reaching the final, won 12 ends out of 14 to win the match 21-12, making up for being runner-up in last year’s President’s Day competition. Congratulations to Jim on winning the President’s Cup for the first time, having previously won the Rose Bowl (2013) and the Championship Cup (2014).

A Plate competition was held for those unlucky enough to lose their first game and this attracted an entry of 19 players. After some close games, the eventual winner of the President’s Day Plate was Jeff Brown with a 15-10 win against Sue Davies in the final.

The Club would like to thank Ray and Frances Sutton and their helpers for arranging refreshments and organising the raffle. A sum of £158.00 was raised on the day for club funds and an enjoyable day was had by all those who attended.
Photographs Will appear shortly

The Hesketh Arms again played host to the Churchtown Conservative Club on Saturday, when members competed for the B.J.P.O’Malley President’s Trophy. The trophy was won by Nathan Browne and Mike Milne with a 21-18 win in the final against Terry Corfield and Kevin McCormack.

GREEN BOOKING
Please note that the green will be unavailable to members this coming Thursday afternoon (14th July) as it has been hired out for a private booking.

HESKETH ARMS B.C. PRESIDENT’S CUP
Our next internal club competition will be the President’s Cup, which will be held on  Sunday 10th July, starting at 12 noon. Please book in by 11.45am to allow for a prompt start. A raffle will be held on the day to raise funds for the club, so any donations of prizes will be much appreciated.

GREEN AVAILABILITY
Please note that the green will now be available for use by members this Saturday 2nd July. This is due to a change of date for the  Conservative Club President’s Trophy, which will now take place on Saturday 9th July, starting at 1.00pm. The green will therefore be unavailable for general use at this time, although spectators will be welcome. Any member of the bowling club who is also a member of the Conservative Club is invited to take part in this event, which will take the form of a random doubles, pairing a bowler with a non-bowler where possible.

VICE-PRESIDENTS PAIRS TROPHY 2016
At the weekend, an excellent turnout of 32 members took part in the Vice-Presidents Pairs Trophy, the Club’s second doubles competition of the season. The 32 players were drawn randomly into 16 pairs and this produced some strong partnerships.
In the top half of the draw, one of last season’s winning pair, Fergal Wright, was drawn to play with four time Hesketh Arms doubles champion, Margaret Langley. This looked a strong pairing on paper and so it proved as they progressed to the final with wins against Wayne Graham and Noel Morgans (21-16), Jason Chapman and Kyle Dawes (21-3) and in the semi-final, Jim Finnimore and Pat McArthur (21-9).

The bottom half of the draw featured some close games before Laurie Townson and Brian Sutton were able to reach the final with wins against Dave Bedford and Lieny Platt (21-12), Bob Platt and Tony Wakefield (21-15) and Alex and Ken Rimmer (21-18). The highlight of Brian and Laurie’s run to the final was the semi-final against Alex and Ken Rimmer, which saw them run out from 18-10 down.

In the final, Margaret and Fergal got off to a flying start, scoring four at the first end. Although Brian and Laurie drew level at 7 across with three at the fourth end, Margaret and Fergal were able to score consistently and when they got a second four at the 11th end to lead 18-9, it looked as though they were going to win the game comfortably. Brian and Laurie were not going to concede the game without a fight, however and by winning five out of the next seven ends, they were able to close the gap to 16-20 before Margaret and Fergal secured the single they required to claim the title.

Congratulations to Fergal on retaining this title and to Margaret on winning a record fifth doubles title at the Hesketh Arms, having won the Chairman’s Shield in 2008 and 2013 and the Spring Pairs in 2011 and 2012. Well done also to Brian and Laurie on reaching the final and providing a fitting end to the competition.

A plate competition was also held and this was won by George Hitchmough and Roger Van Beever with a 15-10 win in the final against Lieny Platt and Dave Stringfellow.

OPEN SINGLES 2016

Sunday saw the Club host it’s first Open Singles competition and congratulations go to one of our own members, John Hughes, on being the winner of the inaugural event.

It was pleasing to be able to fill the 32 available places in the competition, which attracted entries from Liverpool, Hoylake, Broughton, Leyland, Kirkham and St.Annes, as well as good representation from local clubs.

John Hughes had started his progress to the final with a potentially difficult tie against Darren Evans from the Brooke Hotel but John won this game surprisingly comfortably, the score being 21-9. This was followed by John’s toughest game of the day against Jimmy Alty from Fleetwood Hesketh which he eventually won 21-19, having trailed 11-7 and 16-12. Having survived this close call, John was able to reach the final with wins against David Bradshaw from Croston Subs 21-13 and John Greenwood of Holmeswood 21-10 in the semi-final. John Greenwood had taken some notable scalps on his way to the last four, overcoming Roy Webster (21-19), Simon Thistlethwaite (21-18) and Steve Wilson (21-13).

In the other half of the draw, Andy Fleming from Kirkham Cons had started with a narrow 21-17 win against local player Bill Hefferan and followed this by defeating Thomas Lowndes from the Broughton and Bretton B.C. In the last eight, Andy faced tough opposition in Andy Draper from nearby Banks St.Stephen’s but was able to run out from 15-14 down to reach the semi-final. Andy’s semi-final opponent was another local player, Bill Roddan, from the Zetland Hotel.
It was Bill who was ahead all the way, leading 14-10 and 18-14 but Andy stayed in touch to eventually win 21-20.

In the final, John Hughes from the host club started strongly, winning 7 out of the first 9 ends to establish a 9-2 lead and although Andy fought back to narrow the gap to 9-14, john was able to use his knowledge of the green to maintain his advantage and eventually take the title, the winning score being 21-10.

At the end of the competition, the prizes were presented by Club Chairman Chris Harding, who thanked the Committee and members of the Club for supporting the first Hesketh Arms Open Singles. He particularly thanked all those who had helped out on the day with measuring and selling a football card to raise funds for the club. These included Jim Finnimore, George Hitchmough, Bill Nowell and Jon Roberts. He also thanked those who had helped with the refreshments, in particular Pat Southworth for providing homemade cakes.

The Hesketh Arms Bowling Club would like to thank all the bowlers who supported this event, especially those who had travelled some distance to take part. We hope they enjoyed their day in Churchtown and look forward to welcoming them back for future events.

CLUB NEWS 

JUNE ROUND ROBIN

The Club’s June Round Robin was held on Saturday and was won by Steve Lomas with an aggregate of +15. Mike Dunlop was in second place, just three points behind on +12 and third prize went to Ken Rimmer with a score of +2.

THE VICE-PRESIDENT’S PAIRS TROPHY

Members are reminded that the next event in the Club’s busy season will take place this Saturday and will be a random pairs competition for the Vice-President’s Pairs Trophy. Please report to the green by 11.45am for a 12 noon start.