Hesketh Arms Bowling Club

THE BERNARD O’MALLEY VICE-PRESIDENT’S TROPHY
Saturday saw the club hosting it’s first junior open singles competition, which attracted entries from Formby, Ormskirk, Leyland, Wigan and Shevington, in addition to bowlers from local clubs Hesketh Arms, Botanic Gardens, Scarisbrick Bowling Club and Mere Brow.
The early stages of the competition saw some close battles, including an excellent preliminary round game between Archie Rimmer (Scarisbrick Bowling Club) and Matthew Brown (Fox Lane, Leyland), with Archie emerging the winner by a narrow 21-19 margin. Archie was involved in another tough game in the last 16 as he just lost out to his clubmate James Catton by the same 21-19 scoreline. Other notable games in this round were wins for Kes Adams (Scarisbrick B.C.) against Luke Sinnott (Formby Sports & Social) and a 21-19 success for Matty Greenwood (Mere Brow) against Matthew Gill (Windmill, Ormskirk).
Following his win against Luke Sinnott, Kes Adams progressed to the semi-finals in the top half of the draw with a 21-14 win against Luke Dawes (Botanic Gardens). His semi-final opponent was Luke’s brother Kyle, representing the host club and therefore one of the favourites to take the title. Kes started strongly in the semi-final, however, winning 10 out of the first 12 ends to establish a 13-3 advantage. Although Kyle fought back with a couple of 2s the deficit was too much to overcome and Kes ran out a 21-10 winner.
In the bottom half of the draw, Matty Greenwood followed up his narrow victory against Matthew Gill with a more comfortable 21-14 win against Philip Rawlins (Formby Sports & Social). This took him into the semi-final, where his opponent was another homester, Fergal Wright. Fergal had reached this stage with wins against Danny Hurst (Shevington) and Jack Harrison (Scarisbrick B.C.) Matty and Fergal are both members of the successful Botanic Gardens junior team and this was expected to be a close contest but when leading 10-3, Matty appeared to be favourite. However, trailing 10-3 and with Matty counting with a bowl next to the jack, Fergal rested this bowl out to leave himself with two. This was to prove a turning point as Fergal won the next seven ends, to take control of the match and lead 15-10. Although Matty fought back, winning three out of the next five ends, it was Fergal who reached the final, the scoreline being 21-14.
The outcome of the final was hard to predict but Fergal again started slowly and Kes looked to have the final under control when leading 12-4. As in his semi-final, Fergal fought back and with the help of four 2s in eight ends drew level at 15-15. From this point, the contest was nip and tuck with neither player able to find the leads to finish their opponent off but in the end it was Fergal who found the winning bowl on a long mark to win a hard fought final 21-19 to become the first winner of the Bernard O’Malley Vice-President’s Trophy.

At the presentation, Chris Harding, Chairman of the Hesketh Arms Bowling Club, thanked the Club’s Honorary Vice-President, Mr.Bernard O’Malley for all his support towards the club over a number of years and for agreeing to have this tournament held in recognition of his contribution towards the club.

He went on to thank all those who had helped in the planning and organisation of the event, including the Committee of the Hesketh Arms Bowling Club, George Hitchmough, Mike Milne, Ian Gill.

Special thanks are especially due to Graham Pickavance, who was our referee for the day. Finally, Chris thanked all the measurers and markers who had helped to ensure that the competition ran smoothly.

The Club look forward to holding this event again in 2016

AUGUST ROUND ROBIN

The Round Robin held on Sunday 30th August saw a good turnout of 26 members taking part. In 4th place, with a score of +10, was Pat Miller. Our President, Ray Sutton, was 3rd on +13 with Jim Finnimore taking 2nd place with +18. The winner by 3 clear points, however, was Dave Bedford with an impressive aggregate of +21.

The end of Summer Newsletter is avaiable on the Newsletter page or by clicking on the link below

NewsletterSummer15

CHAMPIONSHIP CUP

22 members attended the club on Sunday to compete for the Championship Cup, the final club competition of the season.
Despite a tough draw, Jim Finnimore progressed to the final in the top half of the draw, enjoying good wins against Alex Rimmer (21-19), Richard Rawcliffe (21-15), Ray Sutton (21-8) and Dave Bedford (21-15). The bottom half of the draw saw Brian Sutton reach the final of this competition for the second time in three years with wins against Brian Jones (21-20), Pat Jones (21-17) and Kyle Dawes (21-9).

In the final, Jim started well, winning the first three ends to cancel out the two chalk handicap he was conceding, to lead 6-4. Brian fought back though and won five of the next six ends to leave the scores level at 9-9. At this stage, however, Jim hit a purple patch and won eight consecutive ends to claim victory with a comfortable 21-9 scoreline. Congratulations to Jim on winning this title for the second time, having previously won it in 2011.

A consolation event was held for those knocked out in their first game and this was won by Judith Farrell with a 15-11 win in the final against Wendy McLoughlin.

Many thanks to all those members who have supported the club competitions this season, which have again been well-attended.

Our next weekend event will be a round robin next Sunday, 30th August, starting at 2.00pm.

Saturday 22nd August – Churchtown Conservative Club v. Emmanuel Bowling Club

Please note that the green will be unavailable for general use by members this Saturday afternoon as the Churchtown Conservative Club are hosting a friendly fixture versus Emmanuel Bowling Club. Spectators will be welcome to watch what should be an interesting afternoon of bowls. A raffle will be held during the afternoon, so any donations of prizes from members of the bowling club who are taking part in this match would be greatly appreciated.

Sunday 23rd August – Championship Cup

On Sunday, the Club are holding the last of this season’s internal handicaps. The Championship Cup will commence at 12 noon and members are asked to arrive by 11.45am to register.

The club are considering entering a mixed team for 2016 in the Maghull & District bowling league on a Monday Evening.
We would be trying to play a team consisting of 5 Ladies and 5 Men each week, we would therefore need at least 7 Ladies and 7 men who would be interested in this team.
If we are over subscribed we would consider a second team.
We have already approached the league with our request and been told that it should be accepted.
Details of the league can be seen at http://www.cgleague.co.uk/maghull
If you are interested please let me know by email or telephone.
George Hitchmough
07977500131
secretary@hesketharmsbowlingclub.co.uk

Don’t forget our last competition of the season on Sunday the 23rd of August The CHAMPIONSHIP CUP commencing 12.00 and the 2 Round Robins on the 30th of August and 20th of September

On Sunday, another excellent turnout of 32 members took part in the Chairman’s Shield, the Club’s third and final pairs competition of the season.
The top half of the draw saw the strong pairing of John Unsworth and Rita Stanley make comfortable progress to the final with wins against Jim Finnimore and Peter Smith (21-9), Norman Simpson and Fergal Wright (21-11) and Chris Harding and Wendy McLoughlin (21-14). In the bottom half of the draw, Sue Davies and Jim Halsall were in equally impressive form, accounting for Steve Evans and Mike Burrill (21-9), John Rimmer and Lynne Smith (21-10) and in the semi-final, a surprisingly easy 21-3 victory against the highly-fancied pairing of Sue Andersen and Mark Rowlinson.
The final saw both pairs starting on +3 and for the first eleven ends, the game was close with the scores level at 12 across. At the 13th end, however, Sue and Jim scored a crucial three to open up a four chalk lead for the first time in the game and having taken control, ran out 21-12 winners. Congratulations to Sue and Jim on winning their first Hesketh Arms pairs title.

A consolation competition was held for first round losers and this was won by Mike Burrill and John Hughes, who beat Joe Parker and Roger Van Beever 15-9 in the final.

It was pleasing to see several new members playing in their first Hesketh Arms handicap and it is hoped that the club enjoys another good attendance for the final internal competition of the season on Sunday 23rd August, when the Championship Cup will be played for, starting at 12 noon.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

CHAIRMAN’S SHIELD
The next club competition will take place this Saturday, 1st August, starting at 12.00pm. This will be the Chairman’s Shield, which is the Club’s thrid and final pairs of the season. As usual, pairings will be drawn randomly and members are reminded that guests will be allowed to participate in this event. Please arrive to register by 11.45am to allow for a prompt start

ROUND ROBINS
Dates have been set for weekend round robins in August and September. Due to a shortage of free Saturdays, these will be held on Sundays :-

Sunday 30th August – 2.00pm start
Sunday 20th September – 2.00pm start

LV LEAGUE PAIRS
This year the LV League is running a pairs competition in September once the league fixtures have been completed. Qualifying rounds will take place at neutral greens on Tuesday 22nd September, with the finals night being the following week, 29th September, venue to be confirmed. The singles competition completed last week was considered a great success, attracting a full entry of 64 players, so it would be good to see the Hesketh Arms well-represented in this competition. The entry fee is £6.00 per pair and anyone interested should notify George Hitchmough, Chris Harding or Mike Milne as soon as possible.

New Page added to site for all the information on the Bernard O’Malley Junior Competition for 2015