Barnard Castle Bowls League
Monday Evening League
SADLY, we lost one of our Monday Leaguers Joyce Chapman. Joyce was a lovely lady who will be missed by all who knew her RIP.
On the green, Kevin Cross, who has brought in more ringers than you’d find in a bell tower, this week persuaded Bill Carter to change his eating habits and go the whole hog for the Odd Bowls game against Wall and Watters.
With only one point separating the teams a tight game was on the cards, however, Stephen and Neil romped into a 3-0 lead. Not to be outdone the Oddies recovered and went in at halftime four apiece. It was one of those “anything you can do I can do better” games which the Oddies just edged 9-7.
Since June Parkin’s medical retirement, Trio Nova have been struggling to find consistent form. However, help is on the way with Brian Carter dusting off his bowls and signing on to help out his sister Joan Lee and Rene Armstrong.
Joan and Rene kicked off proceedings against Bold Eagles Graham Moore and John Robinson who were completely outplayed, limping in at the break 6-2 down.
In a move of tactical genius the Boldies ditched Graham and brought on Colin Watson in the hope that his bare legs would have the girls swooning.
Something seemed to work as despite Brian coming on for Joan, the Boldies won all but one of the second half ends to run out 10-7 winners.
There was a right old tussle taking place on rink three where the Men In Black were taking on Team Kryptonite.
MiB started with Frank Ashmore and Neil Bailey while TK opened with Tony Barkshire and David Gurnhill, who trailed 5-3 at halftime.
Both teams played subs in the second half, Angus Dowson for Neil and John Tallentire for David. After some keenly contested ends it was the MiB who just snuck it 9-8.
Despite Lavender Ladies Gillian Harle and Debbie Bailey both playing for the county, they haven’t been able to buy a win in the much tougher Monday League. But what’s this, 4-4 at halftime and they only went on and won the game 10-7.
Their opponents, the Boys in Blue featuring Peter Rimmington and Dave Smith, were always playing catch-up and drew level three times but with two ends to go they stagnated while the Lavs, with the aid of the joker and whoops of delight from Gillian, went on to win 10-7.
In another tight game, the Young’ns started with Bob Lockyer and Brian Smurthwaite and brought on Alan Gowland at the break. While the Likely Lads who haven’t the luxury of a sub stuck with Peter Shovlin and Paul Craddock and together they reached the break 5-3 down.
The Young’ns continued to nibble away and after 12 ends they were 8-4 up and looking like making a big score. However, the Lads weren’t ready to lay down yet and took the next three ends but with neither side making use of the Joker the Young’ns edged it 9-7.
Last up, the Pink Panthers who started with Ann Hodgson and Denise Dent took on The Alwyn Brothers.
Both teams have been plodding along not getting hammered but not setting the league on fire. The card was a little difficult to decipher but despite the Pinkies bringing on Mary Lambert for the second half they slipped to a 11-7 defeat.
Back at the top spot the Bold Eagles and the Odd Bowls are squabbling over the remote control with 52 points while on desolation row Trio Nova are just feeling remote with 29 points.
JT
Men’s Vets
THE A team were away at Richmond and lost 4-0, not much else to say really.
The B team entertained Darlington North Park and had to be content with a 2-2 draw. They were beaten on two rinks but Alwyn Dowson, Bob Lockyer and Colin Watson won 25-8 to ensure Barney won the long game 58-48 and remain top of the league.
Men’s Darlington and
District League
BARNEY were at home playing Shildon A winning one rink and narrowly losing the other three. However, they amassed enough shots to win the long game 81-70 with the help of Bob Lockyer, Colin Watson and Alan Wearmouth who won 27-6.
Australian Pairs
THE rules and scoring of this competition are so complicated that I’ll not try to explain it. Suffice to say 24 members competed and it was won by Frank Ashmore and Mary Lambert with 27.5 points. Runners-up were Alwyn Dowson and David Gurnhill with 26 points.
Ladies bowls
THE ladies welcomed Lodge Ladies, from Darlington Hundens, for their home match in the Tuesday Evening League.
Against strong opponents, we were only able to achieve one league point from the rink of Laura Angel and June Parkin who won 14.66–10 after a reduction of a third in their shorts score. Ann Hodgson, Mary Lambert and Gillian Harle were unlucky to lose after forging ahead in the early stages. Lodge Ladies took the long game 41.66-52.
On Thursday we hosted the Afternoon League Rose Dickinson Triples Tournament with 18 teams in contention.
The home rink of Mary Lambert, June Parkin and Gillian Harle were the highest scoring team in the initial rounds. In a closely fought semi-final, they were beaten by a crack Darlington Woodland team who went on to win the final.
JP
