Thirty pairs made the pilgrimage to Nobles Park on Saturday in search of the first ever Brown Craine Manx Mens Doubles Championship victory, and it was John Kennish and David Bradford who managed to secure the first title.

This is a fantastic new competition putting the spotlight on the doubles format of the game and it obviously captured the imagination of the local players with some of the finest pairings I have ever seen put together.

Kennish & Bradford, who looked the most formidable pairing on paper, proved that sometimes things do go to form as they were ruthless all day. In the final they just had too much for the colourful Bob Clark & Jordan Cain with the former winning 21-13.

The eventual victors stamped their authority on proceedings in the Semi Finals as they took on Colin Kelly & Neil Withers it what potentially looked like a classic encounter. Kennish & Bradford were just too good and ran out comfortable 21-5 winners. Clark & Cain dispatched South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves & James Teare 21-12 at the same stage.

Fallers at the quarterfinal stage were Barney Kelly & Stevie Kelly, Mike Hargraves & Ian Kissack, Tim Williams & Ray Maddrell and Stuart Garrett & Ian Moore.

Thanks go to Neil Withers and the Isle of Man association for organising and running the competition but more importantly to Brown Craine who shared in our vision for a premier doubles competition and gave us the support to allow it to happen.

In contrast to the recent sunshine Castletown Bowling Club hosted the 50th Anniversary of the Veros Digital Sponsored Ballacashtal Cup in wind and rain on Sunday.

104 bowlers made the pilgrimage to the old capital for this biggest one day competition on the Island. It Was South Ramsey’s John Kennish went one step further that the previous day lifting the trophy thanks to a superb 21-7 final win over the Wirral’s Peter Jones.

Kennish eliminated Port St Mary’s Paul Skelly in the semi final 21-11 whilst Jones had to fight all the way to see of the challenge of Marown’s Neil Wilthers 21-20.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Ian Johnson, Mark Bramhall, Dave Halstead & Michael Hewitson.

Thanks go to Casteltown Bowling Club for putting on and running a superb competition despite very testing conditions for organisers and competitors alike and also to Veros Digital for their sponsorship.

Visitor Wayne Ditchfield won the Jim Kernan trophy on a very tricky South Ramsey green beating John Kennish 21-19 in a highly entertaining final.

Ditchfield settled superbly from his first bowl of the day and had to be at the top of his game to beat pre-tournament favourite Kennish on his own patch.

Wayne had to overcome the challenge of another local in the semi-finals as he dispatched David Bradford 21-14. At the same stage Kennish beat his common adversary Colin Kelly by the same score.

Fallers at the quarter finals were Stevie Kelly, Tony Hary, Mark Bramhall & John ‘Doctor’ Watson.

Thanks go to South Ramsey and to George Brew in both his capacity as green keeper for turning out an immaculate playing surface but also as sponsor. Thanks George.

It’s always hard to predict what will happen in the Men’s main festival competition, as unlike the programme the games won’t be played on paper.

There is always someone who tears up the form book and puts in a barnstorming performance to set the cat amongst the pigeons!

This year is no different and with the usual host of top visiting names it is almost impossible to call. Nicholson, Gilpin, Ditchfield, Wraight, Bailey & Gilmore they are all now familiar names on the Island and will be hoping this is their year.

There are some new names this time too and some unfamiliar faces who will be hoping to make their first visit to the Island a fruitful one.

There should be a strong local showing as well, although John Kennish will need to play the tournament of his life to win as he is giving the field a five point start after winning back to back festivals in September 2014 and June 2015. Colin Kelly will hope to do well as will David Bradford, Glynn Hargraves and in form Matthew Keggen to name just a few.

This always backfires on me but my predictions to qualify from their sections and make the last eight on finals day is below:

Jack Dyson v James Palmer, Ian Nicholson v John Bailey, James Wilcox v Matt Gilmore, Callum Wraight v Colin Kelly

A superb entry of 54 men made the trip to Marown on Saturday to compete for the Henry Kissack Trophy.

It was a sublime mix of the cream of the Islands crop and some of the games newer players as the club implemented a challenging handicap system ranging from 3-10 points.

South Ramsey’s John Kennish ran out winner on the day after an extremely entertaining final which saw him get the better of home green Dean Kipling 21-19.

Kennish booked his place in the final with a 21-11 win over Port Errin’s Bernard Thakrah whilst Kipling had his work cut out beating inform Matthew Keggen 21-20.

Fallers at the quarter final stage were Juan Killip, Neil Withers, Glynn Hargraves and Colin Kelly.

Praise goes to Marown for an excellently run competition with an innovative handicapping system.

Neil Withers got one over on his fellow victor from the day before as he and partner Lyn Bolton won the Marown mixed doubles with a 21-7 final victory over Jordan Cain and Paula Firth.
Withers & Bolton were on fire from the off and were going to be difficult for anyone to beat, although they were pushed close by John & Fiona Kennish in the semi-finals with the former winning 21-17. Cain and Firth were also embroiled in a battle for their final birth however after progressed with relative comfort in the end with a 21-13 win over James Teare & Jenny Moore.
Fallers at the Quarter final stage were Rona Argallon & Grahem Moore, Margaret Tasker & Ken Karran, Joyce Ogden & Mike Hargraves and Mavis Franks & Derek Allan.
A brave 31 pairs endured the weather which for most of the competition was wet and windy although everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and a tremendously well run competition.