The first full weekend of action in 2016 took place in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club and saw a first defeat for the merit leader, the season’s 11th maximum score line and three positional changes in the table.

Another very wet morning didn’t help the conditions on Saturday and it was perhaps fitting that Lakers were the team to take advantage, carrying on where they left off before the festive break.

First up they beat Castletown Corkers and notched up 119 points in the process; next they just missed out on a full house with success against Parkers.

There was also a very good win in this session for Bits n Bobs when they dropped just three chalks against Corkers, who as a result saw their average slip.

Parkers won the other outcome from this group, but also saw their average fall and as a consequence of their loss slipped down a position to sixth.

Lakers meanwhile moved in the opposite direction and took over second spot from Seven-Up by the slender margin of 0.01 off a point – which equates to them both now about 13 behind the leaders.

Results for Saturday, January 9: Parkers 120 (5) Bits n Bobs 94 (1), Castletown Corkers 83 (1) Mooragh Lakers 119 (5), Mooragh Lakers 125 (5) Parkers 85 (1), Bits n Bobs 123 (4) Castletown Corkers 95 (2).

There were three different winners on the second day also, with top outfit Mean Machine beginning with a close success over Titans, before racking up the campaign’s eleventh maximum victory when they took on Govags.

It wasn’t all good news for the leaders, however, when Glynn Hargraves, the last undefeated player in the merit table, was beaten 21-17 by Lyn Bolton (Titans).

He still heads the list for the Derek Killey memorial trophy on an average of 20.7, but is now only three points ahead of teammate Alan Moore and a further one behind comes Stefan Kelly, also Mean Machine.

Two more players are averaging 20 plus, in fourth is the leading woman, Jenny Moore (Moorage Lakers), closely followed by Mike Thomas (Parkers).

Making up the top ten are Rob Monk (Lakers), Nigel Thomas (Seven-Up), Adrian Skinner, Steve Parker (both Lakers) and Margy Tasker (Angels).

Back to the action where Govags began the afternoon with only their second win, achieved when they overcame fourth placed Louie’s Angels and as a result of their efforts the westerners moved out of the bottom two.

Titans meanwhile proved they have the capability to upset any side on their day and inflicted a heavy defeat on Angels, who after two defeats slipped further behind the top three and now have a tough ask to bridge that gap.

Results for Sunday, January 10: Mean Machine 111 (3) Titans 100 (3), Louie’s Angels 111 (3) Govags 113 (3), Titans 124 (5) Louie’s Angels 89 (1), Govags 79 (0) Mean Machine 126 (6).

A rare dry afternoon had 34 entrants compete in the midweek round robin with the pairing of Derek Clarke and John Lightfoot topping their group ahead of Bernard Thackrah and Alec Taylor, while in third it was Philippa Taylor and Ken Clarke.

The trio of James Teare, Derek Allen and Doug Allan won the other gang, with second going to Peter Kelly, Rob Cowley and David Clucas, just ahead of Allan Kennaugh, Jean Thackrah and Terry Bates.

Louie’s Angels were the happiest side leaving the green after the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club, whereas Parkers were the happiest team not playing.

Another very wet morning on Saturday made for difficult playing conditions, however three teams did manage to improve their averages, whilst the other participants had a poor afternoon and slipped down two places.

Mooragh Lakers and Titans started the session with comfortable victories over Bits n Bobs and Govags, before they went head to head in a contest that saw Lakers come out on top.

Titans could only reach a total of 79 which saw them drop to seventh in the table, promoting Erin Porters to fifth and Parkers to sixth.

The final tussle of the day went in favour of Bits n Bobs who got the better of their western opponents by just nine points, both improved their averages in the process and moved that little bit further away from the bottom.

It could have been a different outcome for Govags who were a player short and therefore conceded 30 points, as was the case for Titans who will now struggle to get back into the leading group.

Results for Saturday, December 12: Bits n Bobs 88 (2) Titans 109 (4), Mooragh Lakers 116 (4) Govags 88 (2), Titans 79 (1) Mooragh Lakers 122 (5), Govags 102 (3) Bits n Bobs 111 (3).

Whilst 24 hours earlier members were waiting for the rain to stop, on Sunday it was a case of hoping it would stay away, but about an hour into the session, the conditions went from bad to worse as down came the rain to add to the extreme cold.

Things didn’t seem to deter Louie’s Angels however as they went on to record the highest total of the weekend, notching up two scores of 122 – firstly against Erin Porters and then with victory over Bowl Rollers.

Table toppers, Mean Machine, were also in action, but they were not firing on all cylinders, so along with their opponents, Bowl Rollers and Porters, saw their average drop and for Porters it cost them a place in the top six, as they dropped back down below Titans.

The gap on averages between fourth and fifth before the two days, was less than one point, but at the end that margin, now between Angels and Parkers had opened to 5.2; whereas first to fourth has closed from five down to just two, with Mean Machine on 117, Seven-Up 116.4, Lakers 115.2 and Angels 115.

Results for Sunday, December 13: Mean Machine 107 (4) Bowl Rollers 87 (2), Louie’s Angels 122 (5) Erin Porters 98 (1), Erin Porters 105 (3) Mean Machine 114 (3), Bowl Rollers 98 (2) Louie’s Angels 122 (4).

An entry of 23 in the midweek round robin was split into doubles and triples with the duo of Mike Skelly and Derek Clarke winning their gang ahead of Philippa Taylor and Bernard Thackrah; whilst the trio of Ken Karran, Tricia Bull and Terry Bates were successful, beating Bernie McPhee, Sylvia Kennaugh and Doug Allan into second.

Three of the top four sides were in action on Saturday in a set of fixtures postponed a few weeks earlier as the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club made it to their festive break.

Third placed Mooragh Lakers were the team in form as they notched up two great victories, firstly overcoming fourth placed Louie’s Angels with a 23 point margin and dropping just four themselves in the process.

Table toppers Mean Machine were also in the group and they were not handing out any early Christmas gifts when recording the season’s tenth maximum at Bits n Bobs expense.

As the very windy conditions continued, Bits did fare a little better in their second outing and scored just over 100 points against an Angels side who slip back away from the top three.

The final outcome brought an end to a few unbeaten runs, as Lakers inflicted a first defeat of the campaign on Mean Machine with a two point success, which cements their hold on third spot, just 20 behind the leaders, with Seven-Up sandwiched between them.

This fixture also saw two previously unbeaten players lose their games, which just leaves 2005 and 2013 merit winner, Glynn Hargraves (Mean Machine) as the last one with a 100 per cent record, more on this in next week’s report.

Results for Saturday, December 19: Mean Machine 126 (6) Bits n Bobs 84 (0), Louie’s Angels 99 (2) Mooragh Lakers 122 (4), Bits n Bobs 102 (2) Louie’s Angels 114 (4), Mooragh Lakers 112 (3) Mean Machine 110 (3).

Two round robins were held either side of the league games, on Wednesday, 26 played in groups of doubles with the victors being Philippa Taylor and Bert Quayle, along with Terry Bates and Alec Taylor.

Runners-up being Derek Clarke and Jean Thackrah, also Mike Ware and Steve Moore, while in third spots were Gordon Corrin and Tricia Bull, Rob Cowley and Peter Karran.

The Christmas tombola round robin session on Sunday saw Steve Moore and Ken Karran win one section just ahead of Alec Taylor and Ken Clarke, while in the black jack gang it was Steve Parker and Derek Allen who came out on top, just pipping Terry Moore and Peter Karran.

Things didn’t go quite to plan over the opening weekend of the new year in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League Bowling Club with a set of fixtures postponed in December put on hold once again.

Everyone arrived on Sunday to a waterlogged green, a sight not evident too often this term thankfully, despite the continuing wet conditions, mainly thanks to the great work being done by the Corporation staff.

The revised date for these games will be Saturday, January 30, which leaves just one free afternoon before the scheduled completion of fixtures.

The non-league sessions did however go ahead over the festive period, four round robins to catch up now, starting with a midweek one held just before Christmas.

None of them had large entries, probably due to lots of other things taking place, however seven triples fought a contest eventually won by Alec Taylor, Ken Clarke and Peter Kelly; second going to Doug Allan, Lil Smith and Mike Skelly. In third spot were Steve Parker, Glen Boland and Philippa Taylor.

A small entry of 18 took part in the round robin held on Sunday, December27 with the leading trio of Gordon Corrin, Thomas Keggen and Jenny Moore winning a roll-up to beat Allan Kennaugh, Steve Crampton and Bob Berry into second; third spot went to Steve Parker, Derek Allen and Ken Karran.

In the Festive midweek outing just nine battled against their opponents and gale force winds, with the victors being Doug Allan, Derek Allen and Steve Parker.

To kick-off 2016 it was a session of doubles with the winners being Steve Parker and Steve Moore, along with Philippa Taylor and Derek Allen. Just falling short were James Teare and Lil Smith, and Shirley Whelan paired with Dave Faragher.