The final two days of action for 2018 in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter League bowling club saw the first ever J&M Lee doubles competition and a set of fixtures delayed from the weekend before.

This new event has been set up in memory of the club’s chairman, Jack Lee, who along with wife Margaret, died earlier this year; Jack having taken up the position back in 2008.

It was decided to have a competition in support of an organisation that Jack himself was involved in and with that in mind the amount raised, somewhere in the region of £250, will be donated to the Peel branch of the RNLI.

Emerging from the two groups of seven pairs, the finalists in the event were Allan Kennaugh and Alison Keggen, along with Elaine Moore and partner Brian Kelly.

The players battled it out in a contest where all duos took part in games of five ends, with double points scored on the penultimate end.

Just missing out in the groups stage were Caroline Whitehead and Derek Clarke in the black jacks and Rita Callister and Derek Allen in the yellow gang.

Third places went to Terry Bates and Eddie Carlyle; and Margy Tasker with playing partner Bernie McPhee.

The winners of the two sections then went head to head and after three ends Moore and Kelly held a slender lead at 3-2, however in the ‘power’ end a two doubled up to four meant that Kennaugh and Keggen just had to prevent their opponents from scoring a three or better in the final end to secure victory.

After the first seven woods played the leaders were lying on for one and with an almost impossible task Kelly had no alternative but to try and kill the end, he hit the jack, but it remained on the green to give him and Moore one point, which in turn saw Kennaugh and Keggen triumph 6-4.

Members of the Lee family attended the green during the afternoon and some of them stayed to witness the conclusion of the group stages and the final.

The leading two sides in the league table were participating in re-arranged games on Sunday and although they both recorded the expected maximums against bottom team Bits n Bobs, it was a tougher afternoon when they took on Bowl Rollers.

First up Rollers had to take on second placed Mooragh Lakers and whilst they fought hard and took 25 points from their opponents they lost by just three chalks.

Next up were leaders Outsiders, and they battled to the end only to go down by two points in a fixture where they had two losers on 19 and just missed out 107 to 105.

This all leaves Outsiders top of the table with a 12 point lead over Lakers, but they are both drawn closer to the two directly behind; Seven-Up a further three back and then another 18 points to A-Team, so a total of only 33 chalks between the leading four.

Results for Sunday, December 23: Bits n Bobs 52 (0), Outsiders 126 (6); Bowl Rollers 98 (2), Mooragh Lakers 101 (4); Outsiders 107 (4), Bowl Rollers 105 (2); Mooragh Lakers 126 (6), Bits n Bobs 75 (0).

The Wednesday round robin gang of 29 avoided the worst of the weather and were split into two groups, with the runaway victors in the doubles being Lil Smith and Tricia Bull, with second going to Brian Corner and Derek Clarke.

Topping the triples were Allan Kennaugh, Steve Parker and Kevin Firth, just ahead of Erwin Gelling, Janet Monk and Sue Gawne.

The next scheduled round robins will take place on Sunday, December 30 and Wednesday, January 2.

Seven-Up closed the gaps to the two teams above them in the only session played over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowls League and in turn also opened the gap to fourth-placed A-Team.

Saturday’s fixtures fell victim to the weather to become the first delayed games of the season; they will now be played on Sunday, December 23.

The afternoon started with Seven-Up needing two maximum scores to draw level on average with second-placed Mooragh Lakers and they were half way there after the first outing against opponents Castletown Cannons.

Also competing were Parkers who are currently sixth in the table; however they were beaten 118 to 102 by next to bottom-placed Castletown Corkers who recorded only their third win to date.

Parkers next had the task of trying to halt a Seven-Up outfit who are in a good reign of form and they managed to take two games and 13 points from the challengers to prevent them from completing the double maximum challenge.

The battle between the two Castletown sides brought the session to an end, with Cannons completing the double over Corkers having also beaten them earlier in the campaign.

They are now separated by just 0.7 of a point with the victors holding a slender lead over their stablemates near the foot of the table.

Results for Sunday, December 16: Seven-Up 126 (6), Castletown Cannons 81 (0); Castletown Corkers 118 (3), Parkers 102 (3); Parkers 95 (2), Seven-Up 113 (4); Castletown Cannons 117 (5), Castletown Corkers 96 (1).

The midweek round robin attracted an entry of 29, which was split into two groups with the winners being Steph Swift and Brian Corner in the doubles and the trio of Lil Smith, Derek Clarke and Jean Thackrah.

Taking second spots were Kevin Firth and Terry Bates; Allan Kennaugh, Andy Sykes and Mark Kelly.

The J&M Lee memorial doubles competition will be held this Saturday with a 1pm prompt start. A change of plan will see pairings selected prior to kick-off. The format will be run as a round robin and all proceeds from the event, which will include the tombola, will be donated to the RNLI.

As mentioned earlier the postponed fixtures from last Saturday will be played this Sunday, with the next scheduled event being a round robin on Sunday, December 30. In the meantime may I take this opportunity to wish all members a very Merry Christmas.

It was another weekend with just one set of fixtures in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowls League, but what a session it turned out to be with the top three all in action.

At the end of the day, the table had new leaders and the last unbeaten runs were broken – both on the team front and in the individual standings.

Second-placed Outsiders began the afternoon with a comfortable win against Govags, dropping just four chalks in their quest to close down the nine-point margin to the top.

This while the last two unbeaten teams went head-to-head with third-placed A-Team emerging triumphant over leaders Mooragh Lakers by five games to one.

The victors not only ended Lakers winning start, but also the last remaining unbeaten individual, Rob Monk, lost 21-19 to Alan Moore.

Lakers then recovered well and recorded their first maximum of the campaign, as they attempted to gain back that top spot, against opponents Govags.

But it was not to be as Outsiders produced the result of the session and overcame the A-Team to inflict their first defeat and in turn take over at the head of the table by six points.

Results for Saturday, December 8: Outsiders 122 (5), Govags 83 (1); Mooragh Lakers 97 (1), A-Team 114 (5); Govags 74 (0), Mooragh Lakers 126 (6); A-Team 103 (3), Outsiders 116 (3).

A-Team slipped to fourth as a consequence of this tough afternoon, but they have played five out of the eight clashes against sides in the top five and have an average of 109.6 from those battles.

Also with five under their belt are Louie’s Angels, however they are yet to win against the quartet above them and have an average of 96.8, whereas after four of the fixtures Seven-Up sit on 108.5.

Topping the list, but having only played three apiece, are Outsiders on 117.6 and Mooragh Lakers on 111.3, so it is all to play for in the second half.

One thing that has emerged from this first spell of contests is how well the rule allowing members to move amongst sides, up to and including five games, is working – no team has yet to concede a game due to being short of players.

No less than 16 different individuals have competed for more than one side and three of them have turned out for three or more teams; most of them are now tied to a particular gang, but there are still members available to perhaps fill a space.

A gang of 24, which was split into two groups, enjoyed a round robin session on Sunday, with the midweek outing not taking place due to the poor weather once again.

Played as doubles the winners in the yellow jacks were Derek Allen and Steve Crampton, with second spot going to Sam Clague and Tricia Bull.

In the other gang, it was the pairing of father and son, Steve and Alan Moore who came out on top ahead of Margy Tasker and Mark Kelly, who took the position and avoided a roll-up due to another pair having left for home.

There is just one weekend of league fixtures remaining before the festive break and the schedule during that period will be the J&M Lee memorial doubles competition on Saturday, December 22.

Following this round robins will be held on Sunday, December 30 and Wednesday, January 2; however there will be nothing held on Sunday 23, Wednesday 26 and Saturday, December 29.

Entries for the doubles competition will close this Sunday at approximately 2pm to allow the pairings to be drawn and format to be finalised.

Fourth-placed Seven-Up were the highest scorers over the weekend in the Manx Petroleum sponsored Outdoor Winter Bowls League and have closed the gap on the leading three, helped by notching up another maximum.

They did this on a murky Saturday afternoon at the expense of basement side Bits n Bobs and therefore took their full-house tally to two and the overall total so far to 14. Unfortunately for Bits n Bobs six of those have been against them.

Two other sides from the bottom half of the table fought out the closest contest of the sessions with the victory going to Castletown Corkers by a single point against Bowl Rollers, even though they lost 4-2 on games.

Corkers next doubled their winning tally for the afternoon and the season, with a successful outcome in their fixture with Bits n Bobs.

The final encounter saw Seven-Up surprisingly drop five points when they took on Bowl Rollers, however their total from the two fixtures took them within touching distance of the top three.

Results for Saturday, December 1: Seven-Up 126 (6), Bits n Bobs 69 (0); Castletown Corkers 107 (2), Bowl Rollers 106 (4); Bits n Bobs 100 (1), Castletown Corkers 117 (5); Bowl Rollers 87 (1), Seven-Up 121 (5).

Sunday saw a set of fixtures repeated from a couple of months ago and there were some interesting points differences at the end compared to the first time they met.

Erin Porters took a giant step to close the gap on seventh-placed opponents Govags, beating them convincingly by a margin of 35 points.

This while A-Team (third) and Louie’s Angels (fifth) fought out a low scoring battle that saw them drop 58 chalks between them, although A-Team did emerge as victors to keep their unbeaten run going.

Porters couldn’t match their opposition in the next outing, however they ended the day on plus 11 points, whereas A-Team were down 17 on the scores recorded back in October.

As for the other two sides, Angels were comfortable winners over Govags, but both left with much lower totals also – Govags down 33 and Angels 25 less.

This all left A-Team on an average of 117.4, with Seven-Up close behind on 117, but slipping further adrift of the leading four are Angels on 112.1.

Results for Sunday, December 2: Govags 86 (1), Erin Porters 121 (5); A-Team 104 (4), Louie’s Angels 90 (2); Erin Porters 100 (2), A-Team 117 (4); Louie’s Angels 121 (5), Govags 93 (1).

Entries close soon for the J&M Lee memorial drawn doubles competition, which will take place on Saturday, December 22. All proceeds from the day and the tombola draw that is now available will be donated to the RNLI.

Prizes for this event from members will be very much appreciated.

There are just one set of fixtures this coming weekend, so a round robin session will take place on Sunday with the usual 1pm prompt start.