This week the semi finals of both the Ismay and Mini Cups took place with Peel A just winning at home to Onchan A, Peels Ray Hardman beating Mike Alexander, while teammate John Lightfoot lost out to Onchan’s Peter Karran in to 21-20 games the match going to Peel 5-4 at Castletown a local derby took place with the A team proving stronger than the B team, with Bootsie Cooil and Terry Jackson being the only B team winners on the day giving a 7-2 victory for Castletown A, to set up a final encounter with Peel A. In the Mini Cup Onchan B used home advantage to beat Port St Mary B 7-2, while Port Erin travelled to Nobles B and came away with a 6-3 win to set up a final against Onchan B which is scheduled to take place a Finch Hill on Wednesday 10th August. The venue of the Ismay will be announced next week.
League Leaders Port St Mary 49 points played both Nobles teams at Nobles this week and came away with both points against their B team after a 5-3 win, however they dropped a point against Nobles A in a closely fought match. This allowed Castletown to narrow the gap at the top to four points, after having two very tough games themselves, just being both Peel A and Marown A by 5 -3 Nobles A remain in third place six points behind Castletown after beating PSM B 6-2. Peel A hang onto fourth place after losing to both Castletown A at home and Onchan A away 5-3, allowing Onchan A to move to just one point behind Peel A . Marown and North Ramsey A and South Ramsey are locked together on 33 points with Marown beating Douglas B before going down to Town A. North Ramsey A had good wins against Onchan B and a very close 5-3 win at PSM B with Tony Smart just beating Archie Collister 21-20 to ensure the points went North. South Ramsey beat Peel C before sharing the points with Douglas A, this point moves Douglas to within a point of the three teams above them. Castletown B put their exit from the Ismay behind them with two good home wins against Peel B and Finch Hill to move to 28 points, on 27 points is Ballaugh who lost to Finch Hill before beating Peel B, Finch Hill are on 25 points and Peel B are on 23 points, with Port Erin on 21 points with a game in hand, Then come a big gap with Nobles B on 15 points, Onchan B on 14, Port St Mary B on 8, 7 for North Ramsey B who had a good win over Onchan B to move up two places, also on 7 points are Peel C with Douglas B who called their game off due to the weather on Thursday against Port Erin which will be played next week, at present holding up the league with 6 points,
The Merit has a new leader with Geoff Porter of North Ramsey having played 26 for 23 wins also on 23 wins are Castletown Pair Peter Oates and Ron Williams, on 22 wins come Peter Graham of Ballaugh and Chris Oates of PSM, on 21 wins are Ray Watterson (PSM), Mike Hargraves (Castletown), Dave Foulis (Ballaugh), Jimmy Moffatt (North Ramsey), Dave Foulis (Ballaugh), Dave Faragher (Castletown), Chas Grills (South Ramsey) and Peter Kelly (Marown), making 12 players separated by 2 wins to do battle for the Merit Trophy.

Sad news reached us this week with the death after a short illness of Peter Fargher a stalwart of Finch Hill Bowling Club, could I pass on the Over 60’s condolences to his wife Shirley and daughter Paula and family, who are also both extremely well known to the islands bowling community. Peter was one of the characters of Bowls and will be sadly missed by everyone who knew him.
The Team of the week must be former bottom club Peel Sunset C who have had back to back wins to shoot up the league table in their inaugural year. Well done to Ray and his troops, they had a home win over a depleted Port Erin team on Wednesday and followed that up with a 5-3 away win at Nobles B. While the Peel C team were doing well their B team hit a bad patch losing 8-0 at home to North Ramsey A, before going down 7-1 at Ballaugh. Nobles A had a mixed week defeating Castletown A on Tuesday 5-3 at home before going down to new league leaders and the only club with a 100% record Port St Mary A by a 8-0 scoreline. Port also had a 5-3 win at Onchan A with Louis Callister just edging out David Higgins 21-20 to give the Port maximum points. North Ramsey A after their win at Peel entertained Port St Mary B who nearly provided another upset before going down 5-3 to the Northerners. Peel Sunset A had another good week to move into second place in the table behind PSM A with a 6-2 win at Douglas B before beating Onchan A 6-2 at Peel It is nice to see Peter Moffatt back on the green again for Peel. Marown are at the moment struggling to get their first victory going down 5-3 away to Ballaugh before losing by a similar scoreline on their visit to Castletown A. It won’t be long before they are firing on all cylinders again. Castletown B had a good week beating Douglas A at the Crofts 5-3 before repeating the score on their trip to Finch Hill. Finch Hill did win on their visit to PSM B again by a close 5-3 margin. South Ramsey beat Onchan B at home 6-2 before going down to Douglas A at the Villa, and Port Erin had a 7-1 win over Douglas B

After only two weeks only two teams can boast 100% records in the Tower Insurance Over 60’s League which indicates that it is again going tight at the top. The Southside duo of Castletown A and Port St Mary A are the two top teams with Port beating league newcomers Peel Sunset C 7-1 on Wednesday before having a good 6-2 win over South Ramsey, while Town had an 8-0 away win over Douglas B and then a 7-1 victory at home against North Ramsey B which was a lot closer that the final score indicated. The other two teams that had 100% records were Peel Sunset B but they dropped a point in the 4-4 home draw against Douglas, and repeated the score line against Nobles B on the Thursday, Nobles A had a visit from Champions North Ramsey on Tuesday and suffered a 6-2 defeat, after losing at home they then went to near neighbours Douglas A and came away with the spoils in a 5-3 win, this allowed Peel Sunset A to move up to third in the table on seven points with a 6-2 win against North Ramsey B at Ballaugh, before receiving a bit of a fright from visitors Castletown B who were leading 3-1 at the half way stage before Peel A fought back to win 5-3, joining Peel B and Nobles on six points are North Ramsey A who again took maximum points this week. On five points are the two Onchan clubs and South Ramsey, with Douglas A on 4 points, on 3 points come Port Erin, Castletown B, Ballaugh and Marown, with both Nobles B getting a point of Peel B and Douglas B doing likewise against Ballaugh, with only new boys Peel C still awaiting their first point of the campaign.

The 2016 Tower Insurance Over 60’s Bowls League got underway this week with the Defending Champions North Ramsey A having to play all their home matches at their fierce rivals South Ramsey, and North Ramsey B have to make the short trip to Ballaugh for all their home fixtures. This has been brought about by the Mooragh Green being closed for the season. Can I on behalf of all the bowling fraternity thank both South Ramsey and Ballaugh for their help to North Ramsey in their moment of crisis. This year also has a first with Peel Sunset fielding a third team again I would like to wish them good luck. After the first games Defending Champions North Ramsey defeated Marown 5-3 while runners up Castletown A used home advantage to beat Onchan A 6-2, Port St Mary A, and Peel A both had 8-0 wins over Douglas B and Peel C respectively, Nobles A had an excellent win at Ballaugh 6-2, while Peel B went one better on their travels with an excellent 7-1 win at Finch Hill, Onchan B beat Castletown B 5-3 in the battle of the b teams, Port Erin and North Ramsey only had seven players each at the Breagle, with North Ramsey came away with the points in a close game 4-3 and finally South Ramsey came away from their visit to Nobles B with both points in a6-2 victory. The Second round of games was much closer with 4 games ending all level, South Ramsey and Peel A had a very close encounter as did Marown and Douglas A, while Douglas B got their first point of the season in holding Ballaugh, while Southsiders Castletown B and Port Erin shared the spoils at the crofts. Port St Mary B had a good 5-3 win over Nobles B while the following four teams have maximum points after their first two games, Peel B who had a superb 8-0 win over Onchan B, Castletown A also had a 8-0 win on their trip to Peel C, while fellow southerners Port St Mary A played North Ramsey B at Ballaugh and came away with a 7-1 win, and Nobles A had a good win over Finch Hill by 8 -0

With only six more games after this week’s Tower Insurance Over 60’s League the race for the title remains the same with North Ramsey A still three points clear of Castletown A after both teams had a couple of difficult fixtures on paper if not so on the green, North Ramsey A entertained Onchan A and had a good 6-2 win while down south Castletown hosted Ballaugh and had a 7-1 win to keep some pressure on the leaders, with North Ramsey heading to Peel A in the second fixture they managed to keep their heads in front with a close 5-3 victory with Ray Kelly and Jeff Oates both getting 19 for Peel as did John Radcliffe for North Ramsey, Castletown A also had a daunting trip to the Villa to play Douglas A who had a couple of reserves playing, Town eventually coming away with a 5-3 win to keep in contention, Port St Mary A look secure in third place on 44 points 6 behind Castletown A and 9 behind North Ramsey A, but they are 5 points ahead of Onchan A who had a free game on Thursday, Port had a superb 7-1 win at home to Marown on Tuesday, before they visited Nobles B and again came away with the points in a 5-3 victory. On 37 points come Peel A, closely followed on 36 points by Castletown B, Douglas A, Nobles A and Marown, with South Ramsey on 35 points and Ballaugh on 34 there will be some changed to this order as Peel A Castletown B and Douglas A have all played a game more than their pursuers. Peel B and Finch Hill are on 28 and 27 points respectively, with Onchan B on 19, Port Erin and North Ramsey B on 17, Port St Mary B and Nobles B on 14 and Douglas B on 2 points. Could I remind all players about Mobile Phones should you carry a phone on the green and it goes off you lose your game to the score that you have when the phone goes off., so please make sure that you do not have your phone on the green with you. As this has happened again this week. The individual merit is still lead by Mike Hargraves of Castletown who has won 27 matches as has Stuart Garrett of Douglas, Chas Grills of South Ramsey has won 26, Geoff Porter of North Ramsey has 25, Peter Kelly (Marown) Ron Maycox (PSM), Tony Carroon (Peel) and George Peach (Castletown) are all on 24 wins. I would like to verify that my article about PSM B failing to fulfil a fixture was not intended to reflect on Port St Mary Bowling Club as a whole, but just the team involved. The Ismay Cup Final was played in glorious weather at Nobles Green on Wednesday with two of the top teams in the Over 60’s doing battle. North Ramsey A versus Port St Mary A. The match resulted in a win for North Ramsey by 7 games to 2, although the result was a lot closer than the score line suggests. North Ramsey won the first four games off to give them a brilliant start, Brian Lowe of Port St Mary beat Steve Gill 21-20 to keep Ports hopes alive, and with Chris Oates adding to Ports tally the North Ramsey lead was down to 4-2, the three remaining games were all relatively close but in every case the North Ramsey men just came out on top against the Southerners winning to 18-19 and 20 to ensure the cup went North. Both teams played very well in a excellent match. I would like to thank Nobles for the use of the green and hospitality, Ian Kissack for his excellent refereeing, and George Brew, John Clague and Colin Gook for measuring. The Ismay Trophy was presented to Mike Skelly of North Ramsey by executive member Ray Griffin who also presented the winners and runners up medals to everyone involved. Mike accepted the Cup on behalf of his team and thanked Port St Mary for a good game and his team for their effort. Ken Karran, Ports skipper congratulated North Ramsey and thanked his team.

This weeks Over 60’s Bowls has been marred with controversy after Port St Mary B decided to concede their game at North Ramsey B, due allegedly to the fact that some of their players were also playing at North Ramsey in the evening! Actions like this have a serious effect not only on the running of the league and also the merit competition, and it seems inconceivable that they were unable to muster a team from the players available. I would like to add that North Ramsey A are the innocent party in this, and I am sure they would have definitely preferred to have played rather than be given a walkover. Teams should play each and every game, and not decide not to attend, when it suits them, as this not only affects the opposition it also affects each and every team in the league, and would result in anarchy if other teams took similar action. I am sure the Executive Committee will come up with a more suitable punishment than the docking of two points should anything like this happen again, for the good of our sport.

Enough ranting, on with the game, this week with North Ramsey sitting a game out, Castletown narrowed the gap to three points with a very close away win at Marown with two of the two players winning to all but the 5-3 victory could just of easily been reversed. At home on the Thursday Town A hit top form against Nobles B inflicting a whitewash on the visitors. Port St Mary A dropped a point on their visit to Douglas A before beating North Ramsey B 7-1 To lie four points behind Castletown A, Onchan have moved up to fourth place on 36 points two behind PSM A, missing the chance to close right up by getting draws at South Ramsey, then being held by Peel A at home, Peel A are level with Ballaugh on 33 points 3 behind Onchan, Ballaugh having a full house this week with two 5-3 wins at home to Finch Hill and Away to Onchan B, next up one point behind come Castletown B, Nobles A and Douglas A, Castletown B beat Port Erin 7-1 before going down 5-3 at Nobles A, who in turn lost to Peel A in their other match. Douglas A had two tough games and came away with three points holding PSM A before winning at Marown 5-3. With South Ramsey and Marown on 31 points only two points separate 5th to 11th positions. The Merit is led by Stuart Garrett of Douglas who has won 24 games on 23 wins are Mike Hargraves (Castletown) and Geoff Porter (North Ramsey) with 22 victories are Chas Grills (South Ramsey) and Ron Maycox (Port St Mary) while on 21 wins are Tony Carroon (Peel B), Roger Thomas (South Ramsey), George Peach (Castletown B) and Colin Hinds (Onchan). The Popular Charlie Howland Pairs Competition was played at Ballaugh on Friday in good conditions with 24 pairs in contention. After some excellent bowling throughout the competition the Onchan Pairing of Mike Thomas and Paul Bailey were the victors over home green pairing Dave Foulis and Paul Bradford 21-19 in a very thrilling final, the losing semi-finalist were also both from Ballaugh, Dave McTaggart and Arthur Moore and John Keenan and Peter Graham. The Over 60’s are very grateful for Charlie Howland for his wonderful sponsorship of the competition, Ballaugh Bowling Club for being such good hosts and the ladies in the kitchen for keeping everyone fed and watered throughout the afternoon. The Ismay Cup Final between North Ramsey A and Port St Mary A will be held at Nobles Green on Wednesday 12th August 2pm start

The Tower Insurance Over 60’s League stills has North Ramsey A as top dogs after a 7-1 home victory over Nobles B on Tuesday, however they were slightly fortunate on their visit to Onchan B winning 5-3 including a walkover as Onchan B only had seven players available, The Southside Giants, Castletown A and Port St Mary A continue their chase of the leader, both also winning both games, Town went to their bogey green Port Erin and came away with a 7-1 win before using home green advantage to see of South Ramsey 5-3. Port St Mary had the result of the week going to Peel A and demolishing them 7-1 before whitewashing visitors Port Erin. Nobles A had the bragging rights against rivals Douglas A by using home advantage to win 7-1 with Vinty Dugdale being the first player to beat Stuart Garrett in the league this season, Onchan A have also hit form at present and had a whitewash over Finch Hill, and to show how close games can be North Ramsey B who are near the foot of the table nearly pulled of a surprise by only just going down 5-3 to Onchan A with North Ramsey Players losing to 20 and 19, Ballaugh also had a good week winning at Port St Mary B and then seeing of Castletown B, Another team moving up the league are Marown who collected four points this week with 5-3 wins over Douglas and Port St Mary B. The Merit Table has a new leader in Geoff Porter of North Ramsey who is fractionally ahead of Stuart Garrett of Douglas, both having won 22 games, Geoff missed out on opening up a bigger gap by losing to Ken Bridson of Onchan on the Thursday. On 21 wins come Chas Grills of Ramsey and Mike Hargraves of Castletown, with Ron Maycox of Port St Mary and Roger Thomas of South Ramsey on 20 wins. This week also saw the semi-finals of the Ismay Cup, with as expected the two home teams won both by 7-2 scores, North Ramsey A beating Port Erin and Port St Mary A defeating Peel B, This should make a very close final between two of the big guns in the league,

The Tower Insurance Over 60’s League has been torn apart by North Ramsey A, firstly they entertained Castletown A at the Mooragh and demolished the town 7 games to 1, to all but finish off the towns title ambitions, With second placed Port St Mary also in Ramsey playing South Ramsey and needing a win to keep up the pressure they were held to a 4-4 draw. North Ramsey A then headed to second place Port St Mary and again came up with the goods in a 5-3 away victory to move them into a five point lead at the top over the two Southside teams 34 points to 29points, and they certainly are odds on to claim their first ever league title. Castletown bounced back from their mauling to hand out the same medicine to Onchan A at the Crofts with an 8-0 whitewash. Castletown B had a good win over Marown by 6 -2 however it was far closer than the score suggests. While Douglas A went to Port Erin and came home with the two points in a 6-2 win. With Castletown B getting a draw on their visit to Peel B, Douglas had another 6-2 win this time at home to Port St Mary B to to edge ahead of Town B both on 26 points, Next up come Marown on 25 as they got back to winning ways by just edging visitors South Ramsey 5-3 on 24 points are Peel A who got 4 points this week with wins over Finch Hill 5-3 and Nobles B 6-2, on 23 come Nobles A and Onchan A.
Next week sees the Mini Cup Semi Finals on Wednesday with Douglas B hosting Peel B and Nobles B hosting Finch Hill. Could the captains ensure that my name and address is on the back of the card please. Also can I remind everyone that the closing date for the Over 60’s Championship is the 2nd July with qualifying on Wednesday and Thursday 8thand 9th July and the Finals taking place the following Wednesday 15th July all at Onchan, so please text your entries to me on 471301 or email [email protected] please remember to indicate your preference W=Wednesday, T=Thursday, and E=Either, to help with the draw or write the players wishing to play on the reverse of the fixture card.

With the Tower Insurance Over 60’s League nearly reaching its half way stage a breakaway group of three teams have opened up a reasonable gap on the chasing bunch. However if it was the Grand National they would have another lap to do so anything can happen, and probably will, look out for Beechers!! Leaders North Ramsey A march on relentlessly firstly beating their B team 8-0 before having a 7-1 home win against Ballaugh, The Castletown’s teams did not do each other any favours by sharing the points at the Crofts, with the A team then visiting Port St Mary B and coming away with a 7-1 win. Port St Mary A also played their B team this week and won comfortably against their understrength team mates. The Port A team then visited Castletown B and became the first team this year to win at the crofts against the B team to hold onto second place on 28 points, 2 behind leaders North Ramsey A, Castletown A come next on 27 points, while just hanging on to 4th place on 23 points are Town B with Marown level on points after good wins against Port Erin and away to Peel A. On 22 points come Douglas A who after beating their B team, sat out Thursdays game. On 21 points are Nobles A who gained four points this week with big wins against their B team and Onchan B, and Onchan A who also beat their B team although it was only 5-3 and then had a whitewash over Nobles B to also get four points this week, South Ramsey are in 9th place and Peel A in 10th place on 20 points at present after finishing runners up and fourth respectively last season. South Ramsey losing at Ballaugh before bouncing back against North Ramsey B, while Peel A were held by their second team before going down to Marown
With Ballaugh in 11th position on 19 points, with only five points separating 4th to 11th there is a lot to play for in the second half of the season, Peel B are next on 17 points after getting a point against their A team they lost out to Port Erin 5-3. Finch Hill are on 15 points, followed by Onchan B on 9 points, which they will be disappointed with after their strong showing last season, Port Erin are also on 9 with Nobles B on 8 points PSM B on 7 points, North Ramsey B on 3 points and Douglas B on 2

The Tower Insurance Over 60 Bowls League this week saw leaders North Ramsey A visit at the time 2nd Placed Castletown B and the result of a close encounter was the points shared in as very close draw, with Port St Mary playing their re-arranged match against North Ramsey B and coming away with a 6- 2 victory, coupled with two more wins this week away to Onchan B in a close 5-3 game and using home advantage to beat Peel B 6-2 they move into second place behind North Ramsey A who beat Douglas B 8-0 at the Mooragh to remain top dogs for another week with 26 points, two ahead of Port St Mary A and Castletown A who are locked on 24 points, Town had a struggle in beating North Ramsey B at the Mooragh 5-3 before using home advantage to beat Finch Hill 7-1next along come the Town B team who had to sit out a game this week on 22 points, next come Douglas A who have played a game more than all their close rivals on 20 points, after losing to Ballaugh before using home green advantage to beat North Ramsey B. only a point behind, come both Peel A and Marown on 19 points Peel A like Castletown B had to sit out a game this week but had a comfortable home win against Port St Mary B 7-1, while Marown had an away draw at Nobles B before defeating Onchan B 6-2 at home. South Ramsey are on 18 points after beating Douglas B at the Villa and then being held to a home draw by Nobles A. with Nobles A, Onchan A and Ballaugh all on 17 points, with Peel B on 16 points only 10 points separate the top 12 teams. The Ismay Cup provided a few upsets in close games in fact all three games played ended up 5-4 two in favour of the home teams and one for the visitors. The winning home sides were Peel B who saw off one of the favourites Castletown A while Port Erin mustered together a team to defeat Ballaugh in another close encounter, while Port St Mary continued their good week with a superb win at Onchan A. Unfortunately Port St Mary B were unable to field a team against North Ramsey A so had to forfeit the game. This leaves Peel B, North Ramsey A, Port St Mary A and Port Erin as the semi-finalists. The Merit is still lead by Stuart