Author Archives: Juan Kermode

Castletown A Compete at 2023 UK Club Championships

Castletown A Ladies Team

After overcoming cancelled travel arrangements Castletown Ladies managed to eventually play in the 2023 UK Club Championships at the weekend. Unfortunately the competition was not fully supported and there were four groups of just three teams with Castletown drawn with Maggies, the Warwick and Worcester champions, and also the championship favourites, and holders, Wrockwardine Wood from Shropshire.In the opening round-robin game Maggies went into an early chalks lead and from the first four blocks off only Tracy Moore had won for the IOM champions following an excellent 15-8 win. However a barnstorming second half saw the match completely turn a full circle as Hilary Kermode and Hannah Drewett both came off with 15-10 wins while in a nail biting finish Stella Watterson played superb bowls to win 15-5 giving Castletown an extremely narrow one chalk victory.It was never going to be easy against the Shropshire champions in the second game though with friendships being maintained with the many IOM Festival bowlers in their ranks. The Island team managed one win in each half with Anne Oates winning 15-5 against Louise Cotton and Kim Foy beating Barbara Hughes to 9. However in the end Castletown succumbed to a 20 chalk defeat though at least they had the satisfaction of losing to the team that went on to retain their trophy. 

Post published by Juan Kermode

Ogden Wins Maiden Open

September Pre-Festival Open Winner 2022 - Joyce Ogden

Photo: Caroline Whitehead

An entry of 35 ladies competed in the September Open at a perfectly prepared Castletown green on Sunday and no-one was more surprised to win the competition than local bowler Joyce Ogden (Marown) herself, who was a late entry and who had to play with spare woods from the home club’s cupboard!


She deserved her maiden singles Open victory as she played well all afternoon, none more so than in the final when she beat Shropshire’s Helen Clee (Wrockwardine Wood) 21-17 having previously seen off the challenge of another visiting bowler Pat Edwards (Garswood Hall) in the semi-final.


Port Erin’s Caroline Whitehead was the other faller in the last four, just losing to 20 to Helen Clee after being 10-20 down. 

Going out at the quarters were Marown’s Rebecca Teare, Shropshire’s Louise Cotton (Wrockwardine Wood) as well as Kim Foy and Hilary Kermode from the home club.

Post published by Juan Kermode

Microgaming Ladies Doubles

Microgaming Ladies Doubles 2021

Twenty three pairs competed for the annual Ladies Doubles competition at an immaculately prepared Castletown green, the event once again being kindly sponsored by Microgaming PlayItForward.

Comment was made during the presentation about the high quality of bowls that was played throughout the afternoon with apparent unbeatable woods being beaten time and again!

Losing at the quarter final stage were the pairings of Fiona Kennish and Jenny Moore, Elaine McElroy and Linda Dobinson, Chris Holland and daughter Jayne Smith plus Clare Cooper and Amanda Butler.

The semi finals continued to produce superb bowling but each finished 21-17 with last year’s runners-up Chris Price and the evergreen Jean Radcliffe (playing in her once a year competition!) triumphing over Sue Gawne and Lynda Cadamy while the home pairing of Hilary Kermode and Kath Kinley just got the better of clubmates Ann Hollingworth and Heike Perry.

The final itself proved to be a more one-sided affair with the ‘Special K duo’ of Kermode and Kinley going up a gear to take the Shield by a 21-8 scoreline and in doing so condemning their opponents to once again being the runners-up.     

Post published by Juan Kermode

No ‘Moore Teare’s’ for Alan and James

Cringle Fours Winners 2018

The Cringle Pairs mens doubles event took place at Castletown on Saturday and from a field of 17 pairs it resulted in a win for the South Ramsey pairing of James Teare and Alan Moore who beat the very impressive Port St Mary duo of Tim Williams and Tom Collins 21-14 in the final.

Losers in the the semi finals were Frank Watson (Peel Sunset) and Kevin Firth (Nobles) along with the home pair of Ian Watson and Juan Kermode.

This is an annual charity event and the club is extremely grateful to the players and spectators for helping to raise money for the worthwhile cause, to Shoprite for their donations to the raffle but in the main to Mr Noel Cringle OBE, whose family continue to sponsor this event and has done for many years.

During the presentation it was announced that a total approaching £200 had been raised and once again it would be donated to the Manx Blind Welfare Society.

Post published by Juan Kermode

Kennish ‘Cains’ the Opposition

Yet another superb display of bowling by South Ramsey’s John Kennish ensured a third consecutive Cain Cup victory at Castletown on Sunday.

Having beaten the impressive Wayne Roberts (Port St Mary) in the semi final 21-9 he then ran out from 10-10 to beat Onchan’s Phil Kerruish in the final to ensure the Cup, which was presented by the home club’s President Ron Williams, would remain in his already bulging trophy cabinet.

Kerruish’s path to the final was a little more difficult because after Matthew Keggen (Marown) had lost out 21-17 in the quarter final, he only just managed to beat Kennish’s clubmate Glynn Hargraves to 21-20 in an epic semi final tussle.

The other quarter finalists from a total of 36 players who entered this non-handicap, 21up event were David Bradford (South Ramsey) plus two home players, Mike Hargraves and David Faragher.

Post published by Juan Kermode

Ballacashtal Cup

Ballacashtal Cup 2017

Nicky Burridge (Runner Up), Adam Drewett (Friends Provident International Representative) Mark Hughes (Winner)

The traditional curtain-raiser to the week-long Bowling Festival took place on Sunday on a fast and tricky Castletown playing surface. The event has taken an upsurge in popularity in recent years which has prompted the organisers to limit the entries to 96 and from this star studded field it was a previous Festival winner Mark Hughes from the Crossgates club in Leeds who took the honours beating Nicky Burridge from the Wirral 21-16 in a see-saw, quality final.

In the final stages which were dominated by visiting bowlers Hughes had beaten Ian Johnson (Calow BC, Derbyshire) in one semi while Rishton’s Mick Lee fell to Burridge in the other.

Only one local bowler reached the last 8, South Ramsey’s Glynn Hargraves, while the other losing quarter finalists were Wayne Jeavons (Wirral), John Colebourne (Calow) and Keith Middleton from Chapel Park BC.

At the end of the prestigious competition the home Club’s President Ron Williams mentioned how grateful the club was to Denny Oates and his daughter Kath Kinley for organising the event and he also thanked the club members who had worked through the day.

He finally spoke about the magnificent sponsorship provided by Friends Provident International before introducing company official, and local sportsman, Adam Drewett to present the prizes.

Post published by Juan Kermode