Isle of Man County Crown Green Bowling Association

Sunday saw the holding of the Douglas Town Cup Ladies and Men’s Singles hosted by Douglas Bowling Club at the Villa. The Men’s event started at 10:30 in the morning with 42 entries, with the Ladies competition starting later in the day had an entry of 19 Ladies competing.

In the Men’s singles at the quarter final stage Peter Jones (Marown) beat David Bradford (South Ramsey) 21-11, whilst Keith Rise held off a late comeback from Walter McCarthy to win 21-19. In the other half of the draw Glynn Hargraves (South Ramsey) won 21-8 against Rob Monk (North Ramsey), whilst Phil Kelly beat Marown clubmate Juan Killip 21-17 to progress to the next round.

At the semi-final stage Jones ensured it was the end of the road for Rise, with the Marown man winning 21-13. In the other semi-final Hargraves led 18-12 against Kelly, only for the Marown man to score seven consecutive chalks to lead 19-18. Hargraves got back in at the right time to seal his place in the final with a 21-19 victory.

In the Men’s final the rain set in as Hargraves (+6) won the first end, only to concede two doubles to Jones (+5) who was the current holder to fall 9-7 behind. Hargraves took the next three ends to go two chalks ahead at 11-9, then Jones got in to settle on a longer length as he scored seven chalks over six ends to lead 16-11.

A slice of fortune got Hargraves back in, with the South Ramsey man then closing the deficit to two chalks at 16-18, however Jones played two good bowls on the following end to lead 20-16.

On the next end a good lead from Jones was beaten at the first attempt, then a further single followed for Hargraves to put the score at 18-20. On the next end Jones was in after a measure as he retained the trophy for another year with a hard earned 21-18 victory in an entertaining final.

In the Ladies quarter finals Lyn Bolton (Marown) beat Michele Cubbon (Ballaugh) 21-9, Janet Monk beat Mooragh Park teammate Shannon McMullan 21-12. Marown’s Debbie Leece beat Margie Tasker (Port St Mary) 21-14, whilst home greener Paula Garrett beat teammate Katie Jacobs 21-10.

In the Ladies semi-finals Bolton got the better of Monk, with a comfortable 21-11 win, whilst Garrett won 21-14 against Leece.

The Final got underway with Bolton making the better start to lead 11-6, then Garrett closed the gap to two chalks at 10-12.

Belton stepped up another gear or two, as the Marown player restricted her opponent to scoring on only two more ends for Bolton to run out with three two’s and three singles to seal a comfortable 21-13 to win the Ladies Douglas Town Cup.

There was also a prize for the Juniors going furthest in the competition and the Junior Girls was won by Katie Jacobs (Douglas) and the Junior Boys was shared by Kian Bradford (South Ramsey) & Clark Kelly (Douglas).

At the conclusion Gordy Wynne-Smythe thanked all those who supported the event and the Douglas Club Members for a great effort in putting on the event. He then announced that they had raised funds for A Little Bit of Hope to the total of £450. He then went on to thank Jaks & Barbary Coast for sponsoring the event, with Andrew Gibbs presenting the prizes.