Congratulations to Nobles ladies’ on winning the Over 60’s League.

Nobles had been at the top of the table for most of the season. However with two tough matches to end the season it wasn’t a sure thing that they would take the title for the first time.

Going into their last match they had 15 points over second placed Castletown A, but Port Erin A proved to be tough opponents, and it looked like the title was slipping away. Nobles eventually won the title by just 3 points.

The Noble’s ladies won 21 of their 28 league games, suffering seven defeats. Castletown tasted defeat on just three occasions, however Noble’s scored slightly better on the all-important chalks throughout the season to secure the Manx Paving & Slate Over 60’s Ladies League Title.

Castletown A secured their fourth straight league title ahead of Marown A on Wednesday evening, scoring 177 chalks away to Ballaugh B, as the Town ladies won the league by just 64 chalks, bettering Marown by less than three chalks per game over the 24 game season as they averaged 178 chalks each game.

With 189 chalks available each game this is an incredible achievement to drop less than 12 chalks on average, whilst improving on their average of just under 175 chalks in 2023.

Marown A will be disappointed having averaged just over 175 this season, to show their improvement since 2023.

Report on Posh Paws of Peel Ladies Singles Open Competition held at Peel Sunset BC on Saturday 31^stAugust  2024.

There were 21 entrants. There was glorious wall to wall sunshine and deep blue skies and a lovely atmosphere around the green. Joyce Kelly was running the sheet and called 5 prelims to the jacks. Last year’s winner, Gill Dixon, and Louise Tebay were first off leaving Gill going forwards, Lynda Wilson and Pauline Cowley battled it out with a final score of 21-19 to Pauline. Helen Cowley and Margie Tasker score 21-14 to Margie. Lynda Cadamy and Caroline Whitehead with a final score of 21-20 to Caroline. The final pre-lim Gill Clarke and Elaine Hawkins final score 21-19 with Gill making it to the next round. Some really tough games on a green that was running superbly.

The third round did not disappoint, Dixon v Cowley 21-18, Whitehead v Tasker 21-13, Clarke v Joyce Kelly 20-21. Jo Corkill v Diane Fleming 17-21, Tricia Bull v Nicola Gilmore 21-16. Our only junior competitor, Martha Butler v Karen Young 21-18. Zoe Bolton v Kay McKiernan 21-17 and Lyn Bolton v Sherry Pedley 21-16

At the quarter final stage Dixon’s quest to retain the trophy stopped when Whitehead pipped her at the post 20-21 Kelly v Fleming 21-10. Bull finished off Butler with a creditable score of 21-16 and keep it in the family, Zoe Bolton v Lyn Bolton with Lyn storming through to the final. Kelly was on fine form and Whitehead was defeated with a score of 21-16.

The final was a fine display of precise bowling, Lyn found her favourite part of the green and whilst home greener, Joyce was on the defence for most of the game with most ends being remarkably close finally Lyn became the outright winner. The President of Peel Sunset BC, Lynda Wilson presented the prizes and thanked Posh Paws of Peel for their continued support over the last five years.

The final of the Jean Kelly Memorial Shield – the Ladies Premier Team knockout competition was held at Onchan Bowling Club on Thursday evening. With heavy rain throughout the day, this took away any prospect of a tricky green, however the rain had cleared by the time the final got underway with a dry green with ideal bowling conditions. There was a good crowd in attendance with fantastic support for both teams, which resulted in a good atmosphere around the green. With a neutral venue the handicaps were South Ramsey (+14) and Marown A (+18) with the Crosby team having a four chalk start on their opponents. A tough one to call who would emerge as the winner with Marown second in the league and South Ramsey in third place, there is little to choose between the teams.

From the first five games on the green, Marown struck the first blow and built a sizeable lead with Rebecca Teare beating Sue Collier 21-3 in the corners. Lauren Groen pulled some chalks back for South Ramsey with a 21-9 win over Junior bowler Martha Butler, with the latter making her first appearance in a team final. Debbie Leece performed well to beat Elaine Moore 21-16, whilst South Ramsey captain Fiona Kennish put in a top performance to hold off former teammate Lyn Bolton with a 21-16 win. Rounding off the game in the first half of the match Marown captain Helen Withers put in a solid display to comfortably beat Kim Hargraves 21-12. At the halfway stage of the match Marown were 3-2 up on games, crucially led on the all-important chalks (102-87).

The atmosphere and tension started to build around the green in the second half of the match, whilst it looked a long way back for South Ramsey, they had a couple of big hitters to come, along with two very determined individuals who never give up, which proved to be the difference on the night as Judy Kelly put in a superb performance against Jayne Smith to win 21-14, clawing back seven chalks from the lead held by Marown. Another six chalks were picked up by South as two of the top lady bowlers Jenny Moore and Clare Cooper were up against each other, with the latter taking the early initiative Moore battled back to win 21-15.

With Marown now just two chalks ahead, the final two games on the green saw huge leads for South Ramsey. The next game off proved to be the final nail in the coffin as former Marown player Joyce Ogden, who looked as determined as anyone on the green beat Rebekah Kelly 21-6 to put South Ramsey into the lead for the first time in the match by 13 chalks. The final game on the green between Gill Dixon and Lynda Cadamy then turned into a formality, with Dixon having built up a huge lead in the first half of her game, was then on the receiving end of a fightback from Cadamy, however the South player got over the line with a 21-15 victory.

South Ramsey regained the Jean Kelly Memorial Shield by 19 chalks with the scores 171-152 in their favour, whilst also winning 6-3 on games. This was the fifth time that South Ramsey have won the competition.

The presentation was made by Moore Kelly’s daughter in law Carolyn Kelly, who called up the captains to present the prizes to their teams. South Ramsey captain Fiona Kennish was then presented with the Shield. Kennish thanked the Kelly family for their continued support of the competition, which included the prizes and the refreshments, Onchan Bowling Club for hosting and congratulated her team on their performance whilst offering her commiserations to Marown A.

The Ladies Association held the Ladies singles merit at Mooragh Park on Sunday 11th August.

It was lovely to see so many juniors playing and getting through a few rounds. The Home Greeners played the green very well. Janet Monk (Mooragh Park) overcame Kim Hargraves (South Ramsey) 21-18 in the final to become Ladies singles Merit Winner.

Full report to follow…