It was all go at Onchan Park on Saturday 15 July, with Onchan fair, and the ladies’ Millennium Fours event, taking place. The entry was ten teams of four and in each match players were drawn, two to play singles, the other two making a doubles combination. The three games were played to 15 off scratch, the team with the greatest total over the three games progressing to the next round.
Between the fine weather and the background music from the fair, which had spectators dancing round the green, there was some fine bowling played in a carnival atmosphere.
In the first semi-final a South Ramsey team consisting of Fiona Kennish, Kim Hargraves, Bethany Kennish and Jenny Moore took on a Mixed team of Mary Alderson, Lynda Cadamy, Philippa Taylor and Ann Gale. Fiona and Kim were drawn to play the doubles against the Mary and Lynda combo, the Mixed team pair having the advantage 12-15.In the singles Philippa beat Bethany 15-5 while Jenny beat Ann 15-7, giving South Ramsey a total of 32 points and the Mixed team, who went through to the final, a total of 37 points.
In the second semi-final Noblesconsisting of Clare Cooper, Paula Firth, Rebecca Teare and Lin Ruscoe, played a combined South Ramsey and Marown team made up of Elaine Moore, Jill Quayle, Lil Smith and Rosie Winckle. Clare and Paula came through 15-12 in the doubles against Rosie Winckle and Jill Quayle while the singles were shared, Rebecca Teare beating Lil Smith 15-1 and in reply Elaine Moore beat Lin Ruscoe 15-7, giving Nobles 37 points and South Ramsey / Marown 28.
This set up a Nobles v Mixed team final. The three games were on the green at the same time and the singles finished with Philippa Taylor winning 15-4 against Paula Firth, while Lin Ruscoe replied with 15-6 against Mary Alderson, leaving the final result in the hands of the doubles pairings. With Clare Cooper and Rebecca Teare coming through 15-9 against Lynda Cadamy and Ann Gale, Nobles took the title once again with a final score of 34 points to 30.
Association president, Rosie Winckle thanked Onchan for the use of their green and their ladies for helping, and providing refreshments during the afternoon. She also thanked Elaine and Heather for organising the event and running the sheet.

This year the South Ramsey ladies tried a new format for the competition for the Omega Cup. It was decided to do it as a round-robin doubles with partners being drawn.
The twenty ladies who entered were drawn to make ten pairs who were then split into two groups of five pairs, who played everyone else in the group in games of ten ends. The winners of each group then played each other to get the winner and runner-up.
With the weather behaving, to give a glorious warm afternoon, the players enjoyed their afternoon, with a lot of laughter throughout the competition.
In the first group Tricia Bull and Helen Martin came top with a total of 43 points, just one point ahead of Moira Anderson and Philippa Taylor on 42 points.
The other group was even closer with two teams drawn on 41 points. The winner of the group was decided by a roll to the jack. which was beautifully delivered into a tricky position by Heather Horsburgh, and a representative of each pair then delivered a wood. Jenny Moore won that to ensure that she and Fiona Kennish topped the group, while Lynda Cadamy and Caroline Whitehead had to settle for second place.
Then final saw Tricia and Helen face Fiona and Jenny in a match of ten ends.
The ten ends were split with each team winning five ends, but with Helen and Tricia scoring a single at each end and Jenny and Fiona getting three 2’s the cup stayed in South Ramsey.
The presentation was made by Gill Dixon who thanked all those who had supported the event, and praised the cracking bowling throughout the afternoon.
Thanks also went to those who had helped in the kitchen.

Another Festival week has come and gone with Manx ladies putting up good performances throughout the week, having representatives in the latter stages of most events.
The Ladies’ Tourism competition finished on Thursday morning, starting with the quarter-finals with Lil Smith, Janet Monk and Jenny Moore still in contention. Unfortunately Lil and Jenny were playing each other, while Janet faced Diane Harrison. Jenny and Janet faced each other in the semi-final with Jenny going through to meet Alexis Lunn-Gadd in the final. Despite winning the first three ends Alexis struggled to match Jenny who came through to win 21-11.
In the main event Helen Martin and Philippa Taylor both made it to finals day. It is fair to say that Helen was not at her best against Karen Galvin (the eventual winner) in the quarter-finals, while Philippa met Karen in the semi-final where she went out after a strong performance, reaching 17 against Karen and taking the trophy for the best performance by a Manx player.
Lyn Bolton lost in the semi-finals of the ladies consolation to eventual winner Veronica Lyon, while our ladies were well represented in the doubles events. In the semi-finals of the ladies’ doubles Chris Price and Julie Johnson (Stavely) put out Tricia Bull and Gill Simm (Kings Arms Hale) while Elaine Moore and Alexis Lunn-Gadd (OFH) came through against Paula Gamon and Charlotte Buckley. In the final it was Elaine and Alexis who came through to win 11-6. In the Mixed doubles the winning pair contained another Manx player as Janet Monk won with her partner, Kevin Shaw (Westhoughton).

There were eight pairs entered for the Dorothy Piearce ladies’ doubles played at Finch Hill on Sunday 25 June, where players were competing for the honour of representing the island on the mainland later in the season.
The afternoon started at the quarter-final stage where, although each end was closely contested the two pairs, Jenny Moore and Shelley Kennish, together with Elaine Moore and Fiona Kennish won by convincing scores to get into the semi-finals. The other two quarters were much more closely contested. Rita Callister, who is becoming someone to fear in ladies’ doubles, and her partner Debbie Leece just lost out to Chris Price and Kellie Maddrell-Reeve 18-21, while the other quarter-final went all the way with Festival semi-finalist, Philippa Taylor, and her partner, Joyce Ogden, just getting past Lynda Cadamy and Mary Alderson 21-20.
In the first semi-final Shelley and Jenny got off to the better start, leading 9-4 after nine ends, Chris and Kellie starting to pull back at that stage and taking the lead, 12-10 after 16 ends, having the edge from then on, coming through to win 21-14. Again the ends were closely contested in the other semi-final, but Philippa and Joyce proved too consistent for Fiona and Elaine winning 21-8.
Semi-finals: Chris Price and Kellie Maddrell-Reeve 21, Shelley Kennish and Jenny Moore 14; Philippa Taylor and Joyce Ogden 21, Fiona Kennish and Elaine Moore 8.
Philippa and Joyce got off to a flyer in the final, reaching 8-0 after four ends, The next few ends were evenly contested but Chris and Kellie struggled to close the gap , lying 14-6 down after fourteen ends, with Philippa and Joyce moving to 18-6 after a further three ends. The Port St Mary pair scored 8 on the next four ends but it was too little too late, the final score seeing Joyce and Philippa qualifying 21-15.
The Association would like to thank Finch Hill for the use of their facilities for this event.

The sun shone for most of the afternoon on Saturday 24 June when 25 players gathered at Marown for the Julia North ladies’ singles, although a bitter wind meant it was cold in the shade.
There were some close, and some not so close, games played in a friendly atmosphere. The feature match in the semi-finals was between Chris Price and Joyce Ogden, which was nip-and-tuck all the way with Joyce getting to 20 first. As we all know, that last point is the hardest to get and Chris came through from 19-20 to progress to the next round 21-20.
Quarter-finals: Lynda Cadamy 21, Philippa Taylor 18; Margaret Tasker 21, Lil Smith 15; Chris Price 21, Joyce Ogden 20; Maureen Payne 21, Mavis Franks 11.
Maureen had no answer against Chris, with Chris coming through 21-14 despite Maureen’s best efforts, but the other semi-final was a much tenser affair with the advantage changing hands several times. In the latter stages Margaret seemed to have the upper hand with a 19-16 lead, before Lynda won the next four ends to record a 21-19 victory.
Semi-finals: Chris Price 21, Maureen Payne 14; Lynda Cadamy 21, Margaret Tasker 19.
In the final Chris had the better start, leading 13-7 after eight ends. Although Lynda won the next three ends Chris won the following four to hold the advantage at 18-10. The final six ends were shared, seeing Chris come through to take the trophy 21-15.
Rosie Winckle thanked all those who had entered and those who had stayed to the end to watch a very good final. Thanks also went to the Marown ladies for all their hard work.
Rosie then introduced Julia North, who sponsored the event, giving her a present from the Marown Club to congratulate her on having been awarded the BEM., before Julia then presented the prizes

The Ladies’ Association Pre-Festival open took place at Port St Mary on Sunday 18 June, sponsored by the Slinger family in memory of their mother, Lilian , a stalwart of the Manx bowling community, who died last year.
The event attracted a field of 52 which included 19 visitors. The weather suited the occasion, but many competitors were caught out by the very fast green. Quarter-finals: Natalie Hughes (Crossgates) 21, Ann Maddrell 19; Pat Shevlin (Birchfield) 10, Rachel Quirk (Crossgates) 21; Sarah Varley (Rishton) 21, Jayne Kneen 12; Janet Monk 21, Jenny Moore 19.
In the first semi-final Rachel was in control from the start with Natalie unable to get her nose in front at any point, while in the other Janet had a slender lead after seven ends at which point Sarah took control to run out the winner.
Semi-finals: Rachel Quirk 21, Natalie Hughes 12; Sarah Varley 21, Janet Monk 13.
Sarah was 12-9 up after seven ends at which point the two players shared ends, with Rachel getting a greater number of 2‘s to levl up the score at 16-16 after fourteen ends. Three singles meant Sarah got to 19 first, before Rachel replied with two singles. Winning the next two ends gave Sarah the game to become the first winner of the Lilian Slinger trophy.
Association Competition secretary, Elaine Moore, thanked Port St Mary for the use of their green, their help on the green and also the amazing raffle and food, before thanking the Slinger family for sponsoring the event and introducing Peter to make the presentation.
Peter praised the green, saying it was the best on the island. His mother would have been so proud of the event and the standard of bowls on show – particularly in the final -and delighted that the winner, came from their part of England