Report by Heather Horsburgh

There was an entry of 19 pairs for the Sylvia Cashen ladies’ pairs played at Port St Mary on Wednesday 1 May. The weather was a bit “iffy” at the start of the afternoon, cold with a hint of rain but it soon cleared and the green was bathed in glorious sunshine.

There were some good games throughout but perhaps the best matches were two of the quarter-finals. In one Val Macfarlane and Jayne Kneen came through 21-19 after a tough tussle against Kath Kinley and Marie Ashurst while in the other Chris Price and Janet Monk squeezed through 21-20 against Paula Firth and Lin Ruscoe.

In the semi-finals Ann Maddrell and Win Collister came through 21-9 against Janet and Chris while Barbara Young and Ann Hollingworth put up some strong resistance before going down 15-21 to Val and Jayne.

In the final Jayne and Val showed why they had won this trophy so often putting on a display of excellent bowling to win 21-10

The presentation was by Lady President, Sheila Shimmin, who thanked all those who had helped in the smooth running of the event which raised about £300 For the Isle of Man Anti-Cancer Association.

Particular thanks went to the green keeper, to “Shaun the sheet” and the ladies’ who had helped throughout the day.

Mooragh Park Ladies Bowling Team sponsored by Raymotors Automative Group travelled to Shrewsbury at the weekend to play in the County Club Championships. They were drawn in group 4 which consisted of teams Amasal (South Staffordshire), Hall Green (Warwick & Worcester) and Hatton (Burton).

After 3 very hard fought games, Mooragh Park won all of their games in their group to give them maximum points. It was with great delight to have won and qualified for the semi-finals, playing on a different green against a very strong team Wrockwardine Wood (Shropshire), who have won this competition before. Mooragh Park took to the green with a positive attitude even though the weather turned for the worse, making play unpleasant. The green was extremely interesting and difficult to play with lots of dips and hollows making it very difficult to follow the jack,. Mooragh Park put up a good performance with a fantastic atmosphere and plenty of support for both teams, after a hard fought game they lost out with a scoreline of 84 to 108 (games 3-5).

Mooragh Park Ladies are extremely proud to have represented the Isle of Man County and proved that Manx players are a force to be reckoned with.

Report by Heather Horsburgh

Summer arrived at Ballaugh on Saturday 27 April for the Pearl Kaighin ladies’ singles open. An entry of 31 produced some excellent bowling and after all the problems the club has had with the snow and rain the green was playing well if a little on the slow side.

Perhaps it was the warm weather that helped create a friendly and pleasant atmosphere round the green and it was nice to see some “new” ladies taking part in their first open.

Quarter-finals: Gill Dixon 21, Ann Gale11; Elaine Moore 21, Ann Hollingworth 16; Margaret Tasker 21, Heather Horsburgh 15; Philippa Fletcher 21, Chris Holland 16.

Semi-finals: Gill Dixon 21, Elaine Moore 10; Philippa Fletcher 21, Margaret Tasker 13.

This pitted Gill against Philippa, who was playing in her first final. A good number of spectators had remained to watch the final adding to the sense of occasion.

The final was initially closely matched with the score being level at 11-11. Gill then won the next six ends to reach 20-11 but Philippa was not about to give up taking the next four ends to get to 16.Gill took the next end and victory 21-16.

Jenny Maddrell thanked everyone who had stayed to the end. There was a new trophy presented by Bernard Kaighin who was unfortunately off island and unable to be present. In his absence the prizes were presented by Jane Teare.