Week three of fixtures took place in Canada Life International Sponsored Division One on another blustery evening, with Peel A coming away from Crosby with a 3-7 victory over Marown B. Winning close games for the Peel men were Stevie Kelly, as he beat Phil Kelly 21-19, whilst Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly beat John Gelling 21-18, with Sam Clague responding for Marown as he beat David Proctor 21-18.

South Ramsey A had a tough home game with Onchan A, in a keenly contested game as the home team won 7-3. John Kennish stepped in for the home team, with his 21-5 win over Will Penhallurick sealing the two points for the aggregate. Winning for the visitors were Phil Kerruish, Jamie Clague, and Matthew Quirk.

Port St Mary A picked up their first win of the season, as they beat Castletown A 6-4. Robbie Cooil beat Aaron Richardson 21-6, with Nathan Hamilton responding for Town as he beat Tim Williams 21-4.

North Ramsey A played their first home fixture of the season at Mooragh Park as they won 5-3 on games against Douglas A, however they lost the aggregate by two chalks (139-141) with Stuart Garrett helping the visitors cause with a 21-9 win over Joe Kneale to seal a 5-5 draw.

Early leaders Marown A played their lower ranked C Team on Tuesday evening under much improved conditions as the A team won 9-1 to extend their lead to three points over South Ramsey A. Preventing the whitewash was C team captain Stephen Rundle as he beat Neil Withers 21-17, with Dan Smith the next closest to picking up a point as he lost 17-21 to Paul Dunn.

In Division Two South Ramsey B inflicted a third straight defeat of the season on Castletown B, as they came away from the Crofts with a 3-7 victory, as just 11 chalks separated the teams (137-148), with Ben Dugdale and Tony Hart both sneaking home 21-20 against Alan Phair and Ross Moore respectively.

Ballaugh A also won 3-7 away from home by the same margin of chalks (140-151) against Douglas B at the Villa. Mike Spooner helped Ballaugh’s cause with a 21-8 victory over Willie Cowley, whilst Nigel Tebay won 21-19 against Andy Foster, with Richard Hainge edging home 21-20 against Steve Gregg.

Finch Hill A won 7-3 at home to Port Erin A, whilst the two biggest wins of the night went in favour of league leaders Peel B who beat North Ramsey B 9-1, with Onchan B inflicting a heavy defeat on Noble’s A to the same score.

In Division Three Noble’s B, C and D head up the table in that order, as the B team (pictured) won 8-2 at home to South Ramsey D, Noble’s C caused an upset as they beat South Ramsey C 3-7 away from home, whilst Noble’s D beat Peel C 7-3 at home.

Ballaugh B came away from Port St Mary B with a 2-8 victory, whilst Marown D got their first win of the season under their belt, as they came away from the Park with a 3-7 win over Onchan C.

In Division Four Noble’s E sit in joint 2^nd place as they picked up their third consecutive 6-4 victory of the season, this time beating Douglas D at the Villa, taking the aggregate by eight chalks (135-143), proving once again that every chalk counts.

League Leaders Ballaugh C stretched their lead at the top to seven points, following their 9-1 home win over Douglas C. North Ramsey C played their first home fixture of the season, as they matched their result in their first fixture with a 9-1 home win over Finch Hill B. Peel D were awarded a 10-0 home win over Port Erin B who were unable to field a team.

Rearranged fixtures from match week two saw Port Erin A slip to a 2-8 home defeat to Peel B, whilst Noble’s C beat Onchan C to the same score.

The first official men’s singles competition of the season was held on Sunday, with a healthy entry of 39 taking part in the Ken Williamson Cup, with entries higher than when the competition is traditionally held in June.

Losing out at the quarter final stage were Nathan Cooil (Castletown) 19-21 to home greener Matthew Quirk, Dave McCabe (Douglas) 15-21 to Bob Clark (South Ramsey). In the other half of the draw another home greener Mike Kelly got the better of clubmate Will Penhallurick, whilst an all Marown contest was won by Jamie Joughin as he beat Sam Clague 21-17.

The home green hopes were ended at the semi-final stage as Joughin breezed through to the final as he beat Kelly 21-14, whilst Bob Clark recovered from a slow start to see off Quirk 21-18, as the South Ramsey man crucially kept his opponent down to a single two, whilst scoring five doubles himself.

The final saw Clark start as favourite, as he looked to retain the trophy, whilst Joughin was appearing in his first final of a men’s singles open competition. The Marown man took two of the first three ends, to lead 8-4, with Clark soon getting into his stride as he scored five doubles, and kept Joughin to just three more singles as the South Ramsey man ran out a clear 21-11 winner to lift the trophy for a third time.

The presentation was made by Kevin Quirk with thanks given to Dave Tait for running the competition and to the ladies for putting on refreshments. Ken Williamson’s niece Diane Crossley was then introduced to present the prizes.

Castletown Bowling Club hosted the Charity Cringle Fours men’s open competition on Saturday attracting 16 pairs to compete for the trophy.

The quarter finals saw James Teare and Alan Moore (South Ramsey) beat Noble’s pair Paul Moore and Lee Price 21-14, Glynn Hargraves and Bob Clark (South Ramsey) won 21-12 against another Noble’s pairing of Dave Naughton and Mark Bradshaw. In the other half of the draw Jordan Cain and Stefan Kelly (South Ramsey) eased home 21-11 against Collin Holland (Castletown) and Shaun Seal (Douglas), whilst John Kennish and David Bradford (South Ramsey) came through 21-17 against Brian Kelly and James Kelly (Marown).

An all South Ramsey semi-final took place as Hargraves and Clark dominated to win 21-8 against Teare and Moore, whilst a low scoring affair in the early stages saw a tight game in the other half of the draw Kennish and Bradford eventually pipped Cain and Kelly to the post 21-18.

Hargraves and Clark made the better start as they raced into a 12-6 lead, however a mistake from Hargraves as he sent the jack off the green allowed Kennish and Bradford to work their way back into the game. A strong finish from the latter pair on a shorter mark saw them run out with a 21-16 victory.

The presentation was made by Phil Taubman, who thanked Murray Cringle for sponsoring the competition, with £132.50 being raised for Sight Matters.

The second round of fixtures took place in Canada Life International Sponsored Division One on a wet Monday evening, as early leaders Marown A maintained their lead at the top of the table with a 7-3 victory following a 7-3 home win over Onchan A, with 18 chalks separating the teams (152-134). For the home team Neil Withers came through a battle with Matthew Quirk 21-19, Colin Kelly recovered from a 6-10 deficit to win 21-15. Impressing for the visitors were Neil Dunwell, who beat Paul Kelly 21-13, Reg Temporaza won 21-15 against John Gelling, whilst Peter Slinger used all his experience as he came back from 13-17 to edge home 21-19 against Glenn Boland.

Castletown A welcomed South Ramsey A to the Crofts, with the visitors 4-0 after the first four games, however this didn’t tell the whole story. Dido Kelly and Jordan Cain prevailed 21-17 against Nathan Cooil and David Quayle respectively, whilst Glynn Hargraves trailed all game against Nathan Hamilton, then finished strongly to win 21-19. In the second half of the match Bob Clark returned to the fold as he won 21-6 against George Foy. Town then picked up three wins with captain Jordan Drewett leading the way 21-9 against Peter Collister, Aaron Richardson held off a fightback from James Teare to win 21-17, with Ian Watson pulling off the most impressive result of the night as he beat David Bradford 21-13, resulting in a 3-7 victory for South Ramsey with 13 chalks separating the two teams (131-144).

Peel A got their first win of the season as they beat Port St Mary A 8-2 at home, with three close games as Dave Saxon beat Mike Ashmole 21-20, Tommy McMeiken had enough in the tank to hold off Trevor Quayle 21-17, whilst George Gadsby beat Wayne Roberts 21-19.

Douglas A took on Marown B at the Villa, as they played the closest match of the week as the home team edged it 6-4 on the night thanks to taking the aggregate by three chalks (138-135).

North Ramsey A came away from Crosby with a 4-6 victory on Tuesday evening as they took the aggregate by 14 chalks, helped by Steve Walmsley’s 21-9 win over Peter Kelly.

In Division Two South Ramsey B got their campaign up and running with a 9-1 home win over Finch Hill A, with Brian Aspden preventing the whitewash with a 21-17 victory over Eddie Carlyle.

Onchan B inflicted a 9-1 defeat on Castletown B, as the Town men sit on three points after two games.

Douglas B sit on 17 points at the top as they won 8-2 at home to North Ramsey B, whilst Noble’s A rearranged their game from Monday evening to Tuesday as the visitors Ballaugh A came away with the spoils following their 3-7 victory.

In Division Three South Ramsey C bounced back from their opening day defeat to beat their lower ranked D team 10-0.

Home wins to a 6-4 score line were the order of the evening, as Peel C, Port St Mary B, and Ballaugh B beat Noble’s B, Noble’s D and Marown D respectively.

In Division Four Noble’s E (pictured) continue to impress, as they won 6-4 at home to Peel D, with eight chalks separating the two teams (143-135). Douglas C managed to see off their D Team 8-2.

Elsewhere North Ramsey C took a 1-9 victory over Castletown C in their first fixture of the season, having sat out the first round of fixtures, whilst Ballaugh C went on to beat Finch Hill B 2-8 away from home.

There were 19 entries for the Finch Hill Newsbeat Men’s Doubles took place on Sunday afternoon, on another blustery day, with conditions appearing to affect the bowls more than the previous day when the wind was stronger.

The excellent standard of play was evident from the start as two preliminary games went to 21-20 and the third game 21-15. Two juniors Arran Dunn (Marown) and Kian Bradford (South Ramsey) teamed up and gave an excellent performance against Marown’s Paul Dunn (Dad) and Neil Withers just losing 17-21.

The quarter finals resulted in two games going to 21-20 with Rob Middleton and Peter Greenlees (Peel) beating Jordan Drewett and Dean Kinley (Castletown), and Alex Yates (Noble’s) and Steve Parker (Onchan) pipping Les Brookes (Finch Hill) and Eddie Carlyle (South Ramsey). The other quarters saw home greeners Mark Taylor and Stephen Oates getting past Sammie Clague (Marown) and Nathan Hamilton (Castletown, then Neil and Paul comfortably beating Ray Beattie and Bryan Corner (North Ramsey).

The winners of the semi-finals were Taylor and Oates 21-16 over Middleton and Greenlees, and Withers and Dunn Paul beating Yates and Parker 21-11.

Up to the middle of the final it was nip and tuck until Neil and Paul (last year’s runners up) won two bountiful ends, pulling ahead to finally win 21-14 against Mark and Stephen. to pick up the trophy for the fourth time in the last six years.

Thanks to Finch Hill. The standard of the running green received many compliments.

The Canada Life International Sponsored Division One got underway as Marown A sit top after the first round of fixtures following their 9-1 home win over North Ramsey A. All the wins for the Crosby men were comfortable with three single figures wins from Peter Jones, Neil Withers and Paul Kelly over Steve Walmsley, Steven Waters and Joe Kneale respectively. The lone winner for the Mooragh men was Rob Monk who beat Matthew Keggen 21-6.

South Ramsey A got their campaign underway with a tough home fixture over Peel A. After the first four games the home team led 4-0, however the second set of games could have gone 4-0 to Peel or the home team, as it was it ended up 2-2 to see the home team earn an 8-2 win. For the home team James Teare trailed 8-15 against Pip Pemberton, with Teare responding to runout with a 21-17 win, whilst a great last bowl from Stefan Kelly underpinned a good performance to hold off Tommy McMeiken 21-19. For Peel Stevie Kelly got their first point of the evening as he performed well to beat Jordan Cain 21-17, whilst his dad Dave ‘Barney’ Kelly trailed all game against Dave ‘Dido’ Kelly as he finished brilliantly to win 21-20, with Barney’s ability to strike being the ultimate difference.

Onchan A used home advantage to see off Castletown A 8-2. Marown B took on their C team in what was a closely fought match with the B claiming a 6-4 victory by six chalks (151-145), whilst Port St Mary A slipped to a 3-7 home defeat to Douglas A

In Division Two Peel B and South Ramsey B battled it out in the Sunset City as the home team claimed a 7-3 victory.

Douglas B head the table as they ensured it was a miserable start for Port Erin A, who inexplicably were a player short on the night, as they were heavily beaten 1-9 at home.

One of the most impressive results of the evening was from Noble’s A, who came away from the Crofts with a 2-8 victory over Castletown B.

Ballaugh A got their campaign underway with a 7-3 home victory over North Ramsey B, whilst Finch Hill A have brought in a couple of players from their B team as they won 8-2 at home to Onchan B.

In Division Three Noble’s B demolished Port St Mary B 10-0. Noble’s C, who last season were the D Team, have now swapped places with the C Team as they finished higher in the league rankings came away from Marown D with a good 3-7 victory. Not to be outdone Noble’s D (pictured) who were back from their pre-season trip won 8-2 at home to Ballaugh B.

South Ramsey C were on the receiving end of a disappointing 3-7 home defeat to a new look Peel C, who performed well on the night to take a deserved victory. Onchan C took a comfortable 7-3 home victory over South Ramsey D.

The newly formed Division Four got underway with three new teams this season, as the first ever E team to feature in the league claimed their first victory as Noble’s E beat Port Erin B 4-6 at Breagle Glen.

Castletown C had a tough time as they came away from Ballaugh C with a 9-1 defeat, whilst North Ramsey C sat out the first round of fixtures as they play this week.

Elsewhere Peel D slipped to a 4-6 home defeat to Douglas C, in a close game, whilst Finch Hill B came away from the Villa with a 3-7 victory over Douglas D.

One of the biggest changes in the league structure is taking place this season as the league is split into four divisions, following three additional teams joining the league. The last time this happened was in 2004, when 35 teams entered the men’s night league.

The top three divisions will have 10 teams, whilst the fourth division will consist of 9 teams, which includes three new teams, with Castletown putting a C team in again this year, North Ramsey C have recruited enough members for a third team, whilst Noble’s have made history by putting an E Team into the league, helped by having two greens that are used throughout the summer season, they could theoretically put in a further three teams F, G & H.

The time was right for the restructure as to remain with three divisions, there would have been very little room for contingency dates, matches would need to be played during TT and Bank Holidays, it would also have meant that some of the popular team competitions would also have to be sacrificed to ensure league games were able to fit into the calendar.

With four divisions there is more scope for additional teams to come into the league to allow expansion of the game in the future. It also has the knock on effect of making each league more competitive, leaving enough contingency dates in the calendar, and most importantly it allows dates to be scheduled for the Junior league, along with the Mixed Team and the Club Championship.

In Canada Life International sponsored Division One league champions South Ramsey A will once again wary of the challenge from Marown A, with the Crosby men looking to close a 16 point gap on last season, they have Dean Kipling back in the fold and Tom Kelly promoted to the A Team full time. An unchanged South Ramsey team won’t be resting on their laurels.

It will be interesting to see which teams are battling for promotion and relegation this season in all four divisions.

In Division Two Finch Hill A will look to bounce back from the disappointment of not gaining promotion to league division one following the restructure, however it does present them a unique opportunity as they could make history by winning Division Two two years running. Also looking to challenge Finch Hill, will be Ballaugh A who finished runners up in Division Two, whilst Peel B and South Ramsey B will be looking to regain their places in the top tier.

Over to Division Three South Ramsey C will be ranked as one of the top teams based on last seasons league standings, they will fancy their chances of taking the title, whilst Port St Mary B, like Finch Hill A will be looking to win their division for a second consecutive season. Noble’s D might have something to say about that as they finished just one point behind Port St Mary B, whilst Ballaugh B will also be in the mix as they finished three points off top spot.

Noble’s C now have a year’s experience under their belts, as the Leeds fans recently made the most of a pre-season trip away as they started their weekend with a friendly at Thorner BC as they played Black Swan Bowling Club, with three of their team picking up victories on international soil, with Steve Brennan the first man to do so as he won 21-20, with Andy Greggor and Steve Cain also staking their claim to fame. The following day they faced one of the top teams in the UK, as they took on Crossgates BC, in what turned out to be a steep learning curve, which will no doubt serve them well in the future. Their weekend was topped off with a visit to Elland Road as their beloved Leeds won 2-0 against Millwall to hit top spot in the Championship. As their captain Steve Cain said if Carlsberg did weekends…

Division Four will be a good starting point for Noble’s E, as the team made up of local farmers, who are all new to the game will be looking to ‘plough’ their way through the season, they do say cream always rises to the top! I do hope they get the same bug for the game as those who took up the game last year. North Ramsey continue to grow as a club, as they put in a third team this season, whilst their development also continues off the green as the last club on the island without floodlights, they are rumoured to be getting floodlights in place in the near future, which will no doubt help the competition secretary with his bowls calendar planning for the season.

A special mention must go to Noble’s Bowling Club, who a few years ago were on the brink of collapsing, as they have gone from strength to strength. New members bring different ideas, and with that a fresh outlook. It just goes to show the efforts made to bring new players into the game can reap the rewards as they have also picked up team silverware the last two seasons in the Mixed Plate competition.

All the best for what promises to be a great season.

On Wednesday of last week the semi-finals and Final of the Tower Insurance Cup were held on Nobles Park No. 1 Green after having been postponed the previous day due to heavy rain. In the semi-finals North Ramsey A were drawn against Castletown A and Onchan A were drawn against Douglas A.

North Ramsey A started well against Castletown A with Mike Skelly beating Mike Hargraves 21-20, Brian Colquitt beating Peter Oates 21-6 and Ray Skelly making it three in a row as he beat Ron Williams 21-18. Willie Corkill then got the first win for the Castletown side as he beat Geoff Porter 21-15 but then North Ramsey A Captain Steve Parker beat Castletown A Captain George Foy 21-19. Jimmy Moffatt then increased the lead for North Ramsey as he beat Colin Holland 21-14 and his team mate John Cannan beat Mark Saunders 21-19. In the final game of this semi-final Dave Hollingworth pulled one back for Castletown as he beat Tony Smart 21-19 which meant that North Ramsey A booked themselves a place in the final with a 6-2 win.

In the other semi-final Onchan A drew first blood with Mike Kelly beating Pat O’Donohue 21-17 but then Willie Cowley beat Onchan’s Derek Allen 21-20 before Onchan A won the next two games with Phil Kerruish beating Kevin Firth 21-11 and Kevin Quirk beating Keith Rise to the same score. The second half of the game started better for Douglas A with Jimmy Sansom beating Sid McKnight 21-8 and Steve Cook beating Neil Dunwell 21-16. Colin Spence then got a fourth win for Onchan as he beat Tommy Collister 21-18 before Shaun Seal then levelled the match to four games each by beating Mark Kelly 21-6. As this meant that the match was level on games it was Douglas A that got through to the final by scoring 141 chalks to Onchan’s 134.

So to the Final and Willie Cowley gave the Douglas A side a good start by beating Mike Skelly 21-11 but then for North Ramsey A Brian Colquitt beat Keith Rise 21-13 and Ray Skelly beat Pat O’Donohue 21-19 before Jimmy Moffatt beat Shaun Seal 21-15 to make it 3-1 to the Northerners at the halfway stage. The North Ramsey team continued to show good form with Steve Parker beating Jimmy Sansom 21-17 and John Cannan beating Tommy Collister 21-18. The next two games saw wins for Douglas A with Geoff Porter losing 15-21 to Kevin Firth and Gary Merrill also losing 15-21 to Steve Cook. 

This meant that North Ramsey A won the Final 5-3 with the trophies being presented by Mark Kelly the Competition Secretary of the Isle of Man Men’s Over 60’s Bowling League. In his Captain’s speech Steve Parker thanked Nobles Bowling Club for hosting the competition and the sponsors Tower Insurance. He also thanked Andy Kennish, Mark Kelly and Norman Kneen for their work and Terry Bates and Brian Kelly for acting as Referees.

The 2023 night league season ended with a double week of fixtures due to take place across all three divisions this week in the Canada Life International sponsored bowling leagues.

In Division One South Ramsey A officially wrapped up the title as they started the week 11 points ahead with two games to play. Whilst securing the Warburton Trophy for a third consecutive year was a formality, they did it in style with a 10-0 victory away to Douglas A. Winning to single figures for the Ramsey men were Bob Clark, Stefan Kelly, and Glynn Hargraves over Mark Kneen, Gordon Wynne-Smythe, and Shaun Seal. David Bradford had a game on his hands with Kevin Firth as he trailed 10-19 to Kevin Firth, with a big ask to recover from such a huge deficit Bradford went on to secure a nail biting 21-20 victory to remain in the hunt to secure the Division One Individual Merit.

South Ramsey’s match at home to Peel B on Friday fell victim to the heavy rain throughout the day as their game was postponed until Monday evening, with something to play for both teams. South Ramsey were looking to secure a record points total, whilst Peel B knew they needed to take three games off the league champions in their bid to stay up. When the fixture was played it resulted in a 10-0 home win for South Ramsey A, who condemned Peel B to the bottom two, they will have to wait to find out if they are relegated depending on the league structure in 2024.

Marown A rounded off the season with two victories as they beat their B Team 7-3 on Monday night, with Karl Parker causing the biggest upset of the night as he beat Colin Kelly 21-18, Matthew Keggen won 21-13 against doubles partner Paul Kelly, and Harry Barton beat Glenn Boland 21-15.

On Friday evening Marown A won 2-8 away to Port St Mary A, with Trevor Quayle beating Phil Kelly 21-8, and Tim Williams impressing with a 21-17 win over Peter Jones. Port St Mary scored highly in two other games as Wayne Roberts lost 19-21 to Colin Kelly, with the former sending both bowls into the ditch at 19-19, whilst Dave Saxon was beaten 18-21 by Neil Withers.

In the relegation battle South Ramsey B hosted North Ramsey A on Monday with a win being crucial. The home team performed well to take five games off the visitors, however four off the wins were close, with Ben Dugdale beating John Cannan 21-18. Eddie Carlyle and Lee Dawson both won 21-19 against Brian Colquitt and Allan Callow respectively, with Tony Hart edging home 21-20 against Jimmy Moffatt. The chalks gained on the victories were wiped out in one fell swoop by Rob Monk who beat Christian Caley 21-3. Also winning for the visitors were Steven Waters as he beat George Brew 21-10, whilst Steve Walmsley won a close game with Austin Hart 21-19.

Marown C secured a second season in the topflight by whitewashing Castletown A 10-0 at home on Tuesday night in a shock result, which put Castletown A in deep trouble, as Peter Kelly held off George Foy 21-18, whilst Tom Kelly just got past Ron Williams 21-20.

On Friday evening Castletown A hosted Douglas A knowing they needed a win to any score to stand any chance of not finishing in the bottom two places knowing that Peel B had to go to league champions South Ramsey A. The Town men did their bit as they claimed what could prove to be a vital 7-3 home win, with two Town players holding their nerve as Nathan Cooil and Nathan Hamilton won their games with Mervin Sayle and Keith Rise 21-20 respectively. Losing out in close games for Town were Ron Williams who lost 18-21 to Jimmy Sansom and Aaron Richardson was beaten 19-21 by Paddy Murphy.

The Town men will be keeping a close eye on proceedings at South Ramsey on Monday evening as they need the league champions to take a victory 8-2 or better, whilst Peel B know securing three points on the night will be enough to avoid finishing in the bottom two.

The race for the Division One individual merit hasn’t quite been decided, with South Ramsey A still to play David Bradford is firmly in the driving seat needing to win the final game of the season at home to Peel B. Bradford has won 20 games from 21 played, dropping just five chalks in his only defeat of the season to Kevin Quirk at Onchan. Should the unthinkable happen then Marown’s Neil Withers is waiting in the wings, as he has enjoyed a fine season with 21 games won from 22 played, with eight chalks dropped in his one league defeat to Tony Dugdale at South Ramsey.

In Division Two there was little change at the top with Finch Hill A winning the league to lift the Rayner Cup despite suffering a 7-3 defeat away to third placed Castletown B, they ended on a positive note as they beat Peel C 8-2 at home.

Ballaugh A finished in second place, as they started the week with a 2-8 win away to Peel C. Their home fixture with Port Erin A on Friday evening succumbed to the weather, however even without playing this they are guaranteed to finish in second place.

Onchan C finished rock bottom on 69 points as they return to Division Three, with Peel C finishing second from bottom on 79 points following two successive 8-2 defeats to the top two teams.

Noble’s B picked up 10 points last week as they finished on 85 points to drag themselves out of trouble to secure another season in Division Two as they lost 3-7 to their higher ranked A Team, then won 7-3 at home to South Ramsey C to secure their status.

Winning the Division Two individual merit with 19 wins from 20 games played was Finch Hill’s Dave McCabe.

In Division Three there was a thrilling finish to the season as just three points separated the top three teams Port St Mary B finished top on 145 points to win the Chatel Cup after they started the week with a good 8-2 win against Port Erin B on the shared Breagle Glen green, then ended the week with a 6-4 defeat away to South Ramsey D who finished in fifth place with their highest ever points total of 115, as they have something to build on next season.

Noble’s D started the week in third place, on the same number of points as Ballaugh B who had a superior ‘games for’ difference. The Noble’s men had a fantastic end to the season as they won 7-3 away to Finch Hill B, then took a resounding 10-0 victory at home to Douglas D to secure second spot on 144 points, just one point behind champions Port St Mary B.

Ballaugh B ended the season with two victories, however this wasn’t enough to finish in the top two, with a good 9-1 home win against Peel D, followed up by a 4-6 victory away to Marown D, in a close encounter as the Ballaugh men took the aggregate by five chalks (144-149).

A special mention should do to Noble’s C, with seven of their eight players having not played competitive bowls before this season, they excelled to finish in fourth spot as they caused a few upsets throughout the season, improving from game to game, they will be the team to watch out for next year with promotion firmly in their sights.

Finishing in bottom place were Port Erin B, who were hampered by being short of players for several matches, they surely would have finished higher had they been able to field a full-strength team.

Winning the Division Three individual merit with 20 wins from 22 games played was Finch Hill’s youngest player Sam Stannard-Duke.